Dear Father (Father of my heart, love, life, peace, salvation, hope, dreams, provision, health, and family),
I love God! My heart is full of love for you. I am thankful and grateful that you adopted me! You’ve cleansed me from all my unrighteous acts, delivered me from every curse and every yoke of bondage, those of my own making and those that came with my family ties. You have set me free from the law. You have made me an heir and a joint heir with Christ. I am seated with Him in heavenly places, because of my acceptance in the beloved. Because you are a loving Father, Faithful and Trustworthy, because Your Word is true, You watch over it to perform it in my life. you have sent your angels, your ministering spirits, to minister according to your perfect will, the plans and the purposes, you have for my life. You have placed a hedge of protection around me, your angels guard round about me, day and night. Because I am your child, no weapon formed against me will prosper, and every tongue raised against me, to accuse me or curse me, is already condemned! Even what the devil has planned and prepared for my harm you, in your grace and mercy, have turned it around for my good. Who is like you, Oh God? There is none other. Only you have creative power. Only you can save. Only you can change our hearts and minds and conform us into the image of Christ. You alone are worthy of all praise, honor and glory… and you are my Father. You call me your child. Let my life glorify you.
In Jesus Name I pray. Amen.
This was a wonderful Woman’s Bible Study! I think everywoman should read it. Beth Moore gives insight into some of the common problems that women have gone through from infancy and how to break free from your past. I give the book 5 stars. The writing is simple, yet in depth. This book will change the way you think. Great for individual study or for a group study. I highly recommend this book. Appropriate for high school age and up.
Matthew 5:8 NIV “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”
What does it mean to be “pure in heart”? “Unto the pure all things are pure: but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience are defiled.” Titus 1:15. What is in your mind, what is on your conscience? Do your thoughts run to things that lead to temptation, or to see the bad in others? That is an unclean heart, and (dare I say it!), unbelieving heart. If we truly believed that God is who He says He is and that we are who He says we are, as His children, we wouldn’t harbor those thoughts. If our own conscience is clear, we don’t tend to search for sin in other’s lives. We weren’t put here to be the “sin police”. We were put here to love others and to show them the Father, just like Jesus did. Now that doesn’t mean that we “wink” at sin, or deny it. But our purpose is to help deliver them from their sin, to show them the way to Jesus so that they can be cleansed from their sin.
There are so many benefits to maintaining a pure heart. Job 17:9 (AMP) “Yes shall the righteous-those upright and in right standing with God- hold to His way, and he who has clean hands shall grow stronger and stronger.” In Job 24:3 God’s word continues with, “Who shall go up into the mountains of the Lord? Or who shall stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who has not lifted himself up in falsehood, or to what is false, not sworn deceitfully. He shall receive a blessing rom the Lord, and righteousness from the God of his salvation.” Do you want to hold to God’s way? To receive a blessing from the Lord? To be able to stand in God’s holy place? Then keep your heart pure.
Jesus said that is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a man, but what comes out. The Pharisees where complaining that Jesus’ disciples hadn’t washed their hands before eating. In todays society where everything is antibiotic from soap, lotions, detergents, and baby wipes, where we are so concerned about germs that we are killing off good bacteria and the bad stuff is becoming immune to the antibodies, shouldn’t we be concerned about what is already inside of us and trying to spew forth? “For our of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.” (Matthew 12:34).
We can sometimes be more concerned about what we shouldn’t eat, watch, listen to, etc., and I am not saying that isn’t important. But more important is that our hearts are right. Search your heart and see if there is something in there that needs to be removed. Surrender your heart to God. Allow His Spirit to look in those places that even you have been afraid to look at! He’s a gentleman. He will not only reveal it to you in a gentle way, He’ll help you fill that place up with the goodness of God. Meditate (not by emptying your mind, but by filling it with the word of God) on all His goodness. Remember what He has already brought you out of, how much you have already changed. If you find yourself thinking or speaking negative about anything, be it people, places, or circumstances, STOP. Cast those things down, ask God to forgive you, and anyone who heard you.
We all mess up. All our righteousness is as filthy rags. So take His! His righteousness is given to us at salvation. Then as we keep our hearts pure, we get stronger and stronger. Not is physical muscles, but in spiritual muscle-faith, hope, love, joy, courage, patience, meekness, longsuffering, self control, all those fruit of the Spirit, things we need in this day and age.
“Surely God is good to Israel, Even to such as are pure in heart.” Psalm 73:1
“Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.” Psalm 51:10,(David wrote this after sinning with Bathsheba, it’s never too late!)
