"Your heart has knees..."

Woodstock

I would like to tell you about Lou, a friend and brother in the Lord.  Lou was a "flower child" of the '60's.  He, of course, would never have missed Woodstock -- along with all his long-haired hippie freak friends.  And Lou loved to share.  What he always shared was the latest "turn on" he had discovered and enjoyed, no matter what it might be. But there was Something missing in Lou's life.  He didn't realize that it was a God-shaped Someone, and He had a Name.  His Name is our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

Well, one day some "Jesus freaks," as they were called during that era, came to Lou's art school.  They spoke of this beautiful, God-shaped Person.  And Lou was never the same.  Over the course of several weeks...maybe months, he came to saving faith in this One who died to set him free from all those "turn on's" he had sought after.  He came alive with the life of God in Christ by the Holy Spirit.

Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life. John 5:24 ESV

Lou was truly born again (John 3).  So what did Lou do?  He set out to share Jesus with everyone he knew...all those long haired hippie freaks as well as anyone else who would listen.

Over the years, Lou's sharing eventually took him to nursing homes where he would preach to the elderly residents.  He would share the Gospel and then challenge the "congregation" to receive Christ into their lives for forgiveness of sins.

One day, an elderly man in a wheelchair responded to Lou's preaching.  His desire was to worship the Lord and surrender to him by kneeling before Him.  The man was grieving his inability to do so.  That's when Lou, at the prompting of the Spirit of God, said,

"Your heart has knees.  Bow the knees of your heart before Him, brother!"

"Your heart has knees!"  What an arresting thought.  We have a tendency to live from the surface of life.  We forget (or don't even realize) that, as believers, we have spiritual "faculties" that enable us to commune with our indwelling God by faith.

Look at these spiritual senses and faculties, pictured by our earthly, human senses:

Seeing:

 And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.  2 Cor 3:18 ESV

...we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.  2 Cor 4:16 ESV

...fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.  Heb 12:2 NASB

We can see our glorious God with the eyes of our spirit by faith.  We can focus on Him, spending time just gazing at Him!

Hearing:

 My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.  John 10:27 NASB

Our spiritual ears can hear the voice of our Shepherd speaking to our hearts.

Tasting:

Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good!    Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him! Psalm 34:8 ESV

I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.   John 6:51 ESV

We can feast on the Lord through His word and through time savoring Him and His presence.

Smelling:

But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things?   2 Cor 2:14-16 ESV

We can sense the Lord in our brothers and sisters.  We can even sense Him within and enjoy the "fragrance" of His presence.

Touching:

 And Jesus, perceiving in himself that power had gone out from him, immediately turned about in the crowd and said, “Who touched my garments?”  Mark 5:30 ESV

Saul also went to his home at Gibeah, and with him went men of valor whose hearts God had touched. 1 Samuel 10:26 ESV

We can touch our Lord in prayer by reaching out to Him.  He touches us as He changes us, comforts us, loves us, empowers us.*

So instead of grieving your inabilities and handicaps, dear friend, why not ask the Holy Spirit to enlighten your mind (which is the mind of Christ, 1 Cor 2:16) and heart to the spiritual senses you have as a child of God.  Exercise your spirit to worship the Lord and to experience Him by faith!

But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him.  God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” John 4:23-24 ESV

*For a beautiful article by John Piper on the touch of God, click here.