True fellowship with God must flow from the heart because He deals with the heart. That is why if satan wants to cut a man short, he uses his heart. For this reason, we ought to guard our hearts because we can never do business with God if our hearts are not right.

Proverbs 4:23 Keep and guard your heart with all vigilance and above all that you guard, for out of it flow the springs of life. (AMP)

Matthew 15:8 “These people draw near to Me with their mouth, And honor Me with their lips, But their heart is far from Me.

Our hearts are God’s place of fellowship, where He does business. We must not trade this place for pride or anything.

What have you allowed in your heart that is hindering your fellowship with Him? Nothing under the sun is as beautiful as fellowship with the Holy Spirit, but pride will rob you of its beauty.

The woman at the well told Jesus, “Our fathers worshipped on this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship.” John 4:20

Many of us live a life where our kind of worship can’t change our lives because we have allowed the enemy to enter our hearts and whatever he plants within us hinders the rivers of living water from flowing.

You must guard your heart with everything not to be contaminated because your life is in your heart. We are men and we err all the time but we must be quick to repent: that is the definition of contrition of spirit.

1 Peter 5:6 Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time,

Before we pray to God for exaltation, we must intentionally sustain a posture of humility. Sometimes God will bring people into our lives to make us realize we need change. But we cannot change ourselves, it is the Holy Spirit that does.

Take the example of King Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel 4 whom God gave a dream to help humble himself but he refused. Therefore, God humbled him by putting him off the throne and to prove that it was Him, He reserved His throne for all the seven years that no one took it.

The devil has used pride to disqualify us from what we ought to be. This is what took satan off the throne. However, God wants us to open up to Him such that He can help us because He is still in the business of transforming (moulding) and conforming men to the image of His dear son.

Luke 21:34 “But take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that Day come on you unexpectedly.

Once the things mentioned in the above scripture enter our hearts, we become dull and insensitive and may end up missing our seasons. That is what pride does.

The biggest problem is not satan but ‘self’, of which pride is the exaltation of self. In this kingdom, the way up is down which is humbling ourselves. If God humbled Himself and came down, then it is wisdom for each one of us to humble ourselves.

Psalms 84:10, 51:11
It is not possible to make such prayers when your heart is far from God. This is why God is calling us to a place of true and honest brokenness where we speak not only with our mouths but also with sincere hearts.

Further study
Isaiah 29:9-11,13

STAY BLESSED AND HIGHLY FAVORED, WE LOVE YOU.

PASTOR BEN OCHOLA.