Matters of the Heart

God makes it clear why we sin - it's a matter of the heart. Our hearts have been inclined toward sin from the time we were born. It is easy to fall into the routine of forgetting and forsaking God. But we can still choose whether or not to continue in sin. We can yield to a specific temptation, or we can ask God to help us resist temptation when it comes. A great verse goes with that. Jeremiah 17:9-10 says, "The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? 'I the Lord search the heart and examine the mind, to reward a man according to his conduct, according to what his deeds deserve.'"

God wants a broken spirit and a broken and contrite heart. You can never please God by outward actions - no matter how good - if your inward heart attitude is not right. Are you sorry for your sin? Do you genuinely intend to stop? God is pleased by this kind of humility. Are you seperated from God by sin? No matter how far you have wandered, God promises a fresh new beginning if only you will turn to him.

Matthew 12:34 ends by saying, "For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart." What is coming out of your heart? What we say receals ehat is in our hearts. You can't solve your heart problem, however, just by cleaning up your speech. You must allow the Holy Spirit to fill you with new attitudes and motives;  then your speech will be cleansed at it's source.

Keep listening to God. Your heart will keep changing. Don't let what's in your heart hold you captive. Our old way of life before believing in Christ is completely in the past. We should put it behind us and never look back. We are not to be driven by desire and impulse. We must put on the new role, head in the new direction, and have the new way of thinking that the Holy Spirit gives us.

Dear God, I just pray that you would take my heart and make it yours. Transform it. Clean the sin and captivity that's inside of it. Please just break my heart only so that you can make it whole again.

Collide

When two things collide, at least one of them is not going to remain the same. Real change happens when pain of remaining the same is greater than the pain of changing. This is the thing that brings us to the point of despiration. The point when we are ready to collide. We want different lives than what we have now. We want relationships to be different. We want something to change. This is what majes us want to collide with Jesus.

I'm so desperate and ready to collide with God. More ready than I'll ever be. I'm ready for my life to change for the better. It's something that needs to happen. But, in order for it to happen, I need to break out of my comfort zone. I need to 'wear my sign.' I need to just let go and let God if I want that collision with him to happen.

Seeking Jesus out of despiration and the need to collide helps me to grow closer to him. As I grow closer to him, I wait for the big moment when we will collide, which will happen in his time, I know. Even a small little glimpse of Jesus is the start of a collision. If I collide with him, I will change. Regardless of my fears. I need to do it. If we collide, I'll look better and have hope.

Dear God, I want to collide with you. I want my life to change in a huge way. Please come and collide with me God. This is my call-out to you. Collide. Burst my comfort zone. Make my life be yours. Collide with me God.   

Anger Issues

When people get angry, they sometimes do things that they regret. Sometimes, you think about doing something that you'll regret. In my mind, it's one and the same. If you sin in your mind, in my opinion, it is like actually commiting the sin. I struggle with anger and sinning in my mind. I especially struggle with it when certain people get to me because I let them get to me. That is when I get convicted for sinning in my anger. The Bible even says not to do that. That's why I get convicted of it.

Ephesians 4:26 says, "In your anger do not sin:  Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry." That's not telling us that we shouldn't be angry. It points out that it is important to handle our anger properly. I wish that is was simple to live that. I struggle with it so much. I can say this stuff, but can I take my own advice?!

If I vented thoughtlessly, anger can hurt others and destroy relationships. If bottled up inside, it can cause us to become bitter and destroy us from within. If we nurse our anger, we will give Satan an opportunity to divide us. Don't let the day end before you begin to work on mending your relationships.

So, then, when I think about anger and this stuff, I think WWJD. What would Jesus do?! Jesus wouldn't sin in his anger, or at all for that matter. So, therefore, we should be imatators of God. Ephesians 5:1-2 says, "Be imatators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrafice to God."

Just as children imatate their parents, we should imatate Christ. His great love for us led him to sacrafice himself so that we might live. Our love for others should be of the same kind - A love that goes beyond affection to self - Sacraficing service.

Dear God, Please help me not to sin in my anger. Help me and others to not struggle with just anger in general. God, help me to imatate you. Help me God. Calm my anger.

The Lord's Plan

Sometimes in life, there are storms that take us off course, but that doesn't mean God doesn't have a plan to use us. So, saying that, stop complaining or bragging about your situation, and start allowing God to use you where you are. Do you trust God's plan? Well, be faithful to him, and he never breaks his promises. A versre that always reminds me about God's plan is Jeremiah 29:11. It says, "For I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord. Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." For some reason, maybe as a sign or something, that verse keeps popping up in my life. I can't help but think/imagine that God has something big planned for me to do in my lifetime.

When God reveals the future, his purpose goes beyond satisfying our curiosity. He wants to change our present behavior because of what we know about the future. Forever begins now; and a glimpse of God's plans for his followers should motivate us to serve him, no matter what the rest of the world may do. I found a verse that goes great with that. Its Micah 4:12. It says, "But they do not know the thoughts of the Lord; they do not understand his plan, he who gathers him like sheaves to the threshing floor."

Another good verse about the Lord's plan is Psalm 33:11. It says, "But the plans of the Lord stand firm forever, the purposes of his heart through all generations." Are you frustrated by inconsistencies you see in others, or even in yourself? Just let God counsel you, and trust his plans for your life. Remember, God is completely consistent.

For me, I'm saying that God made his plans the way he did for a reason. If we weren't in God's plan, we wouldnt even be here right now or ever. That's how I like to think of it.

Dear God, Please help me to realize that you made your plans the way you did for a reason. I know it God. Just help me to never forget it. No matter what.