October,
2002
"Time To
Change the Filter?"
I was watching a commercial on television the
other day for a new water treatment system that can be installed
in your home. The ad was comparing their system with a reverse
osmosis system. They were featuring the fact that there were no
filters to change in the new system. Then they showed the filter
from an R/O system that hadn’t been changed in years and
was brown and full of horrible, yucky stuff. One of the service
techs, in the ad, actually touched it and then licked his finger
to prove how bad the water was that was coming out of the filter,
and it made him sick to the point of ……well, let’s
just say that in the ad he ran out of the kitchen to bend over
and……!!!
Well, the point was well taken by me because we happen to have
an R/O system. We have been in our home for almost two years and
…yep….you guessed it, haven’t changed the filter
yet!!!
So, I immediately called the company who installed it and they
came out right away. As I stood there watching the process and
listening to the service guy explain everything the system does
to clean the water, the Lord was sharing with me about my life
and Christian walk and the need to have and to routinely replace
and clean my spiritual filters.
I really get excited about these analogies the Lord shows me.
They are so helpful to my spiritual understanding.
I learned that our reverse osmosis system consists of two filters
which should be changed every 6 – 12 months and a membrane
which needs replacing about every four years or so. These filter
out all the impurities, dissolved solids, odors, chlorine, etc.
When he had completed the service process, he tested the water
and it was more than 100 times better than the tap water and 5
times better than the typical bottled water that I occasionally
buy.
I found it interesting that this past month, our chat room topic
was studying The Feast of Tabernacles and the statement that Jesus
made on the eighth Sacred Day of Assembly when…
“…Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, ‘If
anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. Whoever believes
in Me, as the Scripture has said, streams of Living Water will
flow from within him.’ By this He meant the Spirit, whom
those who believed in Him were later to receive.” (John
7:37-39)
The tap water that comes into our house is not pure and that
is why it needs to be filtered. But of course, the Living Water
of God, that Jesus spoke about is pure and holy. However, if it
comes through an unclean vessel, even pure water can be contaminated.
On the other hand, pure water, if there is enough of it, used
at high enough pressure, can cleanse and purify a vessel by washing
away any and all debris.
I know I definitely need to have the life-giving water of the
Holy Spirit coursing through me to cleanse and purify my heart.
I certainly notice (and those around me definitely notice!!) when
my sin blocks the flow and I feel like a stagnant pool instead
of a pure and free-flowing river.
I have found that there are many things in my life that can block
that flow, or contaminate this pure water. Sometimes, when God
is uprooting something or doing a healing it stirs up lots of
other junk and my flesh allows all kinds of crud to come out of
me. In our discussion group we have been talking about paying
attention to what comes out when we get squeezed by the circumstances
of life. It is sometimes not a pretty, sweet-smelling offering
to the Lord! That’s for sure! These sins that I allow to
remain in me, such as anger, unforgiveness, resentment or bitterness,
color my thinking and perceptions and even my understanding of
the scriptures. I may not even know I am deceived and that I am
communicating or ministering to others an impure perspective of
God.
That is when I need the Holy Spirit to filter out the debris
and impurities that I add to His pure, refreshing Living Water.
And just like the R/O system which has a pre-filter, a membrane
at the heart of the system, and a post-filter, the Lord has many
different filters He desires for us to use in our lives. We are
to be washed (and filtered) by the Word of God. He desires for
us to spend time with Him in prayer and worship. This allows Him
to speak to us and to convict us of sin and to correct our faulty
thinking. He puts us in relationships within the Body to effect
the iron sharpening iron principle. And I am sure you can think
of many other ways the Lord has attempted to filter and wash and
change and purify you.
You know, the Living Water flows in us for our purification and
growth, but it also flows through us to reach others with God’s
life and love. So it is our responsibility to make sure we are
filtering out our own debris from His pure water – using
the tools He has given us.
When was the last time you checked your spiritual filtration
system?
Why not get with God right now and ask Him to do a filter change?
“Lord, come and wash me with Your Living Water. Wash away
my guilt. Cleanse me from the impurities of my own thinking and
selfish ways. Strain out and remove all of the worldly thinking
that is in opposition to Your ways, Lord. Let Your river flow!
Come, Holy Spirit, and move in power.”
I am so glad we are all in this together!!! Aren’t you?
L.O.V.E.,
Patty
© The LOVE Club, All Rights Reserved.