Pastor Herk continues by asking: “How do we make our hearts God’s home?” The first principle is that we have to rely on God’s riches. The Apostle Paul prayed to God that “He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened”. We are limited in ability, time and resources. But, in preparing our hearts for Christ, we are not dependent upon our own resources, because we have access to the glorious resources of Almighty God. The born-again Believer has been predestined, chosen and adopted by God into His family. Jesus Christ has redeemed us on the Cross from our sinful life through His death and resurrection. The indwelling Holy Spirit lives in our lives as a guarantee of both our present and future spiritual riches. We have been joined together into the body of Christ worldwide for the purpose of revealing God’s wisdom on earth. If God has already done all this, then He is capable of preparing our heart and equipping us for that preparation to receive Christ.
Philippians 4:19 “My God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.”
How do we plug into that power and strength that God provides? The second principle is that we have to submit to the Spirit to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man. The Holy Spirit is the conduit through which the glorious riches of God flow through. The Holy Spirit has a number of functions in the Believers life; one being to point us to Jesus Christ and walking on the straight and narrow path. In John 14:26Jesus tells us, “The Helper, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and remind you of all that I said to you.” Galatians 5:25 proclaims, “If we [claim to] live by the [Holy] Spirit, we must also walk by the Spirit [with personal integrity, godly character, and moral courage—our conduct empowered by the Holy Spirit].”
The Holy Spirit reminds us of the teaching of the Lord and helps us apply those teachings in our lives. Though we receive the indwelling Holy Spirit at our born-again conversion, we can impede His work within us by not walking in the Spirit in obedience. 1 Thessalonians 5:19 “Do not quench the Spirit.” Do not ignore that still small voice of the Holy Spirit leading and teaching us. We have to be very much aware of the Holy Spirit’s presence. Ephesians 4:30 “Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom. you were sealed for the day of redemption.” If we want to make our heart the Lord’s home, then we need to develop the habit of submitting our lives to the work of the Holy Spirit. So, when we read the Bible and pray, we need to do it with a proper attitude of humility and submission. We have to be willing to respond to the work of the Holy Spirit in our live, even before we know what He will reveal to us.
1 Samuel 16:7 “The Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”
The third principle is that we have to emphasize the eternal. Both our inner-being (which is the inner man) and our heart (the seat of man’s soul) describe the very center of conscious life. That involves our personality, our thoughts, our will, and our emotions. And is the part of our lives that we have to develop in order for Jesus to settle and reside at home vin our hearts. Not a cosmetic change, but we have to refine the inner being of our house by the renewing of our minds in the Word and person of Jesus Christ; for the long-term ability for our heart to serve as a home for the Lord. If you put a nice suit on a pig, then you’ll have a pig with a suit on that desires to be wallowing in the mud of the pigsty. It’s what is on the inside that matters.
2 Corinthians 4:16-18 “Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.”
How do we develop that inner being? We tend to fix our eyes on the things that we see, and not so much on the divine and eternal things that are unseen. We need to develop a focus on those things that will last an eternity; like our character, our convictions, our thought life, our devotions, and our vertical relationship with our Heavenly father rather than on those things that are going to pass away. Less focus on the temporal things, like our physical body, our entertainment, our interpersonal relationships and our material possessions. It’s not that we are not to take care of our temporal things in life, but our main focus should be on developing those parts of our life that are going to last for all of eternity. If Jesus is going to make a home in our hearts, then it only makes sense that we ought to focus our time and resources.
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