Fill Your Pitcher

YOU CAN'T POUR FROM AN EMPTY PITCHER. 

Oh dear, dear friend, it is so good to be talking with you again.
I don't know about you, but I'm starting to miss you when I'm not writing.
I hope and pray that you have been well and growing in the Lord in one way or another.
Isn't it an exciting journey that we're on?

We just never know what the Lord has in store for us, but we can always rest assured that He will be there loving and guiding us and revealing more of His great holiness to us.
Praise Jesus!

But, sometimes in the midst of this challenging and rewarding Christian walk do you ever have the feeling that you're running on empty?
Like you're dry as a bone and don't have any reserves to help yourself, let alone anyone else?

Your spirit is parched.
It's so thirsty.
It needs to be refreshed.

So, what do we do when this happens or better still, what can we do to prevent this from happening?

I had the wonderful opportunity this week-end past to attend a Beth Moore conference with ladies from my Bible study group. What an amazing uplifting experience it was! Can you just imagine for a moment Five thousand two hundred wonderful women who love the Lord coming together in one place to receive His word, sing His praises and worship together?

Looking around at the sea of women on all sides suddenly my throat ached and I felt like crying.
I don't really know why. It was something about this flowing colorful kaleidoscope of beautiful ladies, all of these "X" chromosomes-- just like me, but each one so unique and special in their own way.

It's about this emotional bond we have just by virtue of the fact that we are women, designed by God's hand to experience the joys as well as the heartaches that only a woman's heart can.
What a blessing to be created by God to be a woman!

***

 Now guys out there who are reading this, please don't feel slighted. You are very special and designed by God's hand also and I love you too, but I can only tell about life from my perspective as a woman. Some other day we'll talk about what magnificent creatures you are!

My special prayer for you is that as you read this it will give you more compassion and insight into the hearts of those women who you care for; your wives, mothers, sisters, daughters, and friends, AND that you also will find time to fill your pitcher to overflowing. Even great men like each of you need to do that. Please keep reading to find out how and why.)

Bless your dear hearts, I know sometimes we are a challenge, as you are to us.
But, just pray for us and love us, okay?
I pray that God will fill you to overflowing with His love.

***

Now, that being said, let's get back to . . . let's see . . . where was I?
Oh Yes! . . . the conference.

They came in every shape, color and description. Fragile, petite ladies that gave the appearance of having just stepped out of the center of a rosebud and others that might have just roared up on their Harleys. We are a magnificently diversified group.

I saw ladies that appeared to be in my age range, some precious ones who were quite elderly and sported their brilliant "white crown of glory" as the Bible refers to it.
I saw young exuberant girls in their teens and early twenties, there were those that came in wheelchairs and with canes, one lovely blind lady carried a white walking stick and was being gently guided up the arena steps by a friend, there were mothers-to-be braving the crowd and crowded bathrooms, while still others carried their infants in their arms and papoose style on their backs.
I saw nuns and covered ladies.

All walks of life and denominations were represented.
All ages and stages of the female continuum.

All so different and yet in one way all the same.

We are all in need of a Savior. We all need the love, forgiveness, salvation and redemption of our precious Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We need to dwell close to Him and be filled up by His Holy Spirit.

We as women generally spend alot of our lives as caretakers in one way or another. We care and thus we take care of others if not physically, emotionally. It can be very taxing on our inner resources. We can begin to feel run down physically, drained spiritually and emotionally. When this happens satan can have a heyday with us. He slips his foot in the door and in comes doubt, depression, and discouragement.

The three deadly, devastating D's.

You know what I'm talking about. We've all been there, at the bottom of the pit looking up and wondering how we got there, feeling too weak to pull ourselves out.
That's what happens when we allow our spiritual pitchers to run dry. We have no reserves left. We have nothing to offer to those in need all around us, those who depend on us.
Before we can pour ourselves out in service to others, we must be refilled by the Holy Spirit.

The Bible speaks often of the Living Water.
God designed us for continual communion with Him.
His desire is for us to fill ourselves up with more of Him.

As a deer longs for streams of water,
so I long for you, O God. Psalm 42:1

When we are in communion with Him, our Source, we are filled up.

Oh God, You are my God.
Early will I seek You.
My soul thirsts for You.
My flesh longs for You.
In a dry and weary land where there is no water.
So I looked for You in the sanctuary to see Your power and Your glory. Psalm 63:1

This world we live in is a desert when it comes to the things of God. Dwelling here dries us up if we allow it. We must drink from the fountain that never runs dry. We must daily fill our pitchers with the source; the living water that Jesus offers us. It is cool and refreshing to our souls. It fills us up to overflowing. Then, when our spiritual pitchers are full we can pour out the love and grace of the Holy Spirit onto others and refresh them in His name.

It will never run out if we continue to abide in Him.
How do we do this?

We all need to spend time each day in prayer at the feet of our loving Father.

If you knew the gift of God and who it is who says to you, 'Give Me a drink,' you would have asked Him and He would have given you living water. John 4:10

We need to read His holy word.

...that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of the water of the word.
Ephesians 5:26

We need the fellowship of other Christians. There are lots of options and opportunities for this but you must take the first step.

Go to church-one that worships the one true God and Father, Jesus the Christ and the Holy Spirit.
Get involved in a Bible study.
Listen to Christian music.
Read Christian devotionals.
Watch television church.
Take part in a prayer group.
Whatever you do, surround yourself with the things of God, and His word.

Hold out your pitchers and let the Lord fill them to overflowing
And, last but not least, as I was blest to be able to do this past week-end, go any chance you get to hear someone speak who has the special annointing of the Holy Spirit on their life.

Let them pour their pitchers over you.
My conference experience was truly overwhelming!
I left so uplifted and full.
Yes, full.
My spiritul pitcher was filled to overflowing.
Now, I am ready to pour out the love of God to others.

I pray for each and every one of you, every precious heart who is reading this today. I pray that you will be renewed and refreshed in your inner being and be filled with His Spirit. But, I also pray that you will be left thirsty enough to keep seeking the presence of our Lord.

I don't know about you, but all this talk about cool, refreshing water has made me really thirsty. My tongue is hanging out!
I can't wait to go and get a nice cold glass of water.

With each swallow I will think of the living water of God that refreshes my soul.

...He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul... Psalm 23:2-3

The water whose source will never run dry. It flows from the throne of God!

And he showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal coming from the throne of God and the Lamb. Revelation 22:1

(c) 2011 Bonnie Mae Evans