A toaster oven is great for – erm, ah, making toast and heating up a few more meal items, assuming of course that it is plugged in.

But you cannot read by it.  The power of electricity flowing through the cord is constant; the same current would light a lamp. The differences is in the internal wiring of the toaster: there is a level of resistance built in, in the thickness of the internal wire(s), that makes the toaster major in heat and not in light.

So too, life in the Spirit of Jesus. The current, God’s power, is the same in every Christian’s life, potent and potentially availble to us by His indwelling and His resonance within with our spirit.

To increase the current, the flow, the inter-change and increasing ability to live a Christ-like life, resistance must be cut down. The Bible tells us not to 'grieve the Spirit.' ^{(Ephesians 4:30)}

There are things in our lives, both within and without, that need to go; we know what they are.

To be able to shine more brightly and keenly for Christ may not be so much about adding something, but of getting rid of something.