Day 60
My Heart
Learning to Trust Again
Almost a month ago I felt in my spirit the desire to write about being still. I that I mention the wonderful story of Peter walking on water. In my studying this morning
the next first scripture was about a "trusting heart"
So I figured since Christ ask Peter...asked us "What's gotten into you faint of Heart"...I thought I continue since I just recently got into what the new testament says about the heart.
There has been a lot to study...
A Heart that Trust
Jesus didn't hesitate.
He reached down and grabbed his hand.
Then he said, "Faint-heart, what got into you?"
Scripture reassures us, "No one who trusts God like this—
heart and soul—
will ever regret it." It's exactly the same no matter what a person's religious background may be: the same God for all of us, acting the same incredibly generous way to everyone who calls out for help. "Everyone who calls, 'Help, God!'
gets help."
When we arrived in Macedonia province, we couldn't settle down. The fights in the church and the fears in our hearts kept us on pins and needles. We couldn't relax because we didn't know how it would turn out. Then the God who lifts up the downcast lifted our heads and our hearts with the arrival of Titus. We were glad just to see him, but the true reassurance came in what he told us about you: how much you cared, how much you grieved, how concerned you were for me. I went from worry to tranquility in no time!
You know me
You know my Heart
For who do you know that really knows you, knows your heart? And even if they did, is there anything they would discover in you that you could take credit for? Isn't everything you have and everything you are sheer gifts from God? So what's the point of all this comparing and competing? You already have all you need. You already have more access to God than you can handle. Without bringing either Apollos or me into it, you're sitting on top of the world—at least God's world—and we're right there, sitting alongside you!
Remember How Much
I Love You
Anyone who eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Master irreverently is like part of the crowd that jeered and spit on him at his death. Is that the kind of "remembrance" you want to be part of? Examine your motives, test your heart, come to this meal in holy awe.
Don't loose Trust
[ Teach with Your Life ]
The Spirit makes it clear that as time goes on, some are going to give up on the faith and chase after demonic illusions put forth by professional liars. These liars have lied so well and for so long that they've lost their capacity for truth.
They will tell you not to get married.
They'll tell you not to eat this or that food—perfectly good food God created to be eaten heartily and with thanksgiving by believers who know better!
Everything God created is good, and to be received with thanks.
Nothing is to be sneered at and thrown out. God's Word and our prayers make every item in creation holy.
You've been raised on the Message of the faith and have followed sound teaching. Now pass on this counsel to the followers of Jesus there, and you'll be a good servant of Jesus. Stay clear of silly stories that get dressed up as religion. Exercise daily in God—no spiritual flabbiness, please! Workouts in the gymnasium are useful, but a disciplined life in God is far more so, making you fit both today and forever.
You can count on this. Take it toheart.
This is why we've thrown ourselves into this venture so totally.
We're banking on the living God, Savior of all men and women, especially believers.
I typically loose trust when the bottom happens. It is the ONE THING that pulls at my heart string...this is where the weakness lie, BUT praise God for sight to see my part
Run away from infantile indulgence. Run after mature righteousness—faith, love, peace—joining those who are in honest and serious prayer before God. Refuse to get involved in inane discussions; they always end up in fights. God's servant must not be argumentative,
but a gentle listener and a teacher who keeps cool, working firmly but patiently with those who refuse to obey.
You never know how or when God might sober them up with a change of heart and a turning to the truth, enabling them to escape the Devil's trap, where they are caught and held captive, forced to run his errands.
My New Reflection
When I read this scripture I felt like it was written for me...for this time, for the closing o this journey. The "distress" that brought me to this has brought more growth! I believe I am coming out with a pure heart...
And now, isn't it wonderful all the ways in which this distress has goaded you closer to God? You're more alive, more concerned, more sensitive, more reverent, more human, more passionate, more responsible. Looked at from any angle, you've come out of this with purity of heart. And that is what I was hoping for in the first place when I wrote the letter. My primary concern was NOT for the one who did the wrong or even the one wronged, but for (shamael)—that (I) would realize and act upon the deep, deep ties between us before God. That's what happened—and (I) felt just great!
So here's what I think:
The best thing you can do right now is to finish what you started last year and not let those good intentions grow stale. Your heart's
been in the right place all along.
You've got what it takes to finish it up, so go to it. Once the commitment is clear, you do what you can,
not what you can't.
The heartregulates the hands.
This isn't so others can take it easy while you sweat it out.
No, you're shoulder to shoulder with them all the way,
your surplus matching their deficit, their surplus matching your deficit.
In the end you come out even.
As it is written, Nothing left over to the one with the most, Nothing lacking to the one with the least. I thank God for giving Titus the same devoted concern for you that I have. He was most considerate of how we felt, but his eagerness to go to you and help out with this relief offering is his own idea...about doing this work of sharing God's gifts to honor God as well as we can, taking every precaution against scandal.
But what happens when we live God's way?
He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard—things like affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity. We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people. We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments, not needing to force our way in life, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely.
So, friends, take a firm stand, feet on the ground and head high. Keep a tight grip on what you were taught, whether in personal conversation or by our letter. May Jesus himself and God our Father, who reached out in love and surprised you with gifts of unending help and confidence, put a fresh heart in you, invigorate your work, enliven your speech.
I'm an ORIGINAL!
Since this is the kind of life we have chosen,
the life of the Spirit, let us make sure that we do not just hold it as an idea in our heads or a sentiment in our hearts, but work out its implications in every detail of our lives. That means we will not compare ourselves with each other as if one of us were better and another worse. We have far more interesting things to do with our lives.
Each of us is an original.
Prayer
I have one request, dear friends: Pray for me. Pray strenuously with and for me—to God the Father, through the power of our Master Jesus, through the love of the Spirit—that I will be delivered from the lions' den of unbelievers in Judea. Pray also that my relief offering to the Jerusalem believers will be accepted in the spirit in which it is given. Then, God willing, I'll be on my way to you with a light and eager heart, looking forward to being refreshed by your company. God's peace be with all of you. Oh, yes!
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