Morning thoughts.

The heart of God is a beautiful, beautiful thing. 

And He shares His heart with us. 

What a privilege.

He enjoys sharing His heart with us. He wants to share His heart with us.

What a gift.

God is full of gifts.

Always lavishing (I love this word) us with gifts from Him.

Because He loves us.

With an UNCONDITIONAL love.

Which is so hard for us to grasp, because everything we tend to do is conditional.

But not God.

Praise be to Him!

Deep down, we all want to share our heart with people.

Only fear, and pride hold us back.

Nothing holds God back from sharing His heart with us.

Not even our fear and pride.

For He is greater.

He will push through to share His heart with us.

Just ask.

Sometimes we don't even have to ask.

But He likes it when we do.

Just like we want to be wanted, so does God.

Matthew 7:11 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him! 

Walls

We all have walls in our hearts.

Some have more than others.

They come in all shapes and sizes.

Some of ours are taller, some of ours are thicker and some of ours encircle our whole heart.

But like the walls of Jericho, they will eventually all come tumbling down. (I encourage you to read the story and compare it to walls of our own hearts. It's a good thing I'm finding to ponder and study. The story is in Joshua 6) 

  

As believer's, followers of Jesus Christ, we are united in Him. Making us all family, since we are all co-heirs and children of God! 

What I have been rather convicted of in the past week is that we are to proclaim the power and victory of God.

    "For the Kingdom of God does not consist in talk but in power." 1 Corinthians 4:20

We are to walk in victory for ourselves and we are also to fight for our fellow brothers and sisters. To proclaim victory not only for ourselves, but for others (or for some, this may need to be vice versa). 

We need to SHOUT, the glory of God, His power and Authority over all the walls in our lives. We need to be persistent in the fighting and not lose hope, in the tearing down of these walls of our hearts.

I am just as guilty, if not worse, than those that God reveals to me with specific walls. I pray for them, I proclaim truth for them, I declare Gods goodness and His victory, yet I forget how many walls I have and even how much thicker and taller they have become over the past year. I am guilty of not being persistent enough in prayer. I am guilty of walking around defeated, everyday. 

God wants to tear down our walls. They do no good in community, and relationships. They bring lack of trust and disunity. How is that honoring to God?

Proclaim the victory and power of God. Let Him tear down your walls piece by piece, chunk by chunk. It will be extremely painful and uncomfortable, but it is nothing in comparison to a death on a cross.

Trusting God is a battle

 

Recently, I have found myself asking the question…
   “Do I really trust God?”

I’m finding that recently more and more I think about my future… and with that, I’m seeing the lack of trust I have, and that is just not cool.

I get too caught up in wondering if I will get married…and with that thought process…what if getting married will take me away from Off The Wall? take me away from the life I love and feel called to. Will I have kids? How much will it affect how I do ministry? Do I really want those things then?
…or,
Well, what if I don’t get married? Will I still be able somehow to have kids?
Will I ever have enough money to survive comfortably?

….and so the questions can go on and on and the scenarios can continue to be played out in my mind.

And amidst all of those questions, and thoughts, I’m just trying to play out what my life will look like. I’m just trying to play god. To maintain control of what direction I take and where God leads my life. When really, I have zero control over any of the things I so often find myself wondering about.

When really, all I need to do is just trust God. I’ve actually fallen asleep, with tears in my eyes, repeating the words “I trust You God” recently. I need that reminder, that deep down, I do trust Him. Because reality is, it is really hard to trust God at times.

But why?! I have no reason not to trust Him. He has never failed me, and His Word says He never will. He is always faithful. And He has blessed me so much with a life full of my dreams and desires, so why would I think that He would want to take all of that away just to take it away.
I fully believe that He is Good.

Yet the sin inside of me, my depraved nature, tells me otherwise. It tries to trip me up. And a lot of times, it doesn’t just try, but it succeeds. And that’s when I realize that I haven’t been trusting my Creator, my Father. And that’s when I repent, and ask for forgiveness.

Because I do trust Him.

 

“do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.”
Philippians 4:6-8