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Running on empty in a car is a warning sign!
You must do something now or you will suffer the consequences
Sadly, no “Gas Gauge” for your life
Running on empty all the time is NOT Victorious Christian Living
Things many of us are doing on empty
- Parenting
- Leading
- Loving (How do you love well when you don’t have anything to give?)
- Dating
- Living
Have you ever noticed that your dumbest decisions usually come when you are the most tired?
- Fights with your spouse
- Gave into that temptation
- Spent that money
- Ate that food
- Gave into that Temptation
- Sent that text
- Spent that money
- Went to that website
We are not good at recognizing we are empty
10 REASONS YOU RUN OUT OF GAS
- Each of these mirrors your life emotionally and Spiritually
1. Not starting out with a full tank.
- Time with the Lord
- Always more prepared for the day when stated with God
2. Being too busy to pause and refuel.
- Regular time to pause and refuel
- Spiritually and emotionally and relationally
3. Unaware of hidden leaks that are draining me.
- Either Relationship or Responsibility
4. Ignoring the owner’s manual and pushing my car farther than it was created to go.
- Anyone love to read owner’s Manual? – No
- More faith will not make it any bigger
- Bible is our Bible
- Ex – Every seven days, take a day off?
5. Always in a Hurry – The faster I drive, the faster I run out of gas.
- Hurry deplete you in every aspect of your life
- What’s the speed of your life right now?
6. Being distracted and not watching my gauges
- (Or not believing them!)
Gauges in our life:
- Sleep
- Weight
- Irritability (ask people closest to you)
- Stress
7. Being overloaded
- The more I carry, the sooner I run out of gas. Lying to myself “I can handle this!”
- To many irons in the fire, can put out the fire
- Different season require different sacrifices
8. Pressure to do it now! Rapid acceleration wastes gas.
- Ok occasionally, but not a pace that can be kept
9. Pride: Assuming the limits of my tank don’t apply to me.
- Overestimate our ability, and underestimate what the challenge will cost
- Ego will drain you fast
- Drive yourself into the dirt
10. No margin: Not allowing for time to fill up.
- Like waking up late and forgetting you need to stop and get gas
- We need space to make healthy decisions
1 Kings 19
1 Ahab told Jezebel everything that Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. 2 So Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, “May the gods punish me and do so severely if I don’t make your life like the life of one of them by this time tomorrow!”
3 Then Elijah became afraid and immediately ran for his life. When he came to Beer-sheba that belonged to Judah, he left his servant there, 4 but he went on a day’s journey into the wilderness. He sat down under a broom tree and prayed that he might die. He said, “I have had enough! Lord, take my life, for I’m no better than my ancestors.” 5 Then he lay down and slept under the broom tree.
What a major change from the Elijah we just saw in the last chapter
- Tired
- Fearful
He is over all of this. He is quitting
- Leaving his servant behind (same servant that just earlier went to look for a rain cloud
Victory or “Winning” can still run your tank empty
- Sometimes, that’s when you feel it the most
And many times, the only thing we know to do is keep pushing
- Till be break
- Give up
1 Kings 19
Suddenly, an angel touched him. The angel told him, “Get up and eat.” 6 Then he looked, and there at his head was a loaf of bread baked over hot stones, and a jug of water. So he ate and drank and lay down again. 7 Then the angel of the Lord returned for a second time and touched him. He said, “Get up and eat, or the journey will be too much for you.” 8 So he got up, ate, and drank. Then on the strength from that food, he walked forty days and forty nights to Horeb, the mountain of God. 9 He entered a cave there and spent the night.
Here are 3 things we can learn from Elijah’s example:
1: Elijah Removed Himself
Even though he was running out of fear, removing himself was the only way God could minister to his soul
Removing himself wasn’t losing, it was recharging
God was working through Elijah, which can still empty our tank
God needs space and time to restore him
In our lives, we have a difficult time unplugging, or removing ourselves from the things that empty us
We must occasionally remove ourselves from the race and pace of life
- So God can minister to our souls
- Principle of the sabbath
This applies to any important aspect of our life
- Marriage – you need to remove yourself together to reconnect
- Work – Your creativity and passion is like a tank that needs to be refilled
- Your Body – Appropriate sleep and rest
If you don’t, you can hit a wall like Elijah
Get depressed
Want to quit
2: Elijah Rested
I have a theory about most of us
- We don’t know how to really rest well
- Even When we slow down, we actually just trade one stress for another
I think this is because we are afraid
- Afraid of the stillness
- Afraid of the quit
- Afraid of the boredom
- Afraid of being alone with ourselves without anything distract us
- We would have to deal with some of the darker parts of us
We have an issue with rest…
- Must learn when and HOW to take our foot off the peddle
- We don’t really know how
The expectations we place on ourselves are often born from ourselves
- God did not require anything from Elijah
- Just fed him and let him rest
- No expectation
- No lesson on what went wrong and how to do it better
- We would want to pull him aside and give him a pep talk
Have a hard time understanding this because so many of us are addicted to the rush
- The grind
Social media makes this really really difficult.
- Looking at others success makes you constantly stressed that you are not doing enough
Jesus said…
Matthew 11:28-30
“If you are tired from carrying heavy burdens, come to me and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and Learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in spirit, and you will find rest for your soul. For the yoke I share with you is easy to wear and the load is light.”
Real rest is more than stopping, it is giving over
- Giving over your agenda
- Giving over your fear
- It’s giving over your dreams
- It’s giving over your life
3: Elijah Refueled
Angel came and fed Elijah
He was able to journey for 40 days and night (quite a refueling)
Refueling is soul nourishment
- Difference that rest
Refueling puts back in what was taken away. It returns…
- Passion
- Energy
- Focus
But here is the IMPORTANT thing about refueling…
- It CANNOT BE DONE ALONE
Who gave Elijah the bread?
Who ministered to Elijah?
- The angel (Someone else)
What else did the angel do?
Suddenly, an angel touched him. The angel told him, “Get up and eat.” 6 Then he looked, and there at his head was a loaf of bread baked over hot stones, and a jug of water. So he ate and drank and lay down again. 7 Then the angel of the Lord returned for a second time and touched him. He said, “Get up and eat, or the journey will be too much for you.” 8 So he got up, ate, and drank. Then on the strength from that food, he walked forty days and forty nights to Horeb, the mountain of God.
The angel did not let him stay there. Pushed Elijah forward
- Rest is great, but it is for a purpose
- To much rest can turn to laziness and depression
- Elijah still had much to do
- He had to be refueled so he could continue
Refueling cannot be done alone
Hebrews 10
24 Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. 25 And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.
People who love you refuel you
People who encourage you refuel you
People who inspire you refuel you
If you don’t have people around you that care about you and push; you can’t refuel
Don’t let yourself run on empty by yourself because you can never refuel yourself
Remove
Rest
Refuel
You will never be and do what God intends for you to be and do by always running on empty