A CHANGED HEART: A CHANGED ATMOSPHERE

 

For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord,

as the waters cover the sea.

                                                             Habakkuk 2:14

 

On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and proclaimed, "If any one thirst, let him come to me and drink. He who believes in me, as the scripture has said, 'Out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water."' Now this he said about the Spirit, which those who believed in him were to re­ceive; for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.

                                                            John 7.37-39

 

- Out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water.

 

One day those rivers will cover the earth with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.

 

But it begins with the heart - the inside of our life.

 

"Cleanse the inside of the cup...."

 

"Give for alms such things as are within and behold all things are clean to you."

 

"Create in me a clean heart ... renew a right spirit within me."

 

"Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward being..."

 

When the inner life is filled with the presence of God a miracle will follow in the outer life. We may not have haloes around our heads ... our faces may not shine as Moses' did when he came down from Sinai...we probably won't look any different.

 

The difference on the outside of our lives will be a miracle which no one will connect with us at all: if the living God has indeed come to dwell in us - in our very flesh, the miracle will be that wherever we go as Christ's bondslaves the atmosphere will change.

 

Let me say it again. The proof that Jesus Christ lives in your heart is that wherever you go, without any conscious effort on your part, the atmosphere of the place where you are will change.­

 

- If the atmosphere of our inmost heart is mercy,

- the atmosphere that fills the rooms we inhabit will be mercy.

 

- If the atmosphere of our inmost heart is thanksgiving and praise to God for His goodness,

- the glory of the Lord will fill the very air around us.

 

- If the atmosphere of our inmost heart is forgiveness,

- somehow the spaces around us will be flooded with the light of a divine welcome.

 

What else does Jesus mean when He says to as, "You are the salt of the earth ... you are the light of the world?" Your presence in this world literally brings into it the atmosphere of God.

 

Mary took a pound of costly ointment of pure nard and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair; and the house was filled with the fragrance of the ointment.

John 12:3

 

But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumph, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him every­where. For we are the aroma of Christ to

God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things?

II Corinthians 2:l4-16

This aroma that rises from the contrite heart and changes the surrounding atmosphere is far more significant than we may think at first glance. For until this happens, the atmosphere around us belongs to Satan. Satan is described in Ephesians as the Prince of the Power of the Air. He rules the human race by controlling the atmos­phere in which we live by surrounding us with the atmosphere of

 

- delusion,

- half-truth,

- vanity,

- lies.

 

The atmosphere of this world is not neutral .... it's anti­-God.

- God's sun rises every morning,

- The trees stretch their branches to His praise,

- The birds sing to His glory,

- The clouds do His bidding.

 

But the atmosphere that surrounds the men and women who inhabit God's glorious earth keeps saying, "There is no God." "God is a tyrant."

 

Among men,

-          the earth is not filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.

 

Among men,

-          the earth is filled with gross darkness concerning who God is.

 

For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the Lord will arise upon you, and his glory will be seen upon you. And nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising.

Isaiah 60:2-3

 

One day this prophecy will be literally fulfilled in Jerusalem itself. But now it is already fulfilled in Zion, the church, in simple ways, in down-to-earth places.

 

There was a change in the atmosphere of a meeting we've conducted in a nearby convalescent home for years. The change coincided with the appearance of a patient in a wheelchair who continuously overflows with gratitude for God's goodness. This man didn't come to change anything. He's not even aware that a change has taken place. But his simple honest open thankfulness for the goodness of Jesus has the affect of setting fire to our hearts. When we pray the Lord's Prayer his voice mounts as we get to "deliver us from evil." The walls almost shake. So a hole is blown in the anti-God atmosphere and amid all the noise, distraction, heat, and pain, the glory of God fills that room.

 

- You can almost see it.

- You can surely feel it.

 

This is what Jesus promised would be happening in every one of our lives...

 

-          that if our hearts are filled with the presence of Christ, burning with faith in Him, the anti­-God atmosphere around us will be driven back and replaced with the presence of God.

 

"Behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the Lord will arise upon you, and his glory will be seen upon you. And nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising."

Isaiah 60:2-3

 

On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and proclaimed, "If any one thirst, let him come to me and drink. He who believes in me, as the scripture has said, 'Out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water."'

John 7:37-38

 

Rivers of living water flowing out of your heart .... can you see them? No. Yet what changes they bring about! The Spirit of God flooding a room,

 hovering above a gathering,

coming down on a solitary soul in a torrent of life. Where? From your heart!

God flowing out of your heart and filling this room!

 

Rivers of living water.  Not one river but several.

 

1.                   If Jesus Christ lives in our hearts, our hearts are going to give forth a river of forgiveness.

 

If we have been filled and changed by the forgiveness of the God who offered up His only begotten to cover our guilt, how can we not overflow with this forgiveness.

We become forbearing,

generous,

kind in our judgments,

merciful.

 

And this river of forgiveness flowing out of our hearts, fills the atmosphere around us, drives back the shadows of sus­picion and hate, touches every life that has the slightest glimmer of God-hunger....

they taste God's forgiveness, and are healed by it.

 

2.                   If Jesus Christ lives in our hearts, our hearts are going to give forth a river of peace.

 

He has come to as,

breathed on as, and said, "Peace be with you." He has given us His peace. And in that peace we've been able to think clearly in the daytime and sleep well at night. How can this peace not overflow our hearts as a new attitude toward those around us? Now we are no longer strife makers,

but peace makers!

 

God's peace, flowing from our hearts,

 

- fills the atmosphere,

- drives back the clouds of strife,

- touches those around us who have the slightest tenderness within their souls with healing.

 

3.                   If Jesus Christ lives in our hearts, our hearts will give forth a river of lovingkindness.

 

...who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies; who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle's.

Psalm 103:4-5

 

Because thy lovingkindness is better than life, my lips shall praise thee.

Psalm 63:3

 

It's much more than having nice things happen to us. It's having God's kindness flooding our hearts to over­flowing.

 

Out comes a river that wants to bless and give and share and do good. It shows itself in deeds we do, but it also fills the atmosphere, drives back the gloom of des­pair, and touches the forgotten with hope.

 

4.                   If Jesus lives in our hearts they will give forth a river of  praise.

 

Because thy lovingkindness is better than life, my lips shall praise thee. Thus will I bless thee while I live: I will lift up my hands in thy name.

Psalm 63:3-4

 

The praise goes up to God and blesses Him and as it does it also fills the atmosphere,

drives back the anti-God spirit,

turns the place where we are into a corner of heaven.

 

For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.

Habakkuk 2.14

Of course this will be fulfilled perfectly when the Messiah is here. But the coming of the Messiah is being hastened as the gross darkness of this world is pene­trated by the Spirit of His presence - river of living water.

 

"He who believes in me, as the scripture has said, 'Out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water."'

John 7:38

 

Those rivers are flowing and they are changing the atmos­phere.

 

God grant that they may be flowing from us ... and keep flowing until the earth is filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.