The Heart of the Matter – I want to be Hooked by Karen

On March 3, 1988, I was invited to a friend’s church service in Maywood, IL to hear their guest speaker, Kim Clement.  I had never heard of him before receiving this invite, but over the years I have learned more and more about him and his ministry.

During the services, he prophesied to me and many others.  What he spoke to me concerned matters I was dealing with in my heart at that time–all of what he spoke came to pass in my life.  I don’t recall everything he said, but I remember him saying this:  “God says I am going to place a hook in your mouth……”.

Let’s fast forward to the present day.

The other day as I was on my way to work I began to think about fish.  As my thoughts continued, I envisioned this fish.  I then asked the Lord to clean, scrape, scale and gut out of me anything not pleasing to Him, as a fisherman would clean the unwanted insides of a fish.

I remember as a child growing up that my mom loved fish.  She drove to the grocery store and returned with her favorite food, fish. I watched closely as she rinsed, scaled and scraped, scraped and scraped and finally gutted those poor little fish.

That’s how I want God to handle me.  I want Him to remove all of my insides that do not represent a follower of Christ. I want Him to completely remove the uncomely parts:  gut out all the ways and thoughts that do not please Him.

Even as I write this, I am reminded fish are scraped, gutted, cleaned and prepared to ultimately serve as someone’s meal.  This is EXACTLY the position I want to be in:  ready to be served for others.

Now back to the “hook in the mouth” aspect of the story.  In order to capture fish, the fisherman starts out by placing bait on a fishing hook.  After the bait lures the fish to the hook and the fish bites the bait, then the hooked fish is immediately pulled from the water.

Oh yes, I want God to place His hook in my mouth, pull me from the depths of the murky waters of life, reel me into my destiny, which is His purpose for my life, and prepare me to be His servant.

Jesus called his disciples to become “fishers of men” (Mt.4:19).

My oldest son and his son loves to fish.  I can picture them putting bait on the hook at the end of their fishing poles knowing their hooks will soon be embedded deep inside of the fish’s mouths to prevent the fish from shaking loose and getting away.

I desire God to place His hook deep inside my mouth, so everyday I will bring my needs, joys, and hurts to my Loving Father.  I want to draw near to Him as He draws nearer to me, so I will not get away or shake loose from the Greatest Fisherman there ever was or ever will be.

NOW THAT’S THE HEART OF THE MATTER!!!