Listen to YouTube: ‘Reckless love lyrics’
Spirit of God, show me Jesus; Remove the darkness, let truth shine through.
Spirit of God, show me Jesus; Reveal the fullness of his love to me!
(Chris Bowater © 1978 Lifestyle music)
Spend a few moments thinking about how knowing esus as your Saviour has made a difference to your life.
The events in Acts 2 (Pentecost) are by no means the first time we read in the Bible about the Spirit of God. Genesis 1: 2 tell us that God’s Spirit was there at the start of everything, and then throughout the Old Testament we read about individual people – or even groups of people – knowing the presence of God’s Spirit for specific tasks or on a particular occasion when worshipping.
The Old Testament was written in the Hebrew language and word used for Spirit is ‘Ruah’ – which is also the word they used to describe the wind and breath. Last Friday Janet reminded us of that though we can’t see the wind we can see the effect of its presence, and if we continue to read through ‘the Acts of the Apostles’ we see the powerful effect the ‘Wind of God’ (his Holy Spirit ) has on individuals and situations.
Today I would like us to think about the other meaning of the word ‘Ruah’ – breath – a word which we associate with life itself – the evidence that we are alive, but you have to be very close to someone to feel their breath, so this is also a word connected with intimacy.
Some of you have received First-Aid training and know how to give mouth-to-mouth resuscitation (give the ‘Kiss of life’) and most of us will have seen it performed in TV dramas. Later today think about how this medical procedure might help you to better understand the presence in your life of the ‘breath of God’- his Holy Spirit.
In the Old Testament, the prophet Elijah gets close enough to God to hear him whisper, but before that happens Elijah encounters the might and power of God. Twice he receives dramatic answers to his prayers (1 kings 18 & 19), but then when God didn’t go on to do what Elijah expected him to do, he stopped trusting God. Elijah then became depressed, and even though we read that God continued to care for him – even providing food for him – he continues to feel alone and unloved. Although Elijah is feeling miserable and dejected, he makes the effort to go to a place where he thinks he will be able to feel the presence of God (Mount Horeb where Moses encountered God), but I’m sure that what actually happened there on the mountain is not what Elijah expected to happen. Read 1 Kings 19: 9-12
Can you remember an occasion when someone whispered something really nice into your ear? You not only needed to be close to the one who whispered it, you also needed to be alert to hear what they said. Can you remember an occasion when you heard God whisper something to you? Do we regularly find time to pause and focus on the presence of God, feel his breath(Spirit) and listen to what he might want to whisper to us? It doesn’t always need to be a long encounter, it could simply involve us getting into the habit of pausing for a few moments after reading the bible or after a time of prayer and being alert to what the ‘Breath of God’ might be whispering to us.
Use these lyrics to focus your mind before spending a few moments listening to what God’s Holy Spirit (the breath of God) might want to say to you today.
Breathe on me Breath of God, fill me with life anew,
that I may love the way you love, and do what you would do.
Breathe on me, Breath of God, until my heart is pure,
until my will is one with yours, to do and to endure.
Breathe on me, Breath of God, till I am wholly Thine,
until this earthly part of me glows with your fire divine.
(Edwin Hatch 1835-89)
Listen to YouTube: ‘Holy Spirit Living Breath of God Lyrics’
This coming Sunday (7th) at 11am you may wish once again to remember Jesus’ broken body and shed blood. Some of you took the initiative to ‘share communion’ by using the phone to be in contact with others at 11am, and now with the new, less restrictive guidelines you may be able to meet up with others. If you haven’t got bread and wine in your kitchen, find something which you can use to be an emblem of Jesus’ body – a cracker, a biscuit etc. and a red coloured drink to use as an emblem of Jesus’ blood.
At 11am on Sunday read out-loud Isaiah 53: 1-6, thank Jesus for becoming your Saviour. Then read out-loud Luke 22: 19-20 before eating your ‘bread’ and drinking your ‘wine’ and then say out-loud the Lord’s Prayer.