Did you know that Jesus wants your heart? Did you know that He is interested in knowing the deepest desires and details about how your feeling and thinking? Its even more than that! He wants you, all of you, not just a little bit.
In past posts I have described to you how I have given my heart away. I was reckless with it, giving it over to people who don't deserve it and who can't be trusted with it. The is that I have given my heart away to men... over and over again, but I was not willing to give my heart to Jesus. I would give him my time, I would worship him, I would repent... but my heart was never totally His. The one who truly deserves my heart, who has earned it, who died for it... I didn't give it to Him, I only followed Him half-heatedly.
God has really been working on me lately about giving my everything to Him. I was finally able to hand some things over to God that I had been taking ownership of for a long time, but God keeps saying "I want more of you. I want your whole heart." In the old testament there are many examples of God transforming people and making them new. In 2 Kings chapter 10 it talks about one of the kings (Jehu) and how he followed God's instructions and God was pleased with him but that he continued to sin, and to give in to things that caused him to fail.
In past posts I have described to you how I have given my heart away. I was reckless with it, giving it over to people who don't deserve it and who can't be trusted with it. The is that I have given my heart away to men... over and over again, but I was not willing to give my heart to Jesus. I would give him my time, I would worship him, I would repent... but my heart was never totally His. The one who truly deserves my heart, who has earned it, who died for it... I didn't give it to Him, I only followed Him half-heatedly.
God has really been working on me lately about giving my everything to Him. I was finally able to hand some things over to God that I had been taking ownership of for a long time, but God keeps saying "I want more of you. I want your whole heart." In the old testament there are many examples of God transforming people and making them new. In 2 Kings chapter 10 it talks about one of the kings (Jehu) and how he followed God's instructions and God was pleased with him but that he continued to sin, and to give in to things that caused him to fail.
But Jehu did not obey the Law of the Lord, the God of Israel, with all his heart. He refused to turn from the sins that Jeroboam had led Israel to commit. 2 Kings 10:31
So, even though this King was following the directions that he was given, he still was not operating his life within obedience to God. The funny part is, God promised that He would bless Jehu if he would be obedient and he still didn't choose to live a life obedient to God. But as you can read from the verse above, it was an issue within Jehu's heart. He was only following the Lord with half his heart. He chose to follow when He wanted to, not when it was difficult.
The pastor from my church says that sin is like Cancer, you cannot just remove part of it and expect it to go away. You have to remove all of it, or it will keep coming back. I have struggled and struggled some more with this. Just when I think I have given everything to God, He shows me more things that I need to hand over. Yesterday I was noticing some things that I thought I had already given up and handed over, but I needed to do it again. The awesome thing is that after you give all the things you are struggling with to Jesus, and let Him love you through it, life gets better each time. Also, all the treasures that God has been wanting to bless you with He will finally entrust you with.
Some of you may be struggling with the words Obedience or Submission today. I promise you that I have struggled with them as well. Because submission was used against me so many times, and even when I was being abused I was still instructed to submit once again to my abuser, I worry that my heart will be hurt by submitting to God, or being obedient to God. But I assure you that God is the one who you can trust your heart to completely. He is the only one who can see your future and wants only the best for you. You can trust that when you submit your life completely to Him that there is freedom in it. There is no other way to life a life that is truly blessed, and filled with peace than to submit your whole entire heart to Jesus!
The pastor from my church says that sin is like Cancer, you cannot just remove part of it and expect it to go away. You have to remove all of it, or it will keep coming back. I have struggled and struggled some more with this. Just when I think I have given everything to God, He shows me more things that I need to hand over. Yesterday I was noticing some things that I thought I had already given up and handed over, but I needed to do it again. The awesome thing is that after you give all the things you are struggling with to Jesus, and let Him love you through it, life gets better each time. Also, all the treasures that God has been wanting to bless you with He will finally entrust you with.
Some of you may be struggling with the words Obedience or Submission today. I promise you that I have struggled with them as well. Because submission was used against me so many times, and even when I was being abused I was still instructed to submit once again to my abuser, I worry that my heart will be hurt by submitting to God, or being obedient to God. But I assure you that God is the one who you can trust your heart to completely. He is the only one who can see your future and wants only the best for you. You can trust that when you submit your life completely to Him that there is freedom in it. There is no other way to life a life that is truly blessed, and filled with peace than to submit your whole entire heart to Jesus!
Trust God from the bottom of your heart; don’t try to figure out everything on your own. Listen for God’s voice in everything you do, everywhere you go; he’s the one who will keep you on track. Don’t assume that you know it all. Run to God! Run from evil! Your body will glow with health, your very bones will vibrate with life! Honor God with everything you own; give him the first and the best. Your barns will burst, your wine vats will brim over. But don’t, dear friend, resent God’s discipline; don’t sulk under his loving correction. It’s the child he loves that God corrects; a father’s delight is behind all this. Proverbs 3: 5-12 (MSG)
Just a reminder... I am not just a blog writer. I am a real person who struggles just like you. And I am really truly here for you. If you need someone to pray for you, or to pray with you in person. Please email me and we can talk. I honestly love you, care for you, and pray for you! [email protected]
Lord God I thank you that you love us so much and that you desire for our sin to be out of the way so that we can be in your presence. Lord today I ask that you would give us the strength to be willing to give you our entire hearts Lord, that we would surrender all of who we are to you. Lord we know for sure that there is sin separating us from you. but we know that you can remove it because you died so we can be free from it. So God today, help our hearts to be open to making the choice to serve you Lord Jesus! We invite you deeper into our hearts, make them clean! We pray all this in the name of Jesus! Amen.