Heart's Desire

“Search me, O God, and know my heart;

Try me, and know my anxieties;

And see if there is any wicked way in me,

And lead me in the way everlasting.”

     Psalm 139:23-24 (NKJV)

"Trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell

in the land, and feed on His faithfulness. 

Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He

shall give you the desires of your heart."

    Psalm 37:3-4 (NKJV)

My neighbor has an ornament on her front door that says “Listen to your heart.” That’s a popular notion in today’s culture---follow what your heart wants and you’ll be happy.  But the Bible says that our hearts are “deceitful above all things” and “desperately wicked” (Jeremiah 17:7).  So if we let our hearts with its fleshly desires guide us, we will not be on the right path.

That’s why we’re encouraged us to ask God to examine our hearts, thoughts and lives.  That would be scary to those who don’t know the character of God, who don’t know Him as Savior and Lord. As a believer, I don’t want to have anything wicked within me that I haven’t acknowledged to God, so I ask His help in searching me.  I want to be an open book before Him, to keep short accounts with Him, to know that I’ve confessed and been forgiven of all my sins, every day.

I also want Him to lead me rather than my own instincts and desires.  Although God promises to give us the desires of our heart (Psalm 37:4), that doesn’t mean our fleshly desires will be granted.  Instead, that promise is premised on certain conditions—if we delight ourselves in the Lord, if commit our way to the Lord and if we trust Him, then we will desire His will and that heart desire will be granted.

I pray that your heart’s desire is to be in the center of God’s will, and that you allow Him to search you and lead you in His way.

Thursday Devotional - Truth in 30 Seconds?

I know God can use anything and anyone and can use a brief statement someone says, but it still amazes me every time I see Him do it!

A couple weeks ago my sister, Jane, was playing piano for one of her weekly church services. After a pre-service rehearsal, one of the other musicians told Jane her cousin was dying. She mentioned that he was of a different religion, but she knew he was going to heaven because he was a good person. Jane expressed sympathy to the lady and then God brought to mind John 14:6. So, in the 30 seconds Jane had before she needed to start playing, she said “Jesus said in John 14:6 that He is the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Him.”

Well, after the service, the lady came back up to Jane and said she was stewing over that verse the entire service. They got to chat further about God’s truths. Jane mentioned several other truths from Romans. She mentioned how Christianity is the only “religion” where we don’t have to “do” anything. Being good doesn’t get us to heaven. They talked for a while and Jane reassured her she would be praying for her and the relative (and Jane told several of us so we could be praying, too).

We were saddened this lady (involved in church) was confused by the lies of the world and our culture and didn’t believe God’s truths and promises from His Word. This lady was bothered the Bible states Jesus is the only way, but God used that to prick her. In fact, this past weekend, she came back to tell Jane that last week she clearly saw first-hand that not all “gods” are the same. Jesus is truly the only way and she heard Jesus telling her all week “I am the way!”

Romans 10:9 If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

Praise God!!! Jesus is the only way to have access to and a relationship with God the Father (and eternal life in heaven after death)! He revealed and confirmed that truth to this lady! God is amazing! He can use just one phrase from His Word to help, convict, encourage and instruct!  

Let’s pray for God’s help to recognize and take even the 30 second opportunities He gives us to speak His truths. He’s the one that can multiply it for His glory!

I Peter 3:15 But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.

Alice

Worry

First off, I apologize to every one of you!  I failed to send a devotion last week as I was on vacation, WITHOUT my computer!!  And forgot to preschedule the devotion.  I am sorry.

Worry is something that many people are consumed by.  It can cause anxiety and depression.  Even my 6-year-old son can easily become consumed by worry.  Some worry about what they will eat or wear, others worry about getting home projects or work projects completed, and still others worry about what someone thinks of them.  If we are honest with ourselves, we have all spent time worrying and a lot of times, it’s worrying about something that will never happen.  I know that I have. 

Why though?  We are clearly told not to worry, that God will take care of us. 

Matthew 6:25-34

²⁵ “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? ²⁶ Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? ²⁷ Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?

²⁸ “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. ²⁹ Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. ³⁰ If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? ³¹ So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ ³² For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. ³³ But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. ³⁴ Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Are you consumed in worry today?  I encourage you to take it to God.  Lay it at his feet.  Show him that you have faith that he will take care of whatever it is that you are worried about.  Then watch.  Watch as he provides for your needs.  Maybe you won’t get all the answers you are wanting, but you will get everything that you need.  He will provide for all of your needs.  Trust him today to care for your needs, even the ones that you think are too small to bother him with.  He cares for you!