Refreshing

Philemon 1:7 "Your love has given me great joy and encouragement, because you, brother, have refreshed the hearts of the saints."

 

This morning I read this verse and wondered, "How do you do that?"

 

Perhaps when I put an ice cube down my daughter's back I am being a helper in her spiritual journey.  It's refreshing isn't it?

 

Maybe it's deeper, like giving someone a compliment, "That dress is a lot prettier than the one you wore last week."

 

Refreshing may have something to do with telling a good joke when a friend is having a hard day.  "I know you just lost your job, but did you hear the one about the blonde who…."

 

Most of you are hoping that I don't go out of my way to "refresh" you.

 

This week we put a new message on the sign out front that was the result of God whispering in my ear.  I really asked Him what He wanted to say to that one person who was going to drive by our church this week.  My mind was headed a completely different direction when the Lord whispered to me, "They were wrong – you do have value." 

 

I had the picture in my mind of the person who has been told all their life that they are a failure, or something is their fault – when it isn't.  Everything they do has this cloud of a core lie about their worth.  The pictures kept coming as I sat in my office of students, parents, grandparents, employees, spouses, people who don't want to be single anymore, people who have given up on God, and people who have made THAT mistake one more time.

 

John said that Satan is the father of lies, he speaks the language of lies very fluently (John 8:44).  So how do I refresh someone in and out of the church?  Speak truth into their lives.  Imagine a wave of refreshing that saturates souls with truth of God.  Imagine a cleansing of the lies that we live about our appearance, our value, our past, our future, and our relationships.

Imagine being the person who views truth as an opportunity to refresh someone who is dragging.  Some people are quite adept at using "truth" as a weapon to build themselves up and tear down someone else.  But, God's truth will have the end result of refreshing a person's soul and pointing them to God.

 

This weekend will you bring a refreshing word of the Lord into someone and carefully deposit it in the place of the lie they are living?  It would bring me "great joy and encouragement" as a pastor to hear of a choir of God's people refreshing each other, and those they come in contact with, with a word of grace and hope.  Let's refresh a heart today!  No ice cubes required.

 

Ready to Speak,

 

Pastor Dave