“But the end of the charge is love out of a pure heart and a good conscience and faith unfeigned:” I Timothy 1:5
Now get to work! Search out for yourselves some scriptures on pure and clean hearts. A great recourse is this website http://biblehub.com/
God is our Father and we are His children. The world should be able to discern that we belong to God. Not by our “I love Jesus” t-shirt and bumper sticker, but by our actions and our words. They are watching us. God’s word says in John 13:35 AMP, “By this shall all [men] know that you are My disciples, if you love one another [if you keep on showing love among yourselves].” We start by loving one another. We are in the last days, time is speeding up. God promised to make the end quick, to shorten the time of suffering.
In Romans 13:12-14 NIV, Paul writes to the Church in Rome. (Notice this is written to believers.) “The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh.”
I know most of us aren’t carousing, we don’t make a habit of getting drunk and we aren’t cheating on our spouses. (And if you are STOP!). So we can move on to the next couple of things, dissension and jealousy.
Dissension means -disagreement that leads to discord. Some synonyms for dissension are, disagreement, difference of opinion, dispute, conflict, friction, strife, discord, antagonism, and infighting.
Far too many churches have been torn apart by these very things. We may not be experience these things at this moment, but I guarantee you we have in the past, and Satan doesn’t have any new strategies. He uses whatever has worked before. We have to be diligent. Preventative medicine is the best medicine. He uses the “conquer and divide” tactic quiet frequently in homes and churches, even nations. Jesus told us, “A house divided cannot stand.”
Jealousy means – the act of feeling or showing envy of someone or their achievements and advantages. Some synonyms for jealous are, envious, covetous, and desirous.
Jealousy can be a cause for dissension. It rears its ugly head on the praise and worship team, on the usher and nursery teams. One wants to lead and is asked to serve. One wants recognition for serving, but is asked to serve behind the scenes. We look at those who seemingly “have it all” and want what they have without walking the path they had to walk to get it. Worse of all, we see God blessing others and think they don’t deserve it, or that we are somehow more deserving.
Instead we should be happy for blessings, no matter how, when, or to whom they come. All good gifts come from the Father, to His glory. He makes it rain on the just and the unjust. He chooses. Thank God, because we would so mess it all up. If we are supposed to pray for God to even bless those who persecute us, how much more should we be praying for one another?
Romans 13 goes on to say in verse 19, “So then let us make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification.” Mutual- when they are edified, we are edified. Why? Because we are all part of the same body.
Instead of judging one another, we need to be helping and encouraging one another. Galatians 6:2-5,” Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself. But let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another. For every man shall bear his own burden.” Paul is not contradicting himself here. We are to bear one another’s burdens and we are all responsible to bear our own burden.
Let’s look at it this way. In the natural, if we saw a little child trying to carry a load that was just too big and too heavy for them to handle, any one of us would take the load, take their hand, and take them where they needed to go. But if we continue to carry their whole loads as they grow, now they’re 5, then 10, then20…what’s going to happen? They will never get strong, never mature. Spiritually speaking, Jesus is the One who came along first and took our whole load, the entire burden, took our hand, and took us to the throne of grace. Then, in His wisdom, He allows us to go through some tuff stuff. It is to strengthen our faith, to learn to trust Him.
But, thankfully, He doesn’t leave us there. He knows that sometimes the load is just too heavy to carry alone. Instead of trying to play God and taking someone’s whole load, we are to come along side and help, to ease some of the burden. We do that by building them up, encouraging them and sometimes taking one small package of the big load. We help; we don’t do it for them. Just as we can’t obtain salvation for them, we can’t carry their load. In the same way we pray for the lost to receive salvation, show them Jesus by our words and actions, and even sometimes get to lead them to Christ, we also help our brothers and sisters by doing the same things. Pray for them, show them how to be strong by our own words and deeds, and always turn them to Jesus, their true strength and help.
Romans 15:1-2 AMP “We who are strong [in our convictions and robust faith] ought to bear with the failings and the frailties and the tender scruples of the weak-we ought to help carry the doubts and the qualms of others-and not to please ourselves. Let each one of us make it a practice to pleas (make happy) his neighbor for his good and for his true welfare, to edify him-that is, to strengthen him and build him up spiritually.”
We lay hold of God’s word. Have a blessed hope in His ability to fulfill His promises and then show others how to do it. Hebrews 10:23 AMP “So let us seize and hold fast and retain without wavering the hope we cherish and confess, and our acknowledgment of it, for He who promised is reliable (sure) and faithful to His word.”
Verses 24 goes on to say, “And let us consider and give attentive, continuous care to watching over one another, studying how we may stir up (stimulate and incite) to love and helpful deeds and noble activities.” We have to be in relationship with our brothers and sisters. Keeping our eyes open to what they may be going through. Each of us also has to be humble enough to ask for help. Not expecting someone else to handle our every problem, but to come along side to pray for and shore up the week places. If there is a need we can meet, give a hand. If you are on the receiving end, don’t make it a habit of running to people. Run to God first and give Him some time to work things out, in you and in your situation. Our timing isn’t His.
