Good Wednesday morning! The next to last day of 2009 has arrived in all its glory! I don't know that this day is any more glorious than the last, but isn't every day a glorious new day? The day comes in cloudy or sunny, rainy or dry, cold or warm, but each day is full of new possibilities for the glory of God the Father!
On the days when I sit down to write the devotional and my mind flutters about like an inebriated hummingbird, I try to concentrate on God. What message of praise and worship can I send out to you that will inspire, encourage, educate, or just remind you of the blessing you already have or know? We have passed through many painful times in our lives. The valley where death casts its shadow seems to have many shadows, some lighter and some very dark. Through all of them, we have Jesus beside us to lead and comfort us. We remember the words of Psalms 23 and gain comfort We find it easy to remember the bad times, perhaps our adversary helps to remind us of them too, but we need only look up in prayer to know that Jesus has never left us. When Jesus ascended to Heaven, he sent the Comforter to all of us.
In the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit was in the world with us, in the New Testament, Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to be not only in the world, but inside those who believe in Him. We can see the Holy Spirit at work in those who do not yet believe also. As Christians, our conversation often turns to Christ and what he has done for us. With those in the world, the turning of the conversation to Jesus will often provoke an uncomfortable reaction in them. Jesus told us that would happen as the Holy Spirit convicts the world of its sin. We may have trouble remembering when this happened to us back in the day. The times when the mention of Jesus would bring almost a physical wince as the Holy Spirit put a finger on our unforgiven sin.
Today, we do recognize the effect though, even if we don't recall the feeling in our memories. A friend might use vulgar language in an effort to drive us away from the topic of Jesus in conversation. Isn't it interesting how that kind of language can make us have a similar feeling to what the mention of Jesus did before? This isn't to say that a person's speech must be clean and perfect to be saved. We all have habits clinging to us that need to be cleaned up and thrown out; the Holy Spirit will take care of those as He enables us to overcome the things of this world. Trust in Jesus and live for the day!
Bucky
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