Reviewing the Heart Again

Once again the Lord is asking us to search our hearts and let Him change it.  The Body of Christ is at a most challenging moment and the enemy is pulling out all the stops in order to try & abort the movement of God's Church and His Kingdom. And our assignment as His Bride has intensified in warfare but we are encouraged by the Word of God (the sword) the battle is already won.  We cannot stop praying, we cannot stop fasting, we cannot stop loving and WE CAN NOT GIVE IN.  Saints we have to run the race, win the prize and declare that God's Kingdom Come, Thy Will BE Done.

Enjoy the Meditation verse below, and be blessed today!  YOU ARE MORE THAN A CONQUEROR THROUGH CHRIST OUR LORD.

Today's Verse

from the New Living Translation

"Then Jesus called to the crowd to come and hear. 'Listen,' he said, 'and try to understand. … For from the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, all sexual immorality, theft, lying, and slander.'"

Matthew 15:10, 19
view in context

encouragement for today

Sin originates in the heart and is manifested in our words and actions. Get your heart right, and right actions and words flow naturally. Trying to simply change or control what we do or say does not work. We will always express what's in our hearts. So if you want something in your life to change, look for the heart matter that is contributing to it. It could be anger; unforgiveness toward others; needing forgiveness from God or others; or believing lies about yourself, God, or life. Ask God to heal the heart issues, and the actions take care of themselves more often than not.
—Diane Eble, author of Abundant Gifts: A Daybook of Grace-Filled Devotions

It's time to Mature

While spending time with the Lord this morning I asked Him, "Lord teach me what it means to deny myself, pick up my cross and follow you."  I remembered Jesus speaking to Peter saying, if anyone comes AFTER me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and FOLLOW me! Matthew 16:24.  And as I keep communing with Him, he showed me that my plans, goals, dreams, and hopes are to be laid down, and in full faith and confidence in Him, I take those things that He desires.  His thoughts becoming my thoughts, His heart becoming my heart, His plans for the day becoming my plans.  Not that having my own plans is a bad thing, but it is the Lord who orders my steps and lay the path for me to take. 

The Holy Spirit revealed areas in me where I was still immature.  Not in the sense of being childlike in my actions but in the way I thought.  He revealed to me that I am full of knowledge, and Word and Wisdom but instead of empyting myself fully into the lives of others, I hold onto it taking on the nature of a child asking "show me more, teach me more," but what I have done with what He has already shown me or taught me?  Why was I bold to speak to some people but not everyone about the goodness of the Lord?  Why did I feel as if I was unskilled in the Lord?  But He taught me, gave me His mind and His Word, yet I still felt that I needed to be taught instead of being the one to teach.  Hebrews 5:12-14 talks about being spiritually immature only being able to digest milk. ¹² For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food. ¹³ For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. ¹⁴ But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.

So the Lord encouraged my heart today - by letting me know that He has taught me, He has equipped me, I have His mind and now I have His mission.  Become skillful in Me, teach the people what the "I the Lord" says, teach them who "I" am. This is maturity!!!  Once that has been poured out, then the Father will fill me again with more of Him to learn and grow in and then teach to the nations.  And the nations can represent anyone, it can truly be the nations, or your community, your state, your neighborhood, your family members, your co-workers. 

What was received from this moment, it is "time to mature."  "It is time to be skillful in the things of the Lord."  After all Saints, the earth waits in great expectation for the manifestations of the Sons and Daughters of God.  Let's not keep her waiting, Let's Mature together!!!  :-)

Love Wisdom

"Wisdom has built her house;
  she has carved its seven columns.
She has prepared a great banquet,
  mixed the wines, and set the table.
She has sent her servants to invite everyone to come.
  She calls out from the heights overlooking the city.
'Come in with me,' she urges the simple.
  To those who lack good judgment, she says,
'Come, eat my food,
  and drink the wine I have mixed.
Leave your simple ways behind, and begin to live;
  learn to use good judgment."

Proverbs 9:1–6

I love the way wisdom woes us to come and eat with her.  There are so many issues and circumstances in life where we can honestly say, "we did not use wisdom." And if we had, we could have avoided a many mistakes.  Well, be of good cheer, the Lord does not condemn us.  If we made mistakes, let's confess them before the Father, then seek after Wisdom.  She will see to it that we do not lack good judgment and as the scriptures tell us she has even set the table in preparation of us spending some time with her.  So let's do so!!!  Let's eat at Wisdom's table, she has gone through great preparation for us.  This truly is the beginning of life!!!

My head will not refuse it…

By Sidharth Mohandas on September 28, 2007

Courtesy to jupiterimages.com

By Sidharth Mohandas

Some time back, a friend, Robert and I were having some discussions from the Bible. While we were talking, Robert corrected me about something I said. My initial response was to justify myself and to resist what he said. But then even as we were discussing this verse came to both of us:

Let a righteous man strike me—it is a kindness; let him rebuke me—it is oil on my head. My head will not refuse it. [Psalm 141:5]

I realized that as Robert was correcting me he was anointing my head with oil. But to many of us, being corrected – especially by someone younger than us – is like a defeat. We tend to be “perfectionists” not wanting our faults or sins to be exposed. Many of us get offended when someone points to our faults. We don’t want to accept the fact that we can be on the wrong. And in the process we get into this self-righteous tone, justifying our acts with Scripture.

