Have you ever had an experience where you replaced your car battery only to find the new battery “dead” within a few days? You may have even repeated this process several times, blaming your problem on a string of “bad batteries.” But then it was only when you realized that the problem was not the “battery” – but the “alternator” – that you were able to get your car back on the road.
A “battery” stores power to start a car’s engine; but the “alternator”, which is turned by a belt that is powered by the engine, keeps the battery fully charged. If the source of the charge fails – that is, a failed alternator – in time, the battery will go dead. The Holy Spirit functions in the Christian’s life much like an alternator in a car – the source of power that keeps our spiritual batteries charged. Just as a car needs electrical power for many functions: lights, radio, gauges, spark plugs – a Christian needs spiritual power for many reasons as well: patience, endurance, love, service, resisting temptation, obedience, and others. There are two primary ways to short-circuit the Holy Spirit’s power in our lives: harbor unconfessed sin and live a life in disobedience unto the Lord.
Throughout the Scriptures the Lord warns against harboring unconfessed sin – which is initiated through disobedience – because the end result is that it will lead one to follow a path of unrighteousness. Subsequently, the Holy Spirit’s power in one’s life will be suppressed, the carnal nature will override the spiritual nature and the life of the Christian will appear to be “dead”. Notice the warnings from Scripture.
Psalms 66:18,
“If I regard [hide] iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me.”
James 4:1-10,
“From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members? Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not. Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts. Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy? But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded. Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.”
Hosea 10:13,
“Ye have plowed wickedness, ye have reaped iniquity; ye have eaten the fruit of lies: because thou didst trust in thy way, in the multitude of thy mighty men.”
1 Corinthians 3:3,
“For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?”
When a child of God confesses his harbored sin and chooses to walk his life in obedience unto the Lord, the Holy Spirit’s spiritual power will flow unabated through his life.
1 John 1:9 states,
“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
Ephesians 5:18 states,
“And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit.”
2 Timothy 1:7 states,
“For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.”
When your spiritual life is filled by the Holy Spirit’s power, what will flow from your life is referenced in Ephesians 5:19,
“Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord;”
Is your Christian life being charged daily through the Holy Spirit’s power – or does it appear “dead” because of unconfessed sin and disobedience? If it’s the latter, seek the Lord’s forgiveness in prayer and allow the true source of power to flow through your life unabated.
