‘UNPLUGGED’

I sat on my computer working myself away. As you can imagine, my to-do list is as long as the Great Wall of China. Unedited portrait galleries, unedited devotion and parenting episode videos, paperwork here and there and a guilty conscience from abandoned/unwritten blog posts.

I’m on it . . .

To help my work flow seamlessly, I had selected a playlist that would not double as a distraction; it’s easier for me to do mental work when I can’t sing along to the music playing in the background.

(Brandon Lake’s voice is quite soothing, by the way)

I was halfway sorting through a clients gallery when the room went silent; the music playing in the background suddenly stopped. My first and only guess was that Apple Music had decided to stop the play again to prompt me to upgrade my account – even when I’m the only one using the app.

I honestly have gotten tired of the disruption to my music – na by force?

I got up to check the tablet where the music was playing from only to realise that it was switched off. The battery had run out (apologies to Apple for suspecting them this time) – but what caught my attention as I stared at the tablet was the charging cable lying right beside it.

Shy of a few centimetres . . .

I am a visual learner and the Holy Spirit teaches me a lot through the things I see. Right then, I knew a lesson was lurking, so I stayed silent for a bit, then it came:

A lot of you are like that tablet. You are so close to your Source of power, yet you die out because being close is not the same as being connected.

The Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit is such an amazing teacher. He brings His lessons to life in our hearts in such a way that it becomes obvious foolishness to ignore it.

I thought about what He said as I connected the cable to the tablet, and a verse readily came to mind:

“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. If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. John 15:5-6 (that’s another thing about the teachings of the Spirit, it is not apart from the Word of God)

The tablet and the cable were only centimetres away. If I had checked the battery level before turning my music on, I would have connected the cable for a charge, but I assumed the tablet was fine, until it died. How many times have we felt just okay to keep going in our relationships, ministries and other things in life, only to get to a point where we can take no more steps forward? We probably did not realise when we disconnected from our Source, but we kept going, living on a single charge that quickly ran out.

Yes, we felt close to God, we could see His hand moving and working around us, but today, the Holy Spirit is pointing out to us that what we see Him doing around us is not always indication that we are connected to Him – think about the Israelites in the wilderness who saw the mighty hand of God, yet were so disconnected from Him that they could replace Him with a golden calf.

So I guess the question is this: How do we stay connected to the Source?

We must first recognise God as our only Source. Many times we have deceived ourselves to believe that we can do life on our own terms, but without the breath of God, we are only moulded dust. The acknowledgement of God as our only Source puts us in the right posture to receive grace from Him to go on each moment.

The second thing that comes to mind is for us to connect with the Lord through daily prayer, and commune with the Holy Spirit through meditating on the word of God. You know how you grew apart from that friend who you neglected speaking to? You noticed how the connection you once shared turned into series of awkward moments? It’s the same when we stay away from our moment by moment communion with the Lord. So do not let anything get in the way of your daily thanksgiving, intercession and bible study.

Lastly, our connection with the community of faith keeps our connection with the Lord in check. I came to the realisation a few years ago that when the enemy wants to do a number on us, he first isolates us. One moment you’re in fellowship with other followers of Jesus and the next you don’t feel like seeing anyone and everything seems offensive to you. Soon you walk away and dissociate yourself from the fellowship. Take that as a sign to check your connection.

Fight the desire to isolate yourself

The Holy Spirit might be bringing to your mind others ways to stay connected. It is wisdom to heed to His words. There is also joy in sharing, so please leave a comment to encourage the rest of us.

I encourage you today, as the Holy Spirit has encouraged me: don’t just stay close to the Source – be connected to Him!

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As the Lord will have it, we will include the comments that come to encourage us:

From our dear Sue Love: I believe it needs one more step in there prior to the one about community. For the Scriptures teach that we are not to be just hearers of the word but we are to be doers of the word. So it isn’t just about being in the word and in prayer daily, but we must be those who are walking in obedience to our Lord daily and who are applying the truths of his word to our daily life. For that is what it means to abide in Christ and in his word, and that is the way in which we stay connected to the source, through our walks of obedience and submission to the Lord Jesus, and by no longer walking in sin.

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