Have you ever considered that when you meet people you can catch little glimpses of their hearts? Perhaps their heart is surrounded by barbed wire, and love can’t seem to get in. Perhaps their heart is hiding in a dark corner because fear is screaming at it. Maybe their heart is weak and shriveled because it’s never had a safe place where it could blossom.

The heart is meant to be God’s garden, a life-giving, life-sustaining meeting between you and the Lover of your soul. And He is always looking for a way in. But so many times we lock the door, turn off the lights, and hide from the very One who could set us free. Or, because we’ve never experienced freedom, we don’t even know what freedom is.

I’ve come to realize that Jesus longs to give us the keys to people’s hearts. It is His burning desire to set the captives free. Just one whisper from Him can unlock the strongest prison.

Recently, Rick and I were ministering to a girl from Skopje, Macedonia. I felt the Lord tell me to have her rebuke the lie that men were created to leave her. She started to cry and said she couldn’t because her husband had left her. This opened a doorway into her heart for God to heal her of her pain. She was able to confess the truth that her Father would never leave her, and that men were purposed by God to protect and strengthen her.

Just the other night Jessie and I were praying with a Greek lady who was having trouble forgiving some people. I felt the Holy Spirit say to me, “she thinks it’s her fault her dad died.” We led her in forgiveness towards herself and she was able to let go of the lie that she had had an affect on her dad’s death.

The woman of Samaria was drawing water that wouldn’t fulfill her for very long. When Jesus came on the scene He brought the keys to her heart. What this woman was really longing for was an intimacy that would sustain. Her soul was thirsty but she had time and again believed that men were the source for quenching that thirst. Jesus not only exposed the lie, He told her that if she would just fall in love with Him she would have living water that wouldn’t run dry. He set her heart free to worship Him.

We think the bigger the hurt, the greater the offense, the more we have a right to be angry and to hold unforgiveness. When in reality we’re locking up part of heart, we’re shutting off a place inside where God is meant to dwell.

Forgiveness and truth are two powerful keys. They change the course of our lives. And in the nation of Greece where unforgiveness seems to be a real stronghold, God is disarming the forces of darkness. He is giving people their hearts back.

Amy French is a singer, song writer, worship leader, former Intern and long-term missionary who has begun a DPI Ministries Internship Program while living and serving in Thessaloniki, Greece.