My maternal grandmother had a rain barrel at her door. The door we used when we went to visit. There was a gutter that reached almost to the barrel and when it rained, well that barrel filled up. I guess that helped keep water from running under the house, but she used the water.

In fact most families had rain barrels then. Water was too precious to draw out of the well just to water flowers or the garden. Sometimes even the livestock got that water at my other grandparents’ house.

As a little girl I marveled at just how quickly that barrel filled up in a storm…30 to 50 gallon barrels of water…precious life giving water.

I think our hearts are like that rain barrel. The hearts Abba God created to be filled with Him, His love, all things good are just not. After the Fall our hearts changed. Instead of “good”, this corrupted flesh allowed our hearts to fill with all manner of unrighteousness.

In my morning prayers there is a list of stuff we can ask Abba to bring into the light and be cleansed of. I’ve thought for the longest time that if we have a heart all filled up with this junk, there can be no room for Abba or anything true and righteous. Can’t you see a rain barrel full to the top with dirty, putrid water? How can that barrel hold anything good?

Let’s do my morning inventory…do we find:

Negative inner vows and strongholds?

Do they contradict God’s will and Word?

Falsehood?

Curses of self-rejection, self-hatred, and reactive hatred?

Bitterness towards others?

Unthankfulness?

Control, distrust, fear, bitterness, pride, rebellion?

Competitiveness, busyness, manipulation, inferiority?

Political correctness, lawlessness?

Mind control, self pity, rejection?

Grudge bearing, jealousy, anxiety, stress?

Confusion, greed, resentment, guilt, unforgiveness?

Defiance, ungodly character defects?

Controlling spirit, religious spirit, spirit of separation?

Relationships that dishonor God?

Soul ties that have power over our minds and emotions?

(This list is not original to me. Joy Lamb in her prayer guide,”The Sword of the Spirit” lists these for us to examine ourselves.)

This is not even a complete list of “junk” we may find in our hearts. So what did the rain barrel teach me?

If my heart has room in it for the things of God, it simply cannot be filled with all this “junk”. Like the rain barrel our hearts can fill quickly during a day with hurt, anger, bitterness…just as we simply try to negotiate the day. This is why scripture reminds us to “guard our hearts.”

This makes the daily inventory and confession so precious. We are guarding our hearts. Keeping God’s love and His Word in our hearts. So when someone asks or has a need our mouth can speak His goodness out of it. Our hearts, like the rain barrel are full…full of Him…the living water…