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Riches beyond Imagination

A guy named Ira Yates owned a sheep ranch. He kept accumulating land. Then, the Great Depression hit. He began to have a hard time making enough money to pay the interest, the mortgage, operate the ranch, feed the sheep, buy clothes, and keep food on the table. Day after day, he would move his sheep from one pasture to another to graze over those West Texas Hills. Mr. Yates felt he was drowning in debt. He didn’t know how he would pay his bills.

He had just about decided to give up when a seismographic crew from Marathon Oil came along. They thought there could be oil on Mr. Yates’ property, and they asked for permission to drill a well. He signed on immediately. The crew drilled 1,115 feet and struck a massive oil reserve now known as the Yates pool. That first well produced 880,000 barrels a day. Imagine now many subsequent barrels it produced! In fact, 30 years after the discovery of the Yates pool, a test of one of the wells revealed it still had a potential flow of 125,000 barrels of oil every day.

Mr. Yates owned it all. When he purchased the land, he also got the mineral and oil rights. Yet he had no idea what he had. He’d scraped through years of hardship trying to survive, a potential billionaire living in poverty. Mr. Yates was ridiculously rich, but he had not known it.

Here’s the truth about those of us who have given our lives to Jesus: we are ridiculously rich. We are wealthy beyond the world’s imagination and understanding. As sons and daughters of the King of kings, our birthright gives us all access to every resource of His kingdom, to everything we could ever need. It’s already ours, but do we know it? Do we believe it?

Tragically, far too many Christians live in spiritual poverty because of their lack of awareness and understanding of the Holy Spirit. Perhaps because of a lack of spiritual formation or discipleship, or a theological view or tradition, many people are like Mr. Yates. They are not aware of the Holy Spirit, or that they are entitled to all the gifts of His energizing power. Far too many are not aware of what they possess or have access to because of Him.

God, please open my eyes to the power of Your Holy Spirit.