Knowing Him Daily

22.February.2026

Yesterday we talked about making intimacy with the Father the number one priority, not out of duty, but because everything else flows from that place. If you haven’t read that one yet, I recommend you go back and start there. Today we’re going one step further, and this one might get a little uncomfortable.

Once you’ve made the decision to pursue Him first. The very next thing I would do if I knew what was coming, is ask the Holy Spirit one very specific and very honest question.

What’s in the way?

Not a general, surface-level “search my heart” prayer that we say out of habit. I mean a genuine, sit-down-and-mean-it invitation for Him to show you exactly what is hindering your relationship with Him. The things the Word specifically identifies as separating us from walking in the fullness of what He has for us. Unforgiveness. Bitterness. Strife. Offense. The things we’ve gotten so comfortable carrying that we’ve stopped noticing the weight.

“Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my anxieties; and see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” Psalm 139:23-24, NKJV

That’s not a casual prayer. That’s an open-door invitation, and when you pray it and mean it, He will answer you.

I’ll be honest with you, there have been seasons in my life where I was so deep in bitterness and unforgiveness that I didn’t even recognize it as that anymore. I had renamed it. Called it being realistic, or protecting myself, or just knowing how people are. I had dressed it up so well that it didn’t look like sin to me. It looked like wisdom. Thankfully, God, in His faithfulness, not because of being a spiritual authority but despite my complete blindness, kept nudging me until I was willing to let Him show me what it actually was.

If He can get through to me in that, He can get through to you.

The Word doesn’t leave any gray area on this. “Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.” Ephesians 4:31-32, NKJV

And then there is this one, the one that stops people quickly when they really let it sink in. “Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.” James 1:21, NKJV

Lay it aside. Do not simply manage it. Not understand it. Not wait until the other person apologizes or deserves it. Lay it aside, because it is blocking what the Word is trying to do in you.

Here is the reality. The clutter in our hearts is rarely dramatic. It doesn’t always look like a blowout fight or a broken relationship. Sometimes it’s the resentment toward someone who never knew they hurt you. Sometimes it’s the quiet pride that keeps you from saying you’re sorry first. Sometimes it’s the strife you’ve been feeding by rehearsing a conversation in your head for the hundredth time. Small things. Simple things. But boy do they take up space that belongs to Him.

“Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord: looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled.” Hebrews 12:14-15, NKJV

A root of bitterness doesn’t just affect you, but the people around you too. That’s worth sitting with for a moment.
So today, before you do anything else, ask Him. Not with dread, not with shame, but with the confidence of someone who knows that whatever He shows you, He already has the grace to heal it. He doesn’t expose what He isn’t willing to restore.

What’s in the way, Lord? Show me, and I’ll deal with it.

That’s all it takes. The door opens the moment you mean it.

https://youtu.be/C8Ys2fa7jZk?si=fAm3eKsWW9tz8mZP

Father ~

I don’t want anything between us. Not pride, not offense, not bitterness I’ve been naming something else. I’m asking You today to search me, the way only that You can, and show me what’s in the way. I trust that whatever You reveal, You will also heal. I choose to forgive. I choose to lay it down. Have Your way in me.

In Jesus’ Name,
Amen.

Make today count and see you tomorrow.