Let Your Heart Out

This page is an excerpt from Esther's Warriors Ministry blog.

Blessings as we progress together through February. I pray you are strengthening your trust in Him and what He has for you. Tuesday is Valentine's Day which is a day so commercially set aside to promote feeling of love for those special in our lives.

Setting aside time to appreciate those we love is certainly important. We are called to love another as we walk out our life on a daily basis. Yes, it is nice to have a special day to celebrate our relationships, just don't limit that celebration to February 14th!

Thank you for your continued faithfulness to pray for our Nation, each other, our service men and women, our youth, peace in Israel. It is by storming the gates of heaven that we will see God turn from heaven and heal our land. May He richly bless you and your family now and always.

And now, on with our story. Read it, think about it and let it go deep into your heart. For it is in the healing of our heart issues that we are truly made whole.

This week as I was reading the Bible I read the story of the woman who anointed Jesus' feet with oil. Mark 14:3 reads, "...a woman came having an alabaster flask of very costly oil of spikenard. And she broke the flask and poured it on His head." John 12:3 adds, "Then Mary...anointed the feet of Jesus...and the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil."

In those days the alabaster flask was part of the dowry reserved for the wedding night when the new bride would put the oil on the feet of her husband to symbolize love, submission and obedience. It was sacred and represented unfailing devotion. For Mary this was the supreme act of worship of her Lord.

She was anointing Jesus for His pending burial. She offered her most sacred oil in the alabaster container as a complete sacrifice. Those in the room were appalled that she would waste costly oil in such a way. The true cost of her devotion to the Lord was not only found in the monetary value of the precious oil but also in the judgment she incurred from the disciples.

The picture of these lilies from my yard reminded me of Mary and her offering. She was a flower in the full bloom of worship. Sitting amidst grass, rocks and mulch (others who saw only the monetary value of her gift) she bloomed none the less and the fragrance of the oil and her worship 'filled the house.' The fragrance of these three little lilies fills the yard each spring!

As I read this I could not help but wonder what do we hold tight in our alabaster flask? Are we willing to break that flask and give Jesus our precious oil of worship and obedience? Or are we like the disciples who think that the most precious gifts should be kept snug in their alabaster container?

Breaking that bottle and pouring out the costly oil was a most significant offering for Mary. The implications were profound. Take a look inside your alabaster bottle. Are you willing to release all or keep a portion tightly contained for yourself? He awaits your all. "For where your treasure is, there your heart [it is always a heart issue] will be also." (Luke 12:34)

Check your heart this week. Is it encased in alabaster? Break the bottle and offer Him your most fragrant heart gift of worship and devotion.

To me this picture contained the essence of the story. It is an alabaster heart that I have had for years. The Psalm is 91:11, "For He shall give His angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways", is engraved on the surface. It is stamped @WO-DI which is all I have to give credit to whomever designed this. If we break the alabaster container around our heart and give Him our all, He, the King of kings and Lord of lords as symbolized by the gold crown, will keep us in all our ways!