Mirror Mirror on the wall. . .

As I have been going through the book of Acts with the ladies over at IF:EQUIP I have certainly been challenged by their words.  In the last few months as well, I have really started to take a look at my own life and see how the Holy Spirit is affecting my life.  If the Holy Spirit truly indwells me (and we know this to be true from what Jesus told us), then how is that changing the person I am?

Today in the devotional, the passage was from Acts 4:5-13.  I was struck my the last couple of verses that read like this:

Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus.

It made me sit back and wonder when people look at me do they recognize that I have been with Jesus?  And it made me realize how little time I do spend in God's word.  I have to BE with God in order to have people see Him through me.  So if I am spending little time in God's word, listening to Him, focusing on Him, how can people even see that I have been with Him?  How can they see Jesus shining through me, if I am not spending time with Him?

I know when people go to other parts of the country or to other countries where a different language is spoken, sometimes they come back to our part of the world and it sounds like they have an accent.  Or they speak slightly different than what they did when they left.  I remember when a friend of mine moved down to Georgia and when I saw her again she had acquired that beautiful Georgian drawl.

So I am wondering. . . if I were to immerse myself in God's word, and His teachings, how different would I be?  Would I change?  Would I shine God through my actions?  I would think so.  When we are so affected by God, I don't think we can help but be changed.  And I can imagine that is what had happened to Peter & John.  They had spent so much time with Jesus, that people could just see it by their actions, by their speech, by whatever they did.

It has certainly challenged me to spend more time in God's word, allowing Him to speak to me.  To direct my thoughts continually on Him.  When I look in the mirror each morning, do I see more of the Holy Spirit shining through me?  Do others see Him exemplified in my life?

As I read this passage and thought about if others see the Holy Spirit in my life, I was reminded of a song from long ago that I wanted to share with you today.  I trust that this might challenge you as well to spend more time in the Scriptures so that others recognize that "you have been with Jesus"!!!