We Smelled The Heating Oil

To  me, the only place one should smell heating oil is near the oil tank with the cap open, or after working with the equipment. We should not be smelling it on the inside of the house. That would indicate there was probably a leak.

Leaking heating oil can be dangerous and expensive. If the leak is big enough it can be an environmental hazard. Though I smelled it inside, I went outside to the tank, thinking the leak might be there and the wind was blowing the smell into the house. Everything was fine outside.

Back inside, the furnace had stopped since it did its job to warm the house. I opened the furnace door and discovered some heating oil at the bottom.

Shutting the electricity off to the furnace I grabbed some tools, laid on the floor, and tightened some bolts on the motor casing. Dorcas helped with a light and prayed.

After tightening what bolts I thought needed tightened and cleaning up the wasted fuel, I switched the furnace back on. After letting it run a few cycles, I checked, and found no leakage. I am grateful to God for that, but also grateful we were able to smell there was a leak.

Being able to detect that odor reminds me of an important facet every true disciple in Christ has: a level of discernment. While there is the specific gift of discerning of spirits, all true followers of Christ have a measure of discernment.

One Holy Scripture that points to this is 1 John 4:1: “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.” Every human is primarily a spirit. There are other spirits too, but as we see from this verse we are to be cautious of false prophets.

As mentioned in another article, prophecy does not necessarily have to deal with the future, but might also indicate God’s will for a given situation, among other things. However, unless one is truly in touch with God through Christ, their advice might be contrary to the actual will of God. Also, often they do not have to say much. They might just live contrary, even in the slightest way, to the will of God, and their actions encourage us to do the same.

Nay, rather, we need to have our own personal relationship with God through Christ, being led by the Holy Spirit as Christ Himself was led–true to the Holy Scriptures.

If you are truly in Christ, ask Him to sharpen your level of discernment. If you are not in Christ, have not been truly born again, it is imperative that you fully surrender to Christ now, especially in these perilous times.

Note:

This article is part of a series of weekly devotionals that I term “Bible GemLights.” A list of those devotionals may be found on my web site.