I recently prayed for God to reveal those hidden things of the heart (see Psalm 19:12-14). You know, those things that have been in you for so long even you don’t realize they are there! (Kind of like a computer: programs that run constantly in the background, while you work on another program, never aware of its presence.) And I truly believe the revelation of the following scripture was the answer to my prayer:
“Because Christ also suffered for sins once, the righteous for the unrighteous, that He might bring you to God; being put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit…” 1 Peter 3:18
I stopped and paused when I read this scripture. It was like I hit a spiritual curb and bumped back. The phrase that jumped off the page was “that He might bring you to God”…you TO God…you TO GOD. Hummm. This phrase, this portion of the scripture revealed a Truth to me. It revealed an attitude, a motive, a motion of “flow” in love–His love.
Yes, He paid ALL. The path to salvation is PAID IN FULL, no argument here. But go deeper with me a second: Reckon salvation paid by faith as solid, and shift to what our personal response should be to that fact, our LOVE response. It was there, that a truth was revealed to my heart that I can no longer just glance over: it was a glaring light into the attitude, motive and motion of love in me TOWARD Him.
God knows I love Him. I love Him with all of my heart. But the truth was, I was completely unaware that much of my love for Him was defined like this: I love Him loving me.
If we are completely honest, we have reconciled our blood bought salvation as a heavenly relationship with a flow of love more on the basis of God TO US. You know, like this: I accept Jesus, and He lives in me. He blesses me, protects me, and He will come back and get me.
These statements are all true, but by chance have we filed these truths away in our minds and lives as all there is? You know what I mean, as expected blessings and divine provision from God to us and then we move on our merry way? Or do you sense, as I did, that something deep inside was revealing that the focus and direction of MY love “flow” was lacking, and a little off?
What did I find? IDOLATRY and PRIDE! 🙁
It wasn’t until this encounter that I saw the truth of my error: I was not loving Him because it is ALL about Him–then faithfully receiving His gift of provision and protection. My focus was on me! Confession: I discerned an ugly self-centeredness in myself. It wasn’t on purpose–I love God! And it is my daily focus to live unto Him in obedience, not out of religious service, but in sincere gratefulness for all that Jesus died to give me. But I have lived decades completely unaware of the truth of my “selfish self” in the area of loving God. Let me further explain…and if you dare, join me in allowing the Holy Spirit to use His Word to soak into the recesses of our hearts and possibly reveal something in us all.
“You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” John 8:32
God loves us. He wants to bless us. But when bad things happen, we immediately fall into doubt and unbelief–because we have our “love flow” backwards. Thus the big reveal! You see, if something is all about us and then suddenly it’s not going our way, we have internal turmoil on our hands. Whereas, if we were grounded in the Truth of “It’s all about Jesus and His gift of redemption”, and that “we are redeemed bond-servants, not greater than our Master”–when something came along to try us, we would look at it as part of our day. We would “count it all joy” and realize that our life is not our own, but His. And because we are His, KNOW deep in our hearts that He will provide whatever we need to accomplish the task at hand. We can then look to His provision for help.
It is there, IN THAT TRUTH OF FAITHFUL KEEPING, that we find REAL truth and freedom. Entering His divine rest and paid provision, we find we can experience no hardness of heart and no anger, because our “flow” of love is rushing so much toward Him that it carries ALL of the hurt and challenge TO Him–for Him to carry. It is then and there we see His “flow” to us in provision, blessing, wisdom for the task, and steadfastness in the Holy Spirit. We can endure all things when we know that His thoughts toward us are for good and to bring us a future and a hope.
When our “love flow” is backwards, we will stumble with doubt and offense. Why? Because we are no longer first. This fact reveals idolatry, pure and simple. To ignore this truth is to allow pride, selfishness, idolatry, and quite possibly humanism, to remain.
Hear me out. When we are our own idol, that “situation”, that “challenge of the day”, now becomes focused inward on us and WE are now the wronged party. We blame God and/or others for the situation in which we find “ourselves”. WARNING! WRONG WAY! TURN AROUND!! But when we turn our love toward Him and run into that Strong Tower, dwell in His secret place, dare to enter His rest, and look fully to Him for strength in our weakness, a peace that passes ALL human understanding will guard our hearts and minds–for He is FAITHFUL! 🙂
Dear fellow believers, read and heed the Truth in God’s Word–ALL OF IT. Put on your armor dear saint! Wield the sword of the Spirit! He has paid for and given it for your use!! Yes, there will be trials that come to test and refine us, but His promises of provision are there in the Truth of His Word.
I know that there is MUCH that we could further discuss…but I think I will leave you to ponder. I dare you to ask The Holy Spirit to search your heart and reveal ANY hinderances in your flow of love toward Him. Pray, confess, and ask for help, so that you may serve Jesus with ALL of your heart, soul, mind and strength. Accept His blood-bought provision and let’s get past ourselves and move onward and upward in His call!
Love in Him to all who call on Him out of sincerity,
Sheila
Here are a few scriptures to ponder (too many to list!): John 14:23, Luke 10:27/Deu 6:5, Hebrews 4:9-16, Hebrews 11:6, Proverbs 18:10, Psalm 61:3, 1 John 5:21 (in fact, take time to read the entire book of 1 John–it’s amazing), oh and while you are at it, read the entirety of Romans in full fluid thought–it will rock your world!
And I love Hosea 6:3: “Oh, that we might know The Lord! Let us press on to know Him. He will respond to us as surely as the arrival of dawn or the coming of rains in early spring.” NLT
Happy Hunting! 😉
