Failure to Yield

I got a ticket on my way home from a doctor's appointment today. Written on it were the words, "Failure to Yield." Ironically, it was a police car that I had failed to yield to.  Epic fail... I know.  Even worse was the reason I had failed to yield, I was holding my cell phone to my ear while merging.  After politely accepting the ticket, I drove off, thankful that he hadn't seen me on my cell phone. I kept hearing three words repeating themselves over and over in my head... "failure to yield, failure to yield, failure to yield..." I could tell that the Holy Spirit was leading me to look into this a little deeper when I got home.

Upon arriving home, the first thing I did was look up the definition of the word yield. The first two definitions had to do with farming crops. Then I came across definition #3...

yield: to give up, as to superior power or authority.

The next step for me was to see what God's word has to say about the word "yield."  Like the dictionary, the bible had many references to farming crops that "yield" a harvest. Then I came across Joshua Chapter 24.  Joshua had just rebuked the Israelites for their waywardness from God. They responded by telling him, "We will serve the Lord."

"Now then," said Joshua, "throw away the foreign gods that are among you and yield your hearts to the LORD, the God of Israel." -Joshua 24:23

How can we yield our hearts to God?  Going back to the definition, we should "give up" our hearts to the LORD (who just so happens to be the ultimate superior power and authority.) This can only take place when we are willing to throw away the foreign gods that are among us. Now you may say, "I have no foreign gods."  Just because you do not pray to a statue or a gold figurine does not mean you have no foreign god.  A foreign god is anything other than God whom you worship. It is the "what" or "who" to which you currently yield your heart. What or who do you live for? What or who is your everything? Is it God? If not, it is your idol.

God is the only one who is able to see what is inside of our hearts. He recognizes the difference between a heart that is after him and a heart that worships idols. 

Here are some examples of idols I have lived for in the past that I have had to yield to God:

*boyfriends (relationships before I met my husband.)
*having the perfect body (resulting in bulimia and self obsession)
*material possessions (cars, cosmetics, clothes, neighborhoods, etc.)
*status (I thought I needed certain criteria checked off of a list in order to be happy in life.)

Each of these things, at one point or another, were what I woke up for every morning instead of Jesus. They had completely consumed my thought process. My heart was not the Lord's, but it belonged to other people and/or things. With my mouth I said, "I love you Lord," but my heart told him the truth.  My life yielded no spiritual fruit, only the fruit of living for idols.

I will humbly accept the ticket that I got from the police officer today stating, "Failure to Yield." But I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I heard that same sentence being spoken out of the mouth of my heavenly Father.

"I am the Lord; that is my name! I will not yield my glory to another or my praise to idols." -Isaiah 42:8

Father in heaven,
You alone are worthy of our adoration and praise. Please reveal to us any idols we may have in our lives that we need to throw away so we can genuinely and completely yield our hearts to you. Give us the strength to do it.
In Jesus' name we pray, Amen.

Spiritual Starvation

<sup>Do you ever feel distant from God?  In a way it is like you are spiritually starving, but stuffed full of this world. We neglect the importance of time alone with God's word, prayer, adoration of our Heavenly Father, worship and fellowship with believers. We don't even realize what has happened until we notice that we are not acting like Christ and our attitude is far from that of Jesus.

Jesus compared God's word with physical nourishment.

Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” -Matthew 4:4

When we picture it that way, it becomes easier to understand what happens to our spiritual self when we neglect it of nourishment. For example: How many times a day to you need to eat in order for your body to function properly? Often right? At the very least, you need physical nourishment daily in order to survive. If you begin to starve your body, you will notice it withering away. Your health will deteriorate. You will become weak, unable to handle the stress that everyday life puts on your muscles.

A perfect picture of our spiritual dependency on God is described in Exodus Chapter 16 where we learn about the way that God chose to provide for the physical needs of the Israelites. (If you scroll all the way down, this entire chapter is pasted for you to read underneath this blog.)

This story speaks so powerfully to me as I hope it does you also. Notice how God rained down food from heaven every morning and every evening, but he had one important rule. Only gather enough for today.

