Discovering The Sin Within Your Heart

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(Excerpt from Cheryl Gnagey's Spiritual Healing:  The Surrender That Brings Victory, Chapter 12)

"Theory must always give way to practical application, otherwise all of our 'head knowledge' becomes wasted and worthless grey matter.  Can we turn our focus for just a moment to the Inner Court of our heart transformation?  I would like us to magnify that court right now so that we are not looking at the beginning or end of our spiritual journey, but just at the present, the here and now.

It is in the Inner Court where God allows us to see just how dark and sinful our hearts really are, and can be.  This court is a place of illumination.  Once in the Inner Court, once we have taken a good 'look around' at what is really hidden there, we often find that the sins, the gods, and the idols we find inside of us are so many that they are overwhelming to us.  We know that we are to be busy building our hearts into a proper and pure home for the Lord by sweeping out all that He would not enjoy.  Just like the Israelites of Haggai's day (that we looked at in Chapter 6 of Spiritual Healing), we know that we are to 'rebuilt' our sin-scarred hearts, which is the temple, the Tabernacle of the Holy Spirit. But again, just like the Israelites, we typically respond just as they did, don't we?  We put satisfying the desires of our own flesh ahead of the priority of cleaning out those very flesh-sins found in our hearts.

We follow after our own priorities, and we leave our sin-filled hearts in disrepair, desolate, and open to destruction while we continue living flesh-ruled lives.  Our breaches, fractures, and sins remain.  Our walk with the Lord and our very lives do not even remotely resemble the life of Christ!  We continually go our merry way, prioritizing everything else in life except our walk with Jesus and a desire to achieve a holy and pure lifestyle.  Following in the footsteps of the Israelites, our wrong priorities lead us straight to the obvious consequences, and some of them will be severe.  Our ministry for the Lord becomes fruitless, barren, and even non-existent.  In the end, when we do not concentrate on obediently living the commandments and repenting of our sins and idols, our lives reveal that our hearts have not been transformed.  Such transformation only takes place when we have been walking intimately with the Savior."

Tomorrow I will be continuing in this vain, by sharing a quote from Joanna Weaver's Having A Mary Heart In A Martha World.  Her personal testimony might help you more clearly see what you are doing that is keeping you from that very intimacy.

How To Be Obedient, God's Way

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(Excerpt from Cheryl Gnagey's Spiritual Healing:  The Surrender That Brings Victory, Chapter 9)

We are taught from a very young age that we not only can accomplish things, but it is better if you do it all by yourself.   This sounds like good instruction, but it does so because this has been ingrained in us since we began to hold our own bottles at feeding time.  But God's word does not teach that at all.  As a matter of fact, He tells us this in Zechariah 4:6 instead:

  

"Not by [your] might, nor by [your] power, but by MY SPIRIT, says the Lord of Hosts."

 "Here's the problem that most of us have when it comes to surrendering to God so that we might obey His every command.  We tend to try to do it in our own power.  In other words, we try to surrender the flesh--BY THE FLESH!  You have already heard that nothing good resides in your flesh, yet you are probably guilty of trying to surrender by your own fleshly power and strength anyway.  You have also likely discovered that surrender by way of the flesh is fruitless.  If you think that isn't true, then just think of one New Year's resolution in which you have succeeded for life!

It bears repeating.  We can only accomplish surrender to God in one way--God's way!  We must come to the place where we allow God to change our hearts and minds so that we understand that repentance--the intentional turning from sin--that flows from a heart that God is changing, is required of every God-seeking believer.  When we allow God to work in our hearts and minds we are set free to act upon the work He has already done within us--the heart-transforming act of placing the life of Christ in us by way of the Holy Spirit.  Because of this one action, we can fix our gaze on Him and turn away from our sin instead.  This is how we die to our flesh.

It is at the veil that divides the Inner Court from the Holy of Holies where the crucifixions of our flesh will take place.  When the veil of your heart that keeps you from fully surrendering to God is removed, then you will be enabled to become a fruit- bearer of the  greatest kind!  But if your walk lacks crucified flesh, then your flesh will remain in its state of decline, ruling over your thoughts, words, and deeds.  If you choose against the surrender that involves the crucifying of your sinful flesh, then you will become useless to God, and your 'religion' will be dead.  Remember, the flesh is death to you, but the Spirit is life."

We can do it, but not alone!  Our part is to surrender to the Spirit in us, and then He accomplishes obedience through us.  Any changes we make on our own can never be heart-transforming because our flesh is made of nothing good. Changing us is the work of the Spirit within us.  Only He can change your heart.

THE RESURRECTED LIFE -- Day 32

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Day 32:  Stephen, Full of Faith (Acts 6-7)

The ministry of the early church was increasing.  The original disciples were dedicating themselves to prayer and the study and teaching of the Word.   There arose a need for men to take food to some neglected widows, so the original disciples charged the other followers of Christ to choose seven dedicated men for this ministry task.

