Times of Refreshing

“Times of Refreshing.”

I love that little phrase found in Acts 3:19. Peter was preaching and he said, “Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord.”

{sidebar id=1}Are you overdue for some times of refreshing? Some people think they just need a day off, or maybe a month off. Some think they need to quit their job or get their kids to move out. We look many places for relief, but true times of refreshing come from the Lord.

Has your computer ever just started running slower? Sometimes, like us, computers need a time of refreshing. In the old days I always started with a “scandisk.” One thing a scandisk would reveal is bad sectors. Anything your computer stored in a bad sector was corrupted.

The same is true in our mind. We all have certain bad sectors in our minds. There are bad memories, bad things we’ve done, bad things we’ve had done to us. If we aren’t careful, we will take new information and run it through that bad sector. When we do, today’s information becomes corrupted.

What can we do about it? Here is the fix for this kind of bad sector in our mind: forgiveness. That includes repenting and accepting God’s forgiveness for ourselves, and giving our forgiveness to others. Anything unforgiven in our minds becomes a bad sector. It corrupts information. But when we forgive, and are forgiven, these bad sectors are isolated and can no longer corrupt today’s information.

See, you could take all the days off you want, but if you have a bad sector of unforgiveness, it won’t help. No matter what you do, you will not experience a true time of refreshing as long as there is unforgiveness.

Back to computer maintenance – we come to the issue of viruses. These are vile little things you allowed into your computer. Oh, viruses don’t announce themselves. They probably arrived in some enticing package, and you just had to open it. And now your computer doesn’t work right.

This also happens to our mind. We allow junk in. Oh, it was enticing enough, but once inside it messes things up. That’s why we need a good virus program, and here is a great one for the mind – Philippians 4:8. “Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things.”

{sidebar id=1}So do you need a time of refreshing? You can take off a month of Sundays, but it won’t do any good if your thinking has viruses. But watch how refreshed you become when you start scanning all your thoughts through Philippians 4:8!

Now back to your computer. It’s always good to check your “Add or Remove Programs” list. You might be surprised at all the programs on your computer that you don’t want or need. Removing unnecessary programs can boost your computer’s performance. This also applies to our mind. It has so many duties to juggle it ends up doing none of them well. Instead of disappearing for six weeks, write down a list of all your responsibilities. Then prioritize them, take the least important ones, and remove them.

Here is a popular saying among motivational speakers. “The definition of insanity is to keep doing the same thing and expect different results.” If you don’t like the results of your life right now, then you must do something different.

So look at all you are doing and ask, “Is this what God wants me to do?”

Back to computers – one of my favorite tools is called “System Restore.” It will take your computer back to a time when everything was better. Periodically your computer makes notes when everything is going good. Then when things go bad, it can look back to those notes. I love how this applies to our minds. It’s important to make notes when things are going good. Some people keep a journal or a diary. Jack Morris here in Tallahassee showed me his little black book of answered prayers.

See, over time we can begin to doubt God. We can lose track of His influence in our lives. The daily grind can mess with our mind. Instead of a long vacation, maybe it’s time for a system restore, time to go back and remember all the things the Lord has done.

This is a great way to get your mind off your troubles and get them back on what really matters – and that is God’s calling and purpose, God’s destiny for your life.

And sometimes, when your computer is just totally bogged down, you need to reformat the whole thing. That includes a completely new installation of the operating system. Sometimes our minds need that as well. We do that by totally and completely putting ourselves back on the altar before God as a living sacrifice, like it says in Romans 12. Verse 2 says, “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”

Our mind is renewed and transformed as we commit ourselves 100% as disciples of Jesus Christ.

So are you bogged down today? Do you feel like you just need to get away from it all? Sounds like what you really need are times of refreshing from the Lord.

Comments?

E-mail me: dougapple@wave94.com.

May God bless you today! With Apples of Gold…I’m Doug Apple.

This article originally published on February 28, 2008.

Written by :