Wash It All Away

Back in June I wrote a story called Five Finger Death Punch. I had seen of video of one of the band's songs and thought it was pretty good. I also saw another song of theirs recently called Wash It All Away. Perhaps you can tell why it caught my attention by one of the lines in the chorus. It sounds like a prayer.

 

"I'm waiting here for anyone to wash it all away."

So am I, buddy. So am I. But I'm not waiting for just anyone. I'm waiting for Jesus.

"Our sins are washed away and we are made clean because Christ gave His own body as a gift to God. He did this once for all time." - Hebrews 10:10

It's been pretty hot here lately. When I go outside to work in the yard I get all sweaty and dirty. Then, when I come inside, I take off my sweaty, dirty clothes and take a nice cool shower. It feels wonderful to be washed clean.

Our spiritual 'clothes' get dirty everyday. And oh, to know that they are washed in the blood of the Lamb is a wonderful feeling.

The picture above is from the movie John Wick. Across John's shoulders is a tatoo that reads "Fortis Fortuna Adiuvat." That's Latin for "Fortune Favors The Bold."

I don't know about the 'fortune' part, but I  do know this...

"In the day when I cried out, You answered me, And made me bold with strength in my soul." - Psalm 138:3

Thank you Lord for washing us clean. May we stand boldly in this world, for You and for Your glory. Amen.

Let It Rain

Last time I wrote I talked about getting naked before God. Unloading all of our dirty laundry into God's laundry basket. But even after we've removed all of our filthy clothes we're still dirty. We're just naked and dirty. We still need to take a shower! Let it rain!

Back in the Old Testament days the priests had to purify themselves before they could enter into the presence of The Lord. They had to take a bath and put on clean garments. They had to keep cleansing themselves time after time to make sure they were clean and not defiled.

In the New Testament however there is no need for a purified priest to cleanse himself for us. Jesus is our high priest. He's 100% clean already! But we do need to come before God through Jesus. We need to be IN Him. Jesus takes away our sins. Our dirtiness. Jesus makes us clean and pure.

When we place our faith in Jesus we are baptized, not with water, but with God's Holy Spirit. We become changed! It's an amazing thing. When we become clean in that way it's like God turned on the shower for us. All we have to do is step in and let it rain!

"1While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul took the road through the interior and arrived at Ephesus. There he found some disciples 2and asked them, "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?" They answered, "No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit." 3So Paul asked, "Then what baptism did you receive?" "John's baptism," they replied. 4Paul said, "John's baptism was a baptism of repentance. He told the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is, in Jesus." 5On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the LORD Jesus." - Acts 19:1-5

Let It Rain - Michael W. Smith

Fluffy And Beautiful

I just got back inside after shoveling all of the snow out our driveway for the umpteenth time. Snow looks rather nice after it falls. Everything it so clean and white. Appearances can however be deceiving.

My wife and I bought the lot where our house now sits in mid-winter. It was covered with fluffy, beautiful snow then too. That's why we bought it. It was beautiful! Then the snow melted and we finally saw what was underneath. We spent many hours that spring cleaning up beer cans, newspaper, plastic bags - all kinds of garbage. We still love our lot but we were unaware of the debris we bought along with it,

We humans are a lot like snow covered ground. We can look all fluffy and beautiful on the outside but inside we also can be filled with garbage and all kinds of junk. How do we clean THAT up in the spring?

Let me introduce you to the best cleaning crew I know - the Trinity crew - Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Together they make all things new. They can take the dirtiest and heaviest stuff we have hidden, layers deep under the surface, and make it all snowy white.

And if you think that the things you have done could never be forgiven, think again! God doesn't so much care that you've done those things as He does that you humbly come to Him and ask Him the remove them for you.

This time of year our roads get salty and dirty. A fresh layer of snow can be a beautiful thing. If your soul is ditry and dingy and in bad need of a cleansing, run to Jesus. He'll make it white as snow. And your cleaning is absolutely free! Why? Well, it's free because Jesus paid it all.

Jesus Paid It All - Kristian Stanfill