Above All Else, Guard Your Heart

It has been a long time since I have written a post...

Life is changing. 
In the changes our hearts feel many different things at once, like strings being pulled in different directions.  Our minds begin to wonder and wander, and it drags our distressed hearts along. 

It is important to guard your heart as things change.  You feel vulnerable, sometimes even betrayed by sudden changes.  You want someone to understand, to know what your talking about, comfort you and sometimes in our "distress" we turn to people first-- instead of God.  In our insecurity, uncertainty, and vulnerability we desire security, and comfort and sometimes a heart, in a whirl of emotions, goes running to another human being.  When we feel very human, with our hearts tired of trying to choose the things our minds wonder about, we run to another humans like ourselves to find answers.  We need to remember that we first need to run to God.
The One who made our hearts knows us like no other.  He knows all about hard decisions and strong feelings that try to lead us astray.  Just look at Jesus.  We need to first go to Him. Like a teenager who, filled with so many uncertain emotions and confused by life pours out her heart through a pen into the pages of her diary, we need to pour our hearts out first through prayer to our Maker, our Provider, our Protector-- the Lover of our Soul.
Instead we tend to run to others and give them pieces of our heart that belong to God, and that were not for us to give or for them to take.  Then we end up feeling robbed and broken hearted.  God made us for Him. Our hearts were made to be one with His.  Sin separated us, but God loved us so much He sent His Son to die so that we would not be separated forever, but instead, remain forever with Him in heaven.  He died so he could purify our hearts and make them whole again, so we can become One with Christ. After all we are His church, we are His bride.
Don't get me wrong, I am not saying deep relationships aren't right.  I am just saying guard your heart and keep it safe in these deep relationships.  Your heart is God's and like Maya Angelou once said, "A women's heart must be so hidden in God that a man has to seek God to find her."
Your relationships should be for God's glory, not your own. 
"Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart."
~Psalm 37:4 ESV
Watch out for giving your heart away before it is time.  Now, is when your heart will be tested.  In vulnerability Satan attacks-- be on your guard.

You may ask, "Well, how do I know I am giving my heart away?"

First of all, you need to ask God to check your heart and bring to light anything that He finds displeasing.  Then ask for His strength to guard your heart, especially in that certain area He addresses.
Check your motives. "Am I sharing this because it feels good to tell someone, or because I want their advice?" 
Would I feel uncomfortable if my Mom was reading this over my shoulder?  Would I say this to my brother or Dad?
If you'd feel uncomfortable if your Mom read your texts, facebook, or emails etc. with this person, and/or you would not ever say something like that to your brother or Dad, chances are, you are starting to give your heart away.  So step back a bit.
"Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it."
~Proverbs 4:23 NIV
There will be a time to share your heart, pour it on the table.  God will choose that day and we need to trust Him with that. 
In the mean time, we need to guard our hearts.

To God Alone Be The Glory!

We can't be silent.

Slavery still exists.  We can't be silent.

 

Francis Chan Sermon Jam ~ Have you ever studied this Book for yourself?" HD

A New Season

It feels like a new season.  I can smell it in the air and feel it stirring in my soul.  The Everlasting One breathes His breath of life into me with His never-ending Love and stirs my heart.  Change is coming.  You can feel it in the air.  Just the way I know Autumn is coming, although nature shows no sign of it yet.  There is a season of everything in life.  Life is an ever changing and growing journey. 

And I know as I walk through the seasons of my life, my Savior will be beside me. He holds my hand as I walk through the orange leaves, frail snowflakes, young shoots, and the full blooming flowers of life with his pierced feet walking alongside mine.  There is a new season of life, but I do not have to enter it alone.  My Savior will tenderly mold me through these seasons, until I go to be with him in all His glory.  This is a new Season: and I am not alone.

 

"There is a time for everything,

and a season for every activity under heaven:

a time to be born and a time to die,

a time to plant and a time to uproot,

a time to kill and a time to heal,

a time to tear down and a time to build,

a time to weep and a time to laugh,

a time to mourn and a time to dance,

a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,

a time to embrace and a time to refrain,

a time to search and a time to give up,

a time to keep and a time to throw away,

a time to tear and a time to mend,

a time to be silent and a time to speak,

a time to love and a time to hate,

a time for war and a time for peace."

~Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 

 

Lecrae - Beautiful Feet

Easter Sunday

After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the
other Mary went to look at the tomb.
There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was
like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. The guards were so
afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men.
The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going
ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.’ Now I have told you.”
So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples.
Suddenly Jesus met them. “Greetings,” he said. They came to him, clasped
his feet and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.”

While the women were on their way, some of the guards went into the city and reported to the
chief priests everything that had happened. When the chief priests had met with the elders and devised a plan, they gave the soldiers a large sum of money, telling them, “You are to say, ‘His disciples came during the night and stole him away while we were asleep.’ If this report gets to the governor, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.” So the soldiers took the money and did as they were instructed. And this story has been widely circulated among the Jews to this very day.

Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go.
When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the
very end of the age.”
Matthew 28

But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.

Isaiah 53:5

The Day After Good Friday...

The next day, the one after Preparation Day, the chief priests and the Pharisees
went to Pilate. “Sir,” they said,“we remember that while he was still alive that deceiver said, ‘After three days I will rise again.’ So give the order for the tomb to be made secure until the third day. Otherwise, his disciples may come and steal the body and tell the people that he has been raised from the dead. This last deception will be worse than the first.”
“Take a guard,”Pilate answered. “Go, make the tomb as secure as you know how.” So
they went and made the tomb secure by putting a seal on the stone and posting
the guard.
Matthew 27: 62-66