I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after My own heart, who will do all My will. ACTS 13:22
Imagine that you purchased a house and the previous owner gave you keys to all the rooms except one; he reserved the right to come and go as he pleased in that one room. That brings to mind how the founder of the Salvation Army, William Booth, answered Queen Victoria when she asked the secret of his ministry: “I guess the reason is because God has all there is of me.” Robert Boyd Munger wrote a famous tract titled My Heart, Christ’s Home, in which he likened his heart to the rooms in a house. If your heart were divided into rooms, is there any one to which you would not give Christ the key? Or, like William Booth, does He have all there is of you? When God chose a man to succeed Saul as king of Israel, He chose David. And the primary reason given in Scripture is that David was a man after God’s own heart. That means that God would be just as comfortable in the house of David’s heart as in His own. No surprises, no dark corners, no hidden passageways not revealed to the light. Our goal should be to create the kind of heart-home that Jesus would love to come to—a heart like God’s own. God is still looking today for hearts that are loyal to Him (2 Chronicles 16:9). Has He found yours? Dr. David Jeremiah Morning and Evening
I must confess that this aspect of Christianity eluded me much of my life.
I used to have rooms in my heart that I, probably much like you, didn't want Jesus going into.
My hope and prayer for me is that in today, Jesus can and would go into every place in my heart. No perception of secrets on my part towards Him.
We delude ourselves if we think otherwise. There's nothing hidden from the eyes of whom we have to do. He is the one who searches the heart. He is like no other. In the day of judgment, in the other day of revealing-the giving an account of our lives, in both the unbeliever and the believer, He never has need to ask a question. He already knows every thought, every intention behind those thoughts, before you do.
We fool ourselves when we think something we desire is in secret. We fool ourselves when we try to convince ourselves what He has said is wrong is actually right.
Self-deception is as bad as a willingly sinful life. Embracing this world, it's lies, it's seductive pleasures, is just the same.
As the Bible says! What will it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul!
You gain nothing in living only for yourself. You gain nothing in trying to compartmentalize your heart when He already knows!
The Spirit seals those who are saved in Christ. These He comes into and these He begins to clean. To heal, to make more like Christ. We aren't the architect of those changes, we are the benefactor of them. We are the clay. He is the Potter.
When we came to Christ we gave FULL authority to Him to go anywhere in us to effect any change in us necessary to become more like Christ. We didn't hire a Butler. We didn't gain a faithful employee. We told Him to do whatever was needed to make us like Himself.
It depends on us as to how that process will happen.
It depends on us as to how painful that will be.
It depends on us to not fight Him in making those changes a reality.
As He said to pray "Your will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven".
We have a finite amount of time on this Earth to participate in God's Plan for mankind.
If we really believe the Bible, we know that time is close, if not at hand, for the return of Jesus Christ. We know that Scripture is being fulfilled. The Master of the house is returning.
It's not always going to be pretty in my life. The surgeries the Spirit has had to perform in me at times have been quite painful. Sometimes I thought they would break me. A few times I was brought to intense agony and tears.
I have to let go of what I have built up in this heart of mine that does not benefit me Spiritually. I have to let go of the things that do nothing to make me more like Christ.
My sin nature will try with all its might, all its slyness, all its craftiness, to get me to hide things in my heart from Jesus. Another lie. Another deception.
Goals and ambitions in this life are also potentially as bad when they do not follow the plan of God for you. If your time, energy and effort are consumed in your plans for you and Jesus isn't involved then my friends you are going to fail.
My mind these days is wrapping itself around the Spirit’s deeper meaning to that which Jesus said of denying yourself, taking up your own cross and following Him.
For me at the moment it involves eating, it has nothing to do with desiring a healthier lifestyle.
It has nothing to do with anyone else's opinion on how I have looked. I have to deny me what I want in order to reduce or eliminate medications. God has me in a place where this is the mandate. It's opening up my mind to other related issues in me. In my heart. Areas where I need to deny myself to become Christ-like. To be truthful with you, I feel absolutely no better or worse, almost 40 pounds lighter. It's about obedience in me to denying myself, taking up my cross and following Him. In eating, in recreation, in work, in all areas of life.
In our hearts is where we obey or disobey our Savior. Jesus said that out of the heart comes everything in how we relate to ourselves, to others, to Him.
Are there rooms in your heart you think you have kept from Jesus?
The reality is you haven't. The reality is if you're still insisting on living your life your way, you are living in disobedience. As Scripture also says God is not mocked. There's absolutely no fooling God. There's no way to hide the truth from God in you. As we are His workmanship, we who are in Christ WILL see Him busting down doors and walls in us.
It's never a bad thing! Our idea of good and great things, ideas, of life, are paltry compared to what Jesus has in mind for us! What we call success is rubbish compared to what Jesus has prepared for us to do! Joshua was a young shepherd he had dreams but even he didn't and couldn't see where the Lord was going to take him!
King David wrote of the anguish and pain of something in his life. Even he didn't know he would be quoting his Savior while He was on the cross.
Eye has not seen nor ear heard that which the Lord has prepared for those who love Him.
No comments:
Post a Comment