Was using my cell phone the other day and a notice came on that said my batter y was low (20%), and I needed to cha r g e it and/ or set phone to battery saving (turns off some of the apps). My first reaction was WHAT??? I haven’t been using it much, why, I haven’t even been on Facebook yet.

What could it be? Then it hit me, I have been talking on it, like most of the day! I had made several calls and had talked to 3 or 4 people. And come to think of it, one of those conversations was a lengthy one. Maybe my battery was in need of charging. I guess technology was right.

I guess I need to find a charger. We all have them for our phones, computers, tablets and i-pads. We keep them in the office, by the bed on a nightstand, in the living room on an end table, maybe in the kitchen or dining room and of course in our vehicles. We also have the pocket chargers for a quick charge.

This got me thinking. What caused the phone battery to go dead? Well the obvious reason was excessive use. Several back-to-back calls have a tendency of doing this. But there is also being absent minded and not plugging in to the charger the night before (or checking to make sure the charger is plugged in to the wall!).

Sometimes it is an internal virus that your phone picks up on the internet and will suck all the juice out in a very short time. Usually when this happens the phone gets very hot.

Finally, it may just be the battery is bad and needs to be replaced. You can do this in the old phones, but the new ones require you to just get a new phone. That is never fun nor is it very cheap!

But, in this thinking process, I noticed it is not much different with us. Our physical bodies are like our phones. We run our batteries down through excessive running around and failing to take time to rest. We fail to pace ourselves. Sometimes we just need a virus check (fever, aches and pains, cough?) and take a couple of aspirin, tylenol or some medicine to get ourselves well.

And, just like our physical bodies, our spiritual bodies are the same. We need to keep our spiritual life charged, too. See we get to running around doing so many spiritual, Godly, church things we don’t think about our battery draining. We miss our daily Bible reading or devotional. We miss a Sunday night service or Sunday School, but we go Sunday morning. Maybe it is a prayer time at night and we are just so tired….(you know the rest). We miss that charging that comes from God’s Word, preaching or Bible Study and prayer.

We need to do periodic maintenance checks on ourselves. The Apostle Paul said for us to “Test yourselves” (2 Corinthians 13:5) and John says to “Test every spirit” (1 John 4:1). Are you spiritually sick or healthy? Are you hot or cold for God?

Pacing ourselves is equally important. Walk with God, don’t run ahead or lag behind. Keep pace with Him and the work He has set before us. The writer of Hebrews tells us to “Run the race with endurance that is set before us” (Hebrews 12:1-2). Endure, pace yourself and stay on course, finishing the task set ahead. Don’t quit because you ran out of steam.

Finally, keep a charger handy. A charger? Yes, a pocket charger. It is called the word of God. A pocket New Testament Bible. Keep one in your car(s), office desk, gym bag, purse, shirt pocket, anywhere you go, take the Word with you. Read it when you have a few minutes of downtime. Read it when you are discouraged, mad, frustrated or even overjoyed! 2 Timothy 3:16-17 tells us that God’s Word is good for anything and everything!

Now, I think I need to go plug in my Chrome Book, because the battery is going dead (forgot to plug it in after I used it last). Now where is that charger?

Keeping Charged UP, Bro. Tim