Daily Devotional for August 2, 2010

Romans 15:13
I pray that God, who gives hope, will bless you with complete happiness and peace because of your faith. And may the power of the Holy Spirit fill you with hope.

Scripture taken from the Contemporary English Version © 1991,1992, 1995 by American Bible Society, Used by Permission.

I’ve talked before about how much I love Oxi-clean. This is one amazing cleaning agent. Recently, I purchased two vintage coffee pots at an estate sale. They were really nice coffee pots … still fairly shiny on the outside, but completely darkened with stains on the inside. I sat them in my laundry sink and poured in a hefty scoop of powdered Oxi-clean, and then I filled the pot about half full of very hot water. Soon, all of that dirty black-brown stain came bubbling out of the spout of the pot! After thirty minutes or so, I was able to rinse out the insides of those coffee pots, and they sparkled like new!

I like to think that this is similar to how the Holy Spirit acts in our heart. When we give our heart to Jesus, God sends the Holy Spirit to fill us and clean out all of the dirt and grime on the inside, making us sparkling clean. All of the junk is rinsed away to make room for the Holy Spirit to fill us with hope, happiness, and peace. Just like the coffee pots can live to bubble with hot coffee again, we are filled with the warmth of the Holy Spirit.

I don’t think there are very many Christians who totally grasp the power of the Holy Spirit in their lives. I think we all fail to recognize the power of the Holy Spirit to fill us with hope, peace, joy, and much more. Or maybe we just like being miserable, fearful, and discouraged from time to time. We all seem to enjoy an occasional pity party.

Because of the Holy Spirit, we really don’t need to have this pity party to begin with, but most certainly, it doesn’t have to last long when it happens. Maybe our heart is somewhat like those old coffee pots … still in need of some scrubbing. Ask God to restore you today. Invite the Holy Spirit to return to your heart, if needed. At the very least, recognize the hope we have because Jesus gave us His Holy Spirit to be forever in our hearts – and be thankful for this incredible gift. This is truly a cause for great happiness and peace in all circumstances. The power of the Holy Spirit is more amazing than any cleaning agent. Have you experienced Holy Spirit power today? How clean is your heart?

©2010 Debbie Robus

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