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Going deeper into God
- Opening my heart

God is in the business of hearts: sometimes he is like a heart surgeon, doing deep things to change our inner attitudes and to mend our hurts; but also He is always a loving Father who opens His heart to us, and who wants us to be open hearted and loving in return. We, in contrast, have much to learn about opening our hearts fully to God.

This thread (Going deeper into God):
  1. Listening to God
  2. Centring down
  3. Opening my heart
  4. The Vine and the Branches
  5. The Bride & the Bridegroom

Honest appraisal

Read Psalm 139. Look especially at verses 23 & 24, and think, or if you are with someone else discuss together, how ready you feel to be this open to God.

 

Seeing ourselves through God's eyes

Read the following:
Judges 6:12-15
12When the angel of the LORD appeared to Gideon, he said, "The LORD is with you, mighty warrior."
13 "But sir," Gideon replied, "if the LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our fathers told us about when they said, 'Did not the LORD bring us up out of Egypt?' But now the LORD has abandoned us and put us into the hand of Midian."
14 The LORD turned to him and said, "Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian's hand. Am I not sending you?"
15 "But Lord," Gideon asked, "how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family."

John 1:47
When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he said of him, "Here is a true Israelite, in whom there is nothing false."

Matthew 16:18
And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.

What have these in common?

 

Each discovered that God had a higher opinion of him than they did of themselves.
See also Psalm 147:11
the LORD delights in those who fear him, who put their hope in his unfailing love.

 

Open about what?

It is what goes on inside us that makes us who we are and which prompts our actions.
See Matthew 15:18
18But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a man 'unclean.' 19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. 20 These are what make a man 'unclean'; but eating with unwashed hands does not make him 'unclean.'"

and for an antidote, Philippians 4:8
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things.

We need to be particularly open-hearted with God about the things that may betray us most readily:

  • our ambitions - we all have things we strive for; if they are not God's will for us, then we need to be open enough with Him to allow correction
  • our desires - the heart is very deceitful (see Ephesians 4:22-24) and our desires are very powerful; they need to be submitted to God's scrutiny

 

Giving away the key

In our homes there are certain places we do not show visitors (is yours under the stairs?!). If we think of our lives as a house, there are certain rooms that we may lock off from God's presence because we are ashamed of the junk in there, and maybe do not wish to have it removed. We need to be willing to offer to God the key to these places, especially:
  • our inner thoughts
  • our inner attitudes

 

Self-awareness

Jesus knows us better than we know ourselves. We need to let Jesus help us be self-aware.
See Romans 12:3
For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given.

we are encouraged to think of ourselves with sober judgement.

See also the story of Zacchaeus in Luke 19:1-10, a man who became painfully aware of what he was like and decided to put it right when he met with Jesus.

 

Any questions?

If you have any queries, or comments, then e-mail us and we'll get back to you

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Bible references

Psalm 139
1 O LORD, you have searched me
and you know me.
2 You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.
3 You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.
4 Before a word is on my tongue
you know it completely, O LORD.
5 You hem me in - behind and before;
you have laid your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too lofty for me to attain.
7 Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
10 even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.
11 If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,"
12 even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you.
13 For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother's womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place.
When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,
16 your eyes saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me
were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
17 How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
18 Were I to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand.
When I awake,
I am still with you.
19 If only you would slay the wicked, O God!
Away from me, you bloodthirsty men!
20 They speak of you with evil intent;
your adversaries misuse your name.
21 Do I not hate those who hate you, O LORD,
and abhor those who rise up against you?
22 I have nothing but hatred for them;
I count them my enemies.
23 Search me, O God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
24 See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.

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Ephesians 4:22-24
22You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23 to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24 and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

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Luke 19:1- 10 1 Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. 2A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. 3He wanted to see who Jesus was, but being a short man he could not, because of the crowd. 4So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way. 5 When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, "Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today." 6So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly. 7 All the people saw this and began to mutter, "He has gone to be the guest of a 'sinner.'" 8 But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, "Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount." 9 Jesus said to him, "Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. 10For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost."

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