Stephen, being found to be full of faith, was chosen as part of this group of seven.   A good reputation and being full of the Spirit and wisdom were the top requirements for this ministry.  Now in Stephen’s case, the power of the Spirit was quite evident because he had been performing many great miracles and signs among the people he came in contact with.  But as is often the case, jealous men began to rise up against Stephen and tell lies about him, saying that he had spoken blasphemies against Moses and God.  So vicious were the lies that the men brought him and his case before the Council.

With power and great wisdom, and even greater diplomacy, Stephen stood before the Council and told them, in elaborate detail, the story of God and His people, Israel.  He spoke clearly of Israel’s continued disobedience to God’s commands.  Then he compared the Council and the accusers to their disobedient forefathers, reminding them how they themselves had not kept and obeyed the Word.

Incensed by Stephen’s accusations (that were true), these men cried out in anger.  Covering their ears so that they would have to listen to no more, they chased Stephen out of the city, and then stoned him to death.  The conviction of the Spirit in their thoughts and in their hearts was completely ignored by the men who would have rather silenced the truth instead of being transformed by it.  On the other hand, Stephen was a transformed man, with Jesus’ resurrection in his soul, who was willing to put his life in jeopardy for the truth.  He boldly spoke out what he knew would not be received, but was truth nonetheless.

Have you allowed your heart to be resurrected in truth?  Are you more like the men who refused to listen to the truth about their hearts and true change?  Can others see the Spirit’s power and wisdom at work in you?

THE RESURRECTED LIFE -- Day 30

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Day  30:  Joseph of Arimathea (Matthew 27: 57-60)

Joseph couldn’t believe what he had just witnessed.  How could his fellow Jewish Councilmen have put Jesus to death on a Roman cross?  Why, oh why, hadn’t he been more courageous in his stand against their evil plot?  Sorrow filled his heart, the sorrow that comes from losing someone dear to you.  But another sorrow plagued him even more.  He hadn’t stood up for Jesus when the opportunity presented itself.

Looking at his Savior dying on the cross, Joseph remembered clearly the day he first believed in Jesus and how his heart had been transformed.  His riches and prominent position on the Jewish Council didn’t matter anymore.  His focus was now on Jesus and the good and righteous life he was now called to live out.  He truly had become a disciple of Jesus, and he was waiting for the kingdom of God.  But even then, fear had gripped his heart, and he kept his belief a secret from the Council.

Tormented by the truth of his life, Joseph screamed out in his heart, “Why have I let fear rule my life?”  Wanting to look one more time into the eyes of Jesus, Joseph left his thoughts for a moment, but only discovered that Jesus had breathed His last breath.  “Never again will it rule me!” he yelled to his Lord.

Gathering every bit of courage that he could muster, Joseph went before Pilate, asking for the body of his Lord.  He refused to think of all the possible consequences of his current action.  It was not the Council that was on his mind, but doing what was right and appropriate for Jesus.  When Pilate determined through a centurion that Jesus had indeed died, he agreed to let Joseph take His body.

Joseph from Arimathea and his friend Nicodemus, who brought the necessary burial spices,  tenderly removed Jesus from the cross,  and prepared His body, and carefully wrapped Him in linen.  Then Joseph placed Jesus’ lifeless body in his own tomb and sealed it.  Finally, he had taken a bold stand for what was right.  Finally he could claim that he was a true follower of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Joseph laid Jesus in his own tomb, where he should have been laid for his own sins.  What a great picture we have been given!  Jesus died for your sins.   Are you now living for Him by standing up for Him?  Are you a true follower?  Do you hide your faith behind your fear?

THE RESURRECTED LIFE -- Day 20

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Day 20:  The Woman at the Well  (John 4: 1-30, 39)

Being a Samaritan woman, she knew very well “her place” among the Jews.  She was of a rejected race.  As a woman of that race, she was less than a dog to the Jews.  So why was this Man, obviously Jewish, even speaking to her, let alone asking her to draw water from the well for Him to drink?  Even if she obeyed His command, surely He wouldn’t drink out of her cup!

And what was this “living” water that He was speaking of?  How could you drink it and not thirst again?  Could it really cause you to live forever as well?  Whatever this water was, she certainly wanted to have some of it!  But would He give it to her, a Samaritan woman?

“Sir, give me some of this water that You are talking about,” she pleaded.  She was prepared to drink the water He spoke of, but she could not have been prepared for His reply.  “Go, call your husband and come,” He answered.  She was thrilled that He was going to give her the water, until His words settled into her excited thoughts.  Husband?  I can’t go get my husband because I have no husband now.  “I have no husband,” she answered Him.

Seeing her look of despair, He reassured her that He knew that she had no husband.  In fact, He knew that the man who was living with her this very moment was not her husband.

Now she was completely humiliated. How did He know such things? Obviously He was some kind of a prophet.  But the more He spoke with her, the more convinced she became that He was not merely a prophet; He was her Messiah, the long-awaited Christ.  Her heart was transformed in that moment, and she dropped everything, ran into the city, and testified about the Man who had seen what she had desperately tried to keep hidden.  Many believed in Christ because of her humbling testimony.

Jesus sees all that we do.  When He reveals our sins to us, do we repent and turn from them?  Do we allow our repentance to be our testimony to others, or does pride keep us from being transparent and humble?