GETTING THE BASICS RIGHT FIRST

It's certainly been an exciting first two months being back in London for this amazing apprenticeship! I've had the opportunity to learn through our apprentice training days and a few short mission and evangelism conferences. Still, it keeps coming back to a key principle which was very well demonstrated by the author Marcus Honeysett at the Formation Conference last month, a conference especially for apprentices to help us understand the importance of grace as fuel for ministry. Using a full glass of water (representing us), he poured the water out into a tub (representing people we serve) and showed how trying to serve others by pouring yourself out will leave you empty. He then brought in a full pitcher representing the Holy Spirit and demonstrated how we ought to serve (a drawing I made in my journal):

Thus, we need to be filled with the Spirit so that we serve out of the overflow. To do this, we must develop good habits for regular Bible reading and prayer in order to be filled with the right fuel. It's something I've known all along but I'm now really seeing the importance of getting these basics right first. There's no point in knowing how to run an evangelistic event, lead a Bible study, etc, if I don't have the Spirit fuelling it from within. There is no shortcut for building a strong foundation. Of course, knowing and doing are two different things. Would you please pray that what may have begun as an exercise in discipline will grow into a deep love for daily Bible reading and prayer? Also, please pray that I thirst for it to the point of feeling empty when I haven't read or prayed. Thank you!