The Given Heart
Soul Snack 178/11 ... The Given Heart
Have you noticed the continual and even uninvited competition for your heart?
It can be easy to recline in solitude, express your deepest heart's desires and surrender them all to our Lord.
In isolation, in the times of communion and in the expression of devotions the heart can simply pour over to the saviour of our souls. The day given to the Lord is never a lost day.
Yet these times of devotion must cease. It is from these gifts of worship we all must arise. In arising the struggle begins afresh. The clamors for your attention, the screams to your ears and the demands upon your body are all renewed to claim a heart and head so recently fully attentive to God.
However to the alert, to the self-aware the Holy Spirit still moves within - for those who have placed their heart under His claims. You may just find that songs of joy and thanks still come from your lips even after devotions are finished
Blessed are those who dwell in your house; they are ever praising you. (Ps 84:4)
When praise still fills your heart while the world again commands your attention you remain dwelling in the house of the Lord. The ability to praise is THE indicator that you are still in His presence, for praise = presence.
The ability to praise God is the permanent fruit of His presence, it is the serious business of heaven tasted upon earth ... ENJOY the times after devotions too!
Today's Soul Snippet:
"We may preach and perish but we cannot pray and perish." Leonard Ravenhill