Abundant Energy

By Marjorie Foerster Eddington

How would our lives change if instead of believing that there's a shortage of energy, we believed that there's an abundance of energy?

Governments, businesses, and individuals are looking for or trying to invent new, renewable, or alternative energy sources because it seems like we're running out. It's a major political, economic, and household issue. So it's incredibly important that we start viewing energy in a proper light -- in a spiritual light! And the most important place we can start is with ourselves.

Let's think about all those times we wish we had more energy. What did we think we needed to do to get that energy? Where does energy come from?

• If we think of energy coming from food, exercise and endorphins, an eight-hour sleep, or the sun, then we're setting ourselves up for energy shortages , and we will definitely run out of energy. 
• If we think about energy coming from God, who is infinite, supreme, good, then our energy can never be diminished or run out.

John records Jesus saying:

Don't waste your energy striving for perishable food like that. Work for the food that sticks with you, food that nourishes your lasting life, food the Son of Man provides. He and what he does are guaranteed by God the Father to last. (The Message, John 6:27)

With "food" or energy that nourishes us our whole life long, we'd be able to do any good thing at any time without any negative consequence. Wow! Isn't that what God expects us to be able to do?

We read in Genesis, "And God saw every thing that he had made, and behold, it was very good" (1:31 KJV). There's nothing in there about being deficient in energy and therefore fabricating energy pills and energy drinks to compensate for God's inadequacy in creating us. Nothing of the sort!

The Psalmist confirms this: "THE LORD is my Shepherd [to feed, guide, and shield me], I shall not lack" (23:1 AMP). There's a very key element here: It's God, our Shepherd, who supplies all of our needs so that we never lack. In fact, the Japanese translation of the 23rd Psalm (verse 5) shows that God meets our need abundantly: "By annointing my mind with His oils of tranquility, my cup of joyous energy overflows."

The apostle Paul has a wonderful prayer, a prayer for all of us:

May the God of green hope fill you up with joy, fill you up with peace, so that your believing lives, filled with the life-giving energy of the Holy Spirit, will brim over with hope! (The Message, Rom 15:7)

Filled with the "life-giving energy of the Holy Spirit," the "joyous energy" that "overflows," our lives are empowered and transformed. 

Perhaps the reason why we sometimes feel so drained is that we believe energy is a physical thing. But it's not. It's really mental. Think about it:

• When we're not excited about something, we seem to drag and be tired.
• When we're excited about something, we have ample energy. We can spend hours or days focusing on what makes us excited. In fact, when we're inspired and in the moment, it feels like we're playing.

When we're enthusiastic, able, and willing, we can do what we want. So true energy is really a mental, spiritual, divine state of being active with God. We read in the Bible:

Be energetic in your life of salvation, reverent and sensitive before God. That energy is God's energy, an energy deep within you, God himself willing and working at what will give him the most pleasure. (The Message, Phil 2:12)

Our energy comes straight from God. What are we going to do with our God-given, deep-down energy? Paul tells us, "So let's agree to use all our energy in getting along with each other. Help others with encouraging words; don't drag them down by finding fault" (The Message, Rom 14:19).

Negative energy zaps people. We all have experienced it: We've had a good day and someone comes in and starts complaining or criticizing or gossiping. It ruins everything. We don't need to be around people like that, and we don't need to be people like that.

The point of having energy is to bless others. If the only reason we want energy is to do what we want to do, then our lives become very self-focused. As a result, we'll find we lack energy because we have no outward movement. We'll spiral inward and downward.

But if our focus is on doing good for others, we'll discover the renewable energy that comes from a life of living love.

Living love through giving does not deplete us. If we give up ourselves in our giving, if we allow negative energy (which isn't true energy) to zap us, then we will feel depleted. But if we give of ourselves and share our divine energy, we help create an environment that promotes spirited, creative, energized thinking, living, and playing.

Divine energy is contagious and everlasting. It never runs out. God's abundant energy is ours for the using and sharing -- forever.