Search me, O God, and know my heart.

Again the Lord is really searching my heart as I’m meditating on 1 Cor 6:19….

‘What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?.

When I sin, when I’m not living my life for the glory of God I am defiling the temple of the Holy Spirit.

If sin defiles you, child of God, then that sin also defiles God.

We are not our own. Our lives as children of God are not meant to be lived for ourselves.

And yet we fall and fail time and time again, why?

Because we cannot keep ourselves, because Satan is stronger than we are on our own, because sin runs so deep in our old nature and because we so often go on in our own strength instead of leaning wholly upon God.

‘Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be ye holy: for I am the LORD your God.,.

What do sanctify and holy mean?

In the Hebrew language the word sanctify is qadash, a verb which means to set apart, to consecrate, to be separate and the word holy is qadowsh an adjective meaning sacred and/ set apart.

So we have a doing and a describing word here that are calling each seeking soul, each child of God, each one that has been brought into the kingdom of God, into the kingdom of light and life,

each one that has been set apart by God for His glory…

to live a set apart life,

a life that is separate from the kingdom of this world and the kingdom of darkness and death.

Are we living a set apart life, a life dedicated to the glory of God?

Or are we living for ‘ME’?

Are we living for ourselves, for our own pleasure, our own desires?

I know that in my own day to day life it’s too often about me, MY desires, MY ‘needs’ or the needs of my family not the glory of God and God is showing me that this attitude is defiling my soul.

Are we truly living out our calling to live for the glory of God?

Are all our days truly set apart? Not just that there are certain things we don’t do or that we go to church regularly but are our WHOLE lives set apart and dedicated to God and His glory?

The more God opens my eyes the more I see just how much ME there is in my life!

Again and again my prayer is

‘No more ‘Me’ Lord, just all ‘Christ IN me’.

Is this your desire too? If not, may the Dear Lord make it so, for the more the Lord opens our eyes to what we are in ourselves the more we have to lean on Him and that is a precious place to live.

Living in this ‘upside down kingdom’ often goes against all our natural desires but as we lean on the Lord to help us live a life of sacrifice to Him and HIS will and HIS ways it becomes the richest most delightful way to live, even when the way is hard.

Do you feel the Lord convicting your own heart and soul of these same things? Such as lusting after the world and the things of it? Desiring other things more than you desire God?

What a mercy friends if the Lord is opening our eyes and using this conviction to bring us to repentance and to bring us to lean only Him.

We are not left to be crushed under conviction but rather if we flee to Christ we will find that the weaker we become in ourselves and the more we are made aware of our failings, the more we will prove the truth of the words….

‘My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.’ 2 Cor 12:9-10.

In love,

Sharon x