Sunday is International Coffee Day and we’ve got just the devotion for you!
Psalm 65:9-13 NIV
You care for the land and water it; you enrich it abundantly.
The streams of God are filled with water to provide the people with grain,
for so you have ordained it.
You drench its furrows and level its ridges; you soften it with showers and bless its crops.
You crown the year with your bounty, and your carts overflow with abundance.
The grasslands of the wilderness overflow;the hills are clothed with gladness.
The meadows are covered with flocks and the valleys are mantled with grain;
they shout for joy and sing.
The Elixir of Life
The 1st of October is International Coffee Day! Who knew? Some of us thought that every day is International Coffee Day! We have this amazing coffee shop in my town, it’s where coffee tastes like it smells (if you know, you know). I once asked the barista: how do you make great coffee? Part of the answer is, use great water, pure, freshly drawn.
God provides us with great water. The “streams of God are FULL of water”. His wonderful provision is always available, pure, fresh. As we read on, we see how that water softens the ground and allows it to be ploughed, planted and to produce – Coffee, as well as all that other good stuff.
Water, in the Scriptures, is often a picture of the Holy Spirit. Asking God to pour His Spirit out in our lives is to ask for our hearts to be softened and made ready to produce the kind of fruit that He is looking for and that our world and our schools so desperately need. Years ago, a parent challenged one of our schools’ workers: “we don’t want that religious stuff in our school”. “Oh”, said Graham, “I don’t bring religion into school. I bring love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.”
My day is regularly punctuated by moments, when I pause whatever task is engaging me, and go and make coffee*. As I make it and then sit and drink it, I have the opportunity to also hit ‘pause’ on whatever is going through my mind, turn my thoughts and my heart towards Jesus, and ask Him to pour His Spirit into my heart. Recently we were challenged to actually sit still with our cup of coffee, and do this. “Go on”, she said, “I dare you!”
(*other drinks are available, though personally I’ve no idea why).
So today, why don’t you take those moments in your day, and as you sit and drink your coffee, turn your focus away from yourself, the task in hand, your concerns and frustrations and challenges – and think on Him.
Go on – I dare you!
Pam
Amen 🙏