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Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:13 NKJV
The Whiskey Bottle
A good number of men had met that afternoon in an open area of the park where homeless congregated. They had, in turn, been talking, arguing, and quite obviously drinking.
Empty beer and whiskey bottles littered the ground about them.
I walked past as I did weekly handing out sheets of Bible verses, talking with the needy, offering prayer, and simply put, sharing Jesus. This day more than most, the general feel of the crowd was more argumentative than congenial.
I had been doing evangelism in area parks for 6 ½ years. Perhaps, I had simply reached a level of frustration that day. It seemed there were always too many bottles and too few Bible seekers at this particular location. It seemed that the group of addicted, needy, and homeless grew alarmingly by the week.
Over the chaos of that moment, I heard one voice, “God can’t help me.”
I stopped. He looked at me. “I just keep sinning and sinning,” he slurred.
I felt as though God told me to look down. There was simply another discarded bottle there.
Wordlessly, I picked up the whiskey bottle not sure why. It held a couple of inches of rainwater in it. I poured out the rainwater slowly from a height within view of the group.
I had their attention.
“When we receive Jesus into our hearts and ask God to forgive us because we MEAN it and WANT to turn away from our sins, God pours out our sins like this bottle being poured out. Now, we too are empty. But, we have a choice. Do we truly turn from our sins and follow Jesus in all things? If we don’t follow Jesus fully, we can find more sin to quickly fill us with evil again.“ I was amazed at the silence and attention of the crowd.
“Remember that there is room within our hearts for either good or evil. God has forgiven and poured out those sins of yours when you repent and it is up to you whether you turn to the world to be filled with sin again or if you ask God to fill you with His Holy Spirit. If we choose His Holy Spirit, God will FILL you with His Love and there is no room for sin, failure, and sorrow.
“You are His. If you make a mistake, just ask God immediately for His forgiveness. Don’t embrace following sin again. Like this empty bottle, we are completely empty. We don’t want to be filled with sin again. Asking God for His Holy Spirit means that a part of God, His Love, lives within you always. It is a Comforter and a Guide. Ask God for His Holy Spirit. It will make your life shine with His Love.”
Then God whispered to me to hold up the Whiskey Bottle.
So, I lifted it up and …at that moment… the sun burst forth full force and lit that bottle into a brilliant shining glow