Winter's past - Behold all things become new

Spring means it's time for the cold winter to thaw and the residue of that season to melt away at times flowing into a raging river.  Time for rebirth after a season of death or detachment.  This spring feels very symbolic for me as I realize I have been long in winter, for many, many years, and God just thawed out my heart and unleashed a wellspring of His presence that is incredibly strong and powerful, nearly sweeping me away in passion, love, and excitement for Him and all that He is doing in me. 

I've always had confidence in God's love for me since I accepted Jesus into my heart over 20 years ago but at times I've felt the chill from the loss of his presence, and the coldness of my own heart, my own desires. 

Enduring a painful season in my professional life over the last nine months, God met me powerfully one Sunday in July as I visited Hillsong Church in Sydney on my business trip.  He lovingly reminded me that my love had grown cold and I was only reaping what I was sowing, which was nothing of Him.  I wasn't spending time with Him, I wasn't sharing the gifts and talents He gave me with others.  In short - I was just going through the motions and relying on my strength, my power, my wisdom, and my abilities to get things done.  And the hard thing was I did that pretty well, it was "normal".  But it took an overflowing of the Holy Spirit to reignite in me a passion to know Him more, to call me to relationship, not religion, and to release me to experience Him fully, not just once in a while, every day.  

I liked this flow.  It was a strong flow, but still not overflowing.  Of course, I thought I was flowing really well until God brought me face to face with the story of Naaman and his leprosy one Sunday as I was visiting Valley Christian Center in Dublin, CA on one of my business trips.  

(2 Kings 5: 1-13)  - Summarized version: Naaman was a leader, a strong one, but he had a secret.  He had leprosy.  He was a mighty commander of the army of Aram.  A little servant girl a band of his raiders had captured from Israel spoke to Naaman's wife about the God of Israel who could cure him of this disease.  He rose and went to his King and asked permission to go, he went with offerings for the King of Israel, but the king only tore his robes in agony trying to understand why the King of Aram would send his commander to him for healing.  But then God...

God alerted his prophet Elisha who told the King of Israel, send Naaman to me so he will know that surely there is a prophet of the Lord in this Land.  Naaman came to Elisha in his chariot and Elisha didn't even go down to meet him in person, instead he sent a messenger to him and told him to say to him "Go, wash yourself seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will be restored and you will be cleansed.”  Naaman went away angry, expecting the prophet to do some elaborate ritual over him, not something simple like bathing in a dirty river.   But one of his servants urged him, cajoling him by saying if he had said to do something great you would have done it... how much more should you do it if it's easy (wash and be cleaned).   Naaman humbled himself and finally did as the prophet said and his skin became as new as a young man.  

What was interesting about this story, and the young preacher Isaiah Salividar who brought it was that it showed me how I give up too easily.  It built so perfectly on an earlier passage God had used in my quiet time earlier that morning about the Desperate Gentile Woman in Matthew15:21-28.  This woman was so desperate for Jesus to help her that she kept bugging his disciples even after he ignored her, told her he wasn't here to save her, compared her to a dog and yet she kept on asking for his help.  I know I would have given up probably after his disciples brushed me off since their master had as well.  But she persisted and eventually, her desperation and persistence won Jesus over after she said, "Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master's table."  Jesus then answered her, "O, woman, great is your faith!  Be it done for you as you desire."  

These two stories collided one Sunday like a perfect storm as God showered down His holiness and reminded me that the depth of my relationship with Him was in direct proportion to my depth of my desperation for Him.  And like Naaman, and the gentile Canaanite woman, he wasn't going to just bless me the first time.  

I found myself broken at the alter crying out in my icy heart feeling nothing.  Crying out and feeling nothing.  And crying out and feeling nothing, crying out and feeling nothing, then feeling anger, growing in fear that He'd never touch me, and then a brokenness at that thought and finally it sprung - a flood of desperation.   Even though the altar call had finished I wasn't leaving until I was blessed.  I was going to dip until He filled me.  I was not leaving without a touch from him.  That night God thawed my cold heart and brought forward a spring of living water to flow in and through me,  releasing it in abundance, overflowing with passion and joy.  He brought forth the river of His Holy Spirit in my life in a new, fresh, and powerful way. 

Since that night over 3 weeks ago, God has continued to thaw out my fears, my dreams, passions long forgotten and released a growing spring in my heart.  As the river grows it is clearing away the debris I've allowed to collect in my mind, my desires, my pride, my indifference and I find myself swept away, on fire, yet doused in His love.  I can't explain it, I can't contain it, and I can't do anything other than share it.  

Friends, as Spring comes this year, I'm praying it literally comes to you and your life.  How is your relationship with God?  Is it as deep as your desperation for Him?  Have you turned away just one or two dips before the blessing comes?  Imagine what would have happened if Naaman quit dipping in the river after 4 times, or if that Canaanite woman had stopped when Jesus said, "I'm here only to save the lost sheep of Israel."  But they didn't, they kept pressing in, desperate for his Healing touch, mired in doubt but willing to thaw their fears and pride to receive the gift of life before them.  They humbled themselves and refused to leave until they were healed, until they were blessed, until they had the fullness of their desires.  

I pray this Spring will awaken the realization that without our desperation we will remain frozen in our own ways, our indifference, and our ways that seem normal but are merely embers of a greatness He wants to unleash in us.

I'm happy to talk with any of you further as the Spirit may prompt you and encourage you to run into His arms and refuse to leave until the fullness of your desire, the lesions on your heart are healed.  There are enough crumbs to satisfy us all.

I'm so grateful this winter has passed in my life and all things become new!  I want to live in this fresh spring of every day swept away by His love, His desire, His will, and His presence.  

Blessings to you.  May you find new life this spring in His Holy Spirit, in the name of Jesus. Amen.