Make My Heart Your Dwelling Place

MAKE MY HEART YOUR DWELLING PLACE

Should we as believers and followers of Jesus fully and passionately desire that people who see our lives must believe that this the work of the Spirit and not the work of man?

Ps.51: ¹⁷ The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.

Matt.5: ⁸ Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.

Matt.6: ²⁰ But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:

²¹ For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

II Thess.3: ⁵ And the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God, and into the patient waiting for Christ.

I Tim.1: ⁵ Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned:

On a fairly regular basis I have a problem with my heart. I have had several small heart attacks, but it isn’t my physical heart of which I speak. My inward man, my spirit, or my heart does not submit very easily. It always desires to have its own way and think its own things and therefore my journey has always been to allow the Spirit to make my heart pure and reflective of the Person of Jesus Christ.

Sometimes as we become more mature in the Lord and more acquainted with how believers think and what is expected of us we can become proficient at presenting an acceptable outward behavior and speech while our hearts are in need of correction. Even as a pastor we must strive diligently to remain authentic and genuine inside as well as out. As believers we should not do things we did before and do things we did not do before, however the greatest work of the Spirit must take place in our hearts.

 

Heavenly Father,

Open my heart, Lord, and lay it naked before me stripped of all my pretentions and religious accoutrements. Allow me to see what I really am before you with no excuses and no comparison to others. Shine your holy light upon my heart so that I may grasp the enormity of my assumptions and the enormity of just how dormant I have become and just how far I have yet to go. Make me understand where I have wandered and how far off your path I am walking. Do not spare me any discomfort, and remove my well fortified hiding places.

Convict me with your precious Spirit so that I am captured in an inescapable aura of repentance and cleansing. I do not need some minor adjustments. I do not need information. I need a transformation that breaks me into small pieces of repentance and remakes me into the image of my Elder Brother. I cannot know what I need. Only You can show me and empower me through strong correction and strong grace. In many ways I have made my heart my own dwelling place complete with all kinds of religious tokens, evangelical thoughts, and even portions of Your Word which I have stuffed and hung on my self serving wall of comfort.

I understand the language called English but I desire to understand the language of the Spirit. Break me thoroughly and expose my hypocrisy and my deep reservoir of self righteousness. How have I walked in the energy of the religious flesh and not the power of Your Holy Spirit? Make me see how little I know while I profess to know much. Let me see and meet and touch and feel and experience and know Jesus in ways that glorify Him and change me. Make me desperate, Lord, for my heart runs for safety when I see an approaching storm that may require much of me.

Dare I ask you to make my heart His heart? Can I even broach such a subject when I am sure it would be a colossal task of the Spirit? Can I even trust my own definition of desire? Can I be honest with myself? I know I will willingly and unwilling protect some hidden treasures of my own flesh. I know I may hide pockets of dishonesty inside grandiose words of humility and brokenness. It has been far too long since I have placed myself fully upon Your altar and refused to leave alive. To say I need You is to minimize the depth of my situation.

I desire to be exposed to my hollow religious words. I need to be placed upon the potter’s wheel, drenched in your Spirit and without shape, and be made a servant to Your mighty molding hands. I know there are recesses of my heart which I have not allowed the Spirit to visit and which evidently have power. This world continues to gain access into my heart with clever pressure and admittedly with my open and subtle approval. I do not desire perfection, I desire purity. I desire my heart to be Your dwelling place and Your constant authority that controls my mind and my body. I desire Jesus to be Lord in all tangible and intangible ways regardless of how uncomfortable, absurd, and extreme they may seem to me or anyone else. I hunger and I thirst for more of You. I am sure I have much, much less of You than can still be apprehended. And it is evident that there remains much, much more of me that You can apprehend.

This is my prayer, my cry. No more religious games. No more doctrinal squabbles. No more self deceptions. Please, Lord, make me Your servant and let me completely serve You and You alone in thought, word, and deed. Here I am.