I love walking along the beach!  The mixture of sights, sounds, and smells overwhelms me.  I feel so close to God because I’m concentrating on His magnificent Creation.

My husband and I enjoy looking for collectible shells, odd-shaped and colorful rocks, or sharks teeth while walking together along the water’s edge.  We watch the tide coming in and going out, to see what’s new in the wet sand.  As we walk, he turns to me to whisper, “Every wave changes the landscape.”

I simply look at him as my thoughts turn to God…  “Every wave of the Holy Spirit changes the landscape of our lives.”  The wave of God’s Spirit can be a forceful, roaring tidal wave during a revival.  At other times, it may come as a soft mist or light wind, when God seems to be speaking only to us.  Once the wave of His Spirit falls, it changes us!  It changes those close to us…family, friends, and acquaintances.  It changes the landscape of our homes, neighborhoods, and communities.  Our cities, countries, our world…

If we let it!!

Sometimes, I’m amazed at how much I bring to the beach, just to leave it lying in a pile to set out for a walk unencumbered by it all.  I want to encourage and inspire all of us to let the waves of the Holy Spirit wash over us, so we can experience His peace and awesome joy.  To empower us to allow God to change the landscape of our lives with His moving tide.  To let the waves get us soaking wet, by swimming and splashing in them.  To let the Holy Spirit change us forever.  To encourage us to drop everything, when we walk to the waves.  To lay all our burdens and baggage aside, and just dive in.  Then, to look up …and simply bask in the warmth of His Presence.

When I look up, at the beach, I see the pale blue canopy, polka-dotted with white puffy clouds.  And, even if I close my eyes, I can still see the aquamarine water creating a silvery foam against the tawny, pebbly sand as I walk.  I take a moment to deeply breathe in the salty, moist air.  Seagulls are squawking and the waves are lapping against the rocks.  The sensations of the beach surround me and literally compel me to lay down all my cares and worries, and just drink in the natural beauty of the world around me.  And then, I suddenly realize that I’m hungry and thirsty!

That’s how we should feel about the waves of God’s Holy Spirit…hungry and thirsty!!

Perhaps it’s the wave of the Holy Spirit felt by a loving adult holding a newborn baby.  Or the wave of the Holy Spirit a toddler feels while singing about Jesus.  Tender hearts that respond to the love of God means landscapes that are changed forever.  We can all recall other moments when the wave of the Holy Spirit washed over us!  We were never the same afterward.

So, why do we resist the Holy Spirit?  Are we like the little children playing on the beach?  Dancing and racing back and forth between the sand and the water, the children are uncertain of the power or predictability of the waves, so while they run towards the coast, they soon scamper away from the shore line, when it seems the wave might actually reach them!

But, those standing right in the water where the waves break and crash, will get a completely refreshing experience!  Let the waves get us thoroughly wet…let’s swim in it, let it engulf us!  Let’s be eager to get out of our beach chairs…walk right up to the edge of the water, jump in, and let the waves wash over us.  Let the waves cool us, caress us, soak us, saturate us, inspire us, empower us…as we walk in, run in, rush in, jump in, and dive under.

Let’s drop everything when we walk along the beach.  We can soak up the sun, play in the sand, collect shells, take photos, and forget everything that burdens us…as we concentrate only on the waves that can change the landscape around us.

We need to drop everything also, when we’re in the presence of the Holy Spirit.  We should be hungry & thirsty for every movement of the waves.  Allowing God to remove all distractions, we can lay down and leave our cares, burdens, and worries, and drink in the spiritual cleansing waves.  Then, we’ll hear the Lord calling us and speaking to us, while we’re basking in His warmth, welcoming the next wave of His Spirit.

Whether it’s loud and powerful, or quiet and gentle…welcome it, be immersed in it.  Listen carefully…it’s renewing us.  With every wave the landscape of our life changes for the better.