Search Me

Psalm 139: 23-24 says: "Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." Oh how that verse stirs something inside of me. To invite my Father to look into my human heart and to search it for anything offensive! And to even fathom the thought that anything He shows me as offensive is His way of convicting me to confess so that I may truly have a pure and loving heart. Even as I write this, I am overcome with a sense of love. Of someone saying "Here let me look, let me heal, just let me restore." Almost like any parent would tell a child after the child has been hurt or has a "boo boo". "Here let me make it better." Can you hear it? Can you feel that? Oh the things we can hide from others. The brokenness, the hurt, the pain that seems to just grow. And here within these two verses, our Lord, our Abba, wants to see us for how we are, who we really are, and still show us how much He loves us that He will take it all away! If that wasn't good news to everyone, I wouldn't know what would be. maybe this is why in Proverbs 4:23 it tells us to "Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life." If once our heart has been cleaned of all offensive things, why would we not guard our heart? Cause once the heart is clean, we will have not only a pure heart in the eyes of Lord, but we would be able to see His Spirit flowing through us. What a ministry that would be to the broken-hearted people we come across in our lives. Are you with me? Are you ready to be searched? I know I am!

Who am I?

I have a birth certificate that tells to whom my parents are, at what time I was born to them, what day I was born, and where I was born. I have a Social Security card that assigns a number to only me. On my marriage certificate, it tells to whom I chose to be my husband, who performed the ceremony, and the names of witnesses on the day of our marriage. It even tells what day, month, and year that we were joined as one. Then I got a military identification card that give several facts about me and which division of the Armed Forces my husband is in and his current rank. It even has a picture of me on it. The same for my driver's license. If you were to drive up behind me in my car, you would see that I am an Army wife, I have a child in her school's choir, that I also am an Army mom. You would see that someone in my family is in the Field Artillery in the Army and that someone has participated in Operation Noble Eagle. From all of this, one might say they know me. But the question remains, does any of this really say who I am? None of that does but there is one statement that does. John 1:12 says, "Yet to all who receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God-". Ephesians 1:13 says, "And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in Him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit." Out of all the things that we have with our picture on and important information about us, none of it can compare to who we are in Him. If there are any doubt, 1 Corinthians's 3:16, should dismiss them for it states, "Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple an that God's Spirit lives in you?" After reading those few verses I realize who I am is so much more than any certificate or identification card could ever say. It also fills in me a hope for "Him to become greater, I must become less (John 3:30)". For my prayer is that when others see me and begin to know me, then they will truly know who I am. What is your prayer after reading and mediating on those verses? I hope it too will be the same.