"Please kneel as we come before our Creator in prayer."
I bowed my head, I folded my hands, and I closed my eyes.
I even scooted forward in the pew, but there I remained; in the pew. It mattered not the positions of those around me, that much I knew. I also knew I didn't kneel. I suppose I couldn't with my heart as full of things unsuitable for a temple as mine was at that moment.
"Lord Jesus, we come before you....humbled."
Windows...they're peculiar things. They are portals, put more accurately, but windows all the same.
When a window is closed, things have to pry the window open to crawl in. When it's opened, things tend to grow wings and fly out.
One of the things unsuitable for a temple jumped into the window of my heart, making it thump a bit faster.
That's when I heard His voice in my head, saying, "Push them out. All of the things inside the window? Just, let them fly to me."
But rather than listening to Him, I let another thing unsuitable for a temple crawl in.
How is it that we, the sinful, the terrible, the blemished, could ever....reasonably, with any logic to boot, POSSIBLY feel exempt from kneeling?
I was not exempt and I most certainly didn't FEEL exempt...I just felt unworthy. Which makes little to no sense, I know. Which is why I'm baffled so!
I literally felt unworthy....to come before the Lord.... unworthy.
-That's pretty unworthy-
But, you see, we all are unworthy. Not one of us is worthy to fall before God and exclaim just how unworthy we are.
-Yet He loves us anyway-
I wish I could doubly italics the statement above, for I do believe there is not enough emphasis in all of the world to rightfully merit those words.
It's a good thing I fathomed just how unfathomable that is before the prayer ended...'else I would have dropped to my knees and knelt with all of me 'till the sun didn't shine.
And suddenly, the window flew open, the things unsuitable for a temple flew out, and God, praise His name, flew in.
My friends, the joy that comes with knowing He loves us anyway is incredible.
Open the windows to your heart, the portals to what makes you, you, and let God flood every corner of your heart. It's as simple as saying, "Lord, take everything from me and fill my heart." Let no space be vacant of His grace or filled with something unsuitable for a temple. Furnish your temple with God and His mercies; I promise you won't be sorry you did.
You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.- Romans 5:6-8
I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.- Galations 2:20
God made you worthy; He paid your ransom and bought your rightful place with Him. You're legitimate. You're a bona fide child of God, so kneel and give thanks with your heart, your wounds, your scars, and your dreams all lain humbly upon His feet.
