Stop the Energy Leaks and See His Miracles

2/14/2012

Craig: A guy the other day said, “I don’t know about you, but I never stop thinking about work.” I think that’s pretty much true, except when he’s on his anesthesia of sports or something. I was like, “No. I mean, I struggle with that, I’m not saying I don’t, but I do stop thinking about it.” That’s kind of the ultimate extreme of that, the fleshly man can’t get away from it at all. I haven’t been able to do what you said just yet, but that’s vision-giving. I think what you are saying is true.

Mark: My mistake prior to five years ago was that I thought my priority system being right, my commitment being right, was sufficient and would guide me through that maze of competing emotions and thoughts and decisions and all that. I just found out that wasn’t true, and I had to ask God, “Why? What’s the difference? What’s the difference-maker here?” I didn’t sleep for two years, because I couldn’t find the answer to that question, and then I did.

Craig: I can relate to part of that answer, because I have had success at saying, “I will not let my energy leak to this anymore.” I’ve been able to see that at times, where I can feel like it’s just totally an energy leak and it’s not honoring to God. And in my heart of hearts, I’ve said that. This is more looking back, but considering that I could do that through the Spirit, almost I will, is not something in my vocabulary and my way of looking at life. But I have done it, because I just hated it so much and said, “No! Stop! I will not let my energy leak!” And that’s kind of an exact thought, and it has worked.

Mark: Recognize there are probably half a dozen levels of that, where these seem a little more innocuous, a little less dangerous and a little less whatever. But when you add them all up they represent the same level of leak as whatever got your attention in that case. The little things. It can be, like in your business, you’re doing a build out, and in the back of your mind you’re wondering whether you want the industrialized, modern ceiling or whatever, and what kind of countertops, and it’s just floating around back there. It’s somewhat innocent, but it is an energy leak. If you had your car broken into, and you were worrying about it, frustrated by it, well, that’s a little more obvious that’s an energy leak. “No! I have things to do. I’m going to trust God on that. Over with, done. Not thinking about it.” That’s a little more obvious. The ones that seem innocent are really the most dangerous ones, though, because they suck the life out of us, too, but it doesn’t seem like I need to stop thinking about a countertop or whatever—a new idea about marketing or even a new name. But if you let it run in the background—this little subroutine is running back there—it has the same net effect. If you can’t say “No, I’m going to trust God with this,” it has the same net effect of robbing our vitality and our creativeness and our love and our knowledge of God and our walk with God.

I think if you were to ask me why there aren’t just a lot of, lot of miracles—just to use that as one example—where clearly something that couldn’t happen medically, happened for the good, or with jobs, or souls being saved... Miracles. True, legitimate miracles. What is the biggest hindrance of miracles happening in our generation? I would probably have to kind of zero in on this topic we’re talking about tonight. Because the Information Age has done us no favors. We’re going so many directions. The simplicity of being able to say “this one thing I do” without fifteen competing Information Age intrusions about decisions that need to be made or the research or the variables or options. The world of specialty in the medical industry, where you’ve got to see a specialist for the upper third of your esophagus because there’s too much information to handle the middle third any more—that’s what it’s come to. We’re trying to have the mind of God through the Information Age. We are fearfully and wonderfully made, and the best thing that ever happened to David was, he had no idea how! He just knew that it was. He didn’t have to focus on the trillion variables that the mind of God includes and then burrow into all the aspects of the thing. He could just admire it and enjoy it and do what he had to do.

So I think the distraction and the energy leaks that we’ve been discussing and the lack of “control of self” to narrow it and simplify it, moment by moment by moment, is one of the reasons why the presence of God is not as evident when we need it to be. Because the energy leaks have kept us somewhat adrift to where we don’t have the passion we should to pray about something. We pray about it, and it’s kind of gone. Then we remember to pray again. And we didn’t pray intensively and fervently. We prayed twice. That’s different! “Oh, I prayed five times. That’s intensively and fervently.” No, it’s not! “Intensively and fervently” is to touch the mind and the heart of God. And five times is no closer to doing that than one, if you’ve got energy leaks all over the place. I think all of this is related to everything, not just our jobs or our personal spiritual productivity, but the whole universe is suffering in this age of trying to digitize the mind of God, and then live in a world filled with that instead of the simplicity of the Good News. To be able to do our jobs, you have to have a certain amount of this information and access and so on, and that’s fine. But without control of self, you lose the ability to intensively, passionately focus on the things that will change the universe, rather than just change an industry to one tiny, tiny degree.

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