Hoarded Hearts

Have any of you ever been channel surfing and seen any one of the numerous shows on hoarders?  Even the previews are enough to haunt a person.  Piles and stacks of stuff, garbage, filth, and in some cases completely in-livable conditions.  No, this is not a blog on house keeping....per say.  But as I was laying in bed,  praying for a friend, God showed me a wonderful analogy.

Have you ever seen one of the hoarders living in their house?  They are stumbling, climbing over clutter, bombarded by things they think they are safe behind.  But really it is only causing chaos, and hindering any healing. 

A few weeks ago in the Captivating study one of the questions was, "What do you fear?"  There were several answers ranging from "the loss or hurt of my children" to "not be what God desires".  The question lead to the fact that if we gave those fears over to Christ, it would free our hearts to be open for more of Him.  To be able to love, and move more in His power. 

If our hearts are full of anything that is not from Christ, weather pain from past hurts, fears, or confusion from the enemy, then we are living in a "hoarded" heart.  Even if it a "safe" place for you.  Sometimes our "safety" is a wall that we have put up to protect ourselves from future hurts, because of past ones.

If this is the case we will not have the clarity to rightly discern what God is speaking to us.  We will be stumbling around in chaos and clouded judgment and mostly unable to truly feel Christ's love for us. This is not the life Jesus has offered for us.  This is not what our hope is in.

2 Corinthians 10:3-5 

 For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. ⁴ The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. ⁵ We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

When we take our thoughts captive to the obedience of Christ, things must align with Heaven!  Ask God to do some "house cleaning."  Empty what has been cluttering, whether its fear, pain, mistrust, or false safety, allow HIM to clean it.  He has already offered, just allow Jesus to begin the work in you.