Tuesday, January 28, 2020
Keeper of My Heart: High Places
Keeper of My Heart: High Places: You may ask what is a high place. A high place in the bible was a place that persons went to worship, sacrifice, or pray and petition G...
High Places
You may ask what is a high place. A high place in the bible was a place that persons went to worship, sacrifice, or pray and petition God. This was the only way in which people would communicate with God. They would come to these places as Holy places. Places where they could petition God for there every need.
I began a bible study with Lysa Terkerust called Trustworthy. In the final day of last weeks study she asked a question that really hit me hard. I didn't realize it as I was studying, but afterwards as I was praying that God would reveal to me where my high places were. He revealed that I had been looking to people and not to God. That I was trusting people to answer my questions and help me make decisions and not Him as I should be.
Wow!!! That hurt. I was questioning this distant feeling I had in regards to my relationship with God thinking I had done something that was separating me from Him, when in reality, I had stepped away. For whatever reason, I had distanced myself from the Lord and had begun to rely on myself and others, where I should be leaning into Him for guidance.
I began to cry soft tears of regret as the reality of my decision weighed down on me. Also I believe tears of relief in a way. I realized God is still there and was doing as I had asked in revealing my high places. I had built a wall between and I just need to tear down the wall I had erected to protect myself. It wasn't really protection, but separation and a painful one at that.
I began to look at who I had put in those places and why. The one reason was that I was going to this person and not going to God. I was not spending time in His word daily. I was allowing the stress of the outside world to push me away from the One who could bring me peace. I leaned into the one not intended to be my all in all and heaped all the responsibility on his shoulders. That was not fair to him, not that he wouldn't do anything for me, but more that it is not his Job.
I was relying on my husband to be everything, have his own relationship with God, be responsible for hearing my complaints, making my decisions, and answering to me when the choices I made, (despite what he may have suggested), that ended in a bad way. That meant he was burdened not only with his troubles, but mine as well.
This morning I realized that I was treating him as my high place and not turning to God, but than I was upset with God for not answering my prayers when I was not taking them to Him. I put my husband and my aunt Mary in high places. Now this does not mean that I shouldn't go to them and ask them to pray with me, but that I needed to keep God as my high place. He and only He should hold that place in my life.
I needed to repent from this and turn fully to God and lean into Him alone. This does not mean I cannot share my burdens with my husband ever, or that at times that God may not answer me through shared prayer with my husband or my aunt. It just means that I need to look to God first. To spend time in His word and seek my answers through my prayer life with Him. Than and only than can I know that the answers, rather they are yes or no, are the path God would have me take.
Lysa wrote something so profound that I just must share. She said to repent and humble ourselves before the Lord and in doing so, that humility ties a beautiful knot between our heart and God's. A knot that can never come untied. I love this, because it gives us a blessed assurance that He will always be there for us in our times of need.
This also frees my husband and I up to have the loving relationship that God intended and not burden the other with our needs that only God can fulfill. I must work hard at keeping my high place God alone and not running to where I think I might get the answer I want. I need to rest in the fact that God wants only good for me, and that means at times, the answer will be no, not now, wait, or yes. It matters not what the answer is as long as I trust the One who is answering.
So today, I feel lighter than I have in a long time. Relief that is soul deep. I have a friend, a confidant, a helper in times of trouble. I have a HIGH PLACE IN GOD!!!!
I began a bible study with Lysa Terkerust called Trustworthy. In the final day of last weeks study she asked a question that really hit me hard. I didn't realize it as I was studying, but afterwards as I was praying that God would reveal to me where my high places were. He revealed that I had been looking to people and not to God. That I was trusting people to answer my questions and help me make decisions and not Him as I should be.
Wow!!! That hurt. I was questioning this distant feeling I had in regards to my relationship with God thinking I had done something that was separating me from Him, when in reality, I had stepped away. For whatever reason, I had distanced myself from the Lord and had begun to rely on myself and others, where I should be leaning into Him for guidance.
I began to cry soft tears of regret as the reality of my decision weighed down on me. Also I believe tears of relief in a way. I realized God is still there and was doing as I had asked in revealing my high places. I had built a wall between and I just need to tear down the wall I had erected to protect myself. It wasn't really protection, but separation and a painful one at that.
I began to look at who I had put in those places and why. The one reason was that I was going to this person and not going to God. I was not spending time in His word daily. I was allowing the stress of the outside world to push me away from the One who could bring me peace. I leaned into the one not intended to be my all in all and heaped all the responsibility on his shoulders. That was not fair to him, not that he wouldn't do anything for me, but more that it is not his Job.
I was relying on my husband to be everything, have his own relationship with God, be responsible for hearing my complaints, making my decisions, and answering to me when the choices I made, (despite what he may have suggested), that ended in a bad way. That meant he was burdened not only with his troubles, but mine as well.
This morning I realized that I was treating him as my high place and not turning to God, but than I was upset with God for not answering my prayers when I was not taking them to Him. I put my husband and my aunt Mary in high places. Now this does not mean that I shouldn't go to them and ask them to pray with me, but that I needed to keep God as my high place. He and only He should hold that place in my life.
I needed to repent from this and turn fully to God and lean into Him alone. This does not mean I cannot share my burdens with my husband ever, or that at times that God may not answer me through shared prayer with my husband or my aunt. It just means that I need to look to God first. To spend time in His word and seek my answers through my prayer life with Him. Than and only than can I know that the answers, rather they are yes or no, are the path God would have me take.
Lysa wrote something so profound that I just must share. She said to repent and humble ourselves before the Lord and in doing so, that humility ties a beautiful knot between our heart and God's. A knot that can never come untied. I love this, because it gives us a blessed assurance that He will always be there for us in our times of need.
This also frees my husband and I up to have the loving relationship that God intended and not burden the other with our needs that only God can fulfill. I must work hard at keeping my high place God alone and not running to where I think I might get the answer I want. I need to rest in the fact that God wants only good for me, and that means at times, the answer will be no, not now, wait, or yes. It matters not what the answer is as long as I trust the One who is answering.
So today, I feel lighter than I have in a long time. Relief that is soul deep. I have a friend, a confidant, a helper in times of trouble. I have a HIGH PLACE IN GOD!!!!
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