“I, even I am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake and remembers your sins no more.” Isaiah 43:25

“You, however are not in the realm of the flesh, but in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the the Spirit of God lives in you. And anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ.” Romans 8:9

“…and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters” Genesis 1:2

This past week these verses along with Acts 3-4, have been intertwined into me. And it is simply amazing how God can connect, reiterate, to bring about His purpose.

First, think about blot. This is a picture of forgiveness. We write messages down on a piece of paper in pencil, we make a mistake, we erase it. Have you ever noticed how you can still see the residue of what you erased? The words written good, bad or whatever are still faintly evident. We forgive, but the residue still remains and it is within this residue that Satan takes root and all too often we allow him access. Satan brightens those fainted words, brings it back to life- slowly. It happens so slow, that we lose sight that our one thing we are trying to leave at the Jesus’ feet is back in our lap, weighing us down.

Blotted out: Centuries ago, they used different forms of paper and pens- I don’t know what, but it was different. When they made a mistake, they blotted it out- a perfect picture for us. When they blotted it out, it was gone. All you could see is a blot. Blot is a dark spot, no residue to allow Satan to take root within us.

Acts 3:

Lame man= a picture of us. So many times, we look at this story and see a lame man from birth and see he was healed. Dig deeper. This lame man what did he want? He wanted money. We all want something: more money, a better house, skinnier bodies, perfect younger skin, I don’t know whatever it might be for each person. Ask yourself what is it that you crave or want? Its not that God doesn’t care about those things, but He wants to give you something better. God wants to bless us all with something far greater, but we get fixated on this one thing that consumes us, or distracts us. We go to God in prayer telling Him what we need, or how this plan should unfold, other times we give God the added solution. Instead of coming before Him with adoration, love, a desire for Him. How often do we miss out on the gift because we have our eyes fixed on the wrong things. Yet, still we have to go through the wilderness for God to bring us to a place of recognizing and receiving the gift. We go to the wilderness to be humbled and to know what’s in our heart. And when we come out of the wilderness we can attest to God’s faithfulness.

The Lame man, he wasn’t just suddenly lame, he had been lame since birth-40 years. He had endured this long wilderness of being unable to walk. He sat at the temple gates, a gate Jesus had walked by during His ministry, yet he didn’t heal him. Think about that. There is a plan and purpose for our wilderness. There is an unseen reason for the timing of the unfolding of the events on ours lives. Yet, that wasn’t his only need. How often, we look at other people and what we see is not who they are, or what they need isn’t obvious. The lame man asked for money. The lame man wanted money. The lame man wasn’t given money. The lame man was given an unexpected gift, but not just physical healing but spiritual healing. He sat at the gate lame, parched, and hungry. The lame man left that gate, healed, and full, with a seat at the table of God.

Every morning, I wake up, and I look in the mirror at a reflection of myself. A reflection of myself, that I often struggle to like to look at. And it’s not even for the surface stuff, of I am getting old, wrinkles, or whatever. It’s the part that no one can see, no one knows about. When I look in the mirror I can see the internal turmoil that I have to fight to keep locked down. Its the stories deep inside that define me and need healing. Like the lame man, who needed more than physical healing, he needed spiritual healing. I still need healing.

A year or so ago, I was not asked, but instructed to burn letters that contained words written to me that were hurtful. I had held onto them for 20+ years. Interestingly, it had been suggested to me previously to burn them, but I didn’t. Granted, I have read those letters so many times the words are memorized, tattooed, in my head. But, burning those letters, those words was like blotting them out of existence. Satan, can no longer sway me to the physical box, where I open it and read the words written to me, that would utterly crush the insides of my being. Those words would crush me down, it became this part of me very few ever saw, or even knew the deep seated struggle I faced when I looked in that mirror. Even when I was burning them, I thought the couple telling me, more like forcing me to do it, were crazy. I was convinced it was not going to make any difference in me because I can recite the words.  Although, I don’t like to admit it, they were right. Those words are now blotted out. They are gone. I can no longer go to that place. And while this is a place I need healing, its not obvious to the person next to me. Everyday, we see people and their pain, their need, its not obvious, but it doesn’t mean that they don’t need Jesus. It doesn’t mean that they don’t need you to speak boldly into their lives. I, couldn’t be, wouldn’t be where I am today if it weren’t for the people who have spoken boldly into the extremely stubborn, difficult and impossible girl that I am. And I know that God used them to speak life into me.

Jesus came. Jesus walked. Jesus said “I am THE way” He didn’t say I am “A” way. He came to blot out our sins. And because He came He lives, the story continues on, we crossed over from the realm of the flesh into the realm of the Spirit. Once the Holy Spirit was hovering over the waters, it is now hovering over inside of you. Grab on. Hold tight. So much more is in store.