What to do when you are running on fumes!
By
Bishop Melvin L. Maughmer, Jr.
OPENING: - My wife as soon as her gas tank hits half a tank, she says it’s time to get gas but me on the other hand will drive my truck till I nearly run out of gas. My gas gage will say empty, but I have on my dash an indicator that says you can travel 30 miles and will count down every mile for a while and I will often try to go by that gauge. She will often say you like running on fumes and if we run out of gas, I am letting you know right now I am not walking.
Running on fumes is an idiom. An idiom is a phrase or expression that typically presents a figurative, non-literal meaning attached to the phrase an idiom's figurative meaning is different from the literal meaning.
The meaning of Running on Fumes is continuing to operate with no or very little enthusiasm, energy, or resources left.
Sometimes the pressures of life will make us feel as if we are running on fumes.
PRAYER:
SCRIPTURE: - 1 Samuel 16:1 says, “And the LORD said unto Samuel, How long wilt thou mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? fill thine horn with oil, and go, I will send thee to Jesse the Bethlehemite: for I have provided me a king among his sons”,
It’s natural in today’s world to be caught up with what’s outside of you: your house, your job, your car, your successes, your failures and many other of life’s pressures. Just this week alone there were some things in my life that added some pressure and weighed me down a little bit. My truck was in the shop, certain desires that I desired didn’t come to fruition, and I had to catch myself because if I didn’t, I could have ended up in a negative feedback loop, this isn’t what I expected so I begin to get discouraged and because I am discouraged, I get upset because this isn’t what I expected and I get discouraged and so on.
UNDERSTAND: - The pressures of life come from 2 aspects 1 is events and the 2 is our expectation of those events. We must realize that external demands, challenges, obstacles, difficulties, decisions, deadlines and other things are just a part of our lives. As a result, these things will begin to weigh us down. There may even come times when we feel tired, alone, old sometimes even feeling despair and overwhelmed by the power of nothingness, uselessness, loneliness, and many other emotions.
It has nothing to do with salvation or how long we have been saved, there just comes a time in our lives that we find ourselves running on fumes. We will wear a mask and say things like I’m blessed and highly favored in the Lord, but down on the inside we are like David and find ourselves saying oh my soul why art thou disquieted within me.
The struggles of life are weighing us down. Now before some super spiritual person says Bishop a child of God never needs to feel this way. WATCH THIS: - While on earth, Jesus subjected Himself to the same physical emotions of tiredness we feel, He felt the sting of betrayal, loneliness, and rejection. The Bible says in John 4:6-8 “So Jesus, being wearied from His journey, was sitting thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour. There came a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus said to her, Give Me a drink. For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy meat”.
Jesus was physically tired and weary. Being tired and weary is a physical symptom that indicates the body needs rest and refreshment. When Jesus was tired, He heeded the symptom by seeking what He needed: food and water. At the same time, however, He did not allow His weariness to direct His thinking. That is where many of us fall into trouble we allow our physical condition to direct our thoughts, instead of understanding them in a way that helps us continue moving forward. Even though He was physically tired, Jesus still sought to minister with love to a hurting and broken woman.
TEXT: - 1 Samuel 16:1 says, “And the LORD said unto Samuel, How long wilt thou mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? fill thine horn with oil, and go, I will send thee to Jesse the Bethlehemite: for I have provided me a king among his sons”.
UNDERSTAND: - Samuel literally is in a state of despair. He had dedicated his life to being a prophet of God and Judge unto Israel, for years he had told them what the Lord God had commanded. The Bible says in 1 Samuel 7:15-17 says, “And Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life. And he went from year to year in circuit to Bethel, and Gilgal, and Mizpeh, and judged Israel in all those places And his return was to Ramah; for there was his house; and there he judged Israel; and there he built an altar unto the LORD”. Then one day the elders of Israel come to him and said, Samuel you are old your sons walk contrary to God, they are nothing more than money hungry jack-legged judges. We want to be like everybody else, because your ways are old-fashioned, your methods are outdated, and we want us a king over us like everyone else. God tells Samuel 8:6 “And the LORD said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them”.
So, he anoints Saul to be king 1 Samuel 10:1 says, “Then Samuel took a vial of oil, and poured it upon his head, and kissed him, and said, Is it not because the LORD hath anointed thee to be captain over his inheritance”.
Saul starts out good 1 Samuel 10:6 says, “And the Spirit of the LORD will come upon thee, and thou shalt prophesy with them, and shalt be turned into another man”. Vs 10 says “And when they came thither to the hill, behold, a company of prophets met him; and the Spirit of God came upon him, and he prophesied among them”.
However, Saul was self-centered, egotistical, arrogant, jealous, self-righteous, felt he was able to do the job of a priest and he operated in a manner of incomplete obedience because he was told to kill all the Amalekites, but he kept Agag the King alive. Samuel rebuked Saul for disobedience killed Agag and left Saul never to see him again - until he died.
