Repentance - A Doorway To Intimacy

Lately, I have been dwelling on the concept of being restored in my soul. So much of this work is God's doing. Psalm 23 says that HE RESTORES my soul. However, as we prepare our hearts for this wonderful work of restoration, we may come upon issues where repentance is required. You can always be assured that He will bring you to this place with the utmost kindness and grace. 

Look at this precious piece from Cindy McKenna, an artist from Canada (Paisley, Ontario). Cindy describes this process perfectly on the back of a card she painted, called:

"Heartstones"

He reaches his hand into hearts

like a farmer gathering eggs from a nest.

He is gentle

and does not ruffle the feathers

of the timid bird that he loves.

With great skill and grace

he removes the stones which have built up there.

He removes them with compassion and truth

and fills that void with his love

so that the little bird can snuggle deeper into her nest.

Resting peacefully his love.

He will not wrench the stones from under her

as she has spent years adjusting to the place they have in her nest.

He gently removes them...

Cindy's painting on the front of this card, shows a bird's nest in the shape of a heart with a couple of eggs and a few stones that could be mistaken for eggs, but are definitely out of place in the nest.

That's how it often is with sin...we can become comfortable with it and rationalize its presence in our "nest." The Master Farmer, however, waits patiently as we come to the conclusion that all sin must be removed no matter how comfortable we have become with its presence in our lives.

I am certain that the Lord will make us aware of these 'stones" that must be removed, and will grant us the perfect time and place for their removal. He is firm but gentle; clear but patient; honest but kind; insistent but tender - all at the same time. The bottom line is that He is unwilling for anything in our hearts to keep us from the intimacy and fellowship that He desires with us.

The prophet, Joel is not as gentle as Cindy in his call to this process, but he issues a powerful call to repentance: 

Joel 2:12 (Amp)  

Therefore also now, says the Lord,

turn and keep on coming to me with all your heart,

with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning

[until every hindrance is removed

and the broken fellowship is restored].

The Lord wants us to turn back to Him - not because He has caught us out, but because He is not willing for any degree of sin to keep us from Him - We come to repentance based on relationship, rather than rules.

Joel goes on in the next verse:

Rend your hearts and not your garments

and return to the Lord, your God,

for He is gracious and merciful,

slow to anger, and abounding in loving-kindness;

and He revokes His sentence of evil [when His conditions are met].

A few steps as we rend out hearts and return to the Lord...

Turn back to God – This is the secret to the heart of repentance (turn and keep on turning - turn as often as is required)

Confront yourself

Forgiveness – This is the secret to the release of repentance (forgive others and yourself)

Wash yourself

Be restored to God – This is the secret to the depth of repentance (As we are restored, He takes us deeper into relationship with Him - this is what He really wants all along)

Know yourself

Obey God – This is the secret to the power of repentance (walking in obedience reveals that repentance is at work in our hearts, and its fruit is growing)

Die to self

Fear of God – This is the secret to maintaining repentance (the fear of God involves relationship with God at its core. It is not so much about being afraid of God - rather, it is the foundation of intimacy with Him)

Abandon yourself 

May we find Him near and run back to Him - the One who is gracious, merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness!

Brokenness - Part 4

 How can you tell if you have a broken heart?

Note: this doesn't mean broken in a negative way, or destroyed - it simply means "surrendered to God, and made soft." 

• A broken hearted person is quick to repent and is soft towards those who would bring correction in their lives.

Proverbs 3:11-12 My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord,
Nor detest His correction;

For whom the Lord loves He corrects,
Just as a father the son in whom he delights.
Remember: repentance means to turn around - it is not enough to be sorry - we have to change our behavior and turn our lives around.

• A broken hearted person knows that they are the “chief of sinners.” In 1Timothy 1:15, Paul states:

”This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.”

And in Ephesians 3:8,9:
”Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints

Paul was not saying that he was in sin now, but that he so despised the sin that he had been involved in, that he regarded himself as the greatest sinner of all. We don’t need to put some kind of grade on sin – marking some as more grievous than others. All sin keeps us from intimacy and fellowship with the Lord. The issue here, is that when we have been confronted with the depths of sin in our own lives, and have seen the seriousness of our own faults, then we know without a shadow of a doubt that we are at the top of the list as far as sinners are concerned. We don’t think of other people’s sins above our own. It is not that we need to grovel and think of ourselves as unworthy. On the contrary, we know we are made worthy in Christ, but we now walk with quietness and humility.

• A broken hearted person is willing for accountability and the relationships that God brings into their life. There can be a tendency to withdraw from relationships when we have been hurt. The Lord knows that we need people in our lives. It is important for us to remain as a functioning part of the body of Christ.

• A broken hearted person seeks acts of service. Servanthood has to become a foundation of our lives, as it will anchor us to humility.

• A broken hearted person promotes others.

• A broken hearted person is not defensive. This doesn’t mean you can’t stand up for justice and what is right in your life.

• A broken hearted person covers others in their weaknesses and is discrete and slow to speak.

• A broken hearted person is quick to ask forgiveness.

• A broken hearted person seeks holiness.

• A broken hearted person pays the price to change their behavior to serve God in holiness and obedience.

• A broken hearted person “walks with a limp” (Gen. 32:24-32) Jacob wrestled with God all night. During this time, God asked Jacob his name. His name means “the deceiver,” which was the core issue of brokenness and sin in his life. Jacob had to come to terms with deep-rooted sin and as he admitted his iniquity to the Lord, he was touched in the thickest part of his flesh – his thigh – the place where his strength comes from. Jacob limped for the rest of his life as a reminder of this God-encounter. In the same way, we need a God-encounter over these heart issues, and we need to “limp” in our spirit. Not in a bad way, of course, but in a way that acts as a reminder of who we really are without the grace and forgiveness of the Lord. It is not a handicap – just a reminder to walk gently and humbly before others.

• A broken hearted person walks in renewed authority with God and man.

                                                 

A few quotes that offer us wisdom on this subject:

Adversity introduces a man to himself

Trials, temptations, disappointments - 
all these help instead of hinder,

if one uses them rightly. They not

only test the fiber of a character,

but strengthen it. Every conquered

temptation represents a new

fund of moral energy. Every trial endured

and weathered in the right spirit

makes a soul nobler and

stronger than it was before.

James Buckham

Great men and women are more likely to be forged in prisons than castles.

The person who succeeds in God

is not the one who holds back fearing failure,

nor the one who never fails,

but rather the one who moves on in spite of failure.

Jesus was wounded and broken for us - so that we would never have to remain in this state. As with Christ, the resurrection secures our victory and glory whenever true brokenness is our foundation. 

My prayer is that we would all walk on the journey towards true brokenness - it is the place where God begins His work of greatness in us.

(This 4-part series is dedicated to 2 friends - P & A who have shown so many pictures of true brokenness in their triumphs over suffering - May God continue to bless you both and your boys)

Part 1: HERE
Part 2: HERE
Part 3: HERE