His Heart, My Home

We are all on a journey. We are all “on the way”. We are all a “work in progress”. No one is completed. No one is perfected.

As His people, we are the “sheep of His pasture.”(Psalm 100:3)

We know our good Shepherd leads us, protects us, and provides for us. (Psalm 23)

But sheep, though intelligent, have the tendency to stray from the flock, to wander into dangerous situations, to become lost from the others. They may slip and fall on the hillside and suffer injury. They may become prey for the predators.

Some have been following the Shepherd for a brief time, some for many years, but if we begin to wander off the path, we may find that we have lost our way, and desperately need to be rescued. It can happen to any of us. I know because it happened to me!

If this has happened to you, then you are not here on this web-site by accident. You are here by divine appointment. Holy Spirit led you here to receive the truth that will set you free and restore you to the “green pastures” and “still waters” of your Savior’s love. He will restore your soul, filling you with new hope, faith, peace, and joy.

If the “missing sheep” is a loved one, neighbor, or friend, please share this teaching with them. No one is beyond the reach of the Shepherd’s mercy and grace. Jesus said he would leave the entire flock behind, if necessary, in order to search for just one missing sheep.
(Luke 15:4-7)

So… stop running! Yes, you sinned, but He’s not searching for you to punish you, but to restore you. He knows all about your sin, and loves you anyway!

He will never reject you. He will never give up on you. He will love you faithfully, even when you have been unfaithful to Him. (2 Timothy 2:13)

You will never be able to escape those feelings of guilt, shame, and sadness by yourself. No matter how far you run, the root of the problem, (your sin and brokenness) will still be there because you can’t run away from yourself.

So again… stop running away from Him, and run to him! He is the only one who can heal and restore you! His arms and His heart are wide open, ready to embrace you with His love!

Here is the word of the Lord to you TODAY:
“I love you more than you could ever know! Nothing can ever separate you from my love, so don’t give up! My blood was more than enough for all your sins, past, present, and future! I have removed your sins as far from you as the east is from the west. You are forgiven! You are cleansed! You are loved!”

God has a wonderful plan to completely restore us, bringing us back into a close and intimate fellowship with Him.

To find that plan, let’s look at the first words of Joel 2:25: “So, I will restore to you the years…”
We may have wandered for a brief time, or we may have been out of fellowship with the Lord for years, but He promises to restore us.

The word translated as “restore” in this verse is the Hebrew word “shalam” (from the root word “shalom”). It means: to repair what has been broken; to replace what has been lost; to make whole; to make complete; to bring to peace.

Before God can replace our losses and make us whole and complete again, we must let Him repair what has been broken.

(* Example: Think of a fishing net that has been damaged on the rocks and reefs, and now has big gaping holes. Until it is repaired and made whole again it can’t be filled with fish.)

The Lord said this about His wandering ones, “I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely…” (Hosea 14:4)

Let’s do some Word-Mining on three important Hebrew words in this verse:

● heal = rapha. A very familiar word to many Christians. Means to cure or heal, but a primary meaning is of the word is “to repair by stitching”

● backsliding = meshubah. Means “to turn back”

● freely = nadab. Used to describe a soldier who offers himself willingly, freely, spontaneously, and totally as a volunteer, regardless of the cost or danger to himself.

When we turn back from following the Lord, sin begins to rip and tear at the fabric of our soul. More and more, it cruelly destroys our health, our hopes, our homes, our destinies, and our dreams. The end-result of sin is death.
(Romans 6:23)

Jesus, our Soldier-Shepherd-Savior, is saying, “No matter what the risks, no matter what the costs, I freely volunteer to give my all… my glory, my honor, my throne, my blood, my life, to find my lost lambs, to heal them, to make them whole, and to restore them to the safety of the flock “. (Psalm 23:3 – “He restores my soul…”)

About a 100 years ago, (smile) I was a medic in the Air Force. One of the things I learned was the skill of suturing lacerations. There were several steps involved in properly cleaning the wound, and preparing it to be closed with the stiches. One of the most important steps was injecting Lidocaine into the tissue all around the wound to minimize the pain from the suturing. These injections themselves were painful, but were a very necessary part of the healing process.

(* By the way, if you ever need sutures, I think I still remember how to do them. And I can give you a 50% discount over the Emergency Room costs. Anyone wanna take my offer? Just let me know!)

Enough silliness (for now)!

So when the Lord begins to cleanse our wounds and prepare us for the stitches that will repair and restore us to wholeness, we may feel some discomfort. Feelings of regret and sorrow for the pain we caused by our wandering ways are natural. Holy Spirit will heal our hurts, wipe away our tears, and calm our fears. And He will once again assure us of the Father’s unconditional, unfailing love.

We saw that our backsliding (meshubah) begins when we turn back from following the Lord. Our road to restoration begins when we do another 180° turn-around and take that first step back to the Lord. That first step has a name. It’s called “repentance” (Hebrew = teshuvah).

The story of the prodigal son’s return home to his father is something nearly all of us learned in Sunday School as children.

The Bible says that one day, the prodigal son “came to himself”. (Luke 15:17) He felt disgust with himself for living in the pig-pen of sin. He was overwhelmed by the sorrow and guilt he felt for hurting his father. He was smeared and sullied with the shameful mess he had made of his life. Certainly this reawakening of his conscience was the result of his father’s continual prayers. But his God-inspired desire for restoration was only the first step of his repentance.

He still had to walk the road back to his father’s house. Step-by-step … fearful … self-doubting … he continued, painful though it was.

Be forewarned. God loves you, and longs to heal and restore you, yet you will experience some pain and tears along the road to reconciliation and restoration, especially if you have been deeply torn and wounded by your failures. There’s a big difference between a superficial wound that needs to be sutured, and deep internal wounds, which often take some time to heal.

Don’t be discouraged. Let the joy of knowing your dark nightmare is over, and the certainty of renewed fellowship with the Father keep you moving in the right direction. Every step you take, mile-by-mile, moment-by-moment, day-by-day, brings, you closer to the Father’s loving arms and heart, and a celebration of your restoration. (Luke 15:20-24)

Lord, we know that your heart longs for your missing sheep, and you passionately seek their healing and restoration. You diligently search for them until you find them. Lift them into your merciful arms. Embrace them with your love. We rejoice with you and the angels of heaven over these precious ones, who are even now being restored and returned to wholeness and safety. In Jesus’ name, Amen!