Soaking Session

Last week things got really busy. There is a lot going on at the moment and I'd got to the end of another day having been up very early in the morning for a prayer meeting. It was before homegroup and I had a choice: meet God or watch tv. I made the right choice. I turned off the tv and flipped open my Bible. I was finding things quite dry and hard to concentrate: I really wanted to dose off! However, time and time again I find God draws near to me when I reach out to Him and today was no exception. In that moment, I felt the Holy Spirit say, "lie down and soak in me". I was not convinced lying down when I was tired anyway was a good idea and thought it must be me telling myself what I wanted to hear! But no, those same words came to me again and I succumbed. I lay down on the floor, turned up my worship music and just soaked in the Holy Spirit.

There are times when we need to be actively in pursuit of God, there are times when we need to engage with steely determination and unwavering commitment. However, there are other times when we just need to sit at His feet, wait on Him and let Him fill us. As a Christian and someone involved in leadership, I need to be able to minister out of an overflow of God regardless of how I am feeling in myself. It is a lot easier to do that when I have something to give because I have received something from the Lord. He loves to meet us, fill us and minister to us. As I lay on the floor, eyes closed, resting and relaxing in God, I felt His presence and pleasure. My spirit prayed silent prayers and I let God get hold of my life in a fresh way.

On Tuesday, we had a youth meeting and after a busy evening of playing games (ankle ball), hearing God's word for our weekend away, praying, worshipping, deciding on some practical matters for Croyde and more, I was suddenly reminded about my 'soaking session' last week. Expecting only a few young people to take this opportunity to lie down on the floor and soak in God as we came around and ministered to them, I was pretty taken aback when all of them responded (except one). The whole atmosphere in the room changed and I knew we had found what God really wanted for us that evening. The next 20 minutes or so were spent just waiting on Him, letting Him move in our lives in whatever way He wanted.

Sometimes we need to soak. Go and run that spiritual bath today!