Why?

Why do you think he didn't send down a type of food that was easy to preserve so that the Israelites could store it up and eat it for a month at a time? I mean, this must have been a lot of work, going out and gathering it every morning and evening right?

With all of my heart I believe that he wanted them to learn how to depend on him daily.

I can tell you from my own experience that when I don't make time for God's word, prayer & worship music each day, it shows up in my attitude. It is obvious to my family if I am not spiritually full. The great thing about God is that he is always available. As soon as we make the choice to come before his presence, he is already there waiting for us to arrive. He already has a special word for us that will boost our spirit for the day.

Don't let your spirit starve. God has so much to give us each day that will help us face the situations that life brings. The King of the universe desires for us to depend on him consistently. He wants to nourish us often.

How could we turn down such a generous offer from such a loving God?</sup>

Exodus 16

Manna and Quail

16 The whole Israelite community set out from Elim and came to the Desert of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had come out of Egypt. ² In the desert the whole community grumbled against Moses and Aaron. ³ The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died by the Lord’s hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death.”

⁴ Then the Lord said to Moses, “I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day. In this way I will test them and see whether they will follow my instructions. ⁵ On the sixth day they are to prepare what they bring in, and that is to be twice as much as they gather on the other days.”
⁶ So Moses and Aaron said to all the Israelites, “In the evening you will know that it was the Lord who brought you out of Egypt, ⁷ and in the morning you will see the glory of the Lord, because he has heard your grumbling against him. Who are we, that you should grumble against us?” ⁸ Moses also said, “You will know that it was the Lord when he gives you meat to eat in the evening and all the bread you want in the morning, because he has heard your grumbling against him. Who are we? You are not grumbling against us, but against the Lord.”
⁹ Then Moses told Aaron, “Say to the entire Israelite community, ‘Come before the Lord, for he has heard your grumbling.’”
¹⁰ While Aaron was speaking to the whole Israelite community, they looked toward the desert, and there was the glory of the Lord appearing in the cloud.
¹¹ The Lord said to Moses, ¹² “I have heard the grumbling of the Israelites. Tell them, ‘At twilight you will eat meat, and in the morning you will be filled with bread. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God.’”
¹³ That evening quail came and covered the camp, and in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp. ¹⁴ When the dew was gone, thin flakes like frost on the ground appeared on the desert floor. ¹⁵ When the Israelites saw it, they said to each other, “What is it?” For they did not know what it was.
Moses said to them, “It is the bread the Lord has given you to eat. ¹⁶ This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Everyone is to gather as much as they need. Take an omer for each person you have in your tent.’”
¹⁷ The Israelites did as they were told; some gathered much, some little. ¹⁸ And when they measured it by the omer, the one who gathered much did not have too much, and the one who gathered little did not have too little. Everyone had gathered just as much as they needed.
¹⁹ Then Moses said to them, “No one is to keep any of it until morning.”
²⁰ However, some of them paid no attention to Moses; they kept part of it until morning, but it was full of maggots and began to smell. So Moses was angry with them.
²¹ Each morning everyone gathered as much as they needed, and when the sun grew hot, it melted away. ²² On the sixth day, they gathered twice as much—two omers for each person—and the leaders of the community came and reported this to Moses. ²³ He said to them, “This is what the Lord commanded: ‘Tomorrow is to be a day of sabbath rest, a holy sabbath to the Lord. So bake what you want to bake and boil what you want to boil. Save whatever is left and keep it until morning.’”
²⁴ So they saved it until morning, as Moses commanded, and it did not stink or get maggots in it. ²⁵ “Eat it today,” Moses said, “because today is a sabbath to the Lord. You will not find any of it on the ground today. ²⁶ Six days you are to gather it, but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, there will not be any.”
²⁷ Nevertheless, some of the people went out on the seventh day to gather it, but they found none. ²⁸ Then the Lord said to Moses, “How long will you refuse to keep my commands and my instructions? ²⁹ Bear in mind that the Lord has given you the Sabbath; that is why on the sixth day he gives you bread for two days. Everyone is to stay where they are on the seventh day; no one is to go out.” ³⁰ So the people rested on the seventh day.
³¹ The people of Israel called the bread manna. It was white like coriander seed and tasted like wafers made with honey. ³² Moses said, “This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Take an omer of manna and keep it for the generations to come, so they can see the bread I gave you to eat in the wilderness when I brought you out of Egypt.’”
³³ So Moses said to Aaron, “Take a jar and put an omer of manna in it. Then place it before the Lord to be kept for the generations to come.”
³⁴ As the Lord commanded Moses, Aaron put the manna with the tablets of the covenant law, so that it might be preserved. ³⁵ The Israelites ate manna forty years, until they came to a land that was settled; they ate manna until they reached the border of Canaan.
³⁶ (An omer is one-tenth of an ephah.)

