Have You Bathed Lately?

(Fresh mangos! What a sweet fragrance!)

God often uses natural items to speak to me supernaturally. The next few blogs aren’t necessarily about ministry experiences, but more of revelation that God gave to me as I was able to still myself and take in His Word. My prayer is that it will touch someone who reads them.

“But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads fragrance of the knowledge of Him everywhere.” 2 Corinthians 2:14.
When you travel to different places, everything is new…The sights obviously, but for some reason, God awakened my sense of smell when I went for walks around the city. When I realized this, I began to pray that God would teach me something through them and the scripture I found above. Here are some of those thought and prayers from my journal…
Yesterday as I was walking, I became aware of many fragrances around me, especially the flower bushes. As I proceeded to walk by them, I stopped, and turned around to drink in the pleasant aroma. I began to realize that I wanted to be like this flower bush, living such a fragrant life, that people would take notice of the glory of the Lord within me. I began to think about my fragrance, and at that time, I definitely needed a shower from sweating…hmmm…not so delightful, even for myself.  I found myself asking, God, is this my attitude towards other people that aren’t like me? Am I being judgmental towards the backpackers? I didn’t have to wait long for answer to come to my spirit. Yeah, honestly, I wasn’t being very loving. So I started praying that God would bathe and refresh me in the sweet fragrance of His Holy Spirit, so that through me, the knowledge of Him would spread everywhere, not just in church or in my circle of friends. We all have good and bad fragrance days…Some days we take a shower, and some days we just stink. When we are walking in the Spirit, our “shoots are spreading out, and His beauty is like the olive, and his fragrance is like Lebanon” (Hos. 14:6).
Most of us know how to live a fragrant life--being washed in the Word, soaked in prayer and worship, refreshed by the company of other Christians, pouring out the love of God through loving acts, etc. 1 Cor. 15:58 says, “Therefore my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord, your labor is not in vain.” We need the grace to do this. Thankfully, in 2 Cor. 9:8, it says, “God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.” The rest of 2 Cor. 9 lists the benefits for doing the Lord’s work, not only for you, but for the receiver as well. They include: 1) God will increase the harvest of your righteousness (vs. 10), 2) You will be enriched in every way through your generosity (vs. 11), 3) It will produce an overflow of thanksgiving to God by the receiver (vs. 11), 3) The receiver will glorify God because of your submission from confessing the gospel (vs. 13), 4) The receiver will long for you (vs. 14), 5) The receiver will pray for you (vs. 15). I agree with Paul in vs. 15 when he says, “Thanks be to God for His inexpressible gift!” Mainly, our fragrances will encourage others to ask questions about our relationship with God, in hopes of creating a harvest of righteous disciples.
So think about this. What are some of your favorite scents? Why? Mine are the salty crispness from the sea, the rich aroma of a strong cup of coffee, the sweetness in the air as I walk past a fruit stand, and the mouth watering scent of homemade chocolate chip cookies coming from the oven. I like them for two reasons: 1) they remind me to thank the Creator because “every good gift and perfect gift is from above coming from the Father” (Jam. 1:17), and 2) so that others will “give glory to our Father who is in heaven” (Matt. 5:16).