He is our Victory

The detritus of my conscious day emerged in a disturbing, confused and very vivid dream, culminating in a threatening phone call. In the dream, I concluded this call was devilish itself and commanded that the caller ‘Go! In the name of Jesus!’

Not the first time I’ve had such a dream. But this time, after demanding that the caller Go!, I was awoken by the very real sound, I thought, of tinkling glass. Poor Don. Sound asleep, until I shook him urgently saying, ‘Someone’s breaking in! I heard glass breaking!’

We crept about the dark house and found no sign of intruders or, indeed, broken glass. Such is the reality of some dreams.

Sitting in the prayer window on this glorious morning, watching the mist disappear, and the pheasants parade, I suddenly was aware of the fly spots on the dirty pane. Life flicks fly spots on our perspectives, and our inner vision can be drawn to staring at the fly spots rather than seeing beyond to the beauty of Jesus, the beauty of the life we have been given so graciously, so generously. My dream earlier this morning focused on the fly spots, a hodgepodge of stuff that can suck the joy out of the day (or night).

So this morning I am saying to those fly spots, those nasty voices whispering lies and slanders, ‘Go! In the name of Jesus!’

Not hearing any more breaking glass so far, but my aim today is to focus my eyes on Jesus. Yeshua. Another word for Victory, I just read.

He is our Victory.

The Saviour

One of the drawbacks to warm summer days is the number of fly spots on the windows. Open doors, open windows, hundreds of yellow spots polka-dotting the glass. They don’t really obscure views but once one is aware of them, they certainly spoil the vision.

I thank God that I have been blessed with a big, wonderful family and a group of amazing friends. Recently, there have been situations in the lives of those close to me which have spotted my view of Jesus. Each spot represents a moment when I thought it was up to me to ‘fix’ something. To say just the right words to heal. To give the perfect advice. To do the right thing. To pray the right prayer.

I assume responsibility to ‘fix’ things beyond my ability. The motive is simple: I want the best for those I love, because I love them. But as long as I leave those spots there, I will never see the complete love and faithfulness of Jesus. An accumulation of spots distorts the truth of who Jesus is, polluting my understanding of the vastness of his love and his mighty power.

Jesus invites us to give him all our cares. This is so hard to do. But today I scrub the window of my soul again and pray that as I contemplate the King of Kings, I will relinquish my self-assumed duty to save my loved ones from every pain, to make the perfect decisions always and right every wrong. Jesus is the Saviour. Not me.

Clean Windows

I’ve just spent a few hours washing windows in the conservatory. As I removed squishy balloons which had been hung in celebration of our granddaughter’s first birthday last week, I noticed the horrible fly spots speckling the woodwork and windows. 

It was satisfying to see the white wood restored to its smooth finish, but it was only as I cleaned off the fly spots from the glass that I realized there was also a film laid down by the atmosphere itself I guess, which dulled our vision of the world through those windows. 

Sins, like fly spots, obscure our vision of God. Some are obvious, like those ugly fly spots. But others are more akin to bad attitudes and critical thoughts than specific incidents which spring to our minds in times of confession. If we let them build up, they mask our perception of God’s kingdom and prevent our fully participating in kingdom life. 

Just as I wasn’t aware of the layer of dirt smudging the glass, so I can be unaware of my attitudes, my lack of grace towards others, my self-righteousness which effectively cuts me off from all the blessings God has for me.

We need the Holy Spirit to highlight such hidden sins. He doesn’t condemn us but leads us to Jesus to be set free from them, so that our minds can be transformed and our attitudes re-calibrated to Kingdom values rather than earthly ones.

When we come to Jesus, he is delighted to wash us clean and set us free from those things that inhibit our ability to live life to the full. I am so thankful.