Keeping our heart actively pursuing hope with the same relentlessness as life’s tumults takes devotion and focus.
Why does God allow these things? Is He heartless or distant? How else can we understand His love? How do we keep our heart from becoming sick in life’s situations?
1 John 1:3 What we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.”
Each afternoon at The THRESHING FLOOR , we share and discuss testimonies so that one life can enrich, encourage, and support multiple others. We operate and engage with the Holy Spirit in order that change will come in those lives who attend. In exchanging testimonies of God's deliverance we demonstrate His saving grace and faithfulness, and through this confession, His power can be transferred from life to life.
This month at The THRESHING FLOOR, we considered the state of our heart and the need for developing a strong spiritual heart muscle.
When our hopes and dreams are a long time in coming and we don’t even see them taking shape on the horizon our hearts can become sick. Unbelief can register in our thoughts. We begin to look more closely at our heart ache and less closely at our heart knowledge.
Proverbs 13:12
Hope deferred makes the heart sick but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life
Loss and loneliness are unavoidable at various times in life but the effects are extensively impacting. Part of our life, as sound believers in Jesus Christ, is to understand how God uses times such as these to develop character traits that ultimately empower and cause us to be fruitful.
This was the testimony of my guest this month at The THRESHING FLOOR who shared how promising dreams and opportunities were taking shape as an adolescent only to have them torn from her. Also, by the time she was a young adult, she had lost both of her parents. Yet, through her tragedies God was establishing her, planting her where she would seek Him in solitude and quietness, learning to rest in Him even through her pain. Looking back she is able to see the way God directed her footsteps through each hurdle, though she didn't know it at the time.
John 14:6
He will not leave you as an orphan
It's a funny thing that the human soul can easily feel like an orphan. Loss of anything significant can foster that orphan identity. Loss of relationship or friendship, marriage, children, parents, community, loss of our place of belonging or situational stability can all make us feel bereft; bereft of roots and significance and belonging. If we don't place our identity in the person of Jesus Christ who came to reestablish our place as sons and daughters of God, we will forever default to an orphan mentality.
But the bible speaks to that. It says we are not cast down or forsaken.
Deuteronomy 31:8
The Lord Himself goes before you and will be with you; He will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged”
We are brought into a spiritual kingdom family of greater significance through Christ Jesus and it's only that that can plunder other overwhelming emotions and reactions (insert yours here).
Our first battleground is that of our mind and the attitudes of the heart.
If we've become heart sick, we need to contemplate Romans chapter 5, which teaches how suffering builds perseverance, and perseverance builds character, and character builds hope, and then it says hope doesn’t disappoint us.
What kind of hope is the bible talking about? It's not a soulful, fingers-crossed wish. It’s a hope that has the substance of a future that can only be seen supernaturally. It's a hope that is planted in our hearts from God and takes root through prayer.
I have spent quite a bit of time thinking over this verse over the last few years. The last twenty years of my life has felt like the planet Jupiter. Stormy, volatile and relentless. The book of Ecclesiastes in the bible says there is a season for everything. But this has felt less like changing seasons and more like a house fire.
This is when I've been caught up in the futility of the soul. I've been caught up in my five senses. I've felt the need to ask, how does it look 'in reality'; how does it make me feel; what do I feel I need that I'm not getting?
God gives us a sixth sense. That’s where He places our ability to perceive with our spirit. That's where He places our faith. The hope that He gives us is developed through faith.
When that spirit-given hope is long in being fulfilled, it’s that spirit-given hope that defers to the soul and makes our heart sick. We wait and wait for those longings to be fulfilled - we wait for our lives to become like that tree of life in Proverbs 13:12. And when it doesn't when and how we hope for with the soul, we become disappointed, which can lead to disillusionment and a heart sickness.
What does the bible say to this? Although there will be sorrows in life, we aren't created to have sick hearts. This is the journey of the spirit and the soul at war.
Romans 5:5
And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.
