Giving Your Heart to GOD!

"A woman's heart should be so hidden in God that a man has to seek Him just to find her."  Many of us are familiar with this quote through either Max Lucado or Maya Angelou but what exactly is this quote saying?!? Simply put, GIVE YOUR HEART TO GOD!

As women, we naturally have a place and a desire in our hearts to love and to be loved.  Michelle McKinney Hammond's book, The Power of Being a Woman, suggests that this overwhelming desire for love was placed in woman in the Garden of Eden after Adam and Eve ate from the Tree of Knowledge
and God, in return, placed a curse on them.  The woman's curse is found in Genesis 3:16, which states, "I will make your pains in childbearing very severe; with painful labor you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.”  Well, ladies, there is the answer.  The reason we desire and long for

the love of a spouse is because God has placed that desire in us, thanks to the actions of Eve.  Michelle McKinney Hammond's The Power of Being a Woman states:

"The fall causes the God-given desire in Eve's heart for man to be perverted into a need for him for all the wrong reasons.  Man could never live up to the void the fall created, so woman's exaggerated need for man became her bondage.  Her desire for him would now "rule" over her and color all of her decisions as she constantly strove to gain his love in a spot reserved for God alone."

This is not to say that we cannot control the desire we have for love because, believe me ladies, we can (I will discuss how in another blog). This is to say, the desire for love will and should exist but this desire should NOT take the place in your heart designed specifically for God.  Now that we know desiring love is a natural feeling to have, we know that desiring love is not the problem.  The problem often stems because we begin to become impatient in our season of singleness.  In experiencing this overwhelming sense of impatience, we begin to look for love in all the wrong places.  I have found that we often want to take matters into our own hands when it comes to finding a mate because we feel that God's timing "takes forever".  As a result, we attempt to fill the void that we feel in our heart by turning to people instead of simply turning to God.  

Trust me ladies, I know the feeling. Been there...done that...and the results were NOT good. I can remember times where I would just settle for any and everything walking because of my loneliness and desperation for a mate. I even married my ex-husband just because I was in love with the IDEA of being in love. So what am I saying to you? It is better to trust GOD with your heart than yourself.  Psalm 37:4-5 tells us, "Delight yourself in the LORD and HE will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your ways to Him and He will do it."  What does this tell us? All God wants is for us to delight ourselves in HIM, seek HIS love & companionship, and let HIM handle the desires of our hearts BUT, in order to do so, God has to have our heart FIRST.

How do I give my heart to God?

The Decision is up to YOU!

First, YOU must make the choice to change.  God wants your heart but He will NOT force you to give it to Him.  Imagine your heart as a door.  In order to let someone in, you must open it.  Well God is standing at the door of your heart, knocking, and waiting for you to open it up to Him.  God is a true gentleman so don't look for Him to bust down the door and force His way in.  He will, however, willingly step into your heart whenever you decide to open the door and extend the invitation. 

So, if you're ready, let’s look at how you can begin to give your heart to God!

OPEN your heart to God.  The Bible tells us numerous times to harden NOT our hearts. To have a hardened heart simply means to be resistant to God's will, way, and word.   So in order to open your heart to God, all you have to do is say YES to Him. Yes to God's Will, Yes to God's Way, and Yes to God's Word.  Make yourself FULLY available to Him because when you open your heart to God, you are essentially telling Him that you are ready for whatever He has for you.

OFFER your heart to God.  Once you've opened the door to your heart, the next step is to invite Him in.  By doing so, you are asking God to enter in and take residence in your heart.  Just like the Holy Spirit uses our bodies as its dwelling place, God uses our hearts as His.  The FIRST of the greatest commandments that Jesus gives to us in Matthew 22:37 is, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind."  This passage of scripture reminds us that God wants and desires our love.  He does not just want some of our heart but He wants us to love Him with ALL of our heart. What a liberating thought! GOD WANTS THIS! All we have to do is willingly give it to Him!

ORGANIZE and align your heart with God's Word.  What do I mean by this? Well, Proverbs 4:23 tells us, "Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life."  This means that you can NOT let any and everything dwell in your heart.  So many of us are still holding on to past hurts, unforgiveness, hatred, and ect.  I am a witness and guilty of doing so myself in the past but when we allow the things that are NOT like God to dwell in us, the spirit of God cannot dwell there also.  This is why it is sooo important that forgive, repent, and continue to pray the prayer that David prayed in Psalms 51:10 which says, "Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me."  In order for God to dwell comfortably in your heart, it has to be clean and well protected for Him and Him only.

 

OPERATE in God's Will for your heart.  In other words, commit your heart to God and only God.  Once He has entered and you have released your heart to Him, let HIM control it.  Often times, we want to grab a hold of the steering wheel when we feel like we are going in the "wrong" direction or God is taking the "long way" to our blessing but just remember what we said earlier, if you delight yourself in the Lord and commit your ways to Him, He will give you the desires of your heart.  So trust God with your heart by operating in obedience to HIS will.  God has never failed to keep His word/promises and He never will.

What Happens Next?

Next, we wait. The Bible tells us to "wait on the Lord, be of good courage, and He will strengthen your heart" (Psalms 27:14).  I know, I know, waiting is a hard thing to do, especially when you feel you are ready to take the next step, BUT operating out of impatience and getting into a relationship with the WRONG person has more severe consequences than waiting.  

So ladies, place your heart in the hands of GOD & He will place it in the hands of a man who He believes deserves it. This is simply saying, once you have given your heart to God, entrusted Him completely with it, and HE finds someone who is worthy of receiving your heart, HE will give it to them.  As for right now, God is using this season of singleness to cleanse, protect, mold, and pour into your heart...so let Him! There's no rush! Be patient and continue to wait on God.  Peace and Many Blessings to You

Love You,

Christina Emily