Keep Your Heart

Keep your heart will all vigilance, 

 for from it flow the springs of life.

 Proverbs 4:23

As I have mentioned in a past post, the Lord is working in my heart.  I have to admit that it's a slow process as there are years of heartache and bitterness to melt through.  As the Lord and I work through this process together, I've realized a few of things. 

One-  I am not spending enough time immersing myself in God's Word and meditating on His promises for the sole purpose of  getting to know God and His goodness.- I have been reading my Bible, but lately it's been for a women's Bible study I'm involved in or I've been reading it to make myself feel better about our current situation.  It's basically been self focused Bible study, not God focused Bible study.

Two- My satisfaction in life has been dependent on my circumstances, not on God and his goodness-  Or to put it another way, I'm drowning in idolatry.  I've let my heart dwell on and find satisfaction  in my social status, my earthly possessions, my housing situation and many other things that are selfish.  When I rely on these things to make me happy, I only end up miserable and yes, bitter and I fall into the "woe is me" trap because my life is not what I think it should be.  Anything that pulls my focus off of God and on to myself is idolatry and as I said above, I'm drowning in it.

Three- My heart is capable of so much evil.- Mark 7:14-23 describes that it's not what goes into a man that defiles him, but what comes out of him that defiles him for evil things come from within (my paraphrase).  As an offspring of Adam and Eve, the inclination of my heart is only evil all the time. Yes, I have the Holy Spirit dwelling in me, but there is a daily battle between my flesh, and the Holy Spirit.  If I'm not immersing myself or meditating on God's word, my flesh wins.  As I mentioned on point number one, I'm not doing that, so guess who is winning? 

To put it plainly, I'm not keeping my heart with all vigilance as Proverbs 4:23 says to do.  But what does it mean to keep your heart?  Well, I've been reading a book by a pastor named Joe Thorn and this is what he says about keeping our hearts:

‎"To keep your heart means that your focus and work is on maintaining communion with God and pursuing the transformation that only God can accomplish in you. It is not performance-based religion, nor the moral improvement of your life, but the ongoing work of cultivating love for God and hatred for sin. It is the unending effort of guarding ourselves against idols while resting in the promises of the gospel."- Note to Self by Joe Thorn

This is my goal right now.  My goal is to cultivate a love for God by maintaining communion with Him and hating my sin of idolatry.  I need to rest in the promises of the gospel, and let God to the transforming.  I cannot transform my own heart. That is something only God can do, but it is my responsibility to be intentional in spending quality time seeking out God and coming to Him with a broken, contrite heart instead of a puffed up heart, seeking Him only for my own gain.

I'll finish this with one last quote by Joe Thorn:

"...The heart is what God is primarily interested in- Hearts that are broken over sin,  healed by God's forgiving grace, and consequently filled with love for our Redeemer God."- Note to Self by Joe Thorn  

P.S-  I know this  really isn't a homemaking post, per se, however I feel as wives and mother's it's so important to watch our hearts since, as Jesus says in Mark 7, what comes out of our hearts is what defiles us.  If we don't stay diligent in keeping our hearts, who knows what may come come out of them when we hit a difficult circumstance and we have such a strong influence over the tone of our homes.

Only One Man Has Saved Us

As I'm sitting here drinking my tea, I'm reflecting on the powerful speeches that were just given by some big names in the Republican convention.  Many of these speeches pointed to the one man who could change this country for the better, who could set the tone for a political reformation, and who could save us from the mistakes of our current leadership.

While I believe that they really think that the Republican nominee for president could actually make some positive changes, my heart was stirring because there is one Man who could do all of that.   This one Man made radical changes while he walked here on earth and he continues to make radical changes in the lives of those who open their hearts in response to His calling.  This one Man, Jesus Christ, has the power to radically change this country like we have never seen it before and all we have to do is share and be open about what He did on the cross and how that mighty act of grace has affected our lives.  

When you stop and think about it, do you really live your life in reflection of the cross?  Can the people around you see the power of Christ's death and resurrection as you go about your life?  I'm honestly talking about myself here as I feel convicted in the fact that I tend to gloss over the most powerful event  in history.  The "Easter Story" is not just for Easter, it's for every day life.  We need to daily remind ourselves that because of Christ's torturous death (that was really meant for us) and resurrection, we have been cleansed from all sin.  ALL!!!!! If that doesn't make you leap out of your seat and jump for joy, I don't know what will?  

I guess what I'm trying to say here is that we should be walking around every day living in the JOY that comes from our salvation and that joy will spread to others and with Christ, we really can change this nation for the better.  It is one thing that God has promised:

Psalm 33:12- "Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people whom he has chosen as his heritage."

2 Chronicles  7:14- "If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and heal their land."