The Heart Matters

Nobody gets into a relationship ready to support someone as they go through a heart transplant. Boyfriend and girlfriend titles have no vows. You’re in it for as long as it lasts and hopefully it leads to more; but what if something changes? What if your attraction to that person did not change, but how you are attracted to them did? Suppose you wanted to love them differently then you did before? Suppose your heart changed and theirs did not?
Whenever I emotionally opened up to a guy (pre Jesus),we went together, period. There were no ifs, ands,or buts, we were a couple. I didn’t understand the importance of protecting who I would become because I never wanted to become anything independently from someone else, if that makes since. I allowed myself to waste years on 2 separate occasions , but the last time was different. In that season, God was in motion and I fought it for a while. I got to a place where I wanted God and he did not. My heart changed and he remained the same.
“Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert” (Isaiah 43:19).
If you have ever been in surgery, you know that you can’t fight anesthesia. You have no choice but to go with the flow of that medication. My process, at the time, was one that I had to flow with. My flesh still craved things that my heart no longer wanted. I had a heart transplant.
I had to learn that no matter how bad you may want to, you cannot change the heart of another person to match the new heart that you receive from Jesus. You get to a place where a choice has to made. A fight happens between your flesh and the Spirit; the new and the old. You have to choose to grow or remain stagnant and unproductive. I’m no where near perfect, but I’m also not as fragmented as I used to be. I was comfortably broken. I knew that I needed a change and God provided for me in that place.
“Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me” (Psalm 51:10).
A heart transplant is a necessary part of growth and some old things have to go out with that old heart.
“Come now, and let us reason together,” Says the LORD, “Though your sins are like scarlet, They shall be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They shall be as wool”. ( Isaiah 1:18).
God was putting people and places in my path in order to shift my heart towards His and for a while, I resisted. I wanted to hang on to my comfort zone, but God had other plans for my life. I allowed myself to become content with scrapes when God wanted to give me a large portion. I was wounded, but I was also afraid to be healed.
On my walk with Jesus, I have learned who He is to me. As you walk with Jesus, you will learn who He is you. The hard seasons made me who I am at this moment. God guarded me, listened to me, spoke to me, comforted me, and loved me through my process.
When you are confronted with the opportunity to receive a new heart, I get that it can be hard to let go of the past and I get that it can be difficult to let go of the pain that you have grown to call comfort, but your new is at stake. Your new beginning, your clean slate, your vision and your future is on line. Consider this,is holding on to what hinders you worth allowing your destiny to waste away? Allow God to do what He desires to do in your heart even when you don’t understand. Trust the process and know that your ending will be a good one.
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart,and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths” ( Psalm 3:5-6).
“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end” (Jeremiah 29:11.

Lord, In Jesus name, I pray to not fight my own healing. I pray to be focused on you and to not allow distractions to keep me from the call that you have placed on my life. Lord, I pray for a clean heart. I pray to be a woman who is a faithful repenter. Lord, I thank you that I am not who I used to be. I thank you that you never changed even when I revisited my sins. I thank you for this journey in you and I am grateful Lord. Please continue the work that you are doing in me. In Jesus name I pray, amen.

Comments

Waiting for the Promise vs. Moving in Impatience

“Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed, and said in his heart, “Shall a child be born to a man who is one hundred years old? And shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child? ” And Abraham said to God, “Oh, that Ishmael might live before You!” Then God said: “No, Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac; I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his descendants after him” ( Genesis 17: 17-19 NKJV). Isaac was desired, but Ismael was birthed out of impatience. If God told you that you were going to birth something beautiful, no matter what your season may look like, bank on the Lord’s promises. Your Ishmael does not have to be a man, your Ishmael can be an opportunity. Don’t walk into just any ole thing because you got tired of waiting on God. If God promised you something in 2016 and you didn’t see it in 2017, that does not mean that He forgot about what He promised you. Isaac had a set season and ...

Preparation in Waiting

One thing that I have learned about God over the years is that his plan for my life is so much greater than my own. I have also learned that his vision can be more than I can bear at times because I have a tendency to try to make the parts that he has revealed to me come to pass on my own. I ask God why and when, but the truth is that I am not ready. My faith has to grow and I’m still being prepped. It’s easy to feel like a failure when you’re trying to meet the expectation of others. I come from a family of all stars. I was expected to go to college. I expected myself to have what they have and to live how they live, but God…… God is expecting something different from me. He is expecting me to do and to move how he tells me to. This is hard…I have people expecting success from me. God is expecting success from me to. He is expecting me to listen and to wait. Waiting is hard. Jesus waited. At 12 Jesus was wise, but he had to wait. People expected things from Him also. They expected...

Destined to be Pregnant!

I believe that pregnancy is such a beautiful adventure. I look at all of the pictures that people take at every stage of their pregnancy and it makes me ask the question, what if God allowed us to see our spiritual pregnancy? How would we act and would we take care of the baby that we are carrying? People go through different extremes to get pregnant, let alone carry a baby. How is God preparing you to carry the destiny that he has called you to fulfill? Many people have to lose weight, you might have to lose some friends. Is your baby worth the loss? Other people don’t even want to get pregnant because they don’t want to lose their shape. They care what the world thinks about them and they are comfortable with their current circumstance. Then you have people who want a baby so badly that they try to adopt the destiny that God has placed into another individual’s womb. News Flash, God has enabled each and every one of us to be able to endure a spiritual pregnancy, you just nee...

