“They always go astray in their hearts, and they have not known my ways.” – God (Heb. 3:10; Ps. 95:10)

Who might be ‘they’ He speaks of there? That would be ‘His people’ who often find themselves in unfortunate predicaments due to ‘bad intel’ (Hosea 4:6)

There’s an interesting statement recorded in Deut. 2:3, where God told Moses: “You’ve been circling this mountain long enough; it’s time to turn northward.” You know…40 years is a long time to wander in a place that was never intended to be your place of settlement; especially in a land or region that was as inhospitable as the wilderness, the place Moses led God’s people through after their deliverance from the land of Egypt where they had lived as slaves for hundreds of years.

If that 'circling the same mountain'... doesn’t describe the walk of many sincere Christians today who have continued to battle with sins (and their consequences) that ‘war against their soul’, I don’t know what does.

Years ago, we owned an ’87 GMC Suburban, which served our family well for a good bit of time. One Sunday, after church…we stopped to have lunch with some good friends before heading on home. Once loaded up in the ‘Burb’, we discovered that the engine did not want to start…after multiple failed attempts. We had not had any previous problems with it, and there was plenty of gas in the tank, but something was amiss.

My friend had me pop the hood and then removed the air filter canister where he had access to the carburetor. Coming back out from his garage, he had a small can of gasoline which he poured into the carburetor, then motioned me to turn the key once again. The engine fired right up, roaring back to life.

And then it died. After 2-3 more tries with the same results, he looked up at me and said: “Sounds like you have a bad fuel pump.” This did indeed prove to be the case, which we eventually had replaced.

What my friend had been doing to confirm this was he ‘primed the engine’ with some fuel; but it wasn’t enough to last or run on for any length of time. It just enabled the engine to ‘roar to life’ before needing some more fuel, which is what the job of the ‘pump’ was designed for…to get the gas from the tank, through the lines and to the carburetor.

I don’t recall suggesting we attempt to do this in order to get the car back home before getting it to our mechanic, but I’m sure the idea crossed my mind where I would take some gas with me and just keep feeding the carburetor ‘little by little’ in an effort to get us moving on the road. Can you imagine what a ridiculous idea…and scene that would have looked like? (Yes, we had it towed to the garage)

I have thought of that incident multiple times over the years, and for one reason in particular. Countless numbers of sincere Christians seem to have lived out their walk of faith in a similar fashion. Let me explain…using phrases most ‘believers’ are familiar with, like how this walk with Jesus consists of ‘mountain top and valleys experiences’. The ‘mountain tops’ referring to that place of joy and excitement and peace that is found in God’s presence, and then all those dark valleys that we trudge through which are filled with dismay and doubt and trials and suffering. And let’s not forget how someone is always quick to remind us that ‘fruit is grown in the valley, not the mountain tops’. Sigh

Do you know where ‘fruit’ is produced? It only comes about through abiding in Jesus, period. (John 15:1-8). “Who may ascend the mountain of the LORD? Who may stand in his holy place? The one who has clean hands and a pure heart…” (Ps. 24:3-4)

So what has become the fruitless pattern for so many of God’s people over the years? We schedule annual ‘revivals’ in our church services in order to ‘prime the pump’, which usually includes a lot of dynamic singing and inspiring preaching that ‘moves us’ to tears of repentance. Then, after wiping all the tears and snot from our faces…we go home with a new determination to ‘try harder to do better for Jesus’…and it works…for a while. And then…well, you know what happens. We settle back in to old habits and lifestyles as that ‘fire within’ dies out; until the next revival service, of course.

Your method of ‘priming the pump’ may look differently than others, depending on your particular ‘denomination’ of church you attend, but I think you get the idea. Now I’ll be the first to say there is no denying that the type of ‘fuel’ that Charismatic/Pentecostal churches use to ‘prime those pumps’ is pretty ‘high octane’; but guess what? Even ‘they’ find themselves in the ‘same old patterns’ of ‘up and down’ experiences.

Friends…can I just tell you that this walk with Jesus was not supposed to be like this? Many... spend more time going from place to place, looking for some ‘new fuel’ to start their spiritual motors so they can get to wherever it is we need to be going with God…but we end up circling that same old mountain. Are you able to recognize what the problem has been? It goes back to our ‘pump’, which we all know is our __________ (heart).

A little over six years ago, God replaced my ‘pump’, back in those early days of the pandemic when we were all shut up in our homes and isolated. And while many were ‘binging on Netflix’, God, in His mercy and grace chose to do something new in me, and my life has not been the same since. That is why I can’t stop writing and teaching all that I have come to learn since then. Am I declaring that I have ‘arrived’? Absolutely not, but just as Paul stated…” I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me.” (Phil. 3:12 NLT)

To put it short: I just want to be where He is, abiding in His presence…continually. And that is where He would like us to be (John 5:40; 15:4-5; Matt.11:28). How does one ‘get there’, to that ‘mountain top of His presence’? Well…you might start reflecting on James 4:6-10 for a bit…and see where that gets you. There really is more to this ‘abiding thing’ than what many may have believed. He’s waiting.