 


  

Sticks and Stones, Rubber and Glue...

"Sticks and Stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me."

"I am rubber, you are glue, what ever you say bounces off of me and sticks to you."

These are some of the biggest lies we learn as children.  The truth is, broken bones heal over time, but words can harm a person for life. On the other hand, the use of positive words can change the course of a life in a positive direction forever.  I don't believe that everyone who hurts people with their words intends to. In fact, I believe that many of us Christians, who intend to display God's love, end up using hurtful words in the heat of a moment in which we act purely in the flesh and we briefly forget about God.

Sadly the most common place where this happens is in our own homes.

I am 3 months pregnant and my hormones are going crazy. I have noticed that especially in this last month, I snap VERY easily. I hear myself lashing out at someone and in the back of my mind I am thinking, "Lindsay, what are you doing?????" The other part of me responds, "I am letting them know the truth, they need to hear it!!!" Then I get it all out, yet, strangely, I don't feel better. I now feel guilty, almost like I am grieving over what I have just done. I feel ashamed of myself as a Christian. I feel embarrassed because God just witnessed my little hissy fit. 

Just to be clear, I don't call names. I strongly disagree with words like, "stupid," "dumb" or anything that could cause a person to believe negative lies about themselves. What I am talking about is the fact that I respond to conflict with a lack of love. I lack patience in my response. I respond with the blunt truth without allowing God to help me filter it through the filter of love.  Some of you may think that I am making too big of a deal out of nothing. You may think being blunt is a good thing and that people need "tough love."

Question:

In the heat of the moment, WHY am I about to lash out?

Common Answer:

 "I was just treated unfairly, now I need to defend myself. This person may go on in life, unaware of the fact that they just offended me, so I better let them know!"

What we are forgetting in the heat of the moment:  

^"Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise,  making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil." -Ephesians 5:15-16

How can we choose to make the most out of this moment? When we lash out, are we making the most out of that opportunity? Or could there possibly be a better way to handle the situation which will bring more glory to Christ and more humility to ourselves?

"Look to the Lord and his strength; seek his face always." -Psalm 105:4

Always? Even right when we want to go off on someone? Yes, "always" means "always."

What happens if we choose to look to God instead of going with what we feel in the heat of the moment?

"Those who look to him are radiant. Their faces are never covered with shame." -Psalm 34:5

No shame afterwards. No regret. We are left with the peace that comes from knowing we did not cause another person harm.

What else does God warn us about, when it comes to our words?

"Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you."
-Ephesians 4:29-32

What should motivate us to obey this teaching? This one will cut to the heart....

^"When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly." 1 Peter 2:23

Our Lord and Savior was offended more unjustly than any offense we will endure in our lifetime. He did not retaliate, but instead, he trusted himself to him who judges justly. Can we model that? Can we remind ourselves in the heat of the moment that Christ chose NOT to retaliate, because he trusted his heavenly Father? We who are in Christ have the same Father.  He is just as trustworthy to us as he was to Jesus Christ when he walked the earth.

When we feel that we have been "put down" we retaliate in an effort to "elevate" ourselves. We want to even the score against our accuser. This is the opposite of what we are taught in scripture.

"Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up." -James 4:10


Father God,
Please forgive me for the times that I have allowed my emotions to take control. Please forgive me for allowing my words to cause harm. Keep me aware of ways that I can make the most out of every opportunity. Help me filter my words with love. Help me to respond with patience. Never let me feel comfortable if my words cause another pain. Always cause me to feel conviction so that I can repent. Show me opportunities to use my words to build people up and encourage. Thank You Lord, for the grace and mercy that you give me through your Son, Jesus Christ. Thank You that he lived the perfect example of godliness so that we have someone to model our lives after.
In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. 

Are you a lukewarm Christian?

What is the point of lukewarm Christianity?

Many people say that they are Christians.  It is not for me or anyone else to say whether or not that is the case. It is something that only God really knows.  Yes, we can see whether or not they are producing the fruit of repentance... but still... it is hard to determine the line between encouraging one another to press on towards Christ and actually becoming judgmental. We are warned in the bible not to judge one another. We are also told to encourage one another to remain free from the entanglement of sin. Many times what it comes down to is whether or not a person WANTS to be held accountable to living a biblically based life, or not.

Some church go-ers are more in love with their imagined view of Jesus than the actual Jesus we read about in the bible.  They like the "feel good" parts of scripture that all have to do with what God can do FOR them.  They don't spend any time studying what God asks of us. They have bought into the idea that to be a Christian, you repeat a prayer one time, attend church services and put some money in the offering bucket.  Sometimes they even feel a little bit guilty about sinning... so they cry, ask for forgiveness, and try really hard for the next 48 hours to refrain from that sin, before giving in again and allowing the cycle to repeat itself over and over. 

Always a victim of sin's side effects, they never truly get to the point where Christ gives them victory over their bondage to sin. This shakes their superficial faith... "Why isn't God doing anything to help me?" they ask. Well.... what God are they referring to? The imagined one that they conjured up in their mind using a verse here and there out of context? The God who they only turn to when an emergency happens? The God who they plan to thank if they have an award speech but not when times are hard?

Many of us need a perspective check. We have either forgotten, or we were never informed, how mighty, holy, powerful, sovereign and unapproachable the glory of God is.  It is impossible for him to be anything less than perfect and holy... which we could never be, therefore, a relationship between himself and us would have been impossible. We are taking for granted the fact that the only way we are able to have the Holy Spirit of God live in wretches like us was through the sacrifice of God's own Son.  We have no idea how huge that is.  We can talk about it without any emotion. It has become casual information to us. It is not even as exciting to us as preparing for Santa Clause to come for our kids on Christmas.

We sin against our own bodies in which the Holy Spirit dwells, expecting that he isn't going to mind, just because we haven't heard from him lately. We don't read the bible because "it's confusing," "it's too long," "it's boring," or "we are too busy." Yet we make time for the things (or idols) that ARE important to us.  Then we want to know why God has not just placed the victory over our addiction to sin in our laps without any effort on our own end. (Crying and feeling bad and asking for forgiveness does not count as effort.)

God always does his part.  When we express genuine faith in Jesus Christ's death, resurrection and Lordship, then ask for his forgiveness (with a heart that yearns to change and a mind with the full intention of doing so) he absolutely does wipe our slate completely clean.  There is nothing you or I can do through our own efforts to earn God's righteousness. Salvation is freely given to us. No one is deserving of it. The moment that we repent and confess Christ as Lord, we are called sons and daughters of God and all of the angels in heaven are rejoicing over us!

The problem, often times, is that we do not understand what it means to be a new creation.  We think we are still the same old person, who will continue to do the same old things, only now, Jesus will come along with us to make us feel good while we go about OUR business.  We don't sit down and identify how we got to the place where we hit rock bottom in our sin.  We don't want to admit that we are weak and we might fall again if we don't set up some boundary lines in our lives.  We pridefully hold onto things that might actually lure us back into a place of bondage and addiction.  Maybe it's because we like those things so much.  Maybe it's because we are afraid of standing out of the crowd and seeming too radical about our walk with Christ.

