H2O
by Peter Brokaar
Where is the house you will build for me? Where will my resting place be? Has not my hand made all these things, and so they came into being?” declares the Lord. “These are the ones I look on with favour: those who are humble and contrite in spirit, and who tremble at my word”.
Most of us will probably remember that water molecules consist of three atoms: two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom. These simple building blocks combined form water, which is not only lovely to drink, but, in fact, is entirely essential for life on planet earth. The chemical notation would be H20, which again we’re most likely to be familiar with. But today I want to take a look together at two other H’s and another O, which, when combined together, create a very powerful dynamic in our spiritual life: honesty, humility and obedience.
In the work of Ellel Ministries we teach people about the healing which God made available to us in Jesus Christ. But being human and pragmatic, we can tend to look at a formula, a technique or a fix-it that will help us with our problems. However the truth is that the real healing we need is a deep heart-connection with the living God! Hence we need to look at the attitudes in our heart, which to a large extent determine our ability to receive God’s healing.
Honesty is essential when we approach God, and when God approaches us. Are we willing to lay it all bare before Him and confess those very things which we need help with? This is linked with humility - which is the only way we can ever receive from the Lord. Many times we would like God to fix our problems, yet we remain stuck in our pride and falsehood. We might hide the things we’re ashamed of, and we might try and fix those things for which only God is sufficient.
I truly believe, and the testimonies of those we minister to likewise declare, that genuine honesty and humility are gateways to God’s healing. Then we still have that final building block: obedience. Once God comes to us and shows us our need, and His way of helping us, then we have a choice in front of us: will we walk in His ways, or in our ways? Will we continue handling our problems, pains and difficulties by ourselves as we always have done, or will we start trusting and yielding to Him?
None of these three elements (honesty, humility and obedience) are easy things, as they deal with our hearts. But I think we will all find that if we start asking the Lord to help us with these core heart attitudes that this is very worthwhile. The Lord loves a humble and honest heart, willing to yield to Him, and I believe His presence is drawn to such a surrendered heart. And when we have His presence, then we have access to all the help and healing we could ever need! So we can thank God for physical water, but we can also thank Him for His word which teaches us about honesty, humility, and obedience.
Prayer: Thank You Lord for sending Your Spirit to be with us today. I ask You to help me with being honest, humble, and willing to be obedient to You, because I want to know You more, and know Your living presence in my daily life. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
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