The below verses have been one of my favorites if you have not noticed them in
my other posts. I refer to them often because they beautifully describe how we
are to walk out the Gospel of Christ in our lives.

But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have
fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from
all sin.

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us
our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1: 7 & 9

The process involves:

• Walking in the light

• Acknowledging sin

• Confessing sin

• Receiving washing (healing) of our sin

So as we walk this out, we also call this
sanctification. We set apart (sanctify) areas in our lives that we bring into
the light to receive the Lord’s cleansing. We essentially are apprehending more
land of the Promised Land.

In a previous post, Giants Yet to
be Slayed, I explained how like in the day when Israel was given the
Promise Land it didn’t become theirs until they apprehended it. As well as I
explained how past hurts and traumatic events can be forms of giants we must
extinguish.

Recently, the Lord gave me a picture of things we all have in us because we
have not properly received the Lord’s washing by His Blood.  It was of a
festering splinter that had become ingrown. 

When we get a splinter it is not an unknown event, but quite painful.
 Everything to do with a splinter is unpleasant; the instant it is lodged,
when we dig it out, or when we leave it.  I asked Him to show me splinters
in me and He brought to my mind one by one, four instances. My immediate
reaction was to tell the Lord, ‘But I did put them under the blood.’
To which He corrected me by reminding me I sought Him for comfort but I did not
seek Him for healing.  When the Lord revealed to me the four instances, in
each one, I felt such a deep gut pain by them.  I thought I had dealt with
them and even forgave them before the Lord.   But He let me see what
was left in me by them, in the hurt I had unknowingly held inside of me. 
I was amazed at this realizing the implications of what this means!  

The proverb: Above all else, guard your heart,
    for everything you do flows from it. Prov 4:23,
explains how important it is to watch over our hearts.  We are our gatekeepers
and only we know what hurts us, or when we have been traumatized.  How
many things do we just take in stride, and do not even look at it as something
that we need to seek healing for? 

It was interesting when I searched for pictures of slivers a whole slew of
pictures came up that was quite astounding to me. 

It turns out there is a card game out there that in my opinion is demonic
but truly does illustrate the ugly truth of spiritual splinters. 

I hope that we begin to see how
we underutilize what the Lord has already given us because of not even
acknowledging our needs. Furthermore, how we must be purposeful in looking for
where we have incurred spiritual splinters. It is not that we need more of the
Lord but that we need to give more of us to Him. May the Lord open our eyes!

 who
Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to
sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed. 1 Peter
2:24