Solomon had just finished his beautiful, powerful prayer to God as he dedicated the newly built temple. He concluded with a call to all of Israel to devote themselves, their hearts, to the Lord by walking faithfully in all of His commandments. By setting the Ark of the Covenant in the new Holy of Holies, God would then be able to say, "My eyes and My heart will be there perpetually."
Solomon's connection between the Ark of the Covenant where God dwelt then, and our hearts where God dwells now is critically important to us today. It is in our heart, the core of our being, that the Holy Spirit perpetually dwells. He is the eyes who watch everything we think, do, and say. He is the very heart of God in us. And what is the "heart of God?" It is the very life of Christ. That is what the Holy Spirit represents in the life of the believer.
Though we have the life of Christ living in us, we so often try to do every spiritual thing in our own power. We use our strengths and our sheer will-power to try and overcome sin. We want desperately to walk faithfully in the commands God gives us to live by, and fail miserably with each attempt. We so often life in a sin-confess-try again cycle, and usually never realize that this is simply a dog chasing its tail. We go round and round and round, but we never really get anywhere.
So what is the secret, then, to having an unbroken heart, a heart healed of its sinful ways that obeys the Lord's commands? Zechariah the prophet speaks loudly the key to having an unbroken heart. "Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit," says the Lord. (4:6).
The healing of the continual sin in your heart will not come by might ("I am trying hard to handle this. I failed yesterday, but I will try harder today."), nor will it come from your strength and power ("I am strong; I can get through this; I did yesterday, so I will today as well."). The spiritual healing of your heart, the very removal of fleshly gods, idols, and sins, will happen because of your working at it. God requires one thing from you to become an obedient child who walks in His pure and righteous ways. He requires your surrender to the Spirit. Your transformed heart, changing from broken to unbroken, from sin-stained to holy, is the work of the Spirit. This work happens from the inside out by the Spirit, not from the outside in by your striving flesh!
In every 12 step program, such as Alcoholics Anonymous, the transforming work begins with these 3 principles: I can't; You can; go ahead! Do you hear the surrender of such a prayer? This should be our constant prayer! Why not begin right now to apply the truth of Zechariah 4:6. It will sound a something like this:
"Holy Spirit, you have a job to do in my heart, but You require me to seek Your work in me from a place of humility and surrender. I am struggling with committing the sin of _______. I have tried to stop and have failed miserably. I know that my flesh cannot transform my heart. Only You can. So I come to You today, with my flesh crucified and my spirit crying out to You. 'I can't get this done in me! But I know that You can! So please go ahead!' I surrender to Your work in me."
By using the "Post Comment" button below, why not report back what the Spirit is doing in you as an encouragement to the other readers of this blog! And while you are at it, click on the "follow" button to the right!
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