God’s love is given. Poured into our hearts. God’s love is redemptive. If He gave us something - a hope that will not disappoint - He will fulfil it.
I asked my guest how she experienced God pouring His love into her heart. She learnt to meditate and wait on God growing up as a Catholic. Now, there are many views on Catholicism but my guest's experience is that she learned to contemplate the person of Jesus Christ. This quiet reflection taught her to be still in His presence and rest. From this practise, she learnt how to lean into Him and seek Him in her tragedies. When she was born again (confessed her belief in the Lordship of Jesus Christ and said her prayer of salvation), God had already been doing a great work in her life that she hadn't been aware of. He continued in a whole new way, showing her that her pain had a purpose. He taught her in those humble reflections that she needed to hold her life situations lightly and trust in Him.
Resting, With Thanksgiving
Psalm 100:4 (NIV)
Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.
(NLV) Go into His gates giving thanks and into His holy place with praise. Give thanks to Him. Honor His name.
We don't enter His domain with complaints and a negative attitude. Some of us have the propensity to call God to account. You said-you promised-I believed-I trusted-where’s the results? That’s not resting. It's not surrendering. Nor is it honour or reverence.
If we want to learn to sit in stillness and rest, there are scriptures like Psalm 145 through to Psalm 150 that help us fill our minds and our hearts with the right perspective of reverent, praise-filled awe. We need to remember who God is, His character and His heart toward us. We can become way to casual and way too causal with God.
Remember, the offering of the Kingdom of God is freedom.
The Substance of Praise
Psalm 22:3
God inhabits the praises of His people.
When I meditate on His Word I am led into praise. I am connected to God through praise. I am connected to heavenly places with the angelic realm when I praise. I don't have to sing to praise, although that seems to come naturally, just as it does for angels. It's my heart that I bring in praise and worship first before I open my mouth or open the bible.
Psalm 145:18-21 (NIV)
The LORD is near to all who call on Him, to all who call on Him in truth. He fulfils the desires of those who fear Him; He hears their cry and saves them. The LORD watches over all who love Him, but all the wicked He will destroy. My mouth will speak in praise of the LORD. Let every creature praise His holy name for ever and ever.
Psalm 147:13-18
He strengthens the bars of your gates and blesses your people within you. He grants peace to your borders and satisfies you with the finest of wheat. He sends His command to the earth; His word runs swiftly. He spreads the snow like wool and scatters the frost like ashes. He hurls down His hail like pebbles. Who can withstand His icy blast? He sends His Word and melts them; He stirs up His breezes and the waters flow. .. Praise the Lord!
Psalm 150:6
Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.
What should we be doing with our breath?
The bible doesn’t give us any other direction but to praise! It doesn't tell us to praise when things are praise-worthy and gripe when you feel it's valid. I was reminded of this last month. I expressed a discontented feeling to a friend and soon afterwards heard a sharp reprimand in my spirit saying "It's not up to you to hold God to account."
I'm so glad the Holy Spirit checks me so quickly. It's too easy to carry wrong thoughts, to express discontent, to consider our feelings above the instruction of the Lord, and soon enough develop a disappointed, bitter spirit. Keeping ourselves alert to this is so important, before it reaches our heart.
The Word of God is sharper than a double edged sword, able to cut between soul and spirit and judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart (Hebrews 4:12). Before we get too comfortable with our thoughts and attitudes we should reconsider if they're in line with the Word, being careful to guard our heart and mind, and being careful with the things we confess with our tongue (Proverbs 4:23-24).
Hebrews 13:15 (NLV)
Let us give thanks all the time to God through Jesus Christ. Our gift to Him is to give thanks. Our lips should always give thanks to His name.
Psalm 50:23
He who gives a gift of thanks honors Me. And to him who makes his way right, I will show him the saving power of God.”
God’s Word is transformative. We can’t heal our own heart. We have to offer it to God.
