Wednesday, July 4,
2012, 5:25 a.m. – The Lord woke me this morning with the song “Refresh My Spirit” playing through my
mind. Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening. I read Acts 3 (quoting selected passages in NIV 1984):
“Repent, then, and
turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may
come from the Lord, and that he may send the Christ, who has been appointed for
you—even Jesus. He must remain in heaven until the time comes for God to
restore everything, as he promised long ago through his holy prophets. For
Moses said, ‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from
among your own people; you must listen to everything he tells you. Anyone who
does not listen to him will be completely cut off from among his people.’
“Indeed, all the
prophets from Samuel on, as many as have spoken, have foretold these days. And
you are heirs of the prophets and of the covenant God made with your fathers.
He said to Abraham, ‘Through your offspring all peoples on earth will be
blessed.’ When God raised up his servant, he sent him first to you to bless you
by turning each of you from your wicked ways.”
The Setting
Peter and John, two of Jesus’ disciples, went to the temple
at the time of prayer. They encountered a crippled beggar there who asked them
for money. Peter told the beggar they had no money to give him, but they would
give him what they did have. “In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk,”
said Peter. They took the man by the hand, the man’s feet and ankles became
strong, and he jumped to his feet and began to walk. The people were all amazed
at seeing this man, whom they recognized as the crippled beggar, now walking,
jumping and praising God.
A crowd gathered out of curiosity and astonishment. When
Peter saw the crowd he took the opportunity to talk with them about Jesus
Christ, whom they had crucified. Peter said:
“You disowned the Holy
and Righteous One and asked that a murderer be released to you. You killed the
author of life, but God raised him from the dead. We are witnesses of this. 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. Now,
brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did your leaders. But this is
how God fulfilled what he had foretold through all the prophets, saying that
his Christ would suffer.”
The Instructions
Then Peter told them to repent, and to turn to God, so that
their sins might be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord,
and that he may send Christ.
So, what does it mean to repent? Is it merely to feel sorrow
in one’s heart over wrongs committed? Or is it much more than that? Paul said
this about sorrow and repentance:
Godly sorrow brings
repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow
brings death. See what this godly sorrow has produced in you: what earnestness,
what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what alarm, what longing,
what concern, what readiness to see justice done. ~ 2 Co. 7:10-11
Turn
So, it is possible to feel sorrow and perhaps even regret in
one’s heart over wrongs committed but it never lead to repentance or to
salvation. True repentance does not merely feel sorrow or regret over sin. True
repentance leads to changed hearts and lives. To repent means to turn away from
our sin and to go the opposite direction. Then we turn to God to walk with him
in obedience and surrender to his will for our lives. The two are coupled
together, and together they comprise what it truly means to have faith and to
believe in Jesus Christ. Faith is not just something we think or feel, but it
is something we demonstrate by what we do. In other words, if we say we believe
Jesus Christ died on the cross to set us free from sin, and yet we continue in
sin, where is our faith? James said that “Faith without works is dead.” We are
not saved by works, but true faith reveals itself as genuine by what we do in
heart response to what Jesus Christ did for us.
If we want to be saved and to spend eternity with God in
heaven, we must believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. We must turn from
our sin, and we must turn to walk with God in obedience and surrender. This
teaching is all through the New Testament. There is no way around it. This is
what it means to believe in Jesus Christ. And, this is what is required for
Jesus to forgive us of our sins and to give us eternal life. Yet, we do not do
this in our own flesh. Even the ability to repent is a gift from God, yet we
must appropriate it to our own lives via cooperating with the Holy Spirit’s
work of transformation in our hearts and lives. To turn from our sin means to
make a conscious choice of our will to not willfully yield to sin’s
deceitfulness, but to live holy lives pleasing to God, not in absolute
perfection, but with a heart attitude that desires to please God in all that we
do and say and that repents of sin whenever the Holy Spirit puts his finger
upon a sin area in our lives.
Refresh
Peter said that we should repent, turn to God, so that our
sins may be wiped out, and that times of refreshing may come from the Lord. To “refresh”
something means to revive; enliven; recharge; rejuvenate, and regenerate, etc. To
“regenerate” someone or something means “to form again;” or “to recover from
decline” (Encarta). So, this can be speaking of “new birth,” when we come to
faith in Jesus Christ, and/or it can be speaking of bringing us back into a
strong faith in Jesus Christ if we are in a state of spiritual decline or
apathy. “Times” of refreshing would seem to indicate more than one time. When
we are saved, that is not the end of it until we get to heaven. Salvation is a
life-long process of sanctification until we reach heaven one day, or when
Jesus returns, when our salvation will be complete. We are continually growing
and being made holy. So, there will be, perhaps, many “times of refreshing”
that will need to take place in our hearts and lives to keep us revitalized and
walking with and serving our Lord Jesus Christ in all that we do until he
returns.
So, if you are presently in a state of spiritual decline,
apathy, slumber, stagnancy, or rebellion, and you know that you are not
walking, jumping and praising the Lord publicly for all that he has done for
you in your life in healing you of your sin and of giving you a new life in
Jesus Christ, then my prayer for you today is that you will humble yourself,
get on your knees, pray, turn from your sins, and choose this day to follow
Jesus Christ in all that you do and say; to listen to him, and to obey him in
all things. The word of God strongly teaches us that those who truly know
Christ are those who obey him and who do the will of God. We can’t have a
casual approach to Christianity or to salvation. We are not saved and then one
day we die and go to heaven, and so we just live how we want in the time in
between. Jesus Christ saved us to radically transform our hearts, minds and
lives so that we live and walk with him in obedience and surrender day by day
by day.
So, I pray today, Lord Jesus, for everyone reading this
today, including for myself, that you will send these times of refreshing, that
you will revive our hearts, and that we will all choose today to live our lives
with eternity’s values in view. In Jesus’ name, Amen!
Refresh My Spirit, Lord / An Original Work / August 8, 2011
Based off of Psalm 51 & Matthew 11:28-30
Refresh my spirit, Lord. Revive my heart
today.
Move me to serve You, Lord in all I do and
say.
Be my heart’s one desire; my spirit set on
fire
In pure devotion, Lord, to love you and obey.
Create within me, Lord, a pure heart, this I
pray,
So I can worship You and yield to You always.
May all Your love and pow’r be lived in me, I
pray,
So I might love as You; be Your witness
today.
Jesus says, “Come to me all you with heavy
hearts,
And find in me your peace, and give to me
your all.
My yoke is light to bear, ‘cause I paid for
your sin,
So you might be set free, and purified
within.”
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