Refreshment From The Lord!

I have a cool answer to prayer to share!  It doesn’t rain much here in Colorado.  We are classified as a high desert plain.  Denver is the Mile High City after all.  It is very dry and hot most of the time.  Don’t forget, we are very close to New Mexico and Arizona, and not too far from Mexico either.  Southern Colorado is real hot!  Just yesterday I asked the Lord specifically to make it rain.  It has been so dry and we are having forest fires again in the Rockies.  I said, “Please Lord, make it rain.  In Jesus’ Name make it rain please!”  You know what happened late yesterday afternoon around 4:30 p.m.?  God brought moisture down from the mountains in big puffy clouds and it started raining!  It rained through the night and it was still drizzling this morning.  Praise God!  It is overcast in the sky and it is wet all over!  It is very refreshing!  Thank you Jesus!

I just took that picture this morning from my daughter’s room.  That is Pike’s Peak off to the left.  The bumpy ridge in the middle is where we fish the Platte River in the Decker’s corridor.  We love to go camping out there!  Watch out for bears and mountain lions!

 

I am so glad it rained!  The cool moist air is beautiful!  We hardly ever see overcast skies like this.  I’m not complaining about the 330+ days of sunshine and blue skies we get, but it is just really nice to have some rain!

Our souls need refreshing too don’t they?  Most definitely!  When Jesus was in the desert for 40 days and 40 nights being tempted by the devil, He told the evil one “man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.”  Bread can feed your body, but it will never feed your soul!  The only food that can do that is God’s Word and every human soul on earth needs that to live in God’s refreshment!

“Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.'”

Matthew 4:4

“Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life.  He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.”

John 6:35

That is some serious refreshment for your soul!  Do you know what brings that refreshment?  Repentance.  Whoa!  I know, tough word, but bear with me.  If you read my post titled “A Strong Promise” then you know that “repentance” means “changing your mind” in the Greek root of the word.  We study the Greek root words because the New Testament was written in Greek.  If you missed it, here is that information on the Greek root word from the Strong’s Concordance again:

Greek root of the word “repentance”:

“Strong’s Concordance
metanoia: change of mind, repentance
Original Word: μετάνοια, ας, ἡ
Part of Speech: Noun, Feminine
Transliteration: metanoia
Phonetic Spelling: (met-an’-oy-ah)
Short Definition: repentance, a change of mind
Definition: repentance, a change of mind, change in the inner man.
HELPS Word-studies

Cognate: 3341 metánoia – literally, “a change of mind” (“after-thought”); repentance. See 3340 /metanoeō (“repent”).”

Repentance, or metánoia in the Greek, literally means a change of mind.  Jesus called us to repent or change our minds about our sinful ways and turn to Him and go His Way.

“From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.”

Matthew 4:17

That is what repentance means and it can’t be any more clear.  Repentance in itself won’t save you.  Jesus saves you and you must turn to Him for that.  He is the only One that ever died for the forgiveness of our sins.  That is good to repent or change your mind about your sins and living life for yourself, but you must take that good decision to completion and then turn to God and receive forgiveness through believing in Jesus Christ.

Repentance leads you to salvation in Jesus Christ.  I just want to be very clear here.  Repentance is when you change your mind about living your own sinful way and you decide to turn to God and go the Way He said to go, which is to believe in Jesus Christ.  Repentance is an act of our free will as we choose to turn away from sin and turn to God for forgiveness and salvation.  I hope that is clear.  I don’t want anymore trouble with anybody misunderstanding me about the word repentance.  We cannot work our way into Heaven.  Repentance is a choice.  We are saved by grace through faith in Jesus alone and not by works.  Repentance leads us to salvation in Jesus!

“Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.”

2 Corinthians 7:10

“Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”

John 6:29

“For its by grace you have been saved, through faith–and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God–not by works, so that no one can boast.”

Ephesians 2:8-9

 

So, how do we get times of refreshing from the Lord?

In the Book of Acts there is an account of Peter healing a crippled beggar by the power of the Holy Spirit.  The people who saw this happen were amazed, so Peter started preaching about Jesus to help them understand Who he got the power to heal people from.

“By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know was made strong.  It is Jesus’ name and the faith that comes through him that has given this complete healing to him, as you can all see.”

Acts 3:16

After Peter makes it clear that his power comes from Jesus and that is how the man was healed, he tells the crowd how they too can be saved and receive refreshing from the Lord!

“Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord..”

Acts 3:19

Do you see?!  Repentance and turning to God wipes out your sins through Jesus Christ and brings times of refreshing from the Lord!   Hallelujah!

Do you want that today?  Do you want God to wipe out your sins and pour out His Holy Spirit on you as He showers down times of refreshing all over you?!  Then please, with all my heart I plead with you, repent (metánoia, change your mind) about going your own way and turn to God!  Receive His Son Jesus as your Lord and Savior and feed your soul on God’s Word!  I can promise you that just as God’s Word says, times of refreshing will come from the Lord!

Grace and peace to you all!