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 already done and all of heaven will applaud you for being submitted to Abba Father.

God sees your service, be He also sees your heart, ask yourself, is it far from Him?

^“For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good,traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away (2 Timothy 3:2-9 NKJV).

Their “good job” is not the same as a “job well done, my good and faithful servant.”

Today is a gut check. Check your temperature in the spirit. Are you hot for Jesus, or have you grown cold in some way?

“Create in me a clean heart, O God; And renew a right spirit within me” (Psalm 51:10 ASV).

“Create pure thoughts in me and make me faithful again” ( Psalm 51:10 CEV).

God is saying “return to me.” You didn’t leave the church, but you left His presence in that you seek everything else but more of Him. If you really want more, get in the face of the Father, and sit with Him. This is how we will get that clean heart and right spirit that so many of us are crying out for. Allow God to have access into the store houses of your heart and go through the cleansing process.

“Samuel said, “Has the Lord as great a delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices As in obedience to the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, And to heed [is better] than the fat of rams” ( 1 Samuel 15:22 AMP).

Thank you for your sacrifice- your time and your money. Good job? Everything was needful, yes; but now, God wants you to be a living sacrifice. A sacrifice that lays down their agenda, their plans, and their human need to be enough in the eyes of men. God wants you! Just You!

“Therefore I urge you, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship”

(Romans 12:1 NASB).

Lord, thank you for positioning me in your face in such a way that you love me into righteousness. I am not displaced or an orphan. I am a child of the King who is welcomed in His house. You train me, in love, to represent you well, and you heal me from the beatings of life as you shape me into who you called me to be from the beginning. Lord, I repent for my sins, and I ask for help. I submit to you as a living sacrifice, and I heed the word that you have given to me today. As David said, create in me a clean heart and a right spirit so that I do not sin against you. May my motives be pure and my hands be clean from all wrongdoing. I pray to have a heart posture that is perfectly aligned with yours. I pray for spiritual 20/20 vision. Help me to see you (and me) clearly. My prayer is to walk upright in Jesus, for His glory, not mine. Continue the work in me. In Jesus name, amen.

“The LORD will fulfill his purpose for me; your steadfast love, O LORD, endures forever. Do not forsake the work of your hands” (Psalm 138: 8 ESV).

Comments

Peace Be Still

“ One day he got into a boat with his disciples, and he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side of the lake.” So they set out, and as they sailed he fell asleep. And a windstorm came down on the lake, and they were filling with water and were in danger. And they went and woke him, saying, “Master, Master, we are perishing!” And he awoke and rebuked the wind and the raging waves, and they ceased, and there was a calm. He said to them, “Where is your faith?” And they were afraid, and they marv...

The Process of Faithing It: Trusting Jesus with Your Faith

“Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace, and be healed of your affliction” (Mark 5:34 NKJV). Can you imagine Jesus in a crowd? Everyone has a need, but His target in that moment is to go and build the faith of a little girl’s family at the request of her father because they think that she will die. The father is scared, but Jesus was on the way until He felt something. This feeling was different, but powerful. Jesus turns around looking, asking questions, but finds his answer in the form of a woman, standing and looking amazed at what just happened to her. After 13 years of anemia, tiredness, dizzy spells, soiled clothing, and impacted relationships, she is healed. This woman with an issue of blood had spent all of her money, but decided to trust Jesus with her faith, which was all that she had left. Jesus was not too busy to stop and ask, “Who touched me?”. The disciples reminded Jesus of all the people that were around them, but this touch was different. Some...

Fear Can Not Exist Where Healing is Needed: The Authority of Jesus within Mental Health

“The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly” ( John 10:10 KJV). The people of Gadarenes gave the enemy access to their region, not just a man at a tomb. As a bystander within Mark 5, I’ve seen many parts of this scenario played out in real time. I know the broken heart that Jesus had at seeing this man, and I also know the love and compassion that He had for him as well. The people may have feared the man because of his strength, but Jesus understood and displayed that fear could not exist where healing is needed . Working within the mental health field, I’ve seen what was depicted by the man at the tomb. It’s not easy, but Jesus removed the cover of what was happening. The Legion of demons (composed of thousands of demons) thought that they could continue to reign and rule, but the King stepped onto the ground and caused atmospheric shift to happen. “T...

