Whatever He Says

By Belinda My newly showered skin revels in the exquisite comfort of a freshly washed, fleece sweater. My clean hair, tied back out of eyes and face, shiny and catching the light, feels silken as a baby's. But I come seeking soul shower, this early morning. Clean clothes, skin and hair are not enough to start my day; I seek my Saviour's sanctifying voice; his cleansing Holy Spirit breath through the hallways of my inner self. Oh, Lord, shower me, With your cleansing, purifying, mercy rain. Wash away selfishness and soul dinginess, Clean forgotten corners of cobwebs that drift in the breeze. Blast them away with the breath of  your love. Make me shiny; clean; pure; holy; set apart for service, Shower me. Hebrews 12:14 (New International Version) 14Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord. Ephesians 4:22-24 (New International Version) 22You were taught, with regard to your former wa...

Psalm 32:7 (New International Version) 7 You are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance. Selah Love prodded. I resist the pull to old ways, I wrestle. But Jesus is defined by love. It is his very essence. And so I open my Bible to a passage I have lived in of late: 1 Corinthians 13. Today I read it wanting so much to be the love that I read of. After all, love that cannot be tested, is no love at all. Love... Is patient, where I can be so impatient. Is kind, and cares for the other person more than for self--another area in which I need to grow. Keeps no record of wrongs. When I feel accused I am tempted to rehearse past hurts. Always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. I fight the urge to hide, but he is my hiding place (Psalm 32:7). How appropriate are the words at the end of 1 Corinthians 13 in verses 11-12: 11When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I b...

Jesus: please be, not just in my heart, but in my mind, my hands and my lips; even in the least obviously significant corners of my being. Baptise me; fill me, full of you Lord. I need Christ; not me and my ways, wisdom, or effort. I need his love to flow from the pores of my skin, and through my tongue and fingertips. The fruit of the Spirit is a natural result of him in me. I realize that I cannot afford to go one day without being before him and inviting him; begging him, to come and fill me up with his dear self. I am tempted to use the word "suddenly" and say that I suddenly have so much more clarity on all of this, but of course it hasn't been sudden, but a persistent seeking to understand over time. I have been a slow learner! Verses that previously puzzled or perplexed me and seemed impossible to live up to, now make sense. In fact, it is as exciting as seeing the world through a new pair of glasses. I can't live up to them, but he doesn't expect me to be ...

1 Samuel 6:20-21 (New Living Translation) 20 “Who is able to stand in the presence of the Lord, this holy God?” they cried out. “Where can we send the Ark from here?” 21 So they sent messengers to the people at Kiriath-jearim and told them, “The Philistines have returned the Ark of the Lord. Come here and get it!” The Ark of the covenant, first mentioned in Exodus, was a holy object, a place of meeting with God. But by the time of the young prophet Samuel, its significance and symbolism had become distorted so that it was seen by the Israelites and their enemies as having intrinsic, almost magical properties, to bring good outcomes in battle and good fortune to whichever people possessed it. In 1 Samuel 4-6, the account is told of the capture of the Ark by a people called the Philistines, who soon returned it like a hot potato to the Israelites at Kiriath Jearim. The initial rejoicing and excitement felt by the conquerors at possessing it, soon changed to a desire to pass it on as fast...