I recently heard a friend share with me something… her husband was throwing a fit and he justified his bad temper by saying, “Even Jesus got angry and he lambasted the people who were selling things in the temple”. Isn’t that amazing how we can use Scripture to justify our misconducts?

My friends, yielding to discipline and correction are means by which God can impart more of His Spirit to us. Will your head refuse it?

Now, let’s be sensible…don’t we want more of God’s anointing upon our lives? Then let’s be wise and accept correction. It doesn’t matter through whom correction comes… May be it’s through your sibling, or your child, or it could also be through your pastor. Which ever way it is, yield to it.

A fool rejects his father’s discipline, But he who regards reproof is sensible. [Proverbs 15:5]

Book Recommendations

Hello everyone,

These books might be old but I think they are very helpful when dealing with relationships and the heart.  I have read them and I must say they are full of good information.  Let me know if you have read them already and would like to make a comment about its content or if you would just like to discuss what the books are about.

Enjoy,
Nicky


Life Without Strife (How God Can Heal and Restore Troubled Relationships) by Joyce Meyer












Matters of the Heart (Stop Trying to fix the old - Let God give you something new) by Prophetess Juanita Bynum, Ph.D.

                            

What does the Father see in your heart??

Proverbs 21:1-2
The king's hearts is in the hand of the Lord, like the rivers of water; He turns it wherever He wishes. Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, But the Lord weighs the hearts.


The heart, the motives behind what we do,what we say and even what we believe. The heart reveals what you have been meditating on, listening to and even what you believe in.  You will always be able to trace someone's motives in life by what's happening on the heart surface.  David knew this and that is why he asked the Lord on a regular basis to "create in him a clean heart and a right spirit." Psalms 51:10.  We live in an age where ungodly images are coming at us from every angle and the fight to remain grounded in the Lord has intensified, so the necessity to "GUARD" our heart (motives) is a must. 

Train your heart in the things of God!!!  Give it spiritual exercise by reading and studying the Word of the Lord.  Purpose to remove sin, bad habits, and laziness out of your heart.  You know we hate exercising at times but we KNOW that it does the body good.  The same concept applies with spiritually exercising your heart (motives).  You have to continue in building up the heart (motives) until it becomes a habit.  Remember the Lord sees into the heart behind everything you do.  He can tell whether or not you meant to do it, whether or not you meant to say it and whether or not you wanted to believe it.

  A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks. Luke 6:45

So let's exercise our hearts (motives) today, saints.  After all, He is our Father and we should want to make our Daddy happy right?  And no condemnation, if we didn't do it before we can always start RIGHT NOW.  That's what's awesome about our Heavenly Father, he is willing and ready to forgive.  Jesus paid the cost so that forgiveness would be readily available and that we could have access to it. 

Let the Father see goodness and righteousness in your heart!!! 

Until the next time, may the Lord favor you with his goodness and mercy.

Don't forsake the new babes in Christ!!!

Being a christian really is the best thing that has ever happened to me!  Yes, the birth of my children and the milestone of being married over 20 years is wonderful.  But the moment I made the decision to choose Jesus as my "Lord and Savior," there is no feeling on Earth that could compare to that.

My only regrets would be not being discipled by those who were mature christians.  I learned how to be "churchy" but I did not learn how to live holy.  Sure I was always told what I could not do in Christ, but it wasn't until I went on my own spiritual journey with Him that I learned that there is much I can do in Him. 

I think at times we forget that new babes in Christ must be nurtured before they can go out there on their own.  Yes, they have so much excited and joy when first coming to the Lord, but we must remember that they are newborns in Christ and they need to be taught the fundamentals and basic principles of Discipleship! They will need to be bottle fed first, then they will grow to solid food. What it really means to live this life, what you will have to die to, sacrifice, grow in, endure and wait on. 

These are the moments where we are losing so many.  Most times we expect them to be spiritually where we mature Christians are and we are disappointed when they do not meet our expectations (measure).  Here is where we must show compassion, patience and forbearance.  Some of them will still be dirty when they come to the Lord, some will still be broken, some will still curse, some will still lie.  In most will be instant deliverance and there will be times where the deliverance will be a process. However, we are to remember (2 Corinthians 5:17 -- Therefore, if any one is in Christ's, he is a new creation, old things have passed away, behold all things have become new.)

That's where we come in, to go through the process with them.  To not give up on them, to teach them how to walk, how to eat God's Word, to stand on their own in Faith.  The Lord is doing a new thing in their lives, but we cannot rush the process.  (Philippians 1:6 -- being confident of this very things, that He that has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.)  The Lord Jesus will complete the work in every believer (especially those new to the Lord) and our position is to work RIGHT ALONG side Him.