A Heart For Jesus

  “Unless the Lord builds the house, those who labor in vain build it; unless the Lord guards the city, the watchman stays awake in vain.” (Psalm 127:1, NKJV) Have you ever wondered about the process of building a house? I may not be a home builder, but I can imagine that the first step would be to clear the land and level the ground before laying the foundation. You’d also need a skilled master builder to ensure that the house is constructed properly. Once the house is finished, it requires regular maintenance to prevent it from falling down. Perhaps we are like those new homes or were once in a similar state. Thankfully, we have the Master Builder, Jesus, who can come in and clear the land, removing the “weeds” that have taken root in our lives. We need Jesus to repair the cracks in our foundation and restore us to life. This verse emphasizes that our own strength is insufficient to build our faith. It states, “Unless the Lord builds the house, those who labor in vain build it.” ...

“”Truly I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them.” Mark 11:23 NIV Sometimes I can take things too literally. Like in this verse, Jesus says we can tell a mountain to move into the sea. Well, maybe not a literal mountain, but what about a difficult circumstance? A personal trial or struggle. What about fear or worry; insecurity or doubt? These could be considered “mountains”. So, what if we spoke to these “mountains”, like David. In 1 Samuel‬ ‭17:45‬ ‭(NIV), David is speaking to Goliath, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.” Now Goliath, as we know, was a big man, a giant, maybe even 9 feet tall! But David didn’t focus on the bigness of the giant, he focused on the bigness of His God! I  love how David spoke to his...

“Then Elisha prayed and said, “O Lord, please open his eyes that he may see.” So the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw, and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.” 2 Kings‬ ‭6‬:‭17‬ ‭ESV‬‬ ‭ Elisha’s servant Gehazi, was afraid because of an army that was coming against them, but Elisha saw the bigger picture, he prayed that the Lord would open Gehazi’s eyes and help him to see.    Have you ever felt this way? Problems keep piling up, your circumstances just go from bad to worse, every little thing seems to bother you, you feel like you’re under attack! All you can focus on is the problem at hand and you just don’t know what to do, you can’t “see” a way out.  In times like this, we too can pause, take a deep breath and pray that God would open our eyes, help us to see what He sees and trust in Him to make a way when there seems to be no way. We can pray, like Jehoshaphat in 2 Chronicles 20:12, “…We do not know what t...