All tagged heart
My thoughts this morning are centered on the state of purity. What does it mean to be pure of heart, and how is it possible to reach this level of righteousness? By becoming pure we know that we will see God, so it’s a very important subject for us to explore.
I really love the story of Jesus appearing to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus. This morning let’s concentrate on what those disciples said when they finally realized that the man they had been traveling with was actually Jesus; they said: "did not our heart burn within us." Let’s think about our own moment when it became clear to us that Jesus was truly the Son of God and had been sent to save us. Let’s think back on that faithful day when we walked with Him down our own road to Emmaus and how His gospel message came alive in us as our hearts burned.
Today I am contemplating one of the longer sentences in the Bible. It gives us instruction on how to conduct ourselves as Christians and ministers of the gospel, and if you ever have a question regarding good spiritual behavior then you can probably find it listed in this sentence. But, what would it take to live these attributes to the full pleasure of God? How much interaction with the Holy Spirit will it require to achieve this level of sanctity?
This morning we are contemplating God's desire for us to commit our lives to Him. We will revisit His desire for us to live and worship Him with zest. Pastor E. M. Bounds described the way we should pray in these words: "True prayer must be aflame." And he wrote that "The Christian life and character need to be on fire." Today we are returning once more to Revelation 3 for the principal scripture of our study.
In my devotional reading today, Pastor E. M. Bounds wrote of two prayers; the petition of faith and the prayer of submission. Praying in the Word and praying in the Spirit; both are incredibly important... praying in the Word is conveying our thoughts and needs using biblical constructs, while praying in the Spirit conveys the longings of our very souls. Pastor Bounds used Abraham's prayers for Sodom as an example of both petition, and submission, when he wrote these words:
This morning I revisited a devotional reading that I had enjoyed on this day several years ago. On that day I had already been operated on and had a cancerous tumor removed from my body, but later that afternoon, I was going to find out how my treatment would proceed... My devotional reading that particular day included these words:
This morning we study "Compassionate Prayer" as it was taught in Matthew 9:36. I thought to myself that this was a very appropriate topic, since this is Missions Month at many churches. Beyond delivering the gospel, there are situations at home, and around the world, where we can physically provide aid to others, or pray for them through a situation; but there are quite a few others that are beyond our ability to resolve, and we must depend on a miracle, and entering into "Compassionate Prayer", is our only course of action.
Today let’s discuss the twins of prayer and faith. Pastor E.M. Bounds describes them this way: "one heart brings them both to life. Faith is always praying; prayer is always believing." He ends his devotional by writing by saying "Prayer asks; faith lays its hand on the thing asked for." Faith and prayer are the engines which power the Dynamo of our belief; our relationship with God. They create the spark that jumps the gap between man and God. For our part in this endeavor we must hold fast to our faith and exercise our prayer fervently.
The scripture passage from my devotional reading this morning could either reassure us or cause us to tremble. E.M. Bounds had titled his devotional message "All My Longings" and spoken of God answering our fervent prayers. However, his scripture selection was a double edged sword. He had chosen a verse that would thrill the righteous believer while at the same time bringing fear to the wayward sinner. It deals with a common theme in the Bible… God knows our heart.
Where do we seek shelter when the storms of life come? This morning the devotional message I read was titled "When Trouble Comes" and E.M. Bounds wrote that "the most natural thing to do is carry your troubles to the Lord and seek grace, patience, and submission there." We are indeed blessed to have such a place of shelter and safety in our times of distress. God is our strong tower and Jesus Christ our Lord is dependable and true as He tells us to pray in His Name, and intercedes for us.
This morning let’s delve into praising God and the presence of our praise in prayer. Pastor E.M. Bounds called this "Spiritual Singing". He even recognized people with little ability to sing when he said "Spiritual singing is not done by musical taste or talent, but by the grace of God in your heart." We are encouraged in scripture to address one another, and God, in song, but are we doing this? If not is it because we are judging one another’s ability to sing and thus discouraging another’s prayer life? Singing on a stage is one thing, but singing on our knees to the Lord is totally different and criticism there can be considered shaming someone who is seeking God’s presence.
Sometimes when we are in a battle against the hardships of life we can become so involved in the struggle, and desperately calling upon the Lord in prayer, that even though we are saying the words, our depth of devotion and loving heart is absent from them. My devotional reading this morning warned against this, and today we will turn to a verse in Isaiah 29 to understand this further.
Where should our prayer originate when we enter our chosen place of prayer and seek God’s presence? Is it our intellect, our spirit, our soul? Is it our posture, our language, or a certain phrase that bring us close to Him? God tells us the answer to this Himself in the book of Jerimiah when he says that we should reach out to Him with all of our heart. So if our prayers should emanate from or hearts then we must also ask ourselves a simple question… “What is the condition of my heart and relationship towards God?” To describe this we use words like lovingly, sincerely, persistently, and in purity.
Are we studying and memorizing scripture, and reading Biblically based literature, with the thought that this will make us wise and righteous or give us some increased standing with God? Well my friends, only one thing will work to perfect us in the eyes of God, and that is having the faith and obedience of a child. I would rather do this one small thing perfectly than to pursue a thousand wise and scholarly things while missing the mark of holiness entirely.
I really love the story of Jesus appearing to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus. This morning I am concentrating on what those disciples said after they finally realized that the man they had been traveling with was actually Jesus; "did not our heart burn within us."