Posted:
Based on “Under HIS Influence - The Overflowing Lifestyle”
by Pastor Mark Balmer;
9/5-6/09, Message #MB388;
Daily Devotional #2 -
“The Birdbath Lesson”
Preparing the Soil (Introduction): I have a birdbath outside my bedroom window. There’s nothing unusual about that, except I have found it to be something I think about quite often. It is a challenge to keep the water fresh and the concrete bath clean.
On my days off, I enjoy the warm sunny afternoons when birds and other critters come to either swish around and bathe or drink. I can sit on my windowsill and watch squirrels, birds, and even a cat come and partake. The cat was entertaining as he pulled himself up with his paws and hung on to the edge while he drank. The challenge is to find the time to go out with some vinegar and a brush and scrub away all the green algae that develops all too quickly.
At times, the poor creatures come to the birdbath and then leave, disappointed in the still water with a layer of green stuff on top along with leaves and debris. Stagnant water might be utilized by the animals when it is the only option, but the birdbath attracts so many more when the water is fresh.
Water that has been standing for a few days doesn’t bring much refreshment.
Neither does a Christ Follower who has not availed him/herself of the infilling of the Holy Spirit on a daily basis. The Spirit of God must keep flowing from Christ followers so that we may be a blessing to those God puts us in contact with each day.
Planting and Watering the Seed (Growth): As we saw Pastor Mark compare a glass containing water always at the same level to a glass continuously being filled and overflowing, we get a word picture of the Holy Spirit flowing through us to the world.
Stagnant water is not what we want to be. But somehow, when we lose sight of the need to keep our vessels filled to overflowing, we find that no one is coming to drink, and we are not fulfilling God’s plan for our lives. So many people need the shelter from the evil one that is found only in being touched by God.
Each man will be like a shelter from the wind and a refuge from the storm, like streams of water in the desert and the shadow of a great rock in a thirsty land. (Isaiah 32:2) The world is thirsty for the things of God but doesn’t know how to live life or even what life is all about. The world is thirsty and the Christ follower, who is filled with the Holy Spirit and remains humbly seeking Him more each day, can and must point the way home.
Harvesting the Crop (Action/Response): The lesson God has given me through my birdbath is my need for fresh, flowing, life giving water, and the responsibility to seek a daily filling so that I may overflow and be used of God.
It also is a constant reminder of how easily I can neglect this and become useless to a thirsty world.
And, of course, I lose out when I am dry as well. The Holy Spirit is alive and ever moving, so be diligent in seeking Him. You’ll find that He renews a right spirit within us, guides us in wisdom and discernment, teaches the willing heart, comforts at all times, fills us with joy, and empowers us to do all that God asks of us—and the list of wonders goes on and on.
Remember, the Holy Spirit must be invited to indwell.
Take time today to invite Him to live and thrive in your submitted heart.
Wait on Him and receive all He has to give you. Allow the living waters to flow out of you, and He will lead you to the thirsty, as well as fill your deepest thirst for more of Him. Consider the Scriptures below that inform us of the following: The Holy Spirit can be resisted (but who of us would want to), grieved (He is a person), quenched (how sad that would be), He can depart (we must stay close to God), and He can be sinned against (a sobering reality). Therefore, may the Holy Spirit forever find a home in you!
Cultivating (Additional Reading): Acts 7:51; Ephesians 4:30; 1 Thessalonians 5:19; 1 Samuel 16:14; Matthew 12:31-32
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