Christ Making Home in Our Hearts

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A couple weeks ago I posted that I Need a Home. As I contemplated the need I soon realized that actually God is my home thus I must be firstly anchored in Him. Since then I have had many conversations, considerations, fellowships with the Lord and with a few of my companions.

One of my conversations involved Ephesians 3:17, "That Christ may make His home in your hearts through faith..." It suddenly dawned on me that I felt the most restful in the Lord when I allowed Him to come and settle down in my heart.

I think we all know how complicated our human hearts are with the many compartments and secret chambers. There are multiple doors! And the Lord continues to knock on the deeper doors asking our permission to let Him in until our whole heart opens to Him.

These days I've been trying so hard to read my Bible for at least 30 minutes everyday. I would muster up strength to be faithful yet oftentimes I failed so I would get frustrated with myself... and everything else. The Lord nudged me gently, "Let Me come into your Bible reading. Let Me read with you. Let Me in. What about putting down your iPhone and get away from your laptop right now, and talk to Me as you read?"

Every morning I also struggle to wake up to spend time with Him. Believe it or not, my first sentence of the day has always been "Lord, help me I want to sleep more! Can You please live today in place of me?" So the Lord touched me and knocked on this door with a huge sign that reads "My sleeping time." I told Him, "Fine, Lord. You can come in and adjust my sleeping time so I can wake up earlier the next morning."

Furthermore, speaking of home, there's the physical house that we dwell in. I have heard and conclusively agreed that our home is essentially our personal universe. The way it's organized, the colors of the paints, the decor, the atmosphere, the personality - our home depicts who we are inwardly. I want to say it parallels our heart!

I'm not a people person. Nevertheless by the Lord's mercy, I've been granted to see God's dream in building His home, His church. I can no longer be an individualistic Christian because I am part of His household, a member in His body.

So practically, the Lord touches me concerning opening my home to invite other Christians to visit and fellowship in my so-called personal space. To be honest, I like my home to be in a certain condition so having others over is like adding more variables to my already "perfect" formula. These ones will definitely bend my ways and preferences. Scary!

But you know what, whenever I open my home I feel like my heart also opens a little bit more not just to the Lord but also to His loved ones. Those who walk into that front door also walk into my heart. I live with two other believers (my companions in the Lord) and frequently, here and there, we find ourselves praying for those who have entered into our hearts. By opening our home, our hearts get enlarged. We now have more room to bear God's people in our hearts in prayers.

As we are caring for others in this way, interestingly Christ seems to find more hidden doors in my heart. Sometimes one of the guests would do something that'd (under ordinary circumstances) be totally my pet peeve. Yet the gentle Christ within would not let me say anything or react in a negative way. When I let the instantaneous (present) Christ come into that aspect of me and rearrange my feelings, I experience the peace which surpasses every man's understanding.

When Christ makes His home in my heart, I find true rest.

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