Greetings in the name of “the One Whom My Soul Loves” (Song of Songs 1:7)…and in the name of Jesus Christ – THE Crucified and Risen Saviour! What a delightful early Spring morning – with the promise of everything, sunshine, wind, rain, cool warmth, and even snow!! I trust that you had a great weekend and Monday – enjoying the life that God has given you and the people in your life and the “hope” you have. Today I will be praying for you, asking Father to walk alongside and whisper to you the words that you need to hear.
A morning devotion brought words from Scripture that challenge me: …then they believed his (God’s) words were true and broke out in songs of praise. But it wasn’t long before they forgot the whole thing, wouldn’t wait to be told what to do. They only cared about pleasing themselves in that desert, provoked God with their insistent demands. He gave them exactly what they asked for–but along with it they got an empty heart. Psalm 106:12-15 The Message. The phrase “empty heart” is translated as: ‘wasting disease’, ‘degenerative disease’, ‘leanness of soul’ … in different translations and those create powerful, insightful images.
I am aware of Christ-followers that I have met who once walked in a measure of power and purpose with a deep dependence on God but did not shepherd their relationship with God. They wanted their own way, without discipline and direction…and without wanting to surrender to God. The day came when they ‘broke free’, as it were, from acknowledgement of God’s control in their lives…and all that they thought they would have achieved evaporated into – a ‘degenerative disease’ – an ’empty heart’ – a ‘lean soul’ and they became ‘hollow’ Christians with a depleted supply of joy, peace, and hope. They became like inhabitants of Ezekiel’s – valley of dry bones, waiting to be ‘re-hydrated’.
We in the Christian church are journeying through the 50 days of Easter moving towards the Day of Pentecost – May 24th this year, with the belief and expectation that God is going to ‘move’ within our ‘faith-lives’ to blow away the cobwebs and dust within the unused areas of our being and ignite a fire that cleanses, purifies, and warms. Let me challenge you: over the next days, as we move towards May 24th – Pentecost Sunday, to ponder anew what the Almighty can do and to desire his touch and to surrender to his control. May God grant you a “fat soul”, and a spirit of ‘re-generation’.
Blessings on you!