As the whole world knows, this past weekend was Valentine’s Day! Woot woot!!
My Valentine’s Day consisted of going to Walmart, buying flowers and going out into the streets of Gainesville to let people know that they are loved and appreciated. Certainly not your typical Valentine’s Day!
The Lord’s treat to me was having the opportunity to attend The Power of Love Conference in Atlanta, GA. The conference was held by Atlanta International Church, Out of Darkness, Jesus Luvs Ravers, City Takers, Atlanta School of Ministry and Atlanta Dream Center. These ministries are partnering together to embark on a 45 day journey of prayer, fasting, and worship aimed at building altars of worship to the Lord in dark places. They believe that during this time, unity is going to grow among the body of Christ, revival is going to spark within the rave and hip-hop communities, bonds of sexual exploitation will be broken, and many in the Church are going to step out of agreement with the Jezebel spirit.
I had been looking forward to this conference all week long! I just had an expectancy in my heart that God was going to do something amazing! Little did I know that God had so much love waiting for me at this event.
We worshiped a lot that night but at one point in the evening the pastor and his wife, of Atlanta International Church, got up and started sharing about how they met and what God has brought them out of. It was beautiful to hear the testimony of God’s redemption story in their lives. The pastor wanted to put up a banner to symbolize the banner of God’s love for us.
“He has taken me to the banquet hall, and his banner over me is love.”
Song of Songs 2:4 (NIV)
They unfolded a white table cloth, two people stood on chairs and held it up. We were then instructed to walk under the banner, you could dance under it, sing under it, soak under it, whatever it looked like for you. The pastors were going to be on the other side, once you had gone through, ready to give out hugs and encouragement! I was so excited to get under that banner!! There is just something about the love of God, that causes my soul to rejoice within me. I can’t get enough! He’s so good! I simply stood under the banner for a little bit and soaked in the love of God!
Afterwards, I went and just knelt at the altar. This month, I have been dealing with heart issues. Not to worry, I’m fine physically. More so emotional and spiritual heart issues. I feel like the Lord truly wants to take me through heart surgery. He has already started bringing things to the surface that I thought were already taken care of. He’s begun to peel back layer after layer until it’s completely bare before Him. While at the altar, I just cried out to the Lord, “I think I know what this looks like but I don’t even know. Would you start to clean out whatever is in my heart that doesn’t belong there? Whatever doesn’t reflect your heart for me.Whatever it may look like!” I immediately felt His love rush over me and tears began streaming down my face. They weren’t sad tears but overwhelming tears of joy, knowing that my Father was embracing me.
I got this picture in my mind today. I saw Jesus, just hanging out in my Heart house! I told him, “Hey Jesus, make yourself at home. This is your place! Come and dwell here.” Everything seemed wonderful for a while! I had joy, love and peace! All the good things of the Lord. Then Jesus began to move some things around in the house. He began to dust off some shelves and cleaned off some counters. “Uh, Jesus, You can stay here but please don’t touch anything. Everything was good just the way it was.” He responded and said, “I know it was good, maybe even comfortable. Yet, I want it to be perfect here, just as I am perfect.”
We often ask Jesus to live in us and to change us but then when He actually begins to make those changes, we get super uncomfortable because it causes us to be vulnerable. Getting rid of junk is not always pleasant. The great thing about Jesus is that he removes that junk and replaces it with new, better things. He is always making things new! That’s His nature!
“Forget the former things, do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing!”
Isaiah 43:18-19a (NIV)
In my heart, Jesus is cleaning out the cobwebs, replacing the broken vase, pulling back the curtains and letting his PERFECT love rush in, like rays of sunshine! He is always going to replace the old with something new. Something even better than before.
I want to challenge you to allow the Lord to clean out your heart. Whatever that looks like for you. Get alone with the Lord and ask Him to show you those areas that you may have just covered up and thought that you would take care of later. The time is now! His grace is sufficient for you. His power is made perfect in our weakness.(2 Corinthians 12:9)
So say along with me, “Come, Lord Jesus! Make my heart YOUR HOME!”
