Wednesday, February 5, 2020

Speaking from the Heart - Part 2

Bear Lake in Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado | Nature Board

Keeping our heart right with God is a deliberate, intentional and purposeful act of the will. When we spend time in the Word meditating on His thoughts, then we shall know His truth. We have a choice to trust God or to trust the desires of the flesh. Working out our own salvation with awe, respect, and love for God is disciplining ourselves to follow in the footsteps of our Lord. Like the seed that fell among the thorns, many Christians are choked out by the deceitfulness of riches and the cares of this world. When there is grumbling and complaining in our hearts, the devil will have his way with us. The word says do all things without murmuring and disputing that you may be the children of God without reproach in the midst of a wicked and perverse nation, among whom you shine as lights in the world.

God often has us in His "waiting room." The devil will say to us, "God doesn't really care about your problem." However, the word says, "resist the devil and he will flee from you." According to Isaiah 40:31, they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength.  They will mount up with wings as eagles.  They shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint. The solution to grumbling and complaining starts with knowing that God has our best interest at heart. Our question should be, "Lord, what are you teaching me through this trial?" God is teaching us that in our own strength, we cannot make it on our own. The matters of the heart are the heart of the matter.

God has called us to speak the language of heaven. We need to speak the "foreign language" of our heavenly homeland. Those whom God has called will understand our language. As the Psalmist said, "may the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable unto thee, O Lord my strength and my redeemer." According to Ephesians, "let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying that it may minister grace unto the hearers."

God has called us not to deliver the message, but to be the message. Live it out.  We're the only bible that some people will ever read. We're His living epistles known and read of all men. We're God's love letters to those whom he's called us to bless.

May God richly bless you!

Your brother in Christ, Michael

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