August 12, 2015

What To Do When Your Spiritual "Low Battery" Light is Flashing

Hello, sweet girl! I promise we'll get back to bite-sized studies and our fruit of the Spirit series soon, but I wanted to share this post with you now. That's partly because I'm a little obsessed with spiritual object lessons, and partly because I'm still working on patience...both on having this quality of the fruit of the Spirit and on the post about it!


So a couple weeks ago we were "experiencing technical difficulties" in our GALs (Girls And Ladies) Sunday School class.

Which is to say that the DVD we were trying to watch was playing, but it was jerky. It kept starting and stopping in maddening fashion. It was working, but not well, and not effectively.

I tracked down our church's resident tech expert, who took one look at our set-up and said, "Oh, I see what the problem is." As it turned out, the laptop we were using to play the DVD wasn't plugged into an outlet. The computer was running off its own battery, which had just enough power to function, but not enough to function properly. 

My older daughter, whom we'd recruited to be in our-house tech girl, said, "Oh, I saw that light flashing, but I didn't know what to do about it." Once Mr. Tech Guy plugged the laptop into the main outlet, the DVD ran like it was supposed to.

All during the rest of our class session, I thought about how this is the way we are in our walk with God. We try to run off our internal spiritual battery, and everything plays just fine for awhile. We're charged up by past worship, past Bible study, past fellowship, past connections with God. But before too long, we get jerky. We can function, but not well, and not effectively. 

And that's when we need to recharge by plugging back into The Power Source.

"I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing." (John 15:5 TNIV) 
Here are some steps I know I need to take when my spirit's low-battery light starts flashing.(And before it starts blinking would be even better.)

Pause. Before we could fix our hit-and-miss DVD, we had to stop the playback. Before you fill up your car's gas tank, you have to turn off the engine. I'm not suggesting that recharging your soul requires you to quit all activity and sit still for an hour. But you need to hit pause on some of your activity, if only for 10 minutes. You can be moving (I recharge while I'm out walking every morning), but your mind needs to be free to go to God. Got a run you need to get in or a lawnmowing gig with your name on it? Either would be a great time to power up your eternal battery.
"Cease striving and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations; I will be exalted in the earth." (Psalm 46:10 NAS)
Pray. If prayer is something you'd label one of your weaker spiritual disciplines, you're not alone. I felt the same way for a long time and still do to some extent. But like most things worth doing, prayer is something that gets better, stronger, and easier with practice. To borrow from Nike: just do it. Prayer is simply a conversation with a God Who is ready, willing, and extremely pleased to hear from you! You don't have to use certain words or a formula. But, if you're like me and your mind tends to wander when you pray, following this P.A.T.H. might help.
  • Praise ~ Tell God Who He is. (He knows; the affirmation and reminding are for us.) Say what He is--awesome, creative, loving, good, kind, compassionate, and on and on. Or say Who He is using His names. (You can find an alphabetical post-in-progress here to get you started.)
  • Admit ~ Confess your sins to God. (He knows; the admitting is for us.) Sin--anything that misses the mark of God's justly perfect standard--gets in between us and God. True confession and repentance (turning away from that sin) clear the path for communication and relationship.
  • Thank ~ Tell God what you're grateful for. Not only are thankful people happier people, but this step keeps your prayer from being just a list of requests and demands.
  • Help ~ Ask God for help, for yourself and for others.
The point of this P.A.T.H. is not (not!) to make prayer ritualistic. I'm not suggesting in any way that prayer has to follow a certain formula to "work." I use this P.A.T.H. to keep my mind and spirit on track. (And also because I am something of an organization freak.)
"You will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart." (Jeremiah 29:12, 13)
Plant. Read God's Word. Download a daily Scripture app. Choose verses you want to come back to again and again. Write them out. Speak them aloud (which, BTW, the enemy hates). Memorize them so they'll be buried in your mind and heart for future reference. Need a method for memorizing Scripture that has worked for at least one other person? Here's one to try.
"I have stored up Your Word in my heart, that I might not sin against You." (Psalm 119:11 ESV)
Praise. Worship God. Sing to Him. Listen to Christian music in the car or when you're getting ready in the morning. (Current favorites in our house: anything from Hawk Nelson or Lauren Daigle.) Go to church and lift your voice or your hands in His honor, even when you don't feel like it...especially when you don't feel like it.Tell somebody else what God is doing in your life.
"I have seen You in the sanctuary and beheld Your power and Your glory. Because Your love is better than life, my lips will glorify You. I will praise You as long as I live, and in Your name I will lift up my hands." (Psalm 63:2-4)
Participate. Sign up to work in the church nursery. Serve lunch at a homeless shelter. Commit to a Bible study--and follow through to the end. Go to church instead of sleeping in on Sunday morning. Find a spiritual mentor. Spend time with other believers.
"My friends, what good is it for one of you to say that you have faith if your actions do not prove it? Can that faith save you? So then, as the body without the spirit is dead, also faith without actions is dead." (James 2:14,26 GNT)
Pursue. Keep looking for God. Notice His handiwork in creation. Listen for His voice in the words of other Christians and in song lyrics and in the still, small voice nudging your spirit. Run away from anything that pulls you from God, and run toward the Source of every good thing.
"O God, You are my God, earnestly I seek You; my soul thirst for You, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water. Because You are my help, I sing in the shadow of Your wings. I stay close to you; Your right hand upholds me." (Psalm 63:1,7,8)
 How do you recharge spiritually? 
I'd love to have you share your step (it doesn't have to start with a "P"!).
Leave a comment, post on Facebook, or send an email!

