Keep Your Heart Open
To The New
Have you ever been involved with someone who creates their own reality? Their rendition of events may bear a semblance of what took place yet in the final analysis the facts do not reflect what really took place. Some people can spin a thread of truth into an elaborate self-produced tapestry of misrepresentation.
What Life Lesson Are You Teaching?
We are called as Christians to be holy as He is holy. His righteousness should be reflected through us to all we encounter. We should be living with integrity despite how others may live around us. What does that mean in daily life? We should be honest and live our lives with honor. If you say you will do something then do it. If you give your word then keep it. My neighbor is teaching her young sons life lessons. One this week was when you say you will help someone follow through despite how you may feel in the moment. If you fail to do what you said you would you will lose their trust. People watch you as a follower of Jesus Christ and if you are not trustworthy that can translate to them not trusting Christians or even not trusting God.
It does not matter what someone else does or says to you. What matters is how you respond. More importantly the crux of any situation is how you perceive it and process it through your heart. It is always a heart issue in every single life encounter you have. The Lord knows your heart. You may be able to hide your innermost thoughts from others and even yourself at times but God sees all that you hold in your heart. His desire is to take all that is not of Him out of your heart. As you allow Him to work in your heart, you will more closely reflect Jesus to the world around you.
The Choice Is Yours!
You have so many opportunities every day to open your heart and let the Lord clear discordant issues and provide a space for fresh experiences to blossom. It can be difficult to see opportunities for change if you have had a long season of challenge but know that the Lord creates new every day. It is your choice to leave the past behind and step into the newness of His creation in your life. It is not always easy to forget, but to stay stuck in the past keeps you from moving into His very best for you today.
I chose the picture of the open metal heart with various blossoms within to simulate your heart. The metal perimeter reflects the hedge of protection you must maintain to stay within God’s best for you. The heart itself is an open design. It is through an open heart that God will move mightily in your life to bring Him to all you encounter. The blooms of different colors represent the potential for new experiences to blossom in your heart and make it new again. Choose this day to open your heart to His plan for you. Choose this day to let the seeds of new beginnings blossom in His perfect time.
Quotes to Ponder This Week
“Enter the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.” Jesus, Matthew 7:13-14
“…This thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things that are before.” Philippians 3:13
Do not remember the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing, now it shall spring forth; shall you not know it?” Isaiah 43:19
“Behold, I make all things new…Write, for these words are true and faithful…He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son.” Revelation 21:5, 7
“…but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.”’ 1 Peter 1:15
A Prayer Request
Thank you for your continued faithfulness to pray. Please keep all who serve our country, our servicemen and women and their families in prayer for salvation and safety. They are our frontline on the battlefield, let us be their frontline in the spirit. Also, let us cover all who have come home wounded that they and their families will receive the kindness, help and support they need to go forward in their lives. God bless all our diplomatic and military personnel and their families.
Please pray for all in authority over us, for the full truth to come forth concerning Benghazi and for safety in Israel. Pray for those affected by continued severe weather outbreaks in our country this week. Pray for all throughout the world for hedges of protection against radical Muslim extremists and all forms of terrorism. May God richly bless the United States of America, bring to light every single crooked place and keep her safe. May we may arise united once again as One Nation Under God in this auspicious season in our country’s history.
This week President Obama said, “With an endless parade of distractions, political posturing and phony scandals, Washington has taken its eye off the ball.” The lives lost in Benghazi, the targeting of conservative groups by the Internal Revenue Service, Operation Fast and Furious, the Department of Justice targeting journalists phone records, are hardly “phony scandals.” We continue to pray for truth to prevail in each of these situations. Pray for the families who have lost loved ones, for those relentlessly targeted and for all of us who call ourselves American. These are treacherous times and now more than ever we must maintain our walk with the Lord, saturate this country in prayer and stand for all that is right in America. Fail not in this hour.
Please Join Me In Prayer
Father we thank You that You make a way for us to open our hearts to Your heart and to live in the fullness of Your destiny for us. Grace us to yield to Your will and bring You to the dark and dying world around us. Let us release every thought and heart issue that is not of You or from You. Let us walk in the new beginning You have prepared for each of us for Your glory. We pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen and amen.