Learn a lesson from a balloon!

Acts 4:31 And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness.

According to a study reported by Bloomberg, Americans can add as many as two years to the nation’s life expectancy if they stand up more often and watch fewer hours of television. What a concept — move around and you’ll live longer!

Watching the report reminded me of an incident which happened during a party that we threw for our daughter Elianna. Her little one-year-old brother Obadiah was playing with a leftover balloon which suddenly popped in his face. Obi was startled, and about to burst into tears.

Thinking fast, I grabbed an uninflated balloon from the table, blew it up real big and then let it go. Boy did he love that! He laughed hysterically as he watched this balloon zipping around the room until it ran out of air and plopped down on the floor. Obi was fine, and as we played this new balloon game, a funny analogy floated into my mind.

I was thinking… we need to be like these balloons, filled to the max with God’s breath, and then….. let go, to experience the ride of our lives! And…equally important, we need to recognize when we’re running out of air — when we’re deflated and depleted of His power and anointing. Then we need to run back to Him for more, because receiving the infilling of the Spirit is not a single event, but a lifetime of repeated refillings, so that we aren’t living or serving in our own strength.

The Lord hasn’t entrusted us with His power to sit around and watch TV — but to activate us for the work of the Gospel, and the blessing of the saints; to do great things for Him in the power of His Spirit wherever He may take us. Let’s be filled again today! Ask, seek, knock, read, worship, meditate on His promises, get FILLED — you don’t want to sit idly watching life pass you by…. do you?

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I just came across this story through a friend and thought it significantly appropriate for us today. Maybe it is for you too?

An African king had a long time friend who always looked at everything positively, always saying "This is good!" even in the face of the most difficult situations. Hunting one day, he was preparing the king’s guns. When the king took his first shot, his thumb was blown off. Though the friend realized that it was his grave mistake for not properly setting the gun, and even in the face of this furious, bleeding king, he looked at him and said, "This is good!" The king was LIVID, and ordered that his friend be thrown in jail immediately.

Many are discouraged with the election results in the United States, others, perhaps are elated. Most Christians and Messianic believers do not see the nation choosing Biblical values with the continuation of the present administration, and are deeply concerned about the direction America is heading.

We all know that prayer needs to be an essential part of our lives. And if you're like me, we would love for the Lord to answer all our prayers instantaneously -- however, we know from experience this is not always the case!

Richard Wurmbrand, a Romanian Jewish Believer and an amazing man of God, spent 14 years in communist prisons where he was tortured brutally for his faith and then lived to tell about it. In his book, The Oracles of God, he writes about acquiring inner peace and tells the following powerful story.

Once upon a time, Aesop wrote, the beasts and the fowls were engaged in war. A doublehearted bat was trying to belong to both parties. When the birds were victorious, he would fly around telling everyone he was a bird, and when the beasts won, he would walk around assuring everyone that he was actually a beast. His insincerity was soon discovered and the devious bat was rejected by both the beasts and the birds. From that time on and forevermore, the bat would be banned from the light and would be only allowed to appear openly at night.

In the sermon on the mount, Yeshua said, “You are the light of the world,” and commanded us to let our lights shine that we may give glory to our Heavenly Father. This world is becoming more ungodly and dark, and by deep contrast, the saints of the Lord will shine brighter! A candle in a bright room isn’t particularly significant or easy to notice. A candle in the darkness shines like a lighthouse and offers the only source of guidance for movement.

Is it me, or is the world going nuts? Have we’ve entered the “Twilight Zone”? However, the Bible gave us an understanding of what the last days would entail. We are witnessing the groanings of creation, the literal birth-pangs of the “Day of the Lord”, we also must be awakened and prepared for the coming HARVEST.