TIME FOR A WASH

Ephesians 5:25-27 NIV …just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.

Yesterday I cleaned our upstairs windows which is difficult as I had to hang right out the window, almost upside down to reach the sills! Talk about being a contortionist! Whoever designed them didn’t have someone my small size in mind!😊 When I’d finished though I felt so pleased with myself and it made me think sometimes our inner windows could do with a wash as well!

We can become all muzzied up, like my windows were, by the things that happen and by listening to the world’s thoughts and ways. We need to have a wash in God’s word to remind ourselves of who we really are and allow God’s thoughts and ways, which we know are far higher, to wash us clean and lift us up to remember we’re above only and not beneath, we’re seated in heavenly places (Eph.2:6).

Isaiah 49:31 NIV but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary; they will walk and not be faint.

It reminded me of the story of the farmer who hatched an egg which turned out to be an eagle but kept it with his turkeys in a coup where it learned to scratch around and gobble all day because it didn’t know it was an eagle and could fly! Someone came by, realised what it was and took it up into the mountains but it didn’t know what to do at first because it still thought like a turkey! After several wing flappings it suddenly caught the wind and up it flew into the thermals to enjoy the life it was designed for.😊

That’s what God wants for each one of us; to let His word wash us clean on the inside so we remember we weren’t designed to scratch around with the world but we’re a child of God who can learn to soar like eagles. 

So let’s wash ourselves with God’s word and let the light of God remind us of who we really are, seated in heavenly places with Him, filled with the resurrection life that raised Jesus from the dead, and allow Him to lift us up above the things that try to pull us down, out of the turkey coup, to soar in God’s thermal overcoming atmosphere, with a cleansed window of perspective. In Jesus name. Amen.

Photo by Anton on Unsplash

RESTORATION

Psalm 23:1-3 NKJV The Lord is my shepherd;I shall not want. 2 He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. 3 He restores my soul;

This is a lovely path in a nearby park where you can wander under the shade of the towering trees. Sometimes our souls need places like that to unwind and sense the presence of God walking beside us.

Psalm 23 talks about the Lord leading us in paths of righteousness and goes on to say He restores our souls which we all need whether we acknowledge it or not.😊

Maybe you can’t get out to walk in soothing places, but perhaps your soul restoring spot is a favourite arm chair, but wherever it is God is giving us all an invitation to His Soul Restoration Workshop whenever we need it.

Psalm 51:12 talks about God restoring the joy of His salvation to us and granting us a willing spirit to sustain us. How much we need those restoring as well!

In Matthew 11:28-30 Jesus talks about giving us rest for our souls when we simply come to Him. He doesn’t ask us to come and try to pray when we’re exhausted, or put on a brave face, or to wear a mask of pretending to be something we’re not. He just says come and let Him do the rest. 

God is in the restoring business, whether it’s our health, our minds, our relationships, our finances, our emotions, our strength - you name it - God wants to restore it. He says He will restore the years that the locusts have eaten (Joel 2:25–26 ESV), in other words He even restores our wasted years.

God is so generous He even promises double restoration! Zechariah 9:12 ESV Return to your stronghold, O prisoners of hope; today I declare that I will restore to you double.

Jesus is our Good Shepherd the Restorer of our souls and we probably all need something restoring in our lives so maybe it’s time to book ourselves into God’s restoration workshop today. I know we won’t regret it.😊 Amen.