Happy Valentine’s Month to you! I personally like to stretch out all my celebrations and holidays to their fullest. Why settle on just one day when you can celebrate the whole month? So, naturally, this month’s article is about our hearts!
In keeping with the nature of these monthly eGood Newsletters, my aim is always to give you hope and to remind you that healing is available to you. God understands, He cares and He is the source of all comfort. After all, He provided Jesus as the ultimate fulfillment of all His promises and as the remedy and only resource for restoration between God and mankind. When we believe this truth and believe in Jesus… God delivers the best valentine gift to our hearts. He makes an automatic deposit of the Holy Spirit directly into our hearts as a guarantee that we are His, every day, not just on Valentine’s Day.
Do you remember the original old fashioned heart candies with messages printed on them? They said things like: Be mine, Kiss me, or True love. Today, these hearts include other messages like Date me, Trust me, Be good to me. (I just looked these up!)
Though the hearts aren’t that tasty, they do bring up fun childhood memories of giving out the ones with the messages I wanted to say but just couldn’t. As I’m reflecting back on these hearts and the messages they say, I am thinking of how God asks us to do the same thing. You know, to think back, to remember our first love, and to dwell on the messages He has been saying to us, as He also loves to hear our hearts in conversation with Him. God is relational and His desire is that our hearts would be inclined or turned towards Him. When we put our focus on Him and trust in Jesus, He bends down to hear our prayers and He delights in us. But even when we don’t…His love is still so great for us. You are loved by Love Himself. God is love! He is true love! He says we are His (Be mine), and He is very good to us! He is a good Father and He works all things for our good and His glory. EVEN WHEN IT DOESN’T SEEM OR FEEL LIKE IT!
You may have experiences that cause you to not like this February holiday, but I’d like to challenge you to remember God has a huge heart for you and if you will incline your heart towards Him, He will fill your heart with Himself, heal your broken heart and He will never leave or abandon you. You can always call on His name and you can communicate directly with the Father through the Holy Spirit because Jesus made that possible. And when we do… His Peace fills our hearts. Even when we don’t understand, when we dwell in the Word of God and in the Presence of the Holy Spirit, Christ Jesus will guard our hearts and minds. He is our Valentine so let’s celebrate Him all month…all year…all our lives!
But HOW do we apply this scripture and guard our hearts in Christ Jesus? By dwelling ON the Word of God and by asking the Holy Spirit to speak to your heart and to guard you and guide you. And of course, when He speaks, and we listen and have the knowing that He has instructed, we are responsible to obey and respond to His promptings. Remember He loves us and says of us, “you are Mine” and He is a good Father. He is for us. This is what we are instructed to do:
Feast on the Word of God
The prophet Jeremiah said of the Lord, “Your words were found, and I ate them, and your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart” (Jeremiah 15:16).
Focus on Him…instead of fear
And in John 14:27, we read these words Jesus gave us: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” And finally, we are instructed to:
STORE UP things in our heart that will SPILL OUT good onto others.
What is in our heart will come out of our mouths. (see Luke 6:45). We have a choice to either bless others with our words, or we can bring damage to them. WE MUST GUARD OUR HEART by WHAT we STORE UP IN IT! And when our hearts are hurt by others… that’s when we turn to the Word and allow the Lord Himself to heal us by His Spirit and thru the truth of His Word. It will cause peace to settle upon you, and His words will become to you a joy and delight of your heart. EVEN in the midst of troubles, trials and tribulations, let the peace of God surpass you understanding and GUARD YOUR HEART AND MIND IN CHRIST JESUS. He will do it! And that my friend is very Good News!
As always…If you have a specific prayer request you’d like to me to pray, I’d be honored. Just reply to this email.