22 comments:

  1. Elizabeth, what a beautifully written post! I love these ideas for when we need to recharge. It seems like such a simple problem, with such a simple solution. Why, or why, does it take me so long to figure out that I just need a spiritual recharge?!?

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    1. Thank you so much, Jennifer! I am SO guilty of waiting until my own battery is sputtering and dying before I do anything about it. I wrote this post for myself as much as for anyone else. :) Thank you for taking time to stop by and to comment!

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  2. Love it! This is so true. Too often we tend to charge our battery on Sunday morning but by the end of the week we are glitching. We need to stay plugged in throughout the week. But a misunderstood concept is that to 'charge' we must go to church or Bible studies. However, God created to world and we can charge by enjoying it! Great ideas!

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    1. Thank you, Amanda. I LOVE how you referred to us "glitching." Wow, is that ever spot-on. I know my battery does not hold a charge for a full week between Sundays! ;) Thanks so much for taking time to read and comment...here's to a "glitch-free" rest of your week!

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  3. Thank you. I love the steps. Thank you so much for writing this. The laptop-example is so great!

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    1. Thank you, Ariƫlla! It was lovely to "meet" you via the Google+ Christian Bloggers Comment Exchange!

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  4. First of all, can I say I'm so glad you are in the Christian Blog Comment Exchange? I just joined and I know I will be enjoying your posts more now. I like your PATH analogy. It is not one I've heard before but it makes perfect sense - especially the Admit part - for my life right now. Thank you!

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    1. Oh, thank you so much! I'm glad I found CBC, too! I And I'm glad the prayer P.A.T.H. made sense to someone other than me...it really just helps me stay on track so my mind doesn't wander to my grocery list or some other mundane thing. ;) So glad to "meet" you!

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  5. Thank you for sharing your heart and your advice on prayer! Beth Moore's Whispers of Hope shared a path of prayer that has changed the way that I pray! Thank you so much!

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    1. Thank you, Stacy! I love Beth! Thank you for taking time to stop by...I look forward to spending time on your site soon!

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  6. This is the precise weblog for anybody who needs to seek out out about this topic. You notice so much its almost arduous to argue with you. You positively put a brand new spin on a subject that's been written about for years. Nice stuff, simply nice!

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    1. My goodness, thank you so much! I just try to write what God teaches me in case it might help someone else! Thank you for your comments!

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  7. I found myself nodding my head throughout our post. I love the 6 P's for recharging our spiritual batteries and will be working on those in my own life. Your words have given me something to reflect on as I begin my day and week. Thank you for this post and I am so glad we are almost neighbors at #RaRalinkup today.

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    1. Thank you so much, Mary! Your words have encouraged me and blessed my day. Thank you for stopping by from the RaRa! :)

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  8. I'm visiting you from #RaRaLinkup, Elizabeth. What a powerful post you've written here! Really good. The analogy is spot on. And your suggestions are easy to remember. I think of all of the, I forget to PAUSE! And it's true. You can't fix a problem without pausing first!

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    1. Thank you so much for visiting, Betsy, and for your encouraging words. I know the ladies of the RaRa are spiritually mature and always seeking to go deeper with God, so I'm grateful if my very simple post stuck any chord. Blessings to you, and thank you for taking time to stop by and to comment!

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  9. Elizabeth, I love your DVD/low battery analogy and the verses you included with each of your points. Thank you for this practical reminder of how important it is to stay connected to the Source of our strength. So glad to be your neighbor at Purposeful Faith today ...

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    1. Blessings and thanks, Lois! May God, our Source of every good thing, fill you up with Himself today. So glad to be your neighbor, too! :)

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  10. I so need this right now. The last few months have been hectic! I mean really busy!
    But I am encouraged by reading this Elisabeth.
    Thank you for stopping over on my blog. I really do appreciate it.
    Loads of Blessings to you

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    1. Thank you so much, IFEOMA! I'm so grateful you stopped by. Blessings to you on Purposeful and Meaningful...a wise way to live!

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    1. Glad to hear it, Hillary...for me, too! Thanks for taking time to stop by. Blessings to you on the vine today!

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I'd love to hear from you. What do you think? What's on your mind? Did you learn anything from this study that you didn't know to begin with? Did it make any sense? Tell me...I really want to know.