Praise and the Spiritual Heart Muscle
Our heart, soul (mind) and body are in a constant accept or decline transaction of God’s goodness to us. When we accept it, we praise Him. When we are doubting His goodness we cannot praise. Our hearts cannot engage in a communion with Him. This is part of developing our spiritual heart muscle.
James 1:2-4
Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
This scripture illustrates that testing is used by God to develop us so that we grow into a maturity that makes us complete. That's quite astounding.
1 Peter 1:6-8
In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him;
When we walk with a new heart and a new spirit that God gives us, we will recognise His heart at work in us. My proximity to Him shows certain attributes of His, just as my distance from Him exposes attributes of my soul. They are poles apart. I write about these things in my blog, The Absence of Light, A City On a Hill & The Impossible Made Possible. This portion of the blog reads:
My proximity to Him will show greater love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5). Add to that humility, forgiveness and thankfulness (Colossians 3), purity (1 John 3) grace and compassion (Ephesians 4). Plus truthfulness, hope, faith and endurance (1 Corinthians 13) along with wisdom and understanding (Proverbs 4).
My distance from Him will expose the things inside me that the bible counsels to get rid of – impurity, deceitfulness, anger, bitterness, rage, brawling, slander, malice, and darkened understanding (Ephesians 4), greed (Colossians 3), jealousy, boasting, offenses, irritability, rudeness, selfishness, injustice (1 Corinthians 13) faithlessness and corruption (Matthew 17:17) covetousness, unfaithfulness and fear (Exodus 20).
We are all equal in this. We can be close to the Lord and receive the wealth He offers first to our spirit, which is reborn in the perfection of Jesus Christ and then to our heart and mind, which become transformed. Even our bodies receive a refreshing (Proverbs 3:8). Or we can be distant from the Lord's perfection if we live from a soulful position that perpetuates it's own sinful imperfection.
Ezekiel 36:26
And I will put a new heart and a new spirit in you
When the Holy Spirit pours His love into our hearts we simply open ourselves to receive from Him without disbelief. Our mind will foster a different temperament. Our heart will show different fruit. It's not a magic cure-all. There is always a transaction that takes place between soul and spirit, (will, emotion and spirit). We have different responses to situations and people because we have a different knowledge of reality. God's love will renew us.
The effect of the development of our spiritual heart muscle can be seen in the gradual changing of our circumstances that God is working out for our good. I explain it this way in my blog, My Will, His Sacrifice, His Will, My Surrender:
We have to be long-suffering and patient in the process. We have to be willing to fight when He says fight, and be quiet when He says be quiet. Love when He says love, and stand back when He says stand back. Don’t get entangled when He says don’t get entangled, and move forward into the mess when He says you can handle it.
God's gifts are all about life, never about condemnation, fear or guilt.
Romans 8:2 says the law of the spirit has come to bring life.
Romans 8:9 says we are now in the realm of the spirit if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you.
When we allow His Spirit to pour His love into our heart we live in the new life that God gives us to walk in. With the new heart that He gives us, the muscle that we develop prays, ‘strengthen me in my circumstances’. It sees an overcoming life as one that prospers because of endurance not because it has no troubles. We are set to live sustainably because we rest in the knowledge of His greatness despite what happens in this world. Sin is something that we deal with but the Holy Spirit circumnavigates it when we live in Him.
Remember this passage:
Psalm 16:11
You reveal the path of life to me; in your presence is abundant joy; at your right hand are eternal pleasures.
Living in His Presence is where our hearts are continually healed from broken situations and people. Living in His Presence, intentionally, is where He gives us revelation for our lives. When He pours His love into our hearts we cannot help but be changed in multiple ways and layers.
If we don’t learn to live in His Presence we don’t live in this fullness of joy. We need to embrace all the experiences in our lives - good and bad - as a gift that God uses for us to become mature and complete, lacking nothing.
Pray: Ask God to help you to surrender everything so that you can praise Him in every situation and open your heart to the love that He wants to pour in, being made whole.
I pray that you will be forever changed through a deep and revelatory relationship with Him.
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