S185P1 – The work of the brethren: unveiling the heart

Pro. 20:5

The purposes of a person’s heart are deep waters, but one who has insight draws them out.

She was a quiet new addition to youth group.  She knew some of the other kids from school, but they were not necessarily friends.  Her family had always attended a more reserved congregation, and they did not normally announce or share their faith openly.  This group would challenge that idea of an exclusively personal faith, and one girl in particular seemed to work extra hard to be that challenge for her.  Their conversations started like normal, but before she knew it she was presented with questions that forced her to search for deeper answers.  It was through these deep chats that her faith truly solidified and grew because she was beginning to understand it for herself. 

We know that God has brought his children together for many reasons, and one of those reasons is to help one another in our spiritual growth.  I have experienced my brothers and sisters serve two critical roles in my walk.  The first role is that of interviewer, challenging me with questions that force me to explore and better understand what lies in my heart.  The second role is that of observer, wisely discerning things about myself that I do not know and sharing those things with me.  In both roles, my brothers and sisters have helped me through the Spirit gain necessary insight and revelation about my own spiritual condition.  Through them I have come to a better knowledge of myself. 

For each of us, there are two questions to ask right now.  We must ask whose hearts we are meant to help unveil and who is meant to help unveil ours.  This is group growth.  Although the Holy Spirit has all power and ability to reveal to a person every purpose in that person’s heart, He wants us to have a part in that work.  It helps draw us closer together because it is one more way we are connected and reliant on one another.  It provides a spiritual intimacy that God desires among his children, that of truly knowing one another from the inside out.  Father, give us the desire to seek out that which lies in the hearts of our brethren and to reveal that which lies in ours.