If that is the case, I will ask it again... What is the point of lukewarm Christianity? What does that do for us?  Is it anything more than a silly, meaningless cycle of being a victim to sin without being willing to walk in the obedience that is required for God to finish the work that he has started in you?

If you want different results than you have been getting, you must do something different than what you have been doing! How about practicing biblical Christianity? The kind that says, "Jesus, you have complete authority in my life.  I know that I will make mistakes along the way, but I commit to do everything within my power to flee from sin or anything that wants to influence me to return to sin. I am choosing to abandon my own will and live my life for the purpose of building your kingdom. I will find my satisfaction in pleasing you. I will trust that your ways are supreme and always better than my ways. I will be obedient when it isn't popular because I know how much you love me. I know that you have a purpose for me.  I am not willing to let the devil deceive me and steal what you have in store for my life."

What would that look like for you? Who will you need to say goodbye to? What habits will need to stop? What social ideals will need to go out the window? Who will you need to stop needing to impress? Who will you need to stop envying? What will you need to say "No More" to? Who will you need to start spending more time with? What will you need to start doing? Who will you need to start sharing Christ with?

I have got to tell you, it is better never to have heard of Christ at all than it is to be a lukewarm Christian. We will be held responsible for the fact that a buffet of truth (God's word) was right in front of us but we didn't feel like eating. We made excuses. We didn't see anyone else eating so we felt too awkward and afraid to dig in. We never made disciples because we never actually even became one. We never followed Christ, we just listened to sermons about him. We heard the word and so deceived ourselves, never actually doing what it says.

Listen, if something is stirring up inside of you, don't ignore it.  I don't care if you have to stand alone.  You better respond to what the Holy Spirit is trying to do inside of you. Lukewarm Christianity can end today. There are so many bible verses that go along with this message but I have to get the kids to bed so I'm gonna leave this as it is for now and publish the verses separately tomorrow. 

For those of you who want more out of your walk with God, you can look up the verses for yourself and study them.  Ask questions! Talk to people about them! Fight to get to the place in your walk with God that you have still never been.  It will be worth it. Your life will finally line up with what the bible says about Christianity.  You will finally experience the power of God working through you. Lives will be changed because you decided to take it to the next level with God. And when you stand before him in all of his brilliance, he will say, "Well done."

Tone it down a bit will you?

The moment we decide that we want to live our life 100% sold out for Jesus Christ, we feel excited for the adventure to come.  We envision ourselves receiving blessing upon blessing in our family and our relationships. We see God using us to change the world.  We dream of all of the amazing things that God will use us to do in this world for his glory.  We assume that those people who are close to us will be happy about the decision we have made to change for the better.

We don't think much about persecution.  We don't consider being hated by those people who used to be close to us.  We still have no idea about the trials and tribulations that are to come in order to strengthen us as a believer and rid us of superficial faith.  In order to become deeply rooted followers of Christ, we will have to say "NO!" to some pretty heavy temptation.  We will have to say "Yes Lord!" to some pretty crazy ideas.  We will have to sit still and trust him when we feel like taking over and handling the situation on our own.  We will have to cling to the encouragement found in scripture when people closest to us say hurtful things in an attempt to bring us back to our former way of life.

When we read that we are the light of the world, we imagine people looking at us thinking, "Oh wow, look at that beautiful and glorious light!" The truth is, light is not always an admirable thing.  Many people's eyes are so accustomed to darkness that our light is blinding to them and it hurts.  They want nothing to do with it because it exposes something inside of them that they would rather keep hidden.  The minute they see our light they either squeeze their eyes tightly and turn away from it, or they reach for their sunglasses to tone it down a bit.

Perplexed, we contemplate in our own mind as to what is causing this negative reaction to the newfound life, hope and purpose that we are so ecstatic about.  How can something so wonderful be hated so passionately? This was not the reaction that we had hoped for.  This is not how it played out in our imagination.  There is now a noticeable friction between ourselves and the world in which we live.  The world is no longer comfortable with us and we are no longer comfortable with the ways of the world which are our former ways of life.

