Times Of Refreshing

If you have visited or lived in New England you will experience sharply defined seasons.

Spring comes with the return of birds singing and blooming flowers. The temperature becomes increasingly warmer to welcome summer. Cool breezes on the shore and sipping ice tea make for glorious, bright summer memories. Then just as the temperatures reaches its apex, it falls as October marches toward autumn. The leaves burst into gold, red and rustic brown before the wind sweeps them away. Winter comes with its chilly breath, freezing everything in its path.

Scripture says, "There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens:" (Ecclesiastes 3:1 NIV). While there are natural seasons we too experience spiritual seasons.

Seasons when we feel close to God while other times He seems to have disappeared off the earth. We experience fresh and wonderful revelations from His Word only to have bouts of dryness and boredom when we seem to have heard it all before.

If there's any time or season we need more of is times of refreshment.

Peter preached on the day of Pentecost saying, "Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord," (Acts 3:19 NIV). Likewise, God promises to quicken our mortal body (Romans 8:11) regardless to the season we find ourselves.

When we have season we feel far from God faith tells we are nearer to Him than we first believed.

Times of refreshment begin with repentance. A renewal of trusting God. We don't always get it right especially when we are in tough seasons that tempt us to fall back on our way of doing things which only make it worse.

And times of refreshment come when we reach out to another in need of comfort (2 Corinthians 1:4) with the same measure God has comforted us in our own seasons of grieving and mourning.

Times of refreshment start with the Lord pouring in and pouring out of our lives a river of life (John 7:38) or we can chose to isolate ourselves and soon we will become a dry river bed - parched and thirsty - with no lush green shade in our lives for others to rest and be refreshed.