Drained Dry...

I received an email yesterday from a dear friend who is integrally involved in the ministry of her church as a staff person.
She has come to a place where all of us in ministry have been...

Call it what you will... but the dire result and painful experience is the same...

The Dry Riverbed of ministry...
The empty well..
The shallow end of the pool...
The desert experience while being surrounded by the forest...
The glass isn't half empty or even half full... it's just plain empty!
The water spigot is turned all the way on, but nothing but little drops dribble out...
The vessel in which God has poured His Living Water is totally dehydrated...

In the painful words of my friend... She is "drained dry from helping and doing."

Take heart my dear friend...
You are not alone...
You're in the same company of another good friend of mine...
His name is Jesus...

My iWitness...

The fourth chapter of the Gospel of John captures the story of Jesus arriving in Samaria (enemy territory of the Jews at the time).
Listen to John's witness..."Jacob's well was there; so Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well. It was about the sixth hour."

Did you hear those telling words?
Jesus was wearied from his journey.
Jesus got tired.
Jesus had to take time to rest.
Jesus had to take time out so that he would be refreshed and ready to do ministry.

There is a reason God rested on the 7th day! He was TIRED!!
There is a reason Jesus sat down by the well. He was TIRED!!

There is a reason we are "drained dry!" We are TIRED!!
There is a reason we are TIRED!!

We don't know how to REST!!!
Listen to the voices that surround us when we...
take a day off...
take a nap...
take some time to wander aimlessly around the mall...
Do the words, "lazy, slacker, unmotivated" and the like come to mind?

So... what do we do...?
We work and we work and we work just knowing that when we work and work and work we shall be congratulated, promoted and achieve the success that makes all of our friends envious.

Can you say, "BS" with me on that?

Early on in my ministry I remember a wise old lady telling me, "David, you have got to take time to fill in order to spill." If we are the chosen vessel that God uses to minister to and serve others then we need to make and take the time to "fill up" in order to "spill out."

We love to "spill!"
Rarely do we take the time to "fill."

How often do we read about Jesus taking time to go out alone to pray, to be by himself so that he could "fill" in order to "spill?"

The answer is.... A lot!

If you are really industrious, check out the four Gospel accounts of what Jesus was doing on the day before Palm Sunday.

Guess what the answer is?

NOTHING!!

It was the Sabbath! He was resting! He was getting filled up for what would be the biggest week of his life and ministry!

Feeling "drained dry?"
Be intentional about taking time to fill up on the living water of the Holy Spirit.
Don't be apologetic!
You are simply doing what Jesus did all the time...

And that's my iWitness...
Laugh often and Fear not!
David!

"But now even more the report about him went abroad, and great crowds gathered to hear him and to be healed of their infirmities. ¹⁶ But he would withdraw to desolate places and pray." (Luke 5. 15-16)