The Condition of our Hearts

It is such a privilege to serve God. Every day I am learning how to be humble and gentle. One of the prayers I have right now is to be a better listener. Sometimes I let my awkwardness get in the way of really listening. If I could ask for prayer right now from you all it would be that I would be someone who really listens to the people around me. **Thank you**

This weekend I was so humbled to pray for someone. I didn't know until yesterday who I was praying for, but God placed a burden on my heart to pray. At church I got to meet the people that God so kindly placed on my heart. The fact that God would trust me with this prayer gave me such a sense of awe that it was hard for me to believe. So if I could ask you to join me in prayer for a newborn baby that just had open heart surgery and his sweet mom and dad who are young first time parents, I know that they would be so blessed. I won't go in to the details of how God placed them on my heart, but I know that this baby needs healing and the parents need comfort. **Thank you**

When God placed this child on my heart this weekend, I was also brought to my knees to pray for the hearts of so many...including myself. In Proverbs 4:23 NLT God shared, "Guard your hearts above all else, for it determines the course of your life." God want us to keep watch over the condition of our hearts, so that we can live the life He intended. I sensed that there are hearts that are hurt, broken, hard, heavy, and burdened. When our hearts are weighed down by these conditions, our focus becomes on these. We focus on our hurts. We focus on our brokenness. We focus on the reason our hearts are hardened. We focus on the heaviness. We focus on our burdens. If we are focusing on these things, then how can we focus on who God created us to be? Am I saying that we can't be sad, mad, hurt, or disappointed? Of course not. But what I think God wants for us is to guard against those conditions so that we do not live our lives focused on our brokenness and hurts.

I spent most of my life living that way and the fruit of it was bitterness, self pity, self hate, and destruction. I know that is not what God intended for me. As I examine my heart and chose to let God restore it, I have been learning to focus on who God is, who he wants me to be, how I can serve Him. As I lay down my past, I get to pick up a peaceful and humbled heart instead. When I look at the scripture from Proverbs I can clearly see the course my life was taking by focusing on the hurts.

How do we "guard" our hearts? I am going to go back to Philippians 4:8 "Fix your thoughts on what is true and honorable, and right and pure and lovely and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise." This scripture captures so much in just a few sentences. When our thoughts are on the truth, which is the Word of God, we can begin to release and let go of the hurts. We have to allow God to heal us. When we are thinking of pure, lovely, admirable thoughts, we can focus on who God is. I know that as I started to take this scripture to heart, I was able to focus on what God was saying through his Word. When our hearts are hurt, heavy, burdened, broken, hard...it is difficult to read the Word and apply it to our lives.

I know God is asking us to examine the condition of our hearts, guard them against the attacks of the enemy, our world, and our past, and begin to think on things that are true. I am going to ask the Lord today to show me where I can guard my heart...what areas am I allowing to crowd out His Word. Deuteronomy 6:5 from the Message says "Love God, your God, with your whole heart: love him with all that's in you, love him with all you've got!" God wants our "whole heart". So if we are to love with our "whole heart" we desperately need to examine the condition of it. In the Message Bible, Deuteronomy 30:6 it says, "God, your God, will cut away the thick calluses on your heart and your children's hearts, freeing you to love God, your God, with your whole heart and soul and live, really live. God, your God, will put all these curses on your enemies who hated you and were out to get you." God wants us to "cut away the thick calluses" on our hearts...so that we can "really live". By doing that it will be "freeing" us "to love God". In order to love God with all our hearts we must remove those parts of our hearts that are blocking the ability to love him with all we've got! I want my heart to be open and free to LOVE God and to SERVE God.

Practical step for today: Pray that God will reveal an area of your heart that needs to be examined. Lord show me how to remove the things that are in my heart that are blocking my ability When God reveals that to you, ask God to show you the root so that He can remove it from your heart. Find a scripture that you can meditate on whenever that issue starts to come up. Pre-determine today to memorize and apply that scripture to your life. "Lord show me an area of my heart that is blocking my walk with you. Reveal to me the root of that condition and strengthen your Word in my heart so that I will be free to serve you, to love the way you desire and help me to see myself for who you created me to be."

In love....Teresa