Many new Christians get to this point and they have a decision to make.  It is a fork in the road which God places in front of us.  It has a sign with one arrow pointing one way saying "The World" and the other arrow pointing the other way saying "Jesus Christ."  Sadly, not even realizing that this is what is happening, many new Christians decide to take the path of the world, because they believe that the resistance and rejection they are experiencing is too much for them.  They would rather please their childhood friends and family members than God.  They don't want to make anyone feel uncomfortable so they switch their light switch to "OFF."


Now they fit in again.  Now their friends feel comfortable around them again. Everyone else is happy again, so they should be too right? The problem is, this Christian who decided to go back to their former ways of life is now feeling empty inside again.  They have removed God from the throne of their heart and replaced him with something or someone else.  Maybe it's a party lifestyle, a boyfriend or girlfriend, money, success, drugs, pornography or workaholism.  The problem is that none of the replacements for God will ever satisfy the way that God satisfied.  They never love us back the way that God loves us back.  Now we are ashamed of our choice, but so deep into it that we would rather keep trying to make it work than admit that we need to go back to our true love, our true peace, our true fulfillment.

Meanwhile, all of the broken and hurting people who desperately needed to see our light can't find any light.  There are divine appointments that God sets up for us where he will use us to influence the lives of others in a very powerful and life changing way.  So the problem is, we not only chose the world over God, but we chose the ways of this world over the lives that we were meant to impact for his glory.  There were those who desperately wanted to hear what we had to say, but we allowed ourselves to be silenced by those who didn't want to hear what we had to say.

Friends, we must make a choice.  Are we in this thing or not? If we are truly in this "living for Christ" thing, here are some words from Jesus himself that should be considered...

"Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,

    for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

 “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.  Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

 “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.
 “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden.  Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.  In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven." -Matthew 5:10-16

"You will be hated by everyone because of me, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved."-Matthew 10:22


"Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care.^[a] And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.
“Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before others, I will disown before my Father in heaven.
“Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to turn

“‘a man against his father,
    a daughter against her mother,
a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law—
    a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.’^[b]

“Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it.

“Anyone who welcomes you welcomes me, and anyone who welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. Whoever welcomes a prophet as a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and whoever welcomes a righteous person as a righteous person will receive a righteous person’s reward. And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones who is my disciple, truly I tell you, that person will certainly not lose their reward.” -Matthew 10:28-42


We want to be like him right?  He suffered.  He chose rejection and betrayal in this world to receive acceptance and love in the world to come.  Everything we do and think is different when we have our mind set on eternity and not on the temporary trappings of this world.  Be a light, even when it hurts.  One day, all will acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord.  The reward is great for those who choose to acknowledge it now.  

Heart Condition: Part 3, Guarding Your Heart...

             "Above all else, guard your heart,

                            for everything you do flows from it."

                                                                         -Proverbs 4:23

I had come to a point at 20 years old, where I wanted to come back to Christ, but the pull of the world's evil was so heavy on me that I thought I would never escape it's grasp.  I would go to church on Sunday, cry my eyes out during worship and feel so drawn to Jesus.  By Wednesday I would find myself flirting with my male co-workers at the gym I was working at, acting just like the "Old Lindsay. "

           Inside of my mind I was screaming,

                                      "What am I doing????"

I had such a wayward spirit.

(wayward: turning away from what is right or proper; willful)

I felt trapped in this pattern.  It felt like there was no escaping it. 

I had not yet learned how to allow Christ to help me protect and guard my heart.

 

Over Time, I made relationships with some encouraging sisters in Christ who instructed and guided me on how to live my life with Jesus Christ on the throne of my heart.  What that means is this... He sits high and exalted there.  Nothing takes precedence over Him. 

No man takes precedence over Him.  No job takes precedence over Him.  No friends take precedence over Him.  No fancy things, no silver or gold, no amount of fun partying or temporary satisfaction of this world takes precedence over the King of Kings and Lord of Lords who sits upon the throne of my heart. 

This may sound like a fancy way of saying that you sacrifice all your fun to God.  That would be a tragic misunderstanding of what I am saying.   You see, He pursued me with a passionate, redeeming love and proved Himself worthy of that place in my heart.  He allowed me to feel His presence and become so enthralled by Him that nothing else mattered. 