Why Are You Here?

During an encounter that I had with a young person recently, I told them that things were difficult for them because there were some things that they would need to do that had never been done before. The analogy that I used to help this person understand what I was saying to them was that of a wilderness full of trees. I told this young person that they would be the first one to cut down the trees in that wilderness to create a smooth path for those coming behind them. The same is true for many of us. There are large trees that we must cut down so that those coming behind us won’t have to fight as hard as we are fighting, and they will not stumble because we are destroying everything at the root that is attempting to block us. The task of doing this may seem difficult but the testimony is worth it. You have to be able to identify the things that have hindered individuals in your lineage, know what the signs of those things are in your own life, and then eliminate it. ...

Gut Check of the Heart

“But [like a boxer] I strictly discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached [the gospel] to others, I myself will not somehow be disqualified [as unfit for service]” (1 Corinthians 9:27 AMP). If you need to be told that you did a good job, “You did a good job. You gave, and you submitted to man. You showed up and did what they asked. Good job.” “But I have this [charge] against you, that you have left your first love [you have lost the depth of love that you first had for Me]” (Revelation 2:4 AMP). Gut Check: Don’t love the applause of men more than you love God. Why do you show up? What do you gain from that, and what happens when the way that they applaud you does not meet your need of this kind of fulfillment? Beat your body into submission to God. Serve Him well. Become an early riser and seek the Father to release the strategy for the day to you. Sit in His presence and bask in His love. Thank Him for what He has a...

My Personal Truth

I remember sitting on the bus in middle school and this guy who was older than me told someone that when I started having sex I wouldn’t be able to stop. I was always very quiet, but I thought to myself, how could someone who didn’t know me say such a thing? He was in a sense, speaking over me. I was kinda rebellious as a teen. I lost my virginity at the age of 14 and I had already been on most of the depression medications that were out at that time. I was in love with love and that led to a lot of heart ache. I even left home for a little while when I was 17 because my mother found a pregnancy test in my bathroom. It did not look like I would graduate from college. It did not look like I was a smart young lady. It did not look like I would amount to anything, but God saw different in me. I got saved for the first time when I was16. I did not understand God or how he operated. Even when I was saved? I just knew that I was on my way to hell. During that time, I battled depr...

When Destiny is Calling Your Name

When destiny is calling your name, it could cost you your purpose if you do not respond. Purpose can sometimes pull you away from all that you are familiar with as it was in the case of both Abraham and Moses. Both of these men had to leave their familiar surroundings so that they could be made and developed into the leaders that God had called them to be. Sometimes your call will seem crazy to those that don’t know God. Stop placing such high esteem on the opinions of what other people have to say about you and walk in the things that God has told you to do. In God, you will accomplish more following Him then you ever will falling into line with the state of mind that people have assigned to you. Don’t look at your job, where you are in life right now, or the negative words that people have spoken over your life. Make up in your mind that you will look at the big master piece painting of GOD instead of the small perishing polaroid of man! ~ You fall when you lose focus. St...

Dad

Mom is one of the greatest gifts that God could have given to us. She’s passionate about us and she fiercely wraps us up in loving protection. She is our cheerleader and the one that understands. In the eyes of a child, mom has all the answers and she is the smartest lady in the world. No one can take the place of mom….. But what about dad? Dad is our strong and mighty tower. Noon is stronger than him and his love holds us together. Mom is important, but there is nothing like the love of a father. Isn’t it funny how we compare “being there” to the presence of a father? If you talk to most people about why they feel a certain away, they will start talking about the absence or presence of their father. We even compare the love of God to our dads. This can be a good or a bad things depending on the type of man that the dad in our lives is or was. The key word is the last sentence was man . Today I got the opportunity to talk to myself. No, not literally, but me in the form a young gi...

Your Response to the Desert will Determine How long You Stay There part 2: Shut up and Let God move

Being quiet does not mean that one i s weak, it can merely mean that that individual is wise. There are some things and some people that deserve no reply. We have to make th e daily choice to either ar gue our way through life's situat ions or pray our way through it. Know the difference between praying your way out and praying your way through something. Some seasons and environments are meant to grow you. It may feel as if your dying, but you may merely be sweating out the impurities. Hot environments are uncomfortable, but the cactus has everything that it needs to survive in the desert. You have to depend on the water source that you have on the inside of you that no one else may be able to see. Don't look at the time clock waiting for God to move you because you hate where you are placed on assignment for Him. Instead, look at that same time clock and ask Him when it's time to move on H is behalf where H e has placed you. Be the change agent tha...

Worship until I pass out!

Stop questing God about what is taking him so long to bless you and stop comparing you’re “come up” to how the people of the world are operating. God reigns on the just as well as the unjust (Matthew 5:45). Your” hard time” is meant to glorify your father in heaven! Let them look down on you, let them talk about you because guess what, God has some C4 (dunamis power, dynamite) ready that he is about to release on your behalf. You will walk in your destiny, but it will be in God’s timing. God is going to use you in the position that he will himself create for you, but first he has to train you to perform well on the Job. You have to be led by the ultimate Shepard so that he can teach you to have the gentleness, kindness, love and patience that you will need to have for the place that he is sending you. The money and the things will come, but right now you need to know how to sit at your father’s feet and worship. You are not mature enough for all the blessings that God has lined...

JaNina B.

Search This Blog