When we have unity in the body, when we are joined together in bonds of love and of peace, God gets the glory. Romans 15:6-7 NAS “That with one accord you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Wherefore, accept one another, just as Christ also accepted us to the Glory of God.” Verse 14 AMP, “Personally I am satisfied about you, my brethren, that you yourselves are rich in goodness, amply filled with all [spiritual] knowledge and competent to admonish and counsel and instruct one another also.”
Our unity bears fruit. We will see the fruit of our labor, not just in the future or in heaven one day, but right now. Our churches will be full, not of people coming out of religious tradition, but because they love God. Colossians 1:10-12 NIV, “So that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light.” We are coming into a time when we will need the strength and power of God. We will need endurance and patience. He has already qualified us through His shed blood; it’s time for our inheritance.
A final scripture, Colossians 3:12-17.
“Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”
We’ve probably all heard the analogy of the God spaced hole in our heart that only He can fill. I even read a good little book/tract by Joan Pearce called “The Empty Spot.” But I think we should go a step further. Yes there is a place on our hearts that only God can fill, but it isn’t a hole or an empty place…it is a throne!
We have all been created with a throne in our hearts, a king-sized throne, royal and majestic. This throne was designed for the King of kings and the Lord of lords. Unfortunately most of us try to sit there themselves. We try to direct our own lives, to be in control, but we aren’t able to bear the weight of the responsibility. It’s simply to much for us. We aren’t equipped to rule our hearts alone. This throne is for a Holy, Righteous Judge. It’s to be used with divine Wisdom and Discernment. The one who sit’s on this throne needs to be able to clearly see the future and rightly discern the past.
But sit we do. We mess up our lives. Sometimes we step down and ask Jesus to rule in our hearts, (we have to step down, He will never take the throne by force), and sometimes we weasel in and try to take over again. But the throne is only built for one. It is not a “two-seeter.” That is like those “driving lessons” from Dad when we could barely see over the steering wheel, even sitting on his lap. If dad allows his little one to truly steer they weave and bob all over the road, straying from the straight and narrow path. Sometimes dad will hold on with a few fingers to maintain control, but the little one pretends he is doing it all himself. We think that picture is cute. But in the spirit it is anything but cute. When we pretend we are driving and accomplishing things in our own strength, when God is the one working things out for us, we are bound by pride. And pride comes before a fall. We cannot take the Glory meant for God.
Another natural analogy is when we see baby sitting in Daddy’s chair. We think that is so cute as well, and it is, baby is trying to be like Daddy. But we would never expect that baby to take over Daddy’s job, pay the bills, run the household, would we. The throne is so much more than a place to sit. Stepping down from the throne shows maturity, trying to do it ourselves shows immaturity. When things aren’t going the way we had planned, or they aren’t happening when we want them to, we tend to throw a toddler tantrum and demand the throne back (“if you aren’t going to do something, God, then I will”). But it is time to grow up. Examine your heart. Do you put Jesus there when you need a healing, then jump back on when it comes to your finances? Do you pick and choose when you allow Him to rule? The apostle Paul says, “When I was a child, I was speaking as a child, I was led as a child, I was thinking as a child, but when I became a man, I ceased these childish things.” (I Cor. 13:11). Do a check up, if He’s not on the throne-repent. He’s quick to forgive. He won’t hold it against you.
Let’s get practical. Giving God the throne of your heart DOES NOT mean never doing anything on our own. We do not need to ask God what color shoes to wear, what to eat for dinner, or how to style our hair. Use the wisdom God gave you for those things. Don’t let Satan deceive you as he did Adam and Eve into thinking God wants to control every little part of your life. He want to be part of your everyday life, but not control it. He is not an evil dictator. He is a wise, loving Father who happens to truly know what is best for you. You give Him control by listening to His voice. Let yourself be led by His Spirit. When He tells you to do something, do it. If He asks you to stop doing something, stop. In example: He tells us to give Him, His 10%, that it is to be given to the storehouse, the place where you are fed (your local church). So do we need to ask Him if we should be tithing? No, He already told us to do it.
Big life changing decisions should be brought before the Lord in prayer. Be patient to hear His answer. He always answers, sometimes yes, sometimes no and sometimes wait. He’ll direct you in a personal way if we need Him to. Some good examples of these things are the choice of a spouse, a church, a job change or how to use our finances. We should be asking Him about our offerings. How much does He want us to give and to where. Why wouldn’t we want to hear from the One who planned it all our perfectly? Anything short of His perfect will is a hard row to hoe. We have enough trouble living in this fallen world as it is. Why compound them?
Lord,
Forgive me for trying to do it all myself. Please come into my heart and rule and reign there. Lead me and guide me on Your path of righteousness. I want your perfect will to be done in my life. Holy Spirit show me any areas that I have not surrendered. Help me to give them over to the King.
Amen
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