Our Father who art in Heaven...: True Refreshment

Here is a simple question I would pose: are you being refreshed in your walk with Christ, especially as that relates to your prayer life? God has promised that if we repent and turn to Him, our sins will be wiped out and times of refreshing will come from the Lord. But what is this refreshing that comes from the Lord? I think that as believers we far too often forget this refreshing that God has promised as we get so caught up in the business of our lives. We neglect true refreshment in favor of a little mindless relaxation. We do not grasp the magnitude of what God has promised, so we do not experience the reality of what God has promised to do in our lives.

Do you not know that God delights to fulfill His promises to His children? And how he fulfills His promises! Our God carries out his Word with zeal and generosity that only the God of the universe could supply. He does not sit passively on His throne and wait until we come crying out to him in utter desperation before He decides to act. No, the Lord God Almighty stands and calls out to us to come and be refreshed in Him. He can not wait for us to turn to Him so that He might completely meet our needs and satisfy our souls. He delights to refresh us with what we need most; himself. Even now He is calling out, “Come to me, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat. Come buy wine and milk without money and without cost.” How will He not most generously give to those who cry out to Him for the gifts He has already promised? And what is more, He has set it before us free of charge. He himself bore the price in His body that we might be eternally satisfied in our God. Who can match the matchless giving of our God? Who can satisfy us like Jesus? For to whom else can we go for water that will become a spring in our souls, welling up to eternal life?

So, what is this that God has promised? Our everlasting Father has promised to give us choice food and drink without cost or limit. He has promised to renew our strength so we run and do not grow weary, so we walk and do not faint. He has promised to take our yoke upon Himself and give us a yoke that is easy and a burden that is light. The Lord has promised that if we are faithful in seeking after him, He will open the very storehouses of heaven and pour out a blessing we can not contain. To open the storehouses of heaven – there is a phrase that thrills my soul. For such a blessing is beyond comprehension. Indeed, if we could understand the awesomeness of the flood in Genesis, we might begin to understand the vastness of this promise. For forty days and nights, God opened the storehouses of heaven and it rained so the earth was completely covered with water, with some to spare. How great is our God who is able to bless in that same measure those who call on His name! Does our Lord not fill us to overflowing out of his wonderful abundance? And what is this great abundance and blessing that will refresh the soul? Is it not that we have a personal, intimate fellowship with Jesus Christ, through whom we are justified and have peace with God? Is it not to treasure as more precious to our hearts the One in the entire universe who is most worthy of our love and adoration?

So, let us seek the Lord while He may be found, let us call on Him while He is near. Let us forsake our evil ways and our wicked thoughts. Let us turn to the Lord for He will have mercy on us and to our God for He will freely pardon. Let us find our refreshment, satisfaction, and fulfillment in our God. And let us freely and abundantly share with others for in that same manner we have received.