A Rock Facade II

I have been thinking about my previous post for the last several days.  It seems as though there was more that God wanted me to share with you.  Please bare with me as I follow the Lord and what He wants from this post. I am going to review some of the original post and expand.  I know that Part I had several things missing, but I just wrote what I felt God was wanting me to say at that time.  I hope that you will enjoy Part II.

With each rock that my husband removed from the facade, we were able to see clearly what was underneath.  There were holes, cracks, bricks that were charred from smoke, dust, dirt, cobwebs, you name it and it was probably in there.  It was amazing.  I have never seen the inside of a fireplace, so it was kind of cool.  As he kept removing the rocks it became very evident to us what was causing the cold air to make its way in.  It was all the cracks and holes that had developed overtime.  Remember, this house was built in 1973.  So for 38 years this fireplace has endured, rain, heat, cold, snow, hail and all of the other wonderful seasons we have here in Oklahoma.  (On a side note, I am thankful that he tore it down before the earthquakes this past weekend.) It has maintained itself fairly well, but it has encountered some wear and tear.

Now lets take a look at how this relates to us.  As we begin to look at ourselves, our hearts, our minds and our spirits, we may come up with some of the same issues our fireplace had.  As we begin to tear the walls down in our hearts we will begin to see the junk that is there.  Depending on our age, there could be many holes and cracks in our hearts caused by things that have happened to us over time.  These holes will allow feelings of unbelief into our hearts.  There is also room for negative and bad things to enter.  We may find that our spirit is charred with years of hurt and loss.  We may find that our mind continues to tell us everything is ok and looks great, but in reality it isn't.  You see we have been able to put up the "facade" and make everyone think that we are strong and without any defects.  

My friends, God does not want us to live this way.  He wants us to fulfill the purpose that He has for our lives.  He wants us to succeed and not fail.  He wants us to bring joy and not sadness.  He wants us to serve Him and no other.  He wants us to receive all of the promises that He has for us instead of receiving nothing.  Psalm 145:13 (NIV)-The Lord is faithful to all his promises and loving toward all he has made.

Like I mentioned before, my husband will fix our fireplace and it will be beautiful.  As we sit around our fireplace this Christmas, we will be thankful that it is no longer cold and know that behind what we can see are the holes and the cracks that were filled to make our fireplace strong and perfect.  We will enjoy what we can see and over time will forget what we cannot see.  

The same can happen in our lives.  First, we must believe in Jesus.  He has the power to fix everything.  Psalm 147:3 (NIV)-He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.  His love will fill those holes and cracks.  His teachings and promises will allow us to believe and bring us words of promise.  He will heal our charred spirit and allow His spirit to flow in us.  He will take our faith to a new level.  He will do everything that He has promised us He will do.  We must simply choose Him and we must choose to have faith and believe.  We must approach His throne with holiness, praise, thanksgiving and confidence.  Jesus is full of love and grace.  He doesn't care who you are or what you have done, He just wants you to tear down that facade or tear down that wall and allow Him to come in.  Hebrews 4:16 (NIV)-Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.     Are you ready to tear down that facade?  Are you ready to do what it takes to fill those cracks and holes?  Are you ready to enjoy life again?  If so, He is waiting for you.