Clouds part 1
One of my favorite sayings is that every cloud has a silver lining. Because I believe you can always find the good in a situation if you look for it. What you seek is what you will find. What you magnify in your life is what will manifest in your life. Everything--EVERYTHING--can fall into either one of two categorgies: A blessing or a lesson. And, really, when it look at it that way, the lesson is a blessing. The whole blessing in disguise, right? We can always learn and we can always grow and we can always move forward. Romans 8:1-2 in the Message Bible reads like this, "With the arrival of Jesus, the Messiah, that fateful dilemma is resolved. Those who enter into Christ's being-here-for-us no longer have to live under a continuous, low-lying black cloud. A new power is in operation. The Spirit of life in Christ, like a strong wind, has magnificently cleared the air, freeing you from a fated lifetime of brutal tyranny at the hands of sin and death." Kind of a lot there. The point I want to focus on for this Rant series is no longer having to live under a continuous, low-lying black cloud. Because while every cloud DOES have a silver lining, it's even better when the sky is clear and you can see the light shining. The sunshine. The SONshine. And that's where trusting in Jesus comes in. His Spirit of life. Remember when the Holy Spirit descended on the day of Pentecost? "And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting" (Acts 2:2). Add this to that, "The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit" (John 3:8). A very clear and direct connection between the wind and the Holy Spirit. Just so we're clear on what we're talking about. The Holy Spirit, or the Spirit of life in Christ, blows away that black cloud. And guys, I'm telling you, that wind is the only thing that CAN blow away that dark cloud. I always say it like this: If you have a God-shaped, love-shaped hole inside of you... the only thing that could possibly fill iit is God. Love. So when we're looking for answers all over the place, looking for love in all the wrong places, we're just wearing ourselves out and making things worse for ourselves. The thief comes to steal and to kill and to destroy. The thief is the one who tries to enter into the sheepfold any way except through the door. WE rob ourselves of the gift we've been given by trying to earn it. Or by thinking we don't have it. By letting that dark cloud overshadow us. We think WE have to resolve that dilemma. When really, Jesus resolved it for us. He did what needed to be done. He took care of what needed taking care of. You don't need to blow that cloud away. Jesus took care of it. A new power is in operation. Not by my might, nor by my power, it's by the Spirit of God. The Spirit of life. The Spirit of love. Love is the refreshing wind that blew away that dark cloud. The cloud of thinking we are unloved was blown away... by love. The silver lining on every cloud... is love. The sun that shines... is love. It's all about love!