Sealed

"Howard, did you see that chair in the basement?" I asked at an estate sale yesterday.  He said he hadn't, so I steered him in that direction down the stairs.  We had become separated, he in the garage poring over man things and me going off on my own, even though I preferred staying together in case I spotted something like this.  It was a beautiful, leather (or leatherlike) office chair, commodious  with a tufted back and padded arms.  He had a smaller one at home, but one of us was always claiming it first, so we needed another one.

We hadn't seen much at the sale that was interesting and had been about to leave.  I reminded him that things would be half-price later today, but the chair might be gone by the time we left and came back.  After we'd walked to the car, he decided to go back and put a bid on it.  "I put a sealed bid on it," he told me when he got in the car.  I worried that someone would come back and buy it at half price, but he had bid a little over that, and we got the chair! 

Last night I heard a minister on television talking about the Holy Spirit, and how it is a seal on our lives if we have trusted Jesus as our saviour.  "And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption." Ephesians 4:30.  And again  in Ephesians 1:13-14, "In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory."  Howard's bid was sealed, or made sure,  until he redeemed his purchase, just as Jesus will redeem us, His purchase, when he comes back for us!

Joel 2:28 says, "And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men will shall dream dreams, your young men will see visions."  The next verse says he will pour out his spirit upon the servants and handmaids, also.

In church the other night, someone requested that we sing the song, "It's Beginning to Rain."  Prayer requests had gone up in the service for rain, since we have been in drought in Oklahoma for months, classified as "Exceptional Drought," in our area, which is the worst kind.  We had recently received 2 1/2 inches, but we were believing for that much more.  The song request, though, was referring to the outpouring of the Spirit we'd had in the morning service and that was still evident in our midst.

The physical rain started coming and has been blessing us for a couple of days now.  We are amazed to see the shrinking farm pond visibly rising.  It shimmers with freshness and the ducks glide smoothly and swiftly over its surface amid punctuating plops of rain. Thank God for the refreshing, both physically and spiritually!  And for the comfy new chair!