God Fill Me: 7 Best Ways to Live Fulfilled
Inside: I’m a hoarder. I try to fill myself up with things because I foolishly believe they will make me happy. God, please help me be filled with you!
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I’m a packrat. There, I said it. Isn’t admittance the first step to recovery?
We have a two-car garage, but only one car can fit in there. Our garage is full of clutter. Every year, we clean it out but junk seems to congregate on the south wall. Most of it just appears out of nowhere, are you missing something?
Usually, it doesn’t matter that my husband’s truck sits outside, but in the winter scraping ice and snow off the windshield isn’t much fun. I mean who likes to stand outside in the freezing cold scraping thick ice off glass anyway?
What I Think I Need
My heart is a lot like my garage. I guess you could say I’m a hoarder. I try to fill myself up with things, feelings, and success because I foolishly believe it will make me happy. When I’m sad my heart craves chocolate, so indulge in a whole candy bar. I desire worth so I strive to be successful in life. To cover my pain from the past, I fill myself with worry.
How about you? What are you filling your heart with instead of dealing with the real issue?
If you’ve ever watched the show on T.V. called “Hoarders,” you’ll realize the show isn’t just about messy, unorganized people. The majority of the people on the show stock-piling possessions are trying to cover a gaping hole in their hearts.
The problem is none of the earthly things will ever be able to fill up this heart-hole.
We can try and fill it, and it might keep us satisfied for a little while. Eventually, though, we will need to find something else.
Stuffing Our Heart Hole with Imposters
Eve experienced this in the Garden when Satan tempted her to fill herself with something other than God. The fruit looked shiny and oh so tasty. The thought of being filled was too hard to let pass so Eve was lured in.
It was a booby trap though. The lure for instant gratification resulted in a life-long desire for God.
So how many times can I fall for imposters? I stuff and learn from my mistake only to then proceed to re-stuff with another worthless thing.
We need God, we can try to cover it up but our basic human longing is for Him. Not just a teeny bit of Him either, but the entire entity of Him. Our heart wants to be plump full to the brim of our Heavenly Father.
Ever since that time, we’ve all been hoarding and stuffing more and more things. Addictions and problems with sex are on the rise, aren’t we just trying to fill our hearts?
The things we grasp will never satisfy or plug that hole full forever. All of it will leak out and we will need to hunt for something else.
All we really need is God and His ability to fill us completely.
Fill me up, I need God!
[clickToTweet tweet=”Isn’t it time we de-cluttered? Clean out what we think we need and instead grasp onto the One we truly need?” quote=”Isn’t it time we de-cluttered? Clean out what we think we need and instead grasp onto the One we truly need?”]
7 Ways to Let God Help us:
- Lean on God and His provisions for us.
- Ask God to show us His love so we can be filled completely by Him.
- Realize God has anointed and chosen us.
- Grasp hold of God’s knowledge.
- Come to God for hunger and thirst.
- Remember there is no condemnation from God.
- God loves us unconditionally even with mistakes and messes in the past.
God, Please Help Me!
I spent some time last weekend cleaning out the clutter from the garage. As I removed and tossed items, the space began to look different. I felt better as I removed and rearranged the junk that was accumulating for so long.
As I look at de-cluttering my heart, I realize it’s going to take hard work. Unlike my garage, it won’t happen all at once.
It’s going to be an ongoing process of removing and changing.
As I change with God’s help, I will start to look and act differently.
This transformation will be evident to those around me.
When I grow more in faith, I won’t be as likely to fall for the shiny traps that Satan likes to dangle in front of me. I can see an imposter right away and instead fill my longing with more of God.
God- let me desire only you! Please make my heart beat for you alone. Amen!
Jesus replied, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry again. Whoever believes in me will never be thirsty (John 6:35, NLT).
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Decluttering is hard work but feels so wonderful. I cannot hold onto stuff in my life as I so dislike the feeling of being closed in. This has been a blessing as it not only is with personal belongings but carried over into storing junk in my heart. I can only store it for a short time. Wonderful and wise post, Julie. Blessings!
Joanne- Yes, it does feel wonderful! Thank you for sharing your wisdom!
Love this Julie. I have been feeling the tug lately. The tug that calls for major discernment. I want to do what’s right, not fill up on the world and its promises. Thanks for sharing friend.
Meg- thank you! I need discernment too. I know God will give it to you!
I love your encouragement to fill our gaping holes with God alone. It’s crazy. I teach on this topic and even wrote a Bible study on it, but I still struggle to allow God alone to fill and satisfy me. The struggle is real, girl! Thanks for the reminder to declutter our lives from all the things we tend to run to instead of God. Two scriptures have really helped me with this lately. Isaiah 44:20 says, “He feeds on ashes, a deluded heart misleads him; he cannot save himself, or say, ‘Is not this thing in my right hand a lie?” This scripture reminds me how hard it can be to identify our own idols. I pray daily for God to expose any idols that are forming so that I can see them for what they are. Then Psalm 16:8-9 reminds me to keep God at my right hand (my go-to space) rather than any idol: “I know the Lord is always with me. Because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad and I rejoice. My flesh also will dwell securely.” Just wanted to share those two scriptures because they help me do the daily “housekeeping” that keeps me free of idols and feasting on the sufficiency of God. Blessings! Enjoyed reading your post today!!
Kay- nice to meet you! Thank you for sharing your wisdom and those Scripture verses! You encouraged me:)
Wonderful post, Julie! I, too, find it fascinating how God made us with a hole that only He can fill. And I love how you said, “Not just a teeny bit of Him either, but the entire entity of Him. Our heart wants to be plump full to the brim of our Heavenly Father.” I just wanted to say Amen! Fill me up, Lord!
