This morning while eating my breakfast I was listening to a devotion online, on today’s heading and what comes to mind is lovely baking smells coming from your kitchen, walking through a flowering garden, walking on the beach with the waves gently lapping at your feet, standing in perfect stillness when a snowflake lands on your face etc. These are all wonderful ‘atmospheres’ and we love it when we are made to feel embraced with good vibes around us.
Much the same when we walk into a room, and we can sense discord or conflict, or we enter a messy and unclean house – these too are ‘atmospheres’ we try to avoid!
From this morning’s devotion, I was taken by one of the bible scriptures used from Revelations – where the disciple John was taken by the spirit to heaven in a vision…
After this I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven! And the first voice which I had heard, like the sound of a [war] trumpet speaking with me, said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after these things.” At once I was in [special communication with] the Spirit; and behold, a throne stood in heaven, with One seated on the throne. And He who sat there appeared like [the crystalline sparkle of] a jasper stone and [the fiery redness of] a sardius stone, and encircling the throne there was a rainbow that looked like [the colour of an] emerald. Twenty-four [other] thrones surrounded the throne; and seated on these thrones were twenty-four elders dressed in white clothing, with crowns of gold on their heads. – Rev 4:1-4 AMP
WOW imagine being John! Atmosphere overload! What struck me when hearing this scripture being read was that as a child, I always had the imagery in my head that heaven was this big white light so bright that we would possibly need sunglasses to see anything. But in the above verses, the gems that have been described are RED & GREEN!
Having been to Iceland, I am now more aware of the northern lights and how they appear in the sky and that they are especially more prominent across the globe in this current season, even here in the lower southwest of Western Australia we are seeing the southern counterpart ‘Aurora Australis’ of late!
The Northern lights tend to flow like a river, moving while you watch, in the night sky and are varied in colour – but they have a lot of green ‘emerald’ and red ‘jasper & sardius’ in them.
If John has described the throne room of God with these gems (precious stones) in mind, then my mind’s eye can only now picture these northern light displays as a ‘taste’ of what type of rainbows we may see in God’s presence! Amazing! So, this new thinking now conjures up a powerful image of a stunning ‘Atmosphere’ of God’s presence in heaven for me moving forward!
Understanding my role here on earth (while I can) is to help cultivate better ‘atmospheres’ for others and help those in need come to know Jesus who can turn their lives around for the better. The church I attend have ‘atmospheres’ that we are encouraged to cultivate in all we do and purposefully endeavour making these ten areas part of our own lives so we can share with many more.
Accepting of all people
Relevant to our city
Authentic in our lifestyle
Prayerful as our priority
Faith-filled for the miraculous
Honouring as our culture
Hunger for God above all
Encouraging in our speech
Generous with our lives
Reaching our world
To try implementing the above in my everyday day I also participate in a program of classes each week called ‘Greenhouse’ and they most certainly enrich my thinking, my perspective on everyday activities and also make me check my heart for any unwanted attitudes that may be lingering unnecessarily. Because of this, I need to allot regular time every day to spend talking with my Heavenly Father about my life and for Him to talk back to me 😊
In thinking through this process of ‘atmospheres’ I have discovered that in the natural, nitrogen makes up 78% of the atmosphere and comprises 3% of the human body (by mass). It would seem then that it is required by everything to produce but there is a fine balance on consumption.
For us as Christians, we love to come to church on the weekend, worship, and be caught up in the time we have together, which is important, and the word of God says ‘do not forsake meeting together...’ – Hebrews 10:25 but I feel we have an ‘Important Assignment’ here to go into our week creating that same ‘atmosphere’ around us every day. We should be wary of our ‘consumption’ of what the world would love/have us to be absorbing. Like nitrogen, there is a ‘fine balance’ on how much is good for us. If we cultivate the right atmosphere around us in our every day then I believe our ‘nitrogen monitor’ would glow a wonderful colour, maybe like the emerald, jasper & sardius above from the northern lights!
I am blessed to be able to participate in activities, relationships, and friendships that I have around me in this season, and I choose to continue finding more ways to share Christ and exude His love toward others as best I can. Praying for you all to enjoy the same.
Blessings