A place to pause and reflect
Do your windows need cleaning?
Lying in bed recently one morning with the winter sunshine streaming in, I was talking with God about how to manage my emotions in this time. I was struggling to deal with the despair, anxiety, fear and hopelessness swirling around the atmosphere.
However, even as I looked out the window, instead of brilliant blue sky, the filthy state of our windows grabbed my attention. In fact, the angle of the sun was showing it up so clearly that the window was almost opaque. Dust, dirt and cobwebs inhibited my view almost completely.
Even as I became aware of what I was seeing, the words “bad reports” came to mind. I felt Yeshua gently say to me, “if you spend too much time listening to and reading the bad reports, they become your focus and that is all you will see”.
A very telling incident involving “bad reports” occurred with the nation of Israel as they first went to enter the Promised Land. They sent out twelve spies (one for each tribe) to check out the land. Ten came back with fearful reports that although the land was wonderful, the people were giants and the Israelites would never be able to conquer them. Because the Israelites listened to those bad reports and came into agreement with them, most of them never got to the Promised Land and they ended up another forty years in the wilderness.
There is an aspect in this scenario where the people actually prophesied something different over themselves than God had planned for them. Although God’s plan for His people did not change, and the long term result was the same, many people missed out on what He was doing because they took hold of the wrong story, the wrong picture. They focussed on the dirt and this became their truth. Even when they changed their mind and tried to enter the land by force, they ended up failing and getting smashed by the enemy because of what they had agreed with that wasn’t in line with what God had said. They had not trusted Him.
For some time, I have been concerned about much of what we discuss and share both in person and online. On one hand, the understanding is that it is important to let people know what is “really going on”, what is behind everything we are seeing. However, even if there is truth in this information, I can’t help but wonder if we are not playing a similar part to those ten spies who were fearful. Their focus was on their own ability to deal with what they saw rather than trusting in who God wanted to be for them. Our words have creative power. God spoke things that were not into being. He made us in His image. We all know the impact of certain words on our own being, for good or bad. Much of what gets airplay in this season is very much around good and bad, what is evil and what is right. Unfortunately, this material generally comes from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and will therefore ultimately lead to death. Instead, how much better would it be for us make sure our words lead to life, point people to Jesus, and that our words are God’s words.
Returning to my windows, this is the prayer God gave me that morning, which had an immediate effect for me. However, if you do choose to pray it, you may need to also change your focus from the dirt to the Light of the Son. If you keep feeding on the bad reports, your windows will quickly get dirty again.
Father God, I am sorry I have focussed more on the bad reports than on You. Would you please come and clean the windows of my heart, my soul and my mind so I can see Your Light clearly again? Help me to focus on You, to listen to You and to ask You what You want me to do with every report before I even listen to or read them. In Yeshua’s name.