My Heart Christ's Home

Monday, August 17, 2009

What a summer of joy this has been leading a group of 40 women on Wednesday mornings in a study of Nell Mohney’s book, Just Choose Happiness. It was a special treat when Nell joined us for lunch after the last session so that we could fellowship and share with her what the book has meant to us.

Nell concludes her book with a chapter on the real source of joy, the Holy Spirit. She describes Wesley’s explanation of the work of the Holy Spirit through prevenient, justifying, and sanctifying grace. Nell uses the beautiful analogy of the inside and outside of a house to portray how the Holy Spirit pursues us.

Prevenient grace – This is the path leading to our spiritual house where God pursues us to bring us to faith.
Justifying grace – This is the porch of the house where we receive God’s forgiveness of sin and accept Christ as Lord.
Sanctifying grace – This is inside the house where we open every room of our lives to the Holy Spirit.

The essential struggle for believers is in giving our whole house to Christ. How much of our spiritual house are we willing to give to the complete direction of the Holy Spirit?

I’m reminded of the little booklet by Robert Munger, My Heart Christ’s Home. Munger conducts an open house tour as he invites Christ to enter his heart and then to become comfortable in every room. A spiritual inventory is taken as they go from room to room.

The library – the room of the mind; the control room of the house. Do we give our thoughts to the control of the Holy Spirit?
The dining room – the room of appetites and desires. What’s on our menu? Too much secular fare like fame, fortune, fashion, power, beauty?
The living room – the room of fellowship. This is the room where we spend time with our companion, our partner, our advocate. How much time do we spend there in fellowship with him?
The workroom – the room where we work and produce things. What are we producing for the Kingdom?
The rec room – the room for fun and fellowship. Are there certain associations and activities that we want to keep to ourselves? Is Christ invited to all our activities?
The hall closet – the room of secrets. The place where we hide things that we don’t want anyone to see. Are we willing to give Christ the key to the darkest place in our home?

When we are willing to open all of our rooms for Christ, we will have transformed lives. Are we willing to give him the rooms of the mind, desires, fellowship, work, fun, and secrets? The key to real peace and happiness is inviting the Holy Spirit to dwell within us and guide us in all areas of our lives.

“If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.” John 14:23

Click here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36JOVeEnCGQ to enjoy a beautiful song, “My Heart, Your Home.”

1 comments:

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