The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
John 3:8 ESV
Psalm 46:4 ESV
There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy habitation of the Most High.
But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!
Amos 5:24 NIV
I bless us to grow in every way into Him who is the head —Christ, by speaking the truth in love that we may promote the growth of the body for building up itself in love by the proper working of each individual part. I bless us, the whole body, in Jesus to be fitted and knit together by every supporting ligament. I bless us to see ourselves and others through the eyes of Jesus, to have no fellowship with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them.
I bless us to take joy in the wind of the Spirit blowing us where it wishes, and people hearing its sound, but not knowing where it comes from or where it goes. May the seekers around us notice that we are different from anyone they have ever known. May they take note of the Spirit of God in us. As we continue to boast in our weakness and the changing of our minds to these seekers, may their hunger and thirst grow to know this compassionate and gracious God of ours and the infilling of His life-giving Spirit.
I bless us to notice and thank God for His streams of living water making our body – His holy habitation – glad. I bless us to relish in the sweet stillness at Christ’s feet, that as the storms of accusations hit us, we’ll find His love and grace washing over us there. I bless us to rejoice in our affliction, knowing that the weaker we are, the heavier we lean upon Jesus and His grace for us. May we see how through our weakness He has been carrying us into His love and compassion for His whole Body.
I bless us all to know, more and more of the depths of God’s love, compassion and mercy for us all – the Body of Christ. May we all continue to depart from what the Son of God died to deliver us from. May we shake off the dust as we leave, fully embracing the joy of the LORD ever set before us.
Do you hear those voices too?
The ones that tell you
You're not enough
You'll never change
All you do is make things worse?
Do you hear the voice that follows then?
The one that tells you
Defend yourself
Hold on tight
To who you wish you were
Lest he rips it from your weary
Tight-clenched hands
Or the one that pushes you
To lie there in that bed
A bed that covers you in blankets
Grief, despair and loathing cruel
Chaining you to who
You believe you truly are
Lost
Forevermore.
Now, stop
And still
Feel Christ's hand
Clasping yours
Earthquake shaking
And flaming fire
Are but shaking off the old
And burning all the dross
To reveal
His gold in you.
Do you hear Him too?
Glorious Truth
Kissing the kind, sweet
Gentle Voice of
Grace.
Feel those
Rushing waters pure
Pouring now
Upon your shoulders hunched
Let them wash away
What's not of you
All that's died
Upon the Cross
To now reveal instead
The lavish gift
Of Christ.
Hear His gentle
Tender Voice
Unveiling
The many gifts
Hidden in
His heart
For you.
Beloved
Chosen
Holy
Pure
Purposed
True
You are His
Masterpiece.
Created anew
In Christ Jesus
You shall perform
The good works
HE
Has long
Prepared for
You.
Unashamed
Confident
Sinking in
His royal cloak
Be strengthened
Your feet firmly planted
Appointed, upon the Rock
Now rise and stand
As new.
Let Christ reveal
His arms stretched high
His unclenched hands
His heart, mind, Body
Worshipping
In Spirit and truth
His love flowing
From you.
No, no lying tongue
Has power there
Where Jesus stills
Our hearts to hear
The Voice of truth
Kissing
Grace.
For God Himself
Has cast these columns
This Temple
Not of human hands
But with His own
He establishes
He strengthens
For, He alone
Is the Great
I AM.
Our One and Only
Slayer of all sin
Stiller of all accusations
Defender True.
May this song my dear childhood friend of now 28 years in New Zealand (who I will be hugging in person in a little over a week: thank You, Jesus!!!) sent me through the waves of Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in 2015, sharing the comfort God had given her in her own weakness and need with me, bless and comfort you too:
And may you too, like me, experience the blessing of God’s Body as you see how God is weaving you and others together, through the Word you share with each other.
Shalom Aleh 