Picture Jesus on the throne of your heart. When something comes knocking on the door of your heart, it is not for you to decide whether or not to let it in. It is up to Jesus Christ, who dwells in your heart.

"Jesus, Envy is knocking at the door of my heart. Should I let it in?" or "Jesus, Pride is here again and it already has it's foot through the door! Please don't let it come in!

When guarding our hearts,

              we are protecting what God  wants us

        to hold inside of it as well as

                                    keeping out

                                                                                the things that have no right to be there. 

So what belongs inside of our hearts?

Jesus Christ

"I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge —that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God." -Ephesians 3:16-19

Love

"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and

with all your soul and with all your strength."  -Deuteronomy 6:5

Faithfulness

"Let love and faithfulness never leave you;
bind them around your neck,
write them on the tablet of your heart." -Proverbs 3:3

God's Word

"I have hidden your word in my heart

that i might not sin against you." -Psalm 119:11

"...Take hold of my words with all your heart;

keep my commands, and you will live." -Proverbs 4:4 

God Given Desires

"Take delight in the Lord,

and He will give you the desires of your heart." -Psalm 37:4

Desire For Him

"Blessed are those who keep his statutes

and seek him with all their heart." -Psalm 119:2

"You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart." -Jeremiah 9:3

Trust in God

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart

and lean not on your own understanding;" -Proverbs 3:5

Wisdom

"Teach us to number our days that we may gain a heart of wisdom." -Psalm 90:12

Gratitude

"I will give thanks to you, Lord, with all my heart;

 I will tell of all your wonderful deeds." -Psalm 9:1

Peace

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.   And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." -Philippians 4:6-7

Gladness

"Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices;

my body also will rest secure." -Psalm 16:9

How do we acquire these beautiful attributes? 

They will never come naturally without supernatural intervention.  They are deposited into our hearts by the Holy Spirit as we seek the Lord through prayer, worship, meditating on His word and fellowship with the body of Christ.  You cannot skip any of these things if you want to experience the fullness of walking in relationship with God.  After all... look what scripture says about our natural heart...

"The heart is deceitful above all things
and beyond cure.  Who can understand it?" -Jeremiah 17:9

So what does NOT belong inside of our hearts?

If you have not read the intro or the first 2 parts to this series, I would highly recommend reading them now.  In them, I discuss the junk inside of our hearts that causes us pain, hurt, stress and distance from God.  Once we experience healing from those things... It is no one else's job but our own, to protect the beautiful new heart that God has given us.  What does that look like? 

How do we keep out the evil that used to so comfortably reside in our hearts?

                          You FIGHT!!!!!

It takes effort.  You make a daily choice not to do the things you used to do and not to surround yourself with the same environment that you used to surround yourself with.  One thing that will help a lot is to sit down and identify all of the small compromises that led you to the state you ended up in before allowing Christ to take his seat on the throne of your heart.  Who had you been spending time with that influenced you?  What places were you spending time at that effected your mind?  What kind of words were in the music you were listening to?  What websites were you visiting?  How much time were you spending on the phone with certain people?

What kind of boundaries did you have (if any)

when interacting with the opposite sex? 

Get alone with God and ask Him to show you where you went wrong last time.  Once you have identified those things.... take no prisoners!!!  Destroy your ties to anything that will hold you back from knowing Christ in all of the fullness that you can know Him.  There is a place of intimacy with him that has only ever been experienced by the people who were willing to make sacrifices for him and persevere through hard times.  Hasn't He already done the same for you?

As soon as you make this commitment to Christ...
TEMPTATION IS RIGHT AROUND THE CORNER!!!!  Stay tuned to this series to read more about the temptation that follows the believer's commitment to Christ.  Satan does not use any new tactics.  He has been repeating the same tactics for generations and believers continue to fall for the same old things.  The only hope is to know the strategies of the enemy and be prepared to fight back with the Full Armor of God. 

