At Home

Many of you will be staying at home today because God is dumping snow on you from heaven.  How you respond and what you see will indicate the condition of your heart.  If you see the glory of God with all of the snow as a fresh reminder that Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross has covered and erased all of your sin, your home will be a place of deep gratitude and thanksgiving. If you’re worried about falling or getting into an accident, your home may be ice covered or anxiety-driven. 

If you want to build a snowman, go snowboarding, sled riding, or have a snowball fight, your heart and home will be playful, and you live from a place of freedom. 

If you just want to go for a walk and experience the beauty of God, your home is probably full of God’s peace.  If you’ve already been praying for God to remove the veil that blinds people from believing in Jesus and receiving His truth, your home is a place of prayer.  If you are already upset about all of the snow and how it’s going to mess up your plans, your home is a place of internal turmoil.  If you’re already preoccupied with all of the things that you have to get done today, your day at home with your loved ones has already been negotiated away.  If you are already humming and singing and eager to spend more time with Jesus and with your family, your home is a place of worship.

In the first section of his book Lifesigns, Henry Nouwen wrote that Jesus offers us an intimate place that we can truly call home…

“Home is that place or space where we do not have to be afraid but can let go of our defenses and be free, free from worries, free from tensions, free from pressures.  Home is where we can laugh and cry, embrace and dance, sleep long and dream quietly, eat, read, play, watch the fire, listen to music, and be with a friend.  Home is where we can rest and be healed.  The word “home” gathers a wide range of feelings and emotions up into one image, the image of a house where it is good to be:  the house of love…By making His home in us He allows us to make our home in Him.  By entering into the intimacy of our innermost self He offers us the opportunity to enter into his own intimacy with God…God so much desired to fulfill our deepest yearning for a home that God decided to build a home in us.  Thus we can remain fully human and still have our home in God…To those who are tortured by inner or outer fear, and who desperately look for the house of love where they can find the intimacy their hearts desire, Jesus says:  “You have a home…I am your home…claim Me as your home…you will find it to be the intimate place where I have found My home…it is right where you are…in your innermost being…in your heart.”

What an incredible invitation.  Jesus offers to come and to make His home in our hearts.  He invites us to become His temple and the dwelling place of His Spirit.  He wants to “clean house” and remove what’s dirty and what doesn’t belong in our mind, heart, and home.  Jesus wants us to set our minds on things above and stop being consumed with the things of our world.  He wants us to live from a place of deep peace and contentment, knowing that we’re His beloved children and that He has everything under His control.

As you’ve set aside a few moments to read my blog, I invite you to pray this prayer with me:  “Dear Lord, please come and make Your home in my heart.  Please forgive me for being consumed with things beyond my control.  Help me to learn to live in the moment and be fully present with You and with my loved ones.  Please remove the things in my mind, my heart, and my life that distract me and have been robbing me of Your peace and my peace.  Please come in and take control of this mess because I fail every time that I start trying to worry and try to control what I can’t.  I surrender the controls of my life to You, Jesus.  Help me to relax and rest and enjoy You as I know that You enjoy me.  Help me to see You and me and those around me from Your perspective.  How I need Your love, peace, and truth to take over my life.  I yield to You alone.  I open up my home and my heart to You.  Come and renovate, remodel, or just sit with me and enjoy some time with me.  Thanks for leading me to this place where I can be honest with You and with myself.  Help me, Lord, to have some heartfelt conversations with my loved ones today.  In Jesus’ Name.  Amen.”

Since you probably have some extended home time today, I want to introduce you to a timely pandemic tool called “Peas Talks” that’s available through our www.spiritdriven.org website.  This easy-to-use conversation-starter tool will help you and your family take what you know about God’s peace and apply it to the battlefields where the enemy is trying to lie to you, steal your peace, and get your life and your home organized around all of the wrong things.  When was the last time you invested your time, energy, and resources to improve the spiritual and emotional health of your home?