Week Six Blog for the Rooted Bible Study. Learn more about Rooted here.
“Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.” James 5:16
Back when I began my Christian walk, I believed the lie that we should have it all together as Christians. I was deep in depression and anxiety and wondered what was wrong with me. I smiled on the outside because I thought that is what a good Christian did. On the inside, however, I was a complete mess. If you are here let me speak some truth to you:
It is our inside that counts. We can look like we have it all together, and are the perfect Christian, but no amount of will power can make our hearts perfect.
The work of cleansing our hearts is Jesus alone.
We are given tools to help us on this path of making our hearts right. This journey is a constant journey. We will never completely arrive at the destination of a perfect heart, until heaven. It is a work we are constantly doing. Satan wont give up throwing us trials and distractions until the beautiful day that Jesus returns and crushes Him. Until then here are a few tools to help us constantly renew our heart so it stays close to God:
God’s Word. Last week we learned the importance of God’s Word to change our hearts.
Prayer. Prayer is our avenue of communication with God. We can share our heart, struggles, worries, gratitudes, fears, praises, adoration, and desires to Him. Some may wonder what the point of prayer is when God already has a plan. The point of prayer is not to get our way, but to maintain a deep, thriving, life giving relationship with the one who gives us life. We can’t have a relationship without prayer. We wont understand all the ways God works, but we can still pray with the understanding we have. In His perfectness, He will work all our prayers out for good.
Confession and Repentance. Confession and repentance are vital to stay close to Jesus. It is true he washes away our sins, but it is also true if we start taking this for granted we will pull away from Him. It is necessary to acknowledge our failings and confess them to Him. When we surrender to godly sorrow over and over again, we are reminded of our great need for Him. Confession and repentance are vital keys to maintain a intimate relationship with Him.
Our relationship with God is the most important. But since God made us relational, He also has blessed us with the ability to rest in relationships with others. This is another tool He has given us on the journey of cleansing our hearts:
Confessing to others and asking for prayers. When we build healthy God honoring relationships with other believers, we can confess our struggles to them. When we share we are struggling we not only gain their prayers, we also unload a piece of our hearts: guilt. Satan wants to make us feel guilty. When we share our hurts with others we bring them to light. Darkness has to flee in light. The guilt satan wants to place on us has to flee amidst light as well. By sharing our struggles with others we can also see that we are not alone. Everyone has a battle they are facing. When we choose to link arms we can lift up and encourage each other in beautiful ways.
We don’t have to do life alone. We are given each other to help us on our journey. If it is hard to open up and share with others your struggles, try reading some books. Many times, the author shares their struggles and hurts. Just the simple fact that you know you aren’t alone can help erase guilt satan places in your heart. We are all struggling in some way. As we walk this life together we can embrace this and keep going knowing we aren’t alone.
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