The Reservoir

How much of Jesus do you have?

Sometimes I think we treat the Lord as though He is here to fill a giant reservoir in our souls.  We think that if we can go to a certain weekend event it will fill up.  If we just will attend church a little more often, we will see the water level rise incrementally, and then we will have enough water for another week's journey across the desert.  If I just read an extra chapter of the Bible, pick up another Christian book, or listen a little more to that Christian music that I will find myself closer to the Lord and will feel good again.  While you and I have a reservoir in our souls that only He can fill, it is entirely possible that this filling isn't supposed to be an event, but instead should be a continual thing.

The more time I spend in the Pacific Northwest the more I am sure that I have to spend more time with the Lord.  Yes I do get up every morning and pray and read my Bible, but I've found very quickly that it isn't enough to get me through a day here.  Some of you probably read that with some level of surprise.  What?  I've always been taught to do a quiet time in the morning and that would be good enough!  I can say from experience that it isn't good enough.  If the only time I talk to the Lord for the entire day is in the early morning, my reservoir is draining.

What causes this in my life?  Probably the same things that cause it in your life.  We are too busy to have time to pray.  Early meetings at work happen.  A fully scheduled day happens with more meetings, time spent with friends, time spent with family, or time spent (and wasted) looking at those phones that all of us carry.  And at the end of it all when you look up from the day, where did you see God in it all?  He was there, I can assure you, but did you SEE Him working anywhere?

A further drain happens when you have friends who would like spiritual advice, have encounters with neighbors and acquaintances here who do not believe in Jesus, or endure a spiritual attack.  Did you have the armor of God on at that time, or were you relying on this supposed reservoir to save you?  Did you go to your knees in prayer so you can meet these challenges, or did you simply try to push through it on your own?

You and I are not meant to be apart from the Lord, ever.  The great secret that the Lord wants you and I to discover is that He delights in us so much that He WANTS us to be around him and needing him every minute of every day.  And that is why mankind today rebels against God.  It isn't always that we don't believe in Him, it's that we don't want to surrender our lives to Him.  My life is mine to do with as I please, we tell ourselves, and the irony is that slowly over time we lose that very life we aim to so strongly defend.

God wants your time during the day as you work, He wants time in the evening as you spend time with your family, He wants time when you are alone with nothing but your thoughts or your electronic devices.  He wants all of you.  I'm not saying that you are supposed to be in prayer 24 hours a day, although there are worse things you could do.  What I am saying is that He wants you to speak to Him in prayer, listen to His spirit in a mode of waiting, and generally make it so that your life points to Him at all points and in all ways. 

Is the Lord allowed to take your time?
Is He allowed to take your food during a time of fasting and prayer?
Is He allowed to take all of you and not give it back?

John 7:38New Living Translation (NLT)

³⁸ Anyone who believes in me may come and drink! For the Scriptures declare, ‘Rivers of living water will flow from his heart.’”^[a]

^{John 4:9-13}

¹⁰ Jesus replied, “If you only knew the gift God has for you and who you are speaking to, you would ask me, and I would give you living water.”
¹¹ “But sir, you don’t have a rope or a bucket,” she said, “and this well is very deep. Where would you get this living water? ¹² And besides, do you think you’re greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us this well? How can you offer better water than he and his sons and his animals enjoyed?”
¹³ Jesus replied, “Anyone who drinks this water will soon become thirsty again. ¹⁴ But those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life.”

Kid's Club Wrap Up

On June 2nd we had our last Kid's Club for the school year.  This particular one was a bit different in that we taught 2 Bible lessons to our kids, and we did it in small groups.  Because God is great and had a plan all along, we "happened" to be at the point to teach about the Passover, so we did a large-group lesson on all of the things the Israelites had to do for the first Passover to prevent the death of the firstborn.  We later broke into small groups and taught the kids about Jesus, the infinite and final Passover lamb.

At the end of it we had 4 kids accept Jesus right on the spot, and another 3 who are right at the doorstep but still have some thinking to do about it.  That's a pretty amazing harvest when you think about it!  I am still amazed sometimes that we live in America and yet I am telling the story of Jesus to people who are hearing about Him for the first time.  That of course was the case on that Tuesday.  What a blessing to see God at work right in that moment.  He surely is doing something through Kid's Club.

We were thankful at the end of that day and very tired at the same time.  Kid's Club has been done with 40 kids for many weeks, all of which was done with only 4-5 adults leading it.  The work has been exhausting, but I still believe the Lord will draw workers to these harvest fields when He is ready to. 

While I can't control who ultimately chooses to join the journey God has us on, I can control how much time I spend with the One who fills my reservoir.  Without Him, I have no hope whatsoever.  With Him, I have all the hope in the universe.

Haystack Rock on the Oregon Coast.  Amanda and I got some time away at this amazing work of God's creation last weekend.