Drink Plenty of Water!

Drink Plenty of Water! (Author Unknown)

I've heard it. I've read it. As long as I have been running, it's always been the same message: "drink plenty of water."

All along most race courses are water stations, and most runners slow down to drink a cup of cool water. Keeping your water level up is critical when you run. If you get slightly dehydrated, you will not run well. If you get moderately dehydrated, you will become disoriented. If you get seriously dehydrated, you can die. It's serious business.

The first year I ran was 1991, and I was inexperienced (also younger, slimmer, stupider, etc.) I passed water stop after water stop, occasionally drinking a swallow or two. I felt good, and I wasn't going to waste precious seconds drinking water, even though it was a hot, humid day.

Big mistake. As I neared the final mile, I "hit the wall." My energy level dropped to zero, I began having to walk some, and I realized I would have to work hard just to finish. I did make it across the line, but only with a tremendous headache and hardly enough energy to walk. It was not much fun.

I learned an important lesson that year. Stopping for water doesn't actually slow you down. In fact, you will run a better race if you do drink water. The bottom line is that your body is simply not designed to function without water.

In the same way, your spiritual stamina depends on stopping for regular drinks of "spiritual water." The dilemma for busy believers is finding time to invest in reading the Word and meeting with God in prayer. Like the runner intent on reaching the finish line, we tend to put off those regular drinks of water until we are totally parched.

But in the long run, you will run a better race if you will stop for spiritual water. In fact, finishing the Christian race at all may depend on it. And runners who don't ever slow down to take a drink often stumble off the course far short of the finish line.

In this year's race, I saw a man become dehydrated just a mile from the finish. Strangely, he didn't seem to recognize that anything was wrong. He was swaying from side to side as he walked, mumbling over and over, "I'm fine. I'm fine." He was so disoriented that he didn't even recognize his own sick condition.

If you let yourself become spiritually dehydrated, you may not even be able to recognize it. Stop today to drink some cool "living water." For serious runners, it's a must.
~~~~~~~~~~

Promise of Pentecost

Promise of Pentecost

VERSE: "And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days." -- Joel 2:28

THOUGHT: Throughout the Old Testament, God's Spirit would come upon special leaders or agents of God's will to do his work. Most of the time, the Spirit's presence would be temporary, to help with a pressing issue, need, problem, or battle.

In a few cases, like David, God's Spirit never departed from God's servant. But the presence of the Spirit living permanently inside all of God's people was the promise of the coming of the Messiah and the formation of God's new people. This promise from Joel 2 is the centerpiece Scripture quoted by Peter in his sermon during Pentecost. This day, promised by Joel's prophecy, comes with the dawn of the church and signaled by the coming of the Holy Spirit.

The Spirit first comes to those who proclaim the story of Jesus, but then to all who hear the message, believe, and respond by being baptized, on this day and all the days of conversion to follow (Acts 2:38-39). We live in the age of the Spirit!

PRAYER: Thank you! Thank you O God, for allowing me to live in the time of your church. Forgive me when I discount your power released in and through her through the Holy Spirit. Forgive me for not responding to the promptings of the Holy Spirit to be conformed to the character and compassion of Jesus. Forgive me for the times I've grieved the Spirit by saying unkind things about others in whom the Spirit lives. I ask, dear Father, in the name of Jesus, that your Holy Spirit have more influence on my heart and in shaping my life. Amen.

Source: SpiritFire! from HEARTLIGHT http://www.heartlight.org/spiritfire The SpiritFire daily devotional email is written by Phil Ware and is part of Heartlight.org's online Christian resources. SpiritFire is a year long devotional walk focused on the blessing of the Holy Spirit in our lives.