A Heart For Jesus

  “So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.” ‭‭Luke‬ ‭14‬:‭33‬ ‭ESV‬‬ To “renounce all that I have”, what would this look like for me? What is Jesus asking? Because, for someone like me with control issues, this verse is a bit scary, just being honest!  A dictionary definition for the word “renounce” is to, “formerly declare one’s abandonment of, a claim, right, or possession”; reject or stop using”. Biblically it means, “to sever any bond or claim that may exist”. So, what is it that I or we, 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? Person? 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 a

Psalm 121, A Song of Ascents  “I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade on your right hand. The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life. The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore.”(ESV) “A song of ascents”.    The title of this Psalm stood out for me today. I don’t always pay much attention to the “titles”, but couldn’t help but wonder what that meant. So I did a little research, and found that Psalms 120-134, are all called by the same name! I thought that was interesting:) Apparently, these Psalms were songs the Hebrews would have sung on their pilgrimage to Jerusalem or possibly to climb Mount Zion or even in

“You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord God is an everlasting rock.” Isaiah‬ ‭26‬:‭3‬-‭4‬ ‭ESV What does it mean to “keep” something? Keep is such an awesome word, with many meanings. To keep could mean to guard, protect, or put a fence around; to be faithful to as in keeping a promise or even to watch over and defend.  The Bible speaks of God as our “keeper”. Psalm 121:5-8 says, “The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade on your right hand. The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life. The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore.”  ‭Isn’t it comforting to think of the Lord as our keeper? ‭To know that He is always with us, protecting us, watching over us! ‭‭This verse also says that God keeps us in “perfect peace” when our minds our “stayed” on Him. “Perfect peace”, who woul