Devotionals for the Heart: Reflection

The Reflection
A devotional by Mirachelle Canada

“God is spirit, and His worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.” 
~John 4:24 (NIV)

I clearly remember the moment I stood gazing at my reflection in the mirror. I didn’t recognize the person staring back. She looked tired and haggard. I thought I’d lost my bloom. I was single and barely thirty years old.

My reflection was not an accurate portrait of the person I felt like inside. It wasn’t appealing to me and I knew no one else was going to find it attractive either. Why wasn’t my outward appearance matching my inward spirit? I felt I had a good relationship with God. I loved him, I sought after him, I worshipped him...

Worship gave me a check in my spirit. Was there an issue with my worship? John 4:24 (NIV) says, “God is spirit, and His worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth."

I asked the Lord what truth wasn’t measuring up in my worship. He showed me a rusty golden bowl, my current offering to him. I had lapsed in casting off all worldly cares. They were weighing heavily on me and tarnishing my ability to reflect who I really was in Christ. I prayed for God to “create in me a clean heart and renew a right spirit within me” as Scripture says in Psalm 51:10 (KJV).

A few weeks later, I attended a Hillsong United concert with my sister. Shortly before the band played, a handsome and brawny man sat down in our row. He struck up a conversation with us while he waited for his brother. Shawn was an airline pilot from the Virginia town where I had once lived and worked. There came that familiar heart string’s tug again. When he spoke about his love for God and passion for music, I felt connected to the truth in his words.

Though the music blared and the lights flashed during the concert, I found myself watching Shawn intently, not because of his looks, but how he worshipped. His hands raised high in the air and he sang with abandon to every song.

Later that night, I reflected on the image of Shawn worshipping and I asked God to show me why I had connected to him so much. The Lord revealed that Shawn was wearing an ultra-reflective armor, the kind goes through a refining fire so hot it burns all the way through the metal causing any impure elements to be removed. The result is a breastplate of righteousness that reflects the truest image of God, and so amazing is that when we meet others whose armor has also been so refined, we recognize in their armor’s reflection the Spirit of God in all His holiness.

Something that is Holy is reserved by God for His own use (The Quest Study Bible, 1994). Psalms 96:9 (KJV) tells us, “O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness” and 1 Peter 1:15-16 (KJV) says, “But just as He who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; For it is written: ‘Be holy, because I am holy’.” What is it to be holy? Mainly consecrating yourself wholly unto God, but I also like this definition: “Having a spiritually pure quality.” Spiritual purity only comes out of the refining fire of God’s Holy Spirit.

When we seek to worship God in Spirit and in truth, we are asking Him to refine us so that our worship is made utterly pure in His sight and our armor will reflect Him alone. Only then we will recognize the true reflection of ourselves each and every time we look in the mirror.

Do you want to be so refined today? Ask God. He’s always willing and waiting.

~*~
Author Bio:

Mirachelle Canada is a writer, playwright, screenwriter and theatre director/producer from Northern Virginia. She teaches television production at C.D. Hylton Senior High School. 

She earned her Master of Fine Arts in Script & Screenwriting from Regent University and is a member of Act One: Hollywood Film & Television Writing Program, American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW), ACFW Virginia Chapter, The Jerry Jenkins Writers Guild, and Your Novel Blueprint.

Mirachelle is passionate about awakening creativity and the gifts of God in everyone. She is currently working on her first historical fiction novel set during WWII, inspired by her time studying theatre education in London, England.

In her spare time, she also writes and directs Christmas and Easter passion plays at Christ Chapel Assembly of God in Woodbridge, VA.

~*~
Connect with Mirachelle:
Website: www.mirachellecanada.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mirachellecanada/
Instagram: https://instagram.com/mirachelle77/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/miracan