A Dryer Story
Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.
Ephesians 3:20 NLT
The clothes dryer had been running and tossing the wet clothes around for an hour, but they were still wet. Saturated. Why wasn’t the dryer heating? I needed experienced help. When the repair woman came, it only took her two minutes to find the problem. The plug was in the socket but not all the way in. The dryer was connecting to just enough power to rock and roll, but not enough to heat.
120 volts is enough power to handle most basic household tasks: lighting lamps, running computers, turning on TVs. However, it takes a good 240 volts to power our big needs: dryers, stoves, air conditioning and such. My kiln needs the strong power of 240 volts, over a period of 10 hours, to mature clay at 2400 degrees. That’s a lot of strong power.
Oh, goodness. My life definitely needs some strong power too. Does yours? I think we all require internal power to live our days as much as we require external power to keep our appliances and technology running. Sure, we do have a little power of our own; there are some things we can do under our own steam without help – or at least think we can. But for most things in life – life in general – we need help! God’s help. God’s power.
I may be a whiz at science (not!) and know all about electricity, but it does me no good if I don’t plug into it. I may be an expert on the Bible and know a file cabinet full of facts about God, but it does me no good if I don’t plug into Him personally and utilize His strong power.
Think of God and His Holy Word as our power source and prayer as the cord we use to connect to Him. That cord of prayer must stay firmly plugged in to keep His power flowing into our lives.
As Christ spoke to Paul in 2 Corinthians 12:9 NLT, Christ speaks to us:
My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.
We need the power of God. Period. We simply cannot handle life by ourselves. As I learned from my dryer, we must stay plugged into Him completely all the way in order to access it. We can’t simply plug into Him a little bit, or plug in part time, or plug in only when it is convenient. We can’t wait to plug into Him when we have some spare time. We can’t wait and only plug into God when we are in crisis. Continually running power of any kind does not work that way.
So, what will it be? Will be live powerful or powerless lives? If we choose powerful, we must remain connected to God completely, consistently, intentionally every single day. Without fail. And in those times we forget, and we will, we just need to reboot ourselves! Plug right back in!
Hugs and blessings,
Dear Lord, I need Your amazing strong power to get through my crazy days. Please help me remember and take the time to remain plugged into You. Amen.