The power of ‘heart’

I watched a documentary about the founding of the nation of Israel last week.  Days after the UN declared the partition of Palestine in 1948, the Jewish state was created. A few days later five surrounding nations mobilized to destroy the new state, declaring their intent to ‘push the Jews into the sea.’  Against amazing odds, Israel stood up to the armies that outnumbered theirs by the thousands. With a laughable air force and limited munitions they fought to survive and they brought the attackers to a standstill! It was a costly war for the Jewish state in which 1%  of the population died. What do many historians think made the difference?  Heart! For Israel, it was win or die; with no middle ground. Those who fought were willing to die to prevent another Holocaust.

If transformed behavior is desired, moving a person’s heart, stirring his emotions, is at least as important, perhaps even more so, than convincing him with reason.

The Bible urges a ‘changed heart’ for those who would live godly. We can make all kinds of argument for serving the Lord, turning from those things that He abhors. We can point out the folly of sin and the reward of righteousness, but until the heart is changed, there will be little or no observable discipleship! No wonder we read this direction - "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts." (Deuteronomy 6:4-6, NIV)  This passage is part of the Shema, the core prayer of the Jews, prayed by the devout at least twice a day!

Jesus repeated it for those of us who are His disciples. "One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?” “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’" (Mark 12:28-30, NIV)

We give ourselves to what and whom we love! Nobody had to coax me to care for Bev in her time of critical illness prior to her death. Nobody had to remind me, “Jerry, this is your obligation.” I loved her and nothing was too much to give. In those months, I turned my life inside out to make certain that she had everything she needed to enjoy the best quality of possible at that time. Was I noble? Was I unique? Not at all. I simply loved.

Do you love God, heart deep?

The Bible teaches us about the source of devotion. It is not just a choice. It is a response! "Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love." (1 John 4:7-8, NIV)  "We love because he first loved us." (1 John 4:19, NIV)  Want to experience a changed heart?  Look to the One who loves you. Pray for a vision of the love of the Father, most clearly displayed in Jesus, who lovingly left His perfection to enter our sinful world, who took our sin on Himself at the Cross, and who now extends to us the full rights of restoration to a place in the family of God!

Love is costly, but rewarding. When we have received His love and are living in love, we find the richest possible life now and enjoy the promise of life eternal.

Here is my prayer for us this Monday morning.  It is my most beloved passage in the Scripture. Soak your mind in the truth and let your heart be transformed.

"I kneel before the Father, from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.

And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen." (Ephesians 3:14-21, NIV)
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The Love Of God

The love of God is greater far

Than tongue or pen can ever tell

It goes beyond the highest star

And reaches to the lowest hell

The guilty pair bowed down with care

God gave His Son to win

His erring child He reconciled

And pardoned from his sin

O love of God how rich and pure

How measureless and strong

It shall forevermore endure

The saints and angels song

When years of time shall pass away

And earthly thrones and kingdoms fall

When men who here refuse to pray

On rocks and hills and mountains call

God's love so sure shall still endure

All measureless and strong

Redeeming grace to Adam's race

The saints and angels song

Could we with ink the ocean fill

And were the skies of parchment made

Were every stalk on earth a quill

And every man a scribe by trade

To write the love of God above

Would drain the ocean dry

Nor could the scroll contain the whole

Though stretched from sky to sky

Frederick Martin Lehman | Meir Ben Isaac Nehorai

© Words: Public Domain

But, I want … more!

Yesterday, while walking in the cemetery where Bev’s body awaits the Resurrection, I was challenged about my contentment in Christ. I find myself wishing, too often, for different circumstances, thinking that somehow I would be better ‘if only.’  Does that happen to you? Do you grow restless or lose hope because you are convinced that you need something else, that some situation in your life has to change before you can be an effective, happy Christian?  As I kept thinking about that, my prayer became a simple one:  “Christ Jesus, be enough in my heart!”   

Chris Tomlin’s song says, "All of You, is more than enough for all of me, for every thirst and every need;  You satisfy me with Your love, and all I have in You, is more than enough!"  Nice poetry, or truth?  Do we believe it or just sing it? Is He really our greatest treasure? Am I nurturing my love for Him in ways that, if everything I cherish were taken from me, I would still have enough in Christ Jesus to be satisfied deeply and fully?  

The Word says that He is ALL we need. Will we accept that? Read this inspired text slowly: "God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work." (2 Corinthians 9:8, KJV)   Another way to say it is that He has provided everything we need to be all that He desires us to be.  “Lord, increase my faith,” is my only response.  I am captivated by so many other things, convinced that I need this or that, to be here or there, before I can be a joyful Christian.

•             Do you struggle with some temptation? 
                In Christ, you are empowered to overcome it.  

•             Are you fighting fear of the future? 
                                Christ is bigger than tomorrow and is already preparing you to meet its challenges.

•             Are you dealing with a sense of futility and/or loss? 
                                In Christ, there is meaning and hope! 

He is more than Enough for everything - IF we are willing to radically put our trust and hope in Him.

I face myself and ask, “Are you willing celebrate the sufficiency of Christ?”  The only alternative to receiving from His hand is to join in the sin that eventually destroyed a generation of the people of God who rejected the daily manna in the wilderness. When they kept on whining for the food of Egypt, they cut themselves off from His Presence; faith failed, and they died outside of the Promised Land.  What a sobering lesson!

