On the Lord’s day, I was in the Spirit…

Pneuma.  Great word.  The Revelation of Jesus Christ that John recorded in the final book of God’s Word to us was given to him on this occasion — “on the Lord’s day, I was in the Spirit.”  That second phrase is the one word, pneuma.

Many years ago, I endeavored to study the Revelation.  It was God’s decision, not mine, I have to be honest on that.  I doubted and second guessed Him pretty ardently too.  I didn’t know a thing about it, but that only served to convince me that I wasn’t the one to get that ball rolling!  If my preacher wasn’t going to touch it with a ten foot pole, who was I to even make the attempt.

From the very beginning though, I knew, felt, sensed, had it confirmed to me that I was on the right path.  The first chapter of Revelation is quite beautiful.  He knows that it’s hard, so He makes sure-right from go-that we are made aware that it is worth it.

One line, well many actually, but the one that pertains to today’s thought, seemed to hover over the page as I picked through the beauty of God’s character expressed in those first verses.  It’s actually just after.  John tells us how all of this vision came to be, this revelation that the Lord imparted to him, revealed to him in advance of it’s coming to fruition.  John tells us the basic facts; I was here, it was this day, it happened like this. Then comes my word, pneuma.  In the Spirit.  The definition of this word according to Strong’s concordance is pretty lengthy.  English is quite limited as languages go, so this word doesn’t translate well, it misses a lot of the deep meaning.  Strong’s tries to clear it up for us.

Pneuma is “the element in man which gives him the ability to think of God. It is man’s vertical window.”

I am a nature girl.  I heard it recently said that music and nature are two of the more powerful stigmas that draw us into the presence of the Lord.  I get both, but nature just overwhelms me.  As I pondered this great revealing granted to this aging man who had walked with my Jesus, found himself loved deeply by Him, I found myself clearly visualizing him in this moment.

He was on the island of Patmos, not alone there, but exiled, not without provisions, but without his former life.  I’ve never seen it, but I have the picture more than clearly.  I see an old bearded man on a sandy beach staring out over the ocean that profoundly moves me.  He doesn’t sit, he doesn’t stand.

I like old windows.  I have the old windows from my first house over my sofa.  My wonderful husband had them restored for me and made into picture frames.  This is how I see our old disciple.  There is a window suspended from nowhere.  It hovers at just the right height amid the sandy beach.  And there relaxes John.  I picture him propped in the seal, looking a bit like Huck Finn.  He’s got one leg propped up on the seal and the other swinging freely below him, feet dragging in the sand.

There John met with his Maker.  He visited with his old friend.  He thought on his God.  He heard and saw and worshipped and communed.  I doubt that this was his first visit to that window.  I doubt that it was his last.

Like David, my greatest desire is to live my life in the sanctuary of my God, to enjoy the peace of His presence all the days of my life.  My greatest desire is to live out my days propped peacefully in my own vertical window, that place where my mind, spirit, soul, all of me is capable of thinking on that which isn’t visible but is indeed all that truly lasts.

God has graciously allowed me to set aside great amounts of time lately to do just this.  I believe that I am to do it for myself as well as others.  To those of you who would like to pull your window up next to mine, welcome.

October 3, 2014