Is Jesus At Home In Your Heart? Volume 2

Is Jesus At Home In Your Heart?
In Ephesians 3:17 Paul the apostle prayed something for the Christians in Ephesus that some have found to be a little confusing—he prayed, that Christ may dwell in their hearts through faith. 
 
You might be thinking to yourself—“Don’t all Christians already have Jesus living in their hearts? Didn’t He enter in when they put their faith in Him? So why is Paul praying that He may dwell in their hearts through faith—I’m confused?”
 
It is true that Paul is writing to believers living in Ephesus—it is also true that Jesus lives in the heart of every Christian the moment they receive Him into their heart by faith as Lord and Savior.
 
So then what is Paul actually saying here?  Well, the answer is found in the word “dwell.”
According to the Greek scholar Dr. Kenneth Wuest the verb literally means “to settle down and feel at home.” Certainly Jesus was already living in the hearts of the Ephesians, or else Paul would not have addressed them as “saints” in Ephesians 1:1.
 
What Paul is praying for is a deeper experience between Jesus and His people.  He yearns for Christ to settle down and feel at home in their hearts—not a superficial relationship—but an ever-deepening loving communion. However, Jesus will never feel at home in our hearts until He feels welcome and comfortable in every room and secret chamber of our hearts—otherwise He will go on feeling like a tolerated visitor.
 
Remember one thing—Jesus didn’t force His way into your heart when you became a Christian.
 
He said in Revelation 3:20, “Behold I stand at the door and knock—if anyone opens the door I will come in…”
 
Notice the Lord didn’t say, “Behold I stand at the door and kick it open.” He said, “Behold I stand at the door and knock”—it’s up to us to open the door and let Him in.
 
There was an English artist named Holman Hunt who attempted to capture this scene on canvas—the painting now hangs in St. Paul’s Cathedral in London. He pictured Jesus standing at the door of a neglected cottage knocking to be let in.
 
When he first painted the picture, he invited his artist friends to come over and critique it.  After gazing at the painting intently one of them said to him, “Holman, you have made a terrible mistake! You left off a very important part of the door” Holman replied, “What are you talking about?”
 
“The handle, Holman—you left the handle off of the door!”
 
“Ah,” Mr. Hunt replied, “That was on purpose. You see this door is a picture of the human heart, and the handle of the door is only on the inside, for it’s up to the one within to respond to the knock of Jesus.”
 
Jesus will not force His way into a heart—He won’t barge in where He’s not welcome.  He’s a perfect gentleman who knocks and says, “If you’ll respond to Me and open the door of your heart to Me, I’ll come in and dwell with you—but the choice is up to you.”
 
Now many of us have made that choice. We heard His knock and said, “Come in, Lord. Come into my heart and make it your home.” And He did.  And now that He has come into our hearts He won’t feel comfortable until He has full access to every room and closet so that He can clean out the junk; rearrange and redecorate things so that He really feels at home there.
 
In his booklet My Heart Christ’s Home, Robert Munger pictures a Christian’s body and life as a house, through which Jesus goes from room to room.  
 
In the library, which is the mind, Jesus finds trash and all sorts of worthless things, which He proceeds to throw out and replace with His Word.
 
In the dining room of appetite He finds many sinful desires listed on a worldly menu.  In the place of such things as prestige, materialism, and lust He puts humility, meekness, love, and all the other virtues for which believers are to hunger and thirst.
 
He goes through the living room of fellowship, where He finds many worldly companions and activities which He replaces with godly friends and fellowship with Himself.
 
Next the author pictures Jesus going through the workshop, where only worldly “toys”  occupy the person’s time—He replaces these with the eternal work of the Kingdom.
 
Then He goes to into the closet, where hidden sins are kept, and He proceeds to clean it out.
 
The Lord continues this process through the entire house.  It’s only when He finishes cleaning every room, closet, and corner of sin, carnality and foolishness that He can settle down and feel at home.
 
“[Jesus Christ will never feel at home in our hearts until He has] full access to every room and closet; that He might not be grieved by sinful words, thoughts, motives, and deeds; that He might enjoy unbroken fellowship with the believer…In effect, the apostle prays that the Lordship of Christ might extend to the books we read, the work we do, the food we eat, the money we spend, the words we speak—in short, the minutest details of our lives.”
William MacDonald—
 
The problem with all too many Christians, when they invite Jesus into the ‘house’ of their heart, is that they lock Him in a ‘back bedroom’ somewhere and only bring Him out when they need His help.
 
They make most of their lives “off limits” to Him because they really don’t want Him intruding into areas of their thought lives, their associations, or interfering with how they spend their time and money. 
 
If Jesus Christ isn’t Lord of all He isn’t Lord at all!
 
Another problem with a lot of Christians is they have neglected their heart relationship with Jesus so much and allowed it to grow so cold that Jesus feels unwanted and abandoned. Again, using Holman Hunt’s painting of Jesus standing at a door of a neglected cottage knocking to be let in—
 
One author put it this way—
 
“How often I have seen Christians whose lives are represented by the neglected cottage in Holman Hunt’s famous painting. Where the fire of passion once filled the windows with the light of vibrant life, now only the dimness of passivity is evident. Once the pathway was packed firm and the grounds weeded and trimmed for the frequent, welcomed visitor, but now the threshold is rarely crossed. And the door that was always ajar in anticipation of the Master’s fellowship is now shut and locked from the inside against a friend who is now regarded as a stranger.”
 
Folks, if you’ve never opened your heart to Jesus then know that He is standing on the outside of your heart knocking—it’s up to you whether or not you let Him in—but if you do it’s all or nothing.
 
Now for those of you who are Christians whose hearts have grown cold to the Lord know this— Jesus loves you and is saying to you, “It’s not too late to repent. It’s not too late to renew the warmth of our fellowship with one another.”  Of course the key to all of this is faith even as Paul stated in Ephesians 3 verse 17—“that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith…”
 
Why has your relationship with Jesus grown cold?—because your faith has grown cold.   
 
The solution—you need to turn away from the world and its practices— ungodly TV shows, music, video games, movies etc.—and get back to Jesus.
 
You need to renew your relationship with Jesus by doing the things you used to do when you first opened the door of your heart to Him— Get back to church and to spiritual disciplines like your morning devotions.  Start listening to worship music again—fill your day with praise—God inhabits the praises of His people.
 
You also need a fresh infusion of the Spirit to awaken your faith—that only comes by filling your heart and mind with God’s Word—
 
Romans 10:17 (NKJV)
So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. 
 
Now when it comes to what you believe as a Christian there is one fact that is crucial—when Jesus Christ has come to live in your heart by faith—He will never leave you nor forsake you! That is something you absolutely must believe by faith and not by feelings which can be manipulated by the devil causing us to feel the Lord has abandoned us when we fail to live properly for Him as His people.
 
You must constantly remind yourself that Jesus Christ lives in you because you are a believer in Him.  He has taken up residence in you—He will never leave you—He has made your heart His permanent home.
 
Now make Him feel at home by allowing Him to give you an Extreme Makeover Heart Edition!

8/25/15


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