A Spiritual Kingdom
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| Courtesy: Dean Williams 2012 |
We were a young church back then. It was Friday, the day we
held our first workshop on the Nine Gifts of the Spirit (1 Cor. 12:7-10).
That night, I lay down to sleep, but I was too happy! I
tossed and turned, going over the day’s activities, and thanking God for being
with us and blessing our presentation. How long I thanked him I do not know.
Then, a scent of perfume met my nostrils. Curious, I got up
to check on the source. Everyone was sleeping, so I lay back down again. The
scent seemed stronger now. I breathed in the sweet perfume because it smelled
so wonderful! However, the perfume seemed to be getting more concentrated. I
sat up, thinking a change of air around me might help; but the aroma clung to
my nostrils. It was like eating too much sweet cake! The strong perfume began
to make me cough. I ran outside, hoping the wind would blow the perfume away;
hoping to catch my breath of regular air. After a while, the perfume dissipated,
although I coughed a little here and there. Eventually, I headed back to bed. I
still had a workshop to finish the next day.
Surprise! I woke up, to find perfume still clinging to my
nostrils. Was it just my imagination? After the workshop, all the attendees
gathered at the front of the church for prayer. I coughed a few times and
worried because it seemed to me that the perfume was coming out of me and
spreading into the air around us. At that moment, one of the teenage boys in
the group remarked that he smelled perfume. Was anybody wearing any? The answer
was ‘no’. Some innate wisdom in me warned that I should keep my mouth shut.
Frightened Christians often attribute spiritual occurrences as from the
devil—and I wasn’t going to be a fool for anybody’s fear that day.
The Scripture is: “All the while my breath is in me, and the
Spirit of God is in my nostrils” (Job 27:3).
Thirty-three years later, it’s been tough-going, growing up
and learning about spirit. Today, I’m at a Garden Party; and while I don’t
please everyone, I do try to please the Lord.
Next blog-Connecting
the Spiritual Sense of Smell
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Scriptures are taken from the Holy Bible, King James Version, Cambridge 1769. Used by permission. All
rights reserved.
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