Worship this morning - Pure Heart, Pruning, and Time with God

God is so great. I have always enjoyed the worship at our church. But particularly this morning, I felt there was something in particular that God wanted me to know.

It started with Caroline reading out from the Bible:

Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
Phi 3:13-14

He said to them, "Because of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you."

Mat 17:20

I am still stuck. But instead of feeling “stuck-stuck” as a few days before, I got the encouragement from God from the above verses this morning. Once again, there is hope in my heart and I know, I know such “stuckness” is going to pass. I now am able to look pass the road blocks in front of me, and am now able to see how they are actually tools God uses and God sends into my way. For He has something better for me in my life. He has something better planned for me. And only if I pass thru such blocks I would be able to get to where He wants me to be.

And it's a “pure heart” as in here:

"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God."
Mat 5:8

Yes. This is the message I heard this morning, when I was crying, praying to God. A pure heart. This is the prize in front of me now and that God definitely wants me to get. I just need to put everything behind myself and press toward the goal for it.

And this morning God reminded me of this book Helen gave me as my baptism gift. This little book about pruning. I was suddenly reminded of what was said in the book. How we might experience when God prune us for the better, how painful it might feel, but how fruitful if we just be humble and follow and let go.

And it's just like that, a pure heart. A pure heart at the centre of our very spirit and soul, that once all the less important outer layers are removed thru pruning, then we are left with this pure heart, only filled with God and God alone.

And this article in the "Kingdom Revival Times (HK)" today is really like another alarm clock from God. This article is about the importance for us to be 'God's people' instead of doing 'God's work'. If we mix up the priority, things will go wrong and we'll just rely on our own strength instead of relying on God on everything.

It's nothing new, isn't it? Yes. But it's always the same trick that we fall for. So stupid. Thank God that He doesn't mind that and He still loves us in the same way, though we keep falling. But I must say, Holy Spirit has actually broght this same message to me a few times before. Yet I haven't done enough to right the wrong. The last time I had such feeling of not spending enough time with God, I then got an extra 2 hours with God before a meeting in McCann. But that's really not enough. Two hours is short and if it's just one-off it's not good enough.

Tomorrow is a start. I look forward to a day, dedicated to God, with fasting praying and bible reading. And I really wanna get the priority right in my life.