Advertisers associate the adjectives "fresh" and "refreshing" with healthy smiles and happy faces. "Fresh" describes everything from laundry detergent that evokes pictures of sunshine, flowers, open windows and sea breezes to plump, juicy, vitamin-filled produce. "Refreshing" applies to icy soft drinks, and moisturizing body wash. When a product smells, tastes or feels fresh or refreshing, people in the commercial actually close their eyes and inhale in unparalleled rapture. So far, only the aroma of certain foods sends me into this height of rapture, but maybe I've not yet tried the right product.
What does my spiritual life advertise about my God? Sandrine, my French friend who lived in Alabama for three months, often sat in the cathedrals back in France to enjoy the quiet as she admired the architecture and stained glass. However, nothing about the buildings led her to believe in a living God and she knew no one in France with a fresh, growing faith. The churches and their regular attenders were, for her, reminders of traditions from the past: nice but stale and irrelevant.
Sandrine made me close my eyes and take a whiff of my spiritual growth. I'm afraid I smelled complacency and a touch of plastic. Her complete lack of faith led me to re-examine mine and to crave the Holy Spirit's stirring in me with the reviving, breezy rains of Living Water. Growing became top priority as the urgency to make a difference in my friend's life took hold. I needed the Lord to wake every spiritual nerve in my soul and to prune what was artificial or pretentious. My own spiritual refresher course began as I learned to depend completely on God because this young woman's faith was dead. I needed refreshing so I could be part of leading her to want the fresh start of being reborn.
Lord, refresh us today. We fall into complacency and staleness before we realize it. You are the Living Water - the Holy Spirit/Breath we can inhale and find new life. You stir us like nothing else when we commit our hearts and minds to be open to Your Working. Fill us with the urgency to grow in You so we represent You for Who You are. Rain Your Spirit inside our minds and hearts. Transform us into joyful people in whom anyone can see Your Spirit. Bless You, Lord, for using us. May we fall in love with You more deeply today and may everything about this day be freshly refreshing.
In the Name of Jesus, the Giver of New Life and our Living Water!
"In reply Jesus declared,
'I tell you the truth,
no one can see the kingdom of God
unless he is born again."
John 3:3
"As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are My ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
As the rain and snow come down from heaven,
and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish,
so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,
so is My word that goes out from My mouth:
It will not return to Me empty,
but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it. "
Isaiah 55:9-11
"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD,
"plans to prosper you and not to harm you,
plans to give you hope and a future."
Jeremiah 29:11
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