~Rend Your Heart~

Well last night as I was lying in my bed I was reading my Bible. I flipped open to Joel and God really spoke using these verses:

Joel 2:12-13

Even now," declares the LORD,
"return to me with all your heart,
with fasting and weeping and mourning."

Rend your heart
and not your garments.
Return to the LORD your God,
for he is gracious and compassionate,
slow to anger and abounding in love,
and he relents from sending calamity.

There are two things God is asking of us to do here in these verses.

1. Return to Him with all your heart
2. Rend your heart and not your garments

Return to me with all your heat.

When I read those words they hit hard. Over this past year God has over and over again shown me how much He cares for me and loves me unconditionally. He telling us that He wants us and ALL of us. Not just 10% or 40%or70% God want 100% and MORE of us!! Think of it this way your earthly father or your mother loves you and they enjoy having conversation with you. As we mature and grow older we begin to see things as they do. It's the same way with God. He enjoys time with us. He enjoys hearing our voice. He loves communicating with us. As we pursue Him he wants to take us to a deeper level. We must continually give him all our heart.

We must to return to our FIRST LOVE.

Revelation 2:4-5 ( The Message)

"But you walked away from your first love—why? What's going on with you, anyway? Do you have any idea how far you've fallen? A Lucifer fall!
"Turn back! Recover your dear early love. No time to waste, for I'm well on my way to removing your light from the golden circle.

God's wants to be the first in all our lives. He wants us to be so focused on Him and completely consumed in his Holy Spirit. He wants intimacy with each and every one of us. The question is....do you want have intimacy with Him? Do you want to return to Him with all your heart? Do you want to give 100% and more to Him?
He is chasing after us everyday.... some more obvious then others. I know everyday I want a deeper relationship with God and a higher level of intimacy. Some days it is a real challenge to sit down and read my Bible or Praise God through God. I contend though because I what Jesus did for me and I choose to love God with ALL my heart. No it's never easy....but it is rewarding.

Rend Your Heart

I really began to think about what it means really to rend your heart. Rending our hearts means an act of opening up our hearts. The word rend, means to tear open or apart. So we already know God doesn't only want us to open our hearts but He wants us to REND them...to tear them open.

I think many of us have over used the word open. God wants us to be real with one another and to be open. He wants us to open our hearts to each other but most importantly He wants us to open our heart to Him. Rend our hearts to Him.

Psalm 51:17

The sacrifices of God are
a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart,
O God, you will not despise.

God wants us to not only be open but be willing to lay everything down before Him. He wants us to Rend out hearts. In the OT people would tear the clothes as an outward sign to anguish, sorrow, or happiness.

Genesis 37:28-29
So when the Midianite merchants came by, his brothers pulled Joseph up out of the cistern and sold him for twenty shekels of silver to the Ishmaelites, who took him to Egypt.
When Reuben returned to the cistern and saw that Joseph was not there, he tore his clothes.

Are we willing to humble ourselves?

Are we going to continue to hind behind a mask and say "I am being real, I am open"?

Are we willing rend our hearts to God?

Are we willing to let God in our hearts and let him strip away everything that is unpleasing to him?

Are we willing?

Are we willing we return to him with our WHOLE heart?

Are we willing to make in the center of our lives?

Are we willing?

Are you willing?