Stubborn Stains

The Lord gave me a picture of the deck of an old sailing ship, with beautiful wooden slats glistening and varnished. A huge bucket of water was thrown right across it, clearing away the debris and dramatically cleansing all that it touched. It became clear to me that when we accept Jesus into our lives and ask for forgiveness for our sins He sweeps clean with an almighty hand over our whole lives.

As the water dried however, I looked again and noticed some stubborn stains, hard baked and probably left by a passing seagull! They were a blemish on an otherwise perfect deck and annoyed me to the point that I knew I couldn’t ignore them. The Lord was letting me know that, while salvation is a certainty, there are times in my life when I need to deal with things along the way. He also reminded me that the best way to remove stubborn stains is on my knees with perseverance and a hard scrubbing brush! These unsightly stains are only dealt with up close and with focussed effort. In prayer the Lord revealed the areas to me one by one, some of them things from the past that were long forgotten but important all the same.

When the Lord cleanses us from sin He knows we’re not perfect and while we’re on this earth we will still make mistakes, bad choices and do wrong things. What He needs us to do is to recognise them, ideally before they get hard baked and difficult to remove. Asking for forgiveness and turning away from sin as we walk through our lives is far better than letting things fester and become stubborn blemishes on an otherwise beautiful surface and with the Lord’s help we can eradicate anything. Ephesians 5:27 talks of wives presenting themselves without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless and how important is it that we all keep short accounts and ensure we don’t allow our lives to be damaged by sin.

Prayer: Lord help me to identify areas of my life that need removing. Create in me a pure heart and show me where I fall short. Let Your Holy Spirit shine into the areas that need cleansing. I ask for Your forgiveness and turn away from them. I thank You that Your blood sanctifies all and that You shed it for me, once and for all. Amen.