Your Gatorade Should Not Taste Like Soap

Last week, a friend of mine was at my house. Someone in my family had made a pitcher of gatorade from those tubs of gatorade powder, and she had helped herself to some. As soon as she took a sip, I saw her face wrinkle in disgust. "Too strong?" I asked. "No. It tastes like soap!" was the response. Why was she surprised? Because your gatorade should not taste like soap. She assumed that gatorade was all that was put in the pitcher, and therefore all that would come out. Our bodies, minds, spirits, and souls are all pitchers. What we fill them with is what eventually comes out. There are literal and more allegorical translations to this, but basically, if you put in good stuff, good stuff comes out, and if you don't, well...you know the rest. A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of. Luke 6:45 People often wonder why they feel powerless, helpless to face their lives. They wonder why they always do good simply to have bad things happen. They wonder why God isn't using them the way they feel they were meant to be used. If you are powerless, fill yourself with God's healing, loving, saving power, and what will come out of you is God's power. If you are helpless, find where your true help comes from - lean on Him wholeheartedly, fill your spirit with his help and you will find your help overflowing! Fill yourself with God's goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, love, joy, patience, peace, kindness, self-control...just fill yourself with Holy Spirit and these fruits with flow out of you. Just as importantly, fill yourself with prayer, thanksgiving, and the word of God and these things will also pour out of you. What goes in a vessel is what comes out of it. That is, of course, unless the vessel was not fully cleaned (and rinsed!) to begin with. While it is important to fill ourselves with the things of our Daddy, it is first important to ensure that we have presented ourselves as clean, fresh, rinsed vessels for the filling. I am finding myself going through my music, DVD's, videotapes (yes I still have some), television habits...everything! Before I fill this vessel with Daddy's gatorade, I want to be sure I have left no trace of anything that could taint it. Then, once it is clean: fill me up, God! Daddy, Thank you for your power and help. Help us to submit our spirits so that we may be willing vessels for you. Help us to first clean house and ensure that our bodies, minds, spirits, and souls are ready for everything you will fill us with. May we rid our hearts of any flavor of the world so that when we are filled with your holy presence, we will hold onto nothing that will taint your awesome power. Thank you for your word that we have black and white, printed materials with which to fill ourselves, and give us the desire to do so daily so that your words are what come out in our lives and the lives of those we touch each day. In the name of Jesus we pray, Amen