The Lord has been speaking to me about my heart lately. It's very humbling to know that there are things that need to be changed in your heart, because that means that it is at the very center (or HEART) of who you are. But God has been showing me things there that need to change. A couple of verses that have gotten stuck in my mind are:
Renew a loyal spirit within me.
-Psalm 51:10 (NLT)
-AND-
May the words of my mouth
and the meditation of my heart
be pleasing in Your sight,
O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.
-Psalm 19:14 (NIV)
There is also this song that has been working on my soul, as well. It is by Mike Crawford and it's called Center My Heart. You can listen to it over on his myspace site if you'd like, but here are some of the lyrics:
center my heart upon You, Lord
center my heart upon You
it's so easy to fall asleep in life
and let the night erase the day
the comfort of not thinking calls my name
it's so easy to sink this ship
I'm sailing on instead of digging in
and rowing through the storms of life with You, with You
center my heart center my soul
center my strength upon You, Lord
center my mind center my life
center my heart upon You
it's so easy to be the person who
will take the path and suffer less
any time there's trouble I turn back
it's so easy to bless the people who
reach out to me the harder thing
is loving those my instincts say "reject, reject"
So how is God working on you?
3 comments:
Yeah, that's right. Day 37. This 60/60 is still going strong and even if I haven't had a chance to blog about my journey doesn't mean I'm no longer on that journey...Now there have been a lot of ups and downs on this journey, but I have come to discover something.
We're not alone.
Seriously, there are people out there that God created besides me! He wants to use us to encourage one another and do His will. Check this out...from Mark 2:1 - 5.
And again he entered into Capernaum after some days; and it was noised that he was in the house. And straightway many were gathered together, insomuch that there was no room to receive them, no, not so much as about the door: and he preached the word unto them. And they come unto him, bringing one sick of the palsy, which was borne of four. And when they could not come nigh unto him for the press, they uncovered the roof where he was: and when they had broken it up, they let down the bed wherein the sick of the palsy lay. When Jesus saw their faith, he said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, thy sins be forgiven thee.
I sent an email to one of my Running Partners. It went like this...
I was just finishing up reading the 10th chapter of the 60/60 and I
especially like the "Running Together" on 146. The Team Hoyt
story...or the Mat story. Either way, it made me do some thinking. I
think you mentioned it sometime ago, too, in one of the meetings how
that we all meet once a week and maybe it would be a good idea to get
together just to hang out. Hanging out would be a good thing, but I
know it's busy. As our adopted grand-child Danny tells us about our
home, "Man, this is a busy place, papa."
Busy wipes us out, doesn't it? Because at the end of the day, we
don't feel like doing anything, do we? I like to write, but I rarely
do. When the opportunity comes to get an idea and do something with
it, it is too busy to do so...And then the idea is gone. Now the
holidays are coming. People will be in and out of here. There is
still work to deal with. But I am so glad for the group night on
Thursdays. It is like a breath of fresh air.
Anyway, with that rabbit trail down, back to what I was saying. I
read this section in the book, and I was really impressed with the
four guys and the one guy on a mat and how they got their friend in to
see Jesus. I think that's pretty heavy. I've heard sermons on this,
but never heard it like that. That we need to see our friends and
sometimes take their mats and carry them to Jesus. And Jesus saw
their faith. He saw them! He saw what they did. That is just so
kewl, I wanted to share it with someone, and I thought of you. Maybe
you need it, maybe you don't. Maybe it could be as encouraging to you
as it was to me.
Jesus sees us and what we're doing. I think we all have mats and in
the groups, we're lifting each other up to God in ways I never knew
could be possible. This is an awesome experience and I am going to
paste and copy this to put it in my blog.
Keep up the faith, brother.
Yep, so there it is. I copied and pasted it and walla. I just feel like God is showing me that people are important to Him. Can you understand what I mean? I have always been a "do-it-yourself"er. I've got this belief that no one can do it, so I will. But that is just a lie of the devil. It is a lie to blind me from the truth. The truth is, I need other Christians to be an encouragement for me and I need to be an encouragement to others. We are not alone. God put us here together for a reason.
So keep on keeping on and Praise His name!
Sometimes it seem "my heart" is so bust that it's not focusing - you know what I mean? It can get confused by the busyness. The cool thing about 60-60 is that pause which make you focus - even for a moment - on matters of the heart.
I love this song! I feel like I slept away so much of my life by allowing myself to not think or feel. Last year, I started turning off the noise around me so I could hear His voice and practice His presence. I found I was allowing noise to lull me into not dealing with pain. I started to realize that what God wanted to give me was so much better than burying my pain! He will heal it and take it away.
When I started trusting Him again, He put His finger on some things that I needed to change. Sin that He wanted to deal with. The thing I found was that I didn't have to change myself. I just had to obey when I heard His voice and He gave me the power to overcome it! It's all Him!
Once of those things He wanted to change was my tongue. That's been a hard one but as I've been obedient, He's changed me. He's helped me to see that I had a judgemental and critical spirit. The more grace I use, the more grace I need to extend to others. How can I judge anyone else's actions when I have so much that God is working on in me? He's also taught me that He loves people and that, if I love Him, I need to love them. All of them. Not just the people I like, but the people who are difficult to be around. The cool thing is that He will give us that love! We don't have to do it ourselves! We just have to ask Him to give us HIs love and be open to what He wants us to do.
I am so excited about what God is doing in my life! Can't wait to see what He's going to do next!
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