Heart Tracks - The Heart Door

       Something I have learned, and it has taken many years, is that the people I want to hear the truth concerning Christ and all that He has for us, will not hear the words I speak until they hear the voice of Christ in them.  I can tell people how wonderful, gracious, forgiving, empowering, healing, and sufficient He is, but until they hear His voice speaking these truths to their heart, they will not believe or receive. There may be mental agreement, but there is no real heart and life experience.  This is not only true in them, but has been true in me as well.  Has it been, is it so in you as well?

      I heard evangelist and Bible teacher Dudley Moore say recently that "no believer knows that they're secure in Christ until the Holy Spirit tells them they are."  One of the great, pervading, and crippling afflictions in peoples lives is fear.  Where the disabling presence of fear exists, the door is then opened for the invasion of a multitude of other enemies of the soul.  We may have believed upon Him as Savior, and have mental agreement that He is all that His Word says He is, but it's not our day to day reality. No matter how many sermons, Bible teachings, conferences and seminars we have attended, hearing these truths over and over, we have not really heard them whispered into our hearts by His voice.  We leave as we came, unchanged and still in captivity.
     A pastor's wife named Susie Davis, speaking of the years of bondage she spent in paralyzing fear due to a traumatic childhood event, said that the Father is not content to let us self-destruct.  Make no mistake, fear and its "allies" will always destroy us.  She said that it was while she was on a hike in Colorado as part of a group that the Lord spoke His freeing truth into her life.  The guide had led them through truly beautiful surroundings and then, as they made a turn on the path, he told them that they would now see a "burn."  Before them was literally thousands of acres of desolation.  A landscape of burnt trees and ground.  She said the Father spoke into her heart that this was her soul, devastated by fear.  She then noticed all the  green saplings growing everywhere, the beginnings of life anew for the forest.  He spoke that this was what He wished to do in her heart and life.  Literally bring beauty from ashes.  At that place, she came out of the darkness of her captivity.  She had not just heard words about Him, she heard Him.
    Revelation 3:20 is a much quoted verse.  Is it, our reality?  "Look!  Here I stand at the door and knock.  If you hear Me calling and open the door, I will come in, and we will share a meal as friends."  Right now, He stands at our heart door.  He calls to us. Do we hear Him?  Will we open a door kept shut by fear, worry, anger, unforgiveness, bitterness, disappointment, and a host of other diseases, and bid Him enter?  He brings intimacy, healing,  and wholeness.  He brings Himself.  He stands. He knocks.  He calls. Do we hear Him?  Will we invite Him in?  If we will, real intimacy, fellowship with Him is ours.

Blessings,
Pastor O