Keep Your Lamp Filled

“Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Now five of them were wise, and five were foolish. Those who were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them, but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. But while the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept” (Matthew 25:1–5). Everyone had the same mindset to go to the same place for the same reason. Everyone was on their way, but partial action was taken by five of the virgins. The bridegroom had the capacity to care for all ten. Everyone had a lamp, but everyone did not have oil to see Who they were waiting for. The oil was available, but five virgins did not take the initiative to get more oil. What they had was not enough for the journey they were on. Five of the virgins were wise; they did what was needed to obtain more oil. The other five virgins were foolish, thinking that what they had was enough and that getting...

Let’s Talk About Sex

Tonight, I thought about sex. I thought about the beauty of it and I thought about the reasons that God created it. Sex can be beautiful and pleasurable, but sex can also be very dangerous if you don’t know the truth behind it. As a young girl, no one sat down with me and talked to me about sex. I never got the “protect yourself” talk and I never got a real run down about what people will do just to have sex with you. I lost my virginity at the age of 14. I didn’t even really know the guy, but I thought that I would spend the rest of my life with him because that was the story that he sold me. I don’t blame him, and I don’t resent him for anything anymore, but I wish that I had been wiser and that I understood the value of what I was giving away. In my 20s I learned that sex is not only physical, but it is spiritual also. I learned what soul ties were and I began to understand why it was so hard for me to break away from people after the “relationship” had ended. I ha...

The Barrel of Meal Shall Not Waste, Neither Shall the Cruse of Oil Fail: RESET

This morning as I was thinking about the fact that God gives us a new start each year, the word reset came to mind. I tried to figure out why that word came to mind, and I began to look up its meaning. I have listed the meaning in the noun, verb, and adjective forms. Reset- set again differently, cause to enter the state representing the number 0, a plant that is planted again, to restore, a plant that has been recently transplanted, adjust again after a failure, set anew. Once I found the meaning of the word reset, I began to look for synonyms associated with it. Words like order, switch, replace, shift, changed, corrected, reformed, prepare, recondition, make ready, modify, do over, reappraise , and rework came up. At this point, I got a little excited and began to wonder how the Lord reset His people in the bible and what that word means concerning me. One of the first thoughts that crossed my mind pertained to the prophet Isaiah and the time that hot coal was placed over hi...

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...

HOPE

I believe that God sends us prophecies to offer us hope. I received my first prophecies around the age of 16. I was pretty aware of how God used his people to speak into the lives of others, but I would always hide at church when God started talking. I used to be afraid of people who had that gift because I was scared that they would know what I was thinking. Many times, although our thoughts are uncomfortable, when God lets you know that HE SEES YOU, there is a comfort in that. Wow, God sees me. I don’t remember who or what the first words were that God used someone to speak to me, but there are still so many words that He has released to me that offer me hope. Hope can be hard to hang on to in the storms of life. There are many times that I feel alone and forgotten, but I have to remember that GOD SEES ME. God will send a word of hope to you to comfort you in the times that you feel hopeless and lost. The irony in this is that some words may come before you think you need the...

You Can Come Back Now, The Doctor Will See You

" And behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth shook and the rocks were split” (Matthew 27:51 NASB). We all know what it’s like to go to a doctor’s office, right? We know what it’s like to arrive at the office, sign in, and take our seats. We know what it’s like to arrive with our issues that need attention and we know what it’s like to wait. Some of us even know what it’s like to be nervous about what will be revealed to us in the appointment. We read the magazines, watch television, search social media, get our paper work together, and wait for the nurse to say, “You can come back now, the doctor will see you”. In that moment when our name is called, we gather our things and scurry off to get our medical needs meant. When Jesus died, something happened in the temple. There was a time when only the priests were allowed to go into the holy of holies, but Jesus was the nurse that came to the door, called our name and said, “You can come ...

The Private, Matters

“And Zacharias said to the angel, “How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is well advanced in years.” And the angel answered and said to him, “I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God, and was sent to speak to you and bring you these glad tidings. But behold, you will be mute and not able to speak until the day these things take place, because you did not believe my words which will be fulfilled in their own time.” ( Luke 1:1-20 NKJV). Zacharias’ prayer was not answered in the way that he thought that it would be. During his prayer time with the Lord, he asked God to allow him and his wife to have a baby, but years passed, and they got older. Zacharias’ went on with his life until his season changed, and it was time. Time for what you may ask; it was time for the blessing of the Lord over this man and wife to come to pass. The issue was that Zacharias had allowed this prayer to leave his heart, and unbelief took its place. Wha...

JaNina B.

Search This Blog