A couple days ago I emailed a few donors to thank them for their faithful Ministry support. In that message I told them about a small radio we have put aside at home for hurricanes. It does not require batteries or electricity to operate but has a crank that when turned winds a magneto and powers the radio. Thirty seconds of cranking powers the radio for thirty minutes, and then it needs to be cranked all over again. That was about the best illustration of ministry funding I could have come up with.
As that email was going out, I realized our hand cranked radio was also a great illustration of the Christian life in general. God provides us the ability to receive all the power we need. Time spent in God's Word charges us, as does prayer, as well as our church attendance and corporate worship. No matter how flat we get, a few cranks of the handle of Christianity gets us going again.
Do you know the number one reason that marriage where a spouse has returned home fall apart again? Because someone stopped standing. The spouse who once stood strong has adopted the attitude that the enemy wants every restored marriage to have. They are almost saying, "Thanks God for bringing my spouse home. Next time I need you I'll call on you again."
If I were to pull out hand cranked radio, sitting just a few feet away, it would be dead as a doornail because it has not been used in a year. If our electricity were off and we had to depend on that radio all day every day, you can be sure it would stay cranked up.
The same is true of standing as well as living out the Christian life. We need to stay cranked up and in communication with Jesus. If you are thinking "It will be different when my spouse comes home," you are setting up Satan to get the victory when your spouse comes back through the door.
To quote a statement my wife has said often, "Standing really starts after they walk back through the door." May you stay cranked up as a Christian and as a stander, regardless of where your spouse is or what they are doing.
The power won't hold for more than a day, but think I will go and crank up our radio. We will be covered for today and tomorrow I can do the same thing all over again. After all, we are in hurricane season.
It is also storm season around some marriages with a spouse at home. May the stander in each home with both spouses present get busy cranking so that the enemy will be defeated.
