God Has Pushed a Big Reset Button by J. LEE GRADY for Charisma News
Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock for three months, you know gasoline is at record low prices. I paid $1.25 a gallon last week in Georgia. Some states are reporting prices below a dollar a gallon.
There are two reasons for the price drop: Not as many people are buying gasoline because of the pandemic, and Russia and Saudi Arabia are engaged in a price war, causing the oil supply to swing up. Market analysts say they’ve never seen such a glut of oil.
As I pondered this situation a few days ago the Holy Spirit spoke to my heart and said: “Now is the time to fill up.” I knew He wasn’t talking about my car’s gas tank. Sometimes there are things in the natural world that send spiritual messages. I believe God is asking the church in this season of lockdown to fill our spiritual reserves.
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Jesus talked about the importance of having enough oil. The five wise virgins in His parable in Matthew 25 made sure they had enough oil for their lamps, while the five foolish ones weren’t prepared. They were locked out of the wedding feast because they didn’t consider oil an essential commodity. Right now, during this pandemic, God has hit a “reset” button because He wants us to be ready for what’s coming.
We’ve been much like the foolish virgins. The oil of the Holy Spirit hasn’t been important to us. We can take it or leave it. We don’t think we need God’s supernatural power because we have technology, comfortable church buildings, economic prosperity, eloquent preachers and slick contemporary worship.
We figured out a way to do church without God’s help. We even have books and church growth gurus to teach us how to manufacture a cool vibe, entertain people for 60 minutes and get them out quickly. Revivalist A.W. Tozer said it this way: “If the Holy Spirit was withdrawn from the church today, 95% of what we do would go on and no one would know the difference.”