Alyson- Yes, fill us up to the brim!
What a beautiful analogy! It’s soo easy to let clutter gather (for me, it’s usually the guest room :/ ), both in our hearts and in the little used spaces of our lives–which makes me wonder, maybe when I hearts get cluttered, it’s because we don’t use them enough!
Anita- yep, I have a spare room where everything goes 🙂 Clutter is easy to accumulate and it’s hard to get rid of 🙂
Oh, yes, Julie. We run and grab whatever looks good and hope the possession of it will satisfy. I guess we are all like Eve. I know I get to that place and it can be a near daily struggle (maybe that’s why God has cemented this Daily Time thing in my heart and message? Because I need it the most?). Thank God that He does fill the need in us. When we come to our senses, He’s there waiting. Have a great week, friend!
Kelly- So glad you’re sharing what God puts on your heart! 🙂
Julie, I truly love this list! You could do an entire series on decluttering the heart. Thanks for being a constant source of encouragement friend.
Crystal- thank you! Maybe I’ll look into it 🙂
At first, I was reading your post and refusing to admit I hoard possessions. Of course, then I remembered I had filled a bag full of stuff to give away last night, and I already took one pair of shoes out and was considering taking another pair out. (I really did need the one pair to wear to the lake with the dog but not two pairs. Yes, I do struggle with the worth part and trying to fill myself up with accomplishments. Thank you for your post, you have given me something to consider while I take some time to unplug for a week.
Maree- I do that too, so when I pack stuff up I get rid of it asap. Between myself and my kids, we’d add it back into the house. My hubby always wonders why I’m in such a hurry to go take it to Goodwill;)
Have a great time unplugging!
I too have a south wall of my garage! I too have a need to fill my God-sized-hole with only God. Thanks for the reminder!
#InspireMeMonday
I love this, Julie! It’s actually reconfirming something God brought me to earlier this week. So thank you for sharing it. Really. I needed this.
Heather- thank you! I hope it was helpful!
Yes, that is exactly what I am also doing, the Holy Spirit has revealed some things to me that I must get rid of. I have been praying so that after throwing them off I would not return to them anymore.
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart.These, O God, You will not despise. Ps.51:17.
Sarah- I hope God enables you to throw off and replace with more of Him!
What a great application for the concept of clutter! I try to fill my needs with relaxing at home – whether it’s reading or watching TV or something like that. Which isn’t necessarily bad, but my go-to should be filling myself with God first.
Emily- I don’t think those things are wrong in and of themselves unless you’re doing them to avoid larger heart issues!
Julie this is such an awesome post! I love #2 Ask God to show us His love so we can be filled completely by Him. Because nothing else will do. It’s not supposed to. I want this to be my daily reminder!
Melissa- I want to be completely filled of Him so everything I say and do is a representation of Him. Yes, I need this daily reminder also!
Whenever I feel shaky and overwhelmed. I take a step back. I can be so hard on myself. But when I feel pressured, I slow down and invite Him back into my day. He is never in a hurry and somehow I get more done when He is helping me.
Alice- I think what you’re doing is key. He needs to be part of every minute of our day!
Julie,
Thank You for being so transparent! My heart’s desire is to always fill the hole with God, but some days are better than others. I’ve been studying about surrendering since my heart attack and God showed me that surrendering isn’t about waving the white flag in defeat after we have exhausted all our human avenues but claiming victory knowing we need Jesus to walk with us every day every step of the way. I’m allowing Jesus to purge my heart, while I purge this house from unnecessary stuff that I don’t need.
Sheila- I understand that some days are better than others:) Thank you for sharing your thoughts!
God is all that fills us up. When we try to let other things fill that spot our lives will be a complete mess!
Kristi- we can’t fill a God hole with anything else!
I love your first point. Lean on God’s provision for us. We often times forget that God is all knowing. He knew the need before we even knew it existed. Because of this, He has already prepared the provision. That’s so incredibly comforting and freeing to remember. He has gone before me. He has been behind me. And, He is right here with me. <3 Thank you for sharing Julie!
I can’t get God to fill me either. Help
Rebyor- ask Him to fill you with Him!
Such a blessing to read this. May the Lord bless you. Just a gentle addition to say that, sometimes all we need is to be patient. Let us remember the man in the bible, who was paralysed for 38 years. Each year he would lay beside the pool of Bethseda waiting for the angel of the Lord to touch the water but everybody got in before him and received their healing. I can imagine how saddened and frustrated he felt, knowing everybody came and received their healing. However, one day, little did he know that his life would be changed, in that, Jesus came to him and he was healed. I say this to say that, this man was so determined mentally, to the point that, although he couldn’t physically enter the pool, he STILL WAITED ON GOD, hoping that one day, his change would come and that’s what moved Jesus to go to him……sometimes the Lord is teaching us how to be PATIENT. I’ve seen folks come to church, get baptised today and being filled tomorrow….and I’ve seen folks waiting for 18 years and more for the holy ghost but the key words I’ll leave with you, is PATIENCE….OBEDIENCE….FAITH…… and God WILL pour out his spirit. One thing I can tell you though, after you are filled with the holy spirit, you will KNOW what it was that was hindering you from being filled….it could be unforgiveness. Maybe you havent forgiven someone. Maybe you has doubt, maybe it was fear. It could possibly be holding on to the world, as in, material possessions. You maybe holding on to something in your heart. Whatsoever it is, I encourage you to LET GO and LET GOD have HIS WAY……and have your bucket turned up, ready and waiting to receive your blessing. Much love to you all in Jesus name❤️🙏🏾
Thank you, Natasha, for your encouragement and words!