Have you ever needed to accomplish some work? I mean the kind of work that requires a sturdy set of tools and a thick pair of gloves.
In recently preparing for a tough household chore, I reached for my gloves and found that two of the five finger slots had retracted back inside the glove. Even though I tried to make them fit my hand, in that state, they were useless.
As you may know, God has some things that He wants us to achieve and they are going to require work, usually hard work. By His grace, He has provided us with every tool necessary to achieve His will: His Word and the power of His Spirit. However, for those tools to be effective our lives must be yielded to Him.
In the same way I could not gain full use of my hand in the closed-off glove, the power of God cannot be fully accessed in a life that is partially closed off. Once I took the time and effort to pull the fingers of the glove back to the position in which they were designed to work, my hand fit perfectly, and I was able to complete my work. In much the same way, we should consistently invest the time and effort necessary to allow the indwelling Holy Spirit authority over every area of our lives—making us effective for His kingdom’s work.
Photo by Penny Mathews.