As I was praying today, I felt the Holy Spirit guiding me through the dark places of my heart. The places that embrace bitterness and unforgiveness as well as selfishness and want.
Here is my findings through prayer and meditation:
-It is vital for me to keep my wounds clean. As with a wound to my physical body, I must provide attention to it. It is prone to infection the more it is left unattended. When those dark places in my heart are left unattended, they will become infected and won't heal....In some cases, infection can be deadly. I can't imagine how many people have turned from faith because wounds left with flesh eating bacteria had gone unattended too long.
Lord, help me to keep my wounds clean. Give me grace to scrub away the deadness and let your healing balm spread over my wounds without resistance. I open myself to your care, trusting You to make me whole again.
-I need a taste for the beauty of Christ. My faith will grow when I find The Treasure - God. I believe I am left in want when I place my happiness in a new home or in material things or perhaps even in prestige. Jesus came that we would come to know the Father. When I find him, my tastes change and the things that I loved in darkness become stale and bland in comparison to the riches of God's perfect love in my life.
God, I place my whole life in your hands. I seek Your presence first and foremost, knowing that the finest home and earthly riches would still leave me in want. There is nothing that can fill the place in my heart that You inhabit. I make it a priority to ensure that nothing tries invade that place in my life.
-I've been on a quest for wisdom for my family and me for a long while. As I was praying, I thought of the ants and immediately went to Proverbs 30:25. It says, "The ants are not a strong people, yet they prepare their meat in summer." As I looked at this verse in commentaries and in it's context, I find that to prepare means for us to establish ourselves for the future. In the Hebrew, it also says that meat refers to our bread. I find it so enlightening to find that to be establish also refers to becoming respected in industry.
Thank You, God, that You gives us a healthy balance for the desires of our heart. Even though I forsake this world's riches to follow You, I find wisdom through preparing and praying for our future. I am believing for big things that Satan would easily want me to confuse with selfish wants and ambitions. Through Your Word, I set it back up straight. As we (Dustin and me) devote our lives to holiness, we ask for Your grace to establish us in this world but not of this world. Thank You, for bringing balance and clarity to my heart.