Now Samuel is mourning not the death of Saul but how he is not what he expected him to be. Remember I said the pressures of life come from 2 aspects 1 is events and 2 is our expectation of events. Samuel is reminiscing over all that has happened, and he is now in a state of mourning, brokenness, sorrow, loneliness and rejection – WHY – because this is not what he expected. So often we can be so focused on life’s situations and what we should do or what we expect to happen that we start to neglect who we ARE. We start to become discouraged, drained, impatient and frustrated, because we are trying to operate without the proper fuel. If you haven’t been there yet just hang around it will come it’s a part of life. People will disappoint you; expectations will let you down, desires and dreams may not come to fruition and cause you to feel like you are running on fumes, but hold on I am going to tell you what you need to do.
The Lord says unto Samuel “How long wilt thou mourn for Saul” how long are you going to let the pressures of life weigh you down. How long are you going to be broken? How long are you going to let events and your expectation of those events cause you to be down, heavy laden, how long are you going to be running on fumes?
This is what I need you to do – “Fill thine horn with oil and go”.
WATCH THIS: - Now the Horn in the Old Testament is used metaphorically for strength and honor, power, dominion, glory, and fierceness. The horn of an animal is the chief means of its attack and defense.
Samuel’s horn was empty all he had left was fumes. His strength was drained. His power was low. His fierceness literally non-existent WHY because events didn’t turn out the way he expected.
The Lord said fill your horn with oil. Oil in the Bible represents the Spirit of God. You have to get out of the state of mind you are in right now, change the condition that has you drained, stop running on fumes and fill your horn with oil. You need a fresh anointing.
Then he said unto he go – you have to leave this mindset, you have to change the position you are in right now. You got your head your focus is in the wrong place. David said in Psalm 121: 1 “I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help”.
The He says for “I have provided”. You don’t have to worry because God has provided.
God is telling us today to fill up with His presence and go into all the world because He has provided. But that takes time, quality time as does any worthwhile relationship. It takes time talking and listening. Sadly, many of us me included at times have become like the religious rulers in Jesus’ day so busy doing godly acts that we miss out on a personal connection with God. We get so caught up on religious fluff, we worry about religious garb and positional titles that our spiritual relationship is running on fumes. So many times we are like white washed tombs clean on the outside but on the inside its dead, joy is dead, peace is dead, enthusiasm is dead. How long are you going to be running on fumes.
So here is what do to when you are running on fumes.
We need to fill up with the Spirit. Ephesians 5:18-19 says, “And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord”. A few weeks ago, I preached a message entitled “Keep on Singing” and I stated in that message that when we sing, we declare war against the devil and any ungodly spirit or emotion. Singing lifts our spirit, changes our moods, defeats the adversary and fills us with joy.
We need to be filled with all the fullness of God. Ephesians 3:19 says, “And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.”
God has shown His fullness in Christ and has given us the Holy Ghost so that we may comprehend and do whatever God requires. To be filled with God is a wonderful thing; to be filled with the fullness of God is even greater, but to be filled with all the fulness of God is beyond human understanding except it be through the Spirit of God. What does it mean to be filled with all the fullness of God? To have all the gifts He has promised to bestow upon us. To be filled with meekness, gentleness, goodness, love, holiness, justice, mercy, and truth.
We need to be filled of honor and praise. Psalm 71:8 says, “Let my mouth be filled with thy praise and with thy honour all the day.”
You may ask Bishop how to I fill up with these things.
Remember I said I run my truck on fumes my wife says. Well, I did run out of gas once and I had to put gas in my tank but wasn’t at a gas pump so I had to use the gas can and in order to use the gas can I had to use a funnel it was the only way I could get the gas into the tank. The funnel is shaped with a wide opening that narrows through a tube to a point so it can go into the tank. There are 2 words that I like that remind me of a funnel for the Spirit of God to fill us up.
The 1 is YADAH Definition: Yadah is a verb with a root meaning, “the extended hand, to throw out the hand, therefore, to worship with extended hand.” Psalm 63:4 says, “Thus I will bless Thee while I live, I will (YADAH) lift up my hands in Thy name”
The 2 is TOWDAH Definition: Towdah comes from the same principal root word as Yadah but is used more specifically. Towdah literally means, “an extension of the hand in adoration, avowal, or acceptance.” It is used for thanking God for “things not yet received” as well as things already at hand. Psalm 50:14 says, “Offer unto God praise (TOWDAH) and pay thy vows unto the Most High”.
It looks like:
Conclusion: - Lift your hands, if you are running on fumes, lift your hands just to be filled and say anointing fall on me. Fill my cup Lord and let it overflow. Make a funnel and fill up on the spirit of God.
Bishop Melvin L. Maughmer, Jr.
