Devotions Archive Archive: 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 Search Archive Print This Article Oh, the water* Tuesday, February 12, 2002 1 Kings 8:27,30 Solomon is praying... "But will God really dwell on earth? The heavens, even the highest heaven, cannot contain you. ...Hear the supplication of your servant and of your people ... Hear from heaven, your dwelling place, and when you hear, forgive." "Shrove" is the past tense form of shrive. I don't think I've ever used the verb, which means "to obtain absolution by confessing and doing penance." Shrove Tuesday is part of Shrovetide, a three-day season of confession and forgiveness. I guess Fat Tuesday (English for Mardi Gras) is something a little different. Very little confessing and forgiving going on in New Orleans tonight. Times have changed. But I really don't think there's anything more intoxicating or more uninhibiting than true deep forgiveness as God gives it up for us. Psalm 103, verse 12..."as far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us." This is what freedom is all about. Founder of the Vineyard John Wimber had a hard time talking about forgiveness, because the last thing he wanted to do was reduce it to some concept. It's an experience! Wimber said it's like standing under a sweet waterfall, never-ending stream of water that nothing's gonna stop, running over and over and all over my body, cleaning every pore. Down deep clean. Freedom clean. New life clean. Forgiven clean. Oh Father, pour out your blessing ... open my eyes to my sin and open my mouth to confess it, and open the floodgates of your forgiveness. *some simple words from Van Morrison, "And It Stoned Me," here's a few more.... Half a mile from the county fair And the rain kept pourin' down Me and Billy standin' there With a silver half a crown Hands are full of a fishin' rod And the tackle on our backs We just stood there getting' wet With our backs against the fence Oh, the water Oh, the water Oh, the water Let it run all over me "; Add      Edit    Delete