Two things are demanded of us to know the sufficiency of Christ Jesus - faith and submission.  

James says that in the middle of our trials, we need to ask God for what we need. "You do not have, because you do not ask God." (James 4:2, NIV) We do not have to beg.  We come, open hands and open hearts, and place ourselves before Him, allowing Him to change us from the inside out so that the ‘desires of our heart’ are changed causing us to want what God wants. If we want things of this world, we have no assurance that God will give them to us just because we request them of Him.  

Our submission is one of rest, confidence in His love and care that allows us to lay down. Remember the picture of the 23^rd Psalm?  "God, my shepherd! I don’t need a thing. You have bedded me down in lush meadows, you find me quiet pools to drink from. True to your word, you let me catch my breath and send me in the right direction." (Psalm 23:1-3, The Message)  Jesus, our Shepherd, is providing for us. He has given Himself for us, to the extent of setting aside all his Divine prerogatives to become our Servant.  The demonstration of this love should cause us to abandon ourselves to Him. Our prayer of submission might well be a wordless laying down in His Presence, there finding rest!

Here is a declaration of His sufficiency.  Read this word from the Word with a sacrifice of praise - regardless of your need right now.  

"When I think of all this, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father,
the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth.

I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources
he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit.

Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. 
Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong.

And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should,

how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is.

May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully.
Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God." (Ephesians 3:14-19, NLT)

____________________

Enough

All of You is more than enough for all of me

For ev'ry thirst and ev'ry need

You satisfy me with Your love

And all I have in You is more than enough

You're my supply my breath of life

Still more awesome than I know

You're my reward worth living for

Still more awesome than I know

And

You're my sacrifice of greatest price

Still more awesome than I know

You're my coming King You are ev'rything

Still more awesome than I know

More than all I want more than all I need

You are more than enough for me

More than all I know more than all I can say

You are more than enough

Chris Tomlin | Louie Giglio

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Crushed

Pain brings up the most persistent questions for me; most likely for you, too. The question is age-old: “Why does a loving God let suffering happen?” No answer is perfect. For me, there is one answer that is inescapably true. C. S. Lewis wrote that “God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pain; it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”  When life is rich with sunshine and resources, we become self-satisfied, increasingly wrapped up in ourselves. Many develop a kind of conceit, deluded into believing that they have created their success, and all so often, so ready to accuse those in difficult circumstances of being less capable, or even lesser persons!

Levi Lusko is a young pastor from Montana, a man of many gifts and abilities. In a book he titled, Through the Eyes of a Lion, he tells the story of his daughter’s death. Lenya went to visit her Grandparents for dinner and a few hours later, her life here on earth came to an abrupt close during a severe asthma attack. Told without self-pity, the story urges us to grab onto God’s promise of eternal life and the Resurrection.  Levi does not gloss over the grief, nor does he diminish the real struggle that accompanies loss. This is no simplistic tract of triumphalism!  He offers, instead, a template for applying the Word of God to life, signposts to the path of faith that will protect us from despair.

In one chapter, he talks about the new facets to his life that emerged after Lenya’s death. I could identify with his realization that his pain had broken up hard places in his life and made him much more tender. It has happened to me, too. Once a man who resisted tears, who was too often brusque (I have a ways to go on this), I am now touched easily by pain, much more empathetic than I once was. Yes, God used pain, awful loss, to break my heart, in a good way.

But, even more important, Lenya’s dad speaks of a new ‘anointing’ that flowed into his life.  In a section sub-titled, Crushed Like An Olive, he explains. In the Bible priests and kings were ‘anointed’ in a ritual that involved having olive oil poured over their heads. Here’s a reference - “…the anointing oil that was poured over Aaron’s head, that ran down his beard and onto the border of his robe.” Psalm 133:2 (NLT) This olive oil that marked that person as God’s own, as one prepared for service, as one empowered by the Spirit was the product of a crushing.  A press applied great pressure to the olives and it produced the oil that was used for anointing.  Now it gets good. “Jesus, who is both King and Priest forever, when to Calvary, but first he went to the Garden of Gethsemane. Gethsemane means ‘olive press.’ …. Beyond the ceremonial oil, there in the Garden, Jesus knelt down and was in such agony (of spirit), under such great pressure that He sweat drops of blood. There He was crushed before He went to the cross. … You cannot get to Calvary without going through Gethsemane.”  (Lusko)

My greatest desire is to be used by God to do His work. More than money, fame, or fun times I want to know Him and make Him known. But, I cannot do that without an anointing of the Spirit. Nor, can you. The cost of that anointing is crushing! Isaiah said that the Redeemer would be "despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not." (Isaiah 53:3, NIV)  And, Jesus was that! But, from His crushing and anointing flows the Life for me, for you, for the world. Do you desire to be an intimate of God, ‘anointed’ for service? Pain is part of the process! A. W. Tozer writes that “It is doubtful whether God could ever bless a person greatly until He has hurt him deeply.”  You may have to think about that for a while before you add your agreement.

If you are walking in a hard situation, if you are wrestling with pain, grief, rejection, loss, temptation – whatever is actually so common to the human experience – offer it to God for His purpose. Ask Him to make you tender, to sharpen your spiritual hearing, and to release the sweet fragrance of His anointing in your crushing. No, I am not making it a poetic, romantic notion. It is simply the reality of spiritual endeavor.  Here is a word from the Word, Jesus’ own invitation. “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?”   (Matthew 16:24-26)