For those who have experienced the Emmaus Movement, I took away a sense of the “present” moment-ness of the Holy Spirit’s abiding as we were introduced to the “Fourth day” concept ( for me in 1992) …. that while our experience of the three days at Emmaus was a once in a lifetime kind of spiritual experience for many of us, each day afterward God’s mercies are fresh and new. Every day going forward is a fresh new 4th day of our experience of Christ with us, to us, for us, through us.
As we’ve been reflecting on the significance of living into Pentecost is any moment where we feel afresh the anointing of the Spirit and, by the grace of God, that can be anyday, everyday, any moment, every moment. Each new dawn can be the Day of Pentecost and can help me experience and abide in the Spirit daily. If biblically, 40 days/years is interpreted as representing a long period of time during which a person(s) endure something and experience or demonstrate something that can bring about a transformational change, 50 days can be viewed as the timeframe beyond that time of trial and endurance in which that transformational change and new beginning is firmly set in one’s mind by the grace and gift of God and is established and is capable of being sustained, moving the person(s) into abiding in the new reality permanently. This, to me, is the power of Pentecost. It is the means by which we learn to walk in the Spirit and pray without ceasing. His nature abiding in us so fully that He lives instead of us.
It is rare that we can talk about such things, much less find others longing for the same kind of life in Christ and to have people recognizing that it can be sought and secured…… and seeking to live it and disciple others on that life. It is a way of thinking, of being, a worldview that God is at work all around us, in spite of or perhaps even because of the brokenness and suffering that exists and holding forth the hope (confident expectation) that God is readily available and willing to move in to redeem anything we face, wherever we will have Him.
It seems many of us, including me, live far too long in a “40” day/ year mindset of enduring trials, exiles, temptations, battles, etc…… it’s time for us to move into the Pentecost and Jubilee mindset, the days/ years of a “50” timeframe way of thinking…. For God IS With Us! It is time for the Body of Christ to move into the new reality of His Presence and abide there….. Let those who choose the exile and trial remain there in a “40-forevers” mindset if they wish. But I have chosen to move forward, one new day at the time.
My favorite correspondence sign off:
“Experiencing God’s BEST daily,
Cathy