A Heart For Jesus

  “The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.” Zephaniah 3:17 ‭‭ “God is in your midst”. I love that word “in”. One dictionary definition is “enclosed or surrounded by something else.” When your “in” your home, you’re surrounded by walls; roof overhead, you’re sheltered, it’s your place of refuge. God is “in” your midst. He shelters you, He surrounds you, He is your place of refuge. There is no place you can go where He is not. “Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me.” ‭‭(Psalm‬ ‭139:7-10‬ ESV‬‬). He is as close as your next heartbeat, He is the breath you breathe. He is the “Mighty One who

I’ve been spending time in Mark 6:30-52, and several of the verses struck me while I was reading, so I thought I’d share.  ‭‭The first verses that stood out for me were 31 and 34. The Apostles had returned from ministering to the people, and were telling Jesus all they had done. ”And he said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while.” For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat.“ Mark‬ ‭6‬:‭31‬ ‭ESV‬‬. No leisure to eat! That would have been a problem for me:) Anyway, He knew they needed to rest, to be refreshed, but what happens when they try to get away? People noticed and follow them! But, does Jesus become angry or frustrated at this intrusion or feel inconvenienced? No! Instead, “He had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd”.(v.34)    He put the needs of others ahead of his own. Oh that I would remember this when I feel inconvenienced! How many times in my life could I have gone the extra mile, or c

Charles Stanley’s Life Principle #19 says,  “Anything You Hold Too Tightly, You Will Lose” Life Principle 19 “Anything You Hold Too Tightly, You Will Lose What is it you hold tightly to? What would be hard for you to surrender if God asked you to? Or if He removed it from your life? Is it an attitude? Behavior? Money? Success? It will be different for all of us. Anything we set up as an idol that we “worship” instead of God. And as we learn from various Old Testament stories, God will not tolerate anything we place above Him. We are told in Deuteronomy 6:5(NIV), “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.” And in Exodus 20:3(NIV), God commands us, ‭‭ ““You shall have no other gods before me”. Jesus reminds us, in Matthew 6:24(NIV), “”No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”  Let us not become like the ric

  “If you are a saint God will continually upset your programme, and if you are wedded to your programme you will become that most obnoxious creature under heaven, an irritable saint”. Oswald Chambers Isn’t that the truth! Don’t we always want things to go our way. We plan out our day as if to say, “this is my plan God, this is how I would like the day to go.” I can almost hear Him say, “Oh really?, I have a better idea”. Let the complaining and frustration commence🤣.  So I have decided to claim Psalm 5:8 ESV, as my prayer. ”Lead me, O Lord, in your righteousness because of my enemies; make your way straight before me.“ 

”And they mourned and wept and fasted until evening for Saul and for Jonathan his son and for the people of the Lord and for the house of Israel, because they had fallen by the sword.“ ‭‭2 Samuel‬ ‭1‬:‭12‬ ‭ESV‬‬ “They” of course includes David. David “mourned” over Saul. Not only did he mourn, he wept and fasted! Saul, the one who was jealous of David and everything he did. Saul who tried to pin David to the wall, not once but twice with his spear to kill him! Saul who was always trying to hunt David down. Saul who allowed bitterness and envy to rule him. I personally would think David would celebrate that his tormentor was finally dead. But not David, he mourned, fasted and wept over the death of Saul.  I could learn a lot about forgiveness from David. It’s easy for me to want to hold a grudge, or want someone who has hurt me to     suffer hurt and know what it feels like. It’s easy to want to take revenge. But like David, Jesus calls me to    something much higher. In Matthew 5:43-4

”“Go,” Jesus replied, “your son will live.” The man took Jesus at his word and departed.“ John‬ ‭4‬:‭50‬ ‭NIV‬‬ “ The man took Jesus at his word”. His son lay dying, he begged Jesus to come to his house with him to heal his son. Out of curiosity, I looked up the distance to see how far the man had walked, because of course there were no cars in Jesus’s day! And this is what I found, “Distance between Cana and Capernaum is 26.51 km. This distance is equal to 16.47 miles, and 14.3 nautical miles”. He walked, essentially 16.5 miles! I can barely walk 3 miles. At first it seems like Jesus rebuked him for asking. His reply just seemed a bit harsh. ““Unless you people see signs and wonders,” Jesus told him, “you will never believe.””  (John 4:48 NIV). But the man was not deterred. He didn’t seem to take offense, didn’t turn away and leave, he just asked again for Jesus to come with him before his son died. But He (Jesus), didn’t go with him, He simply told the man to “go”, “your son will liv

  “Lord, how many are my foes! How many rise up against me! Many are saying of me, “God will not deliver him.”” Psalms 3:1-2 NIV “How many are my foes”! Although David wrote this Psalm when he was fleeing from his son Absalom and his foes were likely those wanting to kill him, haven’t I ever felt this way? Have you?  My foes may be different. My foes are the lies I hear whispered in my head, “there is no salvation for (you) in God”. My foes are doubts and fears that creep in and try to tell me “I’m wasting my time; there is no hope for you”.  But notice how David reassured himself. “But you, Lord, are a shield around me, my glory, the One who lifts my head high.” Psalms 3:3 NIV My shield. A shield makes me think of something that protects from something or someone else. A shield in David’s day was likely a piece of armor. Something that would protect from the enemies arrows. In Ephesians 6:16, Paul talks about the Shield of Faith. I am to “take up the shield of faith, with which you ca