{"id":21490,"date":"2022-03-19T00:01:22","date_gmt":"2022-03-19T07:01:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/davesevern.com\/blog\/?p=21490"},"modified":"2022-03-18T13:56:04","modified_gmt":"2022-03-18T20:56:04","slug":"filling-your-tank","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/davesevern.com\/blog\/filling-your-tank\/","title":{"rendered":"Filling Your Tank"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Matthew 25 : 1–13 ESV:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The Parable of The Ten Virgins<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

(1) \u201cThen the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who<\/strong><\/span>
\ntook their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

(2) Five of them were foolish, and five of them were wise.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

(3) For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with<\/strong><\/span>
\nthem,<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

(4) but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps.<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

(5) As the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy<\/strong><\/span>
\nand slept.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

(6) But at midnight there was a cry, \u2018Here is the bridegroom!<\/strong><\/span>
\nCome out to meet him.\u2019<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

(7) Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

(8) And the foolish said to the wise, \u2018Give us some of your oil,<\/strong><\/span>
\nfor our lamps are going out.\u2019<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

(9) But the wise answered saying, \u2018Since there will not be<\/strong><\/span>
\nenough for us and for you, go rather to the dealers and buy<\/strong><\/span>
\nfor yourselves.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

(10) An while they were going to buy, the bridegroom came and<\/span><\/strong><\/span>
\nthose who were ready went in with him to the marriage<\/strong><\/span>
\nfeast, and the door was shut.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

(11) Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, \u2018Lord, lord,<\/strong><\/span>
\nopen to us.\u2019<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

(12) But he answered, \u2018Truly I say to you, I do not know you.\u2019<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

(13) Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the<\/strong><\/span>
\nhour.\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Faith is filling the tank–especially when it\u2019s a rental car! \u201cFill \u2018er up.\u201d Now that is faith isn\u2019t it? How do you know that you will take the whole journey, that you won\u2019t change your mind soon after you start, and that you will use up all of the fuel? And if you cannot complete the journey, what a waste it is to have all of that gasoline still unused, sitting in the tank. When you return the rental car, you don\u2019t get any value back for the unused fuel just because there is still gas in the tank, Do you?<\/span><\/p>\n

Notice how the really successful people–the possibility thinkers, always fill their tanks–before they are certain how long the trip will be. Isn\u2019t that exactly what you did when you took that special extra training course? When you went back to school and obtained your advanced degree?<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cFilling your tanks\u201d becomes a key element in achieving success and in the process of growing your faith to a higher level. Doing so activates an inner commitment. It sets in distinct and concrete ways, the hopes and dreams that you have and that you are going to achieve.<\/span><\/p>\n

Reread, carefully, the above referenced Scripture verses. The wise women were those who filled their vessels with oil and took extra oil along! There is a very strong warning in this parable that God wants all of us to learn:<\/span>
\nOpportunities will come to you in unexpected times and places, so always be prepared for them.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Make sure that your tank of faith is always full of needed fuel so that you can be prepared for the unexpected opportunity that wasn\u2019t really in your plan, whenever it presents itself.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Faith is filling your tank so that you can be prepared for an unanticipated emergency along the road, like helping a lonely wounded person along the road of life. Or like stepping into the life of a hurting friend or even stranger who is in real need of personal assistance and no one of their family or close friends is willing to assist.<\/span><\/p>\n

There is also a promise in this godly principle. The promise is that God gives great opportunities to those who are well prepared and willing to take advantage of such opportunities.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Inspiration + Preparation + Saturation = Success<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Keep your faith tank full at all times. None of your fuel will ever be wasted. Someone will always benefit from it!<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOh dear God, in a changing world filled with want and need, I want to be prepared for the unexpected. Please help me fill my tank of faith today with Your promises and Your wisdom so that I will not miss the opportunities You bring before me. Amen.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

All Things Are Possible, to Him Who Believes ………….<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Matthew 25 : 1–13 ESV: The Parable of The Ten Virgins (1) \u201cThen the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. (2) Five of them were foolish, and five … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21490","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-faith"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/davesevern.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21490","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/davesevern.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/davesevern.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davesevern.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davesevern.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21490"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/davesevern.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21490\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21492,"href":"https:\/\/davesevern.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21490\/revisions\/21492"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/davesevern.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21490"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davesevern.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21490"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davesevern.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21490"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}