A Daily Door to His Heart

---

Search for the Lord and for His strength; continually seek Him.

1 Chronicles 16:11

I love the Lord with everything I am. With everything I have, I praise His name. I worship Him in the sanctuary, and in my car, and in the little corner by the window seat in my house. That’s where His Spirit and His Word have been baked into the wood and the walls and my turquoise tweed chair with orange pillows.

I need Him every day. I need His Word and His Spirit in my life, His voice in my heart, His visions in my dreams. Apart from Him, life is empty. I am nothing and I have nothing. He is my light and anchor of hope in every storm. In His absence there is darkness and despair.

All day long, my thoughts and whispered prayers reach His ears, “Lord, what do you think of this? What would You do here? How should I handle this?”

Having lived out my glorious imperfections in so many failed hopes and thwarted dreams… as we all have… as none of us living this grounded life can avoid… I whisper to Him, “Father, is this right? Is this the way? How should I now follow You, knowing all my own ways lead to death?”

Let me see it and perceive it the way You would see it and perceive it.

Let me step my feet in the center of Your big footprints, taking action the way You would take action.

I live in the center of the palm of Your hand – always in Your thoughts and prayers – always in Your heart…

So let Your love flow through me so I can love others the way YOU would love them.

Don’t get me wrong, I am the worst of sinners. There is nothing you have done that is worse than anything I have done. I have lied and lusted and stolen and cheated and murdered in my heart before the Lord of Hosts. If I can’t forgive you for what you’ve done, even if you’ve done it to me, how could He forgive me for all I’ve done to Him? [Matthew 6:13-15]

So we must guard our hearts with all diligence [Proverbs 4:23], protecting our inner thoughts, feelings, and choices, allowing the Lord’s Word and Ways to take precedence over every other voice and motive at work in our lives.

I want to say there is nothing I cherish more than my relationship with the Lord, but I know oftentimes there is. Too settled into feelings, too moved by my emotions, too lazy to click off the TV and go to God.

His patience with me is astounding. His grace paves the way for my obedience [Titus 2:11-14]. He truly does give me chance after chance after chance.

Because His love is worth it, I will return to Him all my days… seeking His face, praying to follow Him… even when I fall, especially when I fail… because that is when I need Him the most.

I sing to Him under my breath while sitting at my desk at work. I worship Him when I rise and when I rest… When I do the dishes with my headphones on… When I pay the bills and vacuum out the car and fold the laundry.

We worship a holy God, and we do not go in and out of His presence [Psalm 139:7-10]. We are not with Him when we pray and apart from Him when we stop. We are not with Him at church and apart from Him when we leave to go home. We are not with Him when we sing out and raise our hands in worship… and then apart from Him when we are silent and thinking about what to make for dinner.

No. We live in His presence because He lives in us. All of our big and small moments happen in the palm of His hand… because that’s where we always are… and He wants to be part of it all. He is always, always, always with us.

Take a moment to acknowledge His presence in all your ways, and He will make all your paths straight [Proverbs 3:5-6]… from the grocery store, to the city block, to your work environment, to your inner thoughts and feelings, to your relationship with your husband and your children and that lady who works your last nerve every time you see her…

He will wash you with the water of His Word…

He will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh…

He will take all your ashes and give you beauty instead…

He stores all your tears in a bottle.

Life to the full is impossible without Him, so open the door to His heart in your everyday life. You won’t regret it.

You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.

Jeremiah 29:13