Heart Matters

“For she said to herself, “If only I may touch His garment, I shall be made well.” Matthew 9:21

Recently I’ve been thinking about those who’ve had a face to face encounter with the living Lord Jesus when HE walked the earth as a Man (GOD-MAN) thousands of years ago. Those who saw Him in His flesh and were never the same.  They beheld His glory, they believed, and as a result their lives were changed forever.  Is it not the same for every single believer today? Were we not just going about our business, living our lives, struggling to cope, survive, or even thrive when the unexpected happened?  Were we not oblivious, blissfully living in the ignorance of the deception we accepted from the world, our flesh, and the devil? Did we not all have a deep void which we tried our best to either ignore or pacify by attempting to fill it with the  temporal and/or the shallow? Yes, I believe this is how it was for us up until the moment we first believed.  There we were doing life as normal, that is until like those all those many of years ago who cross paths with Yeshua, we too found ourselves face to face with our desperate need for the Savior.  He met us where we were, He allowed us to see who He was,  we believed and He saved us, and now we too can say we have never been the same since.

While it’s true that today we didn’t actually encounter the Lord in the flesh, we still were able to see Him in the supernatural way He brought us to Himself.  Through those who shared the Gospel with us, we heard Him speak. Through those who served us in His name, we felt His touch.  Through those we knew who lived their lives lifting Him up, we were drawn to Him.  Face to face with Jesus we were also faced with a choice-we (believers) chose to believe and we became altogether new.  Yes it was then when we first believed, at that moment of truth, that Jesus came into our lives and wrecked us like nobody’s business.  We became children of God, new creations, Christians!  It never ceases to amaze me when I hear how others came to faith in Christ.   No matter what corner of the world the person is from their salvation story always testifies to the convicting power of the Holy Spirit.  It always reminds me of the Scripture which says “The Lord is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to everlasting life.” 2nd Peter. 3:9 Yes it is the LORD who pursues us.  He sends others to tell us about His great love for us.  He allows circumstances so we can see our great need for Him.  He draws our hearts to Himself. Although He resurrected and ascended many years ago, He did not leave us alone.  HE sent His Holy Spirit.  Although the LORD is no longer walking in a specific location on the earth. The Holy Spirit is moving and working in the life of every single believer!

Continue reading Encounters With Christ-She Touched The Hem Of HIS Garment. →

Heart Matters

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not to your own understanding, in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.” Proverbs 3:5

I’m sure many of you are very familiar with this Scripture verse.  It’s a verse we turn to for comfort, to renew our minds when we face unforeseen circumstances or have to make difficult decisions.  Many of us have this passage memorized so we can recall it with the quickness when the opportunity calls for it.

I believe the meaning of this verse is plain and clear.  Proverbs chapter 3 speaks of the importance of having a heart for the things of God.  Things such as obedience, trust, mercy and humility. It’s about wisdom and understanding, knowledge and honor.  It’s a Proverb which beautifully conveys the blessings we receive when we walk closely with the Lord.   It’s about having a heart that desires God Himself and realizing when we do, everything else will fall into place.  In Proverbs 3 we can find both comfort and confidence.  We can know that if we walk rightly with God we don’t have to try to figure it all out. Instead, we’ll be able to trust Him even with the most challenging and confusing situations.  And once we get this, we can then let others know where we stand and what foundation we’re standing upon.  Once we get this, we can acknowledge that we’re trusting our God through our actions, the way we react or respond to adversity.  Yes once we get it and do this, we can know that He will direct our paths.

But what does it really mean to acknowledge Him in all our ways?  Does it mean we can only acknowledge Him when we respond to our life challenges in faith?  Has our understanding of acknowledging Him been relegated only to the realm of showing others how we are getting it right?  Or are we also able to acknowledge Him in our ways by allowing others to see our process, our journey, our struggle?  Hmmmm?  I’ve been thinking about this because I’m always fully aware of one of the biggest mistakes Christians make in their walk of faith (because it’s a mistake I’ve made and one I lived in for quite a number of years in my Christian walk).  It is the mistake of thinking we have to come across  in a certain specific way as we interact with others, both believers and non-believers.  For some reason many Christians believe the lie that once we become Christians we are no longer human.  When in all actuality, the Lord is okay with our humanity (He joined us in it and die for us because of it).  We fail to understand that although the Lord desires for us to be holy, He never wants us to live as hypocrites.  He’s okay with our process – how we sometimes take two steps forward and then one step back. He knows that at times we will get tripped up, stumble, and even fall and yet He’s always there willing and able to pick us up.  So why then do we feel we need to act and live as though we now have it all together?  Why can we feel as though we have to portray an image of perfection to others?  Why do we fall to the deception of self-righteousness and the travesty of hypocrisy.  Why?  I believe because it is a lie of the enemy.  Remember satan loves to try to pervert anything the Lord creates.  And so he want us to believe the real change we feel as new creatures in Christ is actually the result of a superior status.  He wants us to believe that since we now know the truth, we now also have it all figured out.  He wants us to live before others as though we’ve already fully arrived as opposed to letting them see our journey.  The devil wants us to do this because living in such a way hinders the Gospel from being communicated and reflected in and through our very lives. God is in the journey.  We haven’t already arrived but are being sanctified day by day. When we transparently share our weaknesses and willingly expose our struggles, it is then that the world is given the opportunity to see Christ being lifted up.  When we acknowledge HIM in all our ways it is then others can witness the presence and the power of Christ.  Jesus is okay with us being honest about where we are because it is only then that He can take us where He wants us to go.  He is The Truth, so it’s time to get moving!

Continue reading Acknowledge Him In All Your Ways! →