Lord Jesus,

I invite you to sit on the throne of my heart.  Help me make decisions that will guard the treasures that you have given me and fight off the attacks of the enemy.  Help me to have the life that you want to give me.  Let me not get in the way of what you are trying to do in my life.  I want to be obedient to you so that I can thrive in my relationship with you.  I want to be close to you.  I want your presence to be REAL TO ME.

In your precious and exalted name I pray,  
Amen.

Heart Condition: Part 2 More on Emotional Healing...

So What do you carry in your heart?

Here is a list of a few if the things that might be in there that will absolutely, without a doubt, hold you back from experiencing freedom in your life...

Unforgiveness
Shame from sin
Pride
Perversion
Addictions to Alcohol, Drugs, Food, Masturbation, Pornography, Eating Disorders, etc.
Strongholds
Generational Curses
Lust
Selfishness
Anger
Bitterness
Resentfulness
Hurt
Pain
Self-Hatred
Vanity
Feelings of Abandonment

There are more, but this is enough for you to get an idea of what I am talking about.  These things weigh you down so heavily that you feel like there is no escape.  You cannot move forward because these things are so heavy they are preventing you from coming anywhere close to the future that God has for you.

I remember a time when I said, "I feel like Satan has my arm and is pulling me through life."  I had lost control.  The funny thing is that the reason I lost control was because I decided to take control.  I decided to walk away from God's "rules".  I no longer thought I needed His guidance.  I thought I was becoming FREE.  I knew He was good.  I knew He was right.  But I mistakenly thought I knew best in that moment.  So I took my life into my own hands and just did what I wanted.

I drank, I partied and I had sex... and more.

It was fun... for a little while.  Oh how the enemy fooled me.  When the nostalgia of being a new party girl wore off... all I was to anyone was another one of them.  I no longer got that special attention that I had gotten when I first entered the party scene.  There was nothing special about me.  I had a heart that was full of pain and addictions.  I could not sleep at night unless I had someone next to me, or unless I had partied so much that I just knocked out exhausted and drunk.  I felt like I had lost complete control of my life and I was no longer worthy of God's grace.

Thank God He never gave up on me.

So what is in your heart?  Chances are you are not even exactly sure.  Some of what is in there might be obvious, but some of it is so deeply rooted that God himself will have to remind you of it in order for you to be healed.


"Test me, Lord, and try me,
    examine my heart and my mind" -Psalm 26:2


"...He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and 
will expose the motives of the heart." -1 Corinthians 4:5

"Search me, God, and know my heart; 
    test me and know my anxious thoughts.

See if there is any offensive way in me,
    and lead me in the way everlasting." 
-Psalm 139:23-24

Once God reveals to you what is in your heart that needs to come out, what do you do with that knowledge?  What you do is this; Ask him to purify your heart through the Holy Spirit by His grace.  When Jesus died on the cross, it was for our sins, our hurt, our pain, etc.  Forgiveness of sins is great... and that is one of the things burdening our hearts... sin.  But He can also clean our hurt and pain from things that were completely out of our control.  It is not something you have to wait until heaven to experience.  

By the blood of the lamb, we have emotional healing available to us right here and now.  

But know this!!!!!   When your heart is cleaned and healed up by God... you better protect what He has done!  What Satan sees is a soft, clean, brand new place to wreak havoc.  The first thing He will tell you is this.... "That did not really happen," and  "You are still the same dirty person as you have always been."  You must equip yourself daily to fight off the flaming arrows of the evil one.  Please stay tuned to this series.  The next post will be about guarding our hearts, which is absolutely crucial to our ability to live out our freedom in Christ.  

Lord Jesus,

Search my heart and show me what is there that is causing me pain and suffering.  Show me what is causing me to be burdened, anxious and distant from you.  Show me what does not please you.  Show me what is stopping me from experiencing the freedom that you have in store for me.  Show me what it is so that I am able to ask you to remove it from my life.  I need your power Lord, or I will be stuck with these things forever.  Remove them from me in Jesus' mighty name.   I believe that you are able to remove these things from my heart.  

Do it for your glory, In Jesus Name,

Amen.