Tag: Heart

Reflecting at Christmas

This is by far the busiest times of the year and it’s not because of all the shopping. Actually, according to Shopify, November is the busiest commercial month of the year. I think it’s all the end of year rush, last-minute work targets and personal goals we want to achieve all between now and the 31st 23:59 which gets us all worked up. And on top of all that we want to enjoy the festivities and rest. We will soon discover that we cannot rest if we don’t eliminate the stressors in our way. At this time though I would say that one of the most important and beneficial things you can do for yourself is to spend time in reflection. When I’m reflecting or journaling it is in these moments when I’m most aware of what God has been teaching me through the day or the year. We need to intentionally create moments where we have epiphanies based on what is happening. Significant changes do not happen with the turn of a calendar it happens when we allow our minds to receive and engage with what is happening in our environments. We are praying for God to change our stories in the new year or decade, but we must ask ourselves what God has been engraving on the tables of our hearts over the last year or even decade that we haven’t paid attention to.

Beyond the feelings and the goosebumps, we might get when we encounter God, there are notable changes that take place in less spectacular ways inside of us. Being a lot more reflective, has help me understand that I ought to look for the mundane. Looking for God in the silence and seemingly insignificant is how Elijah got his life back as he stood on the mountain of God at the brink of depression.

I’m thinking about my life and things I want to focus on improving and things that I should keep and be more consistent with. Reflectively, I can say that I have grown over the last year. One of the key areas I have experienced growth and change in is how I think about giving and receiving love. It’s important to regularly reflect on how we relate with people and things.

Earlier in the year I had a conversation with someone that helped bring the thought process to mind and I can say that on reflecting on my understanding of extending love and hearing what the other person had to say, I found myself thinking that maybe I didn’t quite have a full understanding of what love – the God kind of Love – is. Maybe my limited understanding of how vast God’s love is keeping me from receiving all the wonderful gifts of God’s awesome love. I’ve begun thinking of love in a different way which has led to changes in how I practice love. Nothing drastic or dramatic, but significant enough for me to desire and chase after more of God’s kind of love in my heart. It is the kind of love that chases you and woos you regardless of how you are or what you’ve done. That love, loves you just because and nothing you could do could make it grow or diminish. Can I be that way towards myself and the people in my life? Can I be more loving regardless of what if?

At this point, I can say that any work that you catch me doing is related to reflecting and checking that the plans I make for the coming year are in line with the work that He has already begun in me. After all, what good is a perfect gift if I don’t take out the time to enjoy and use it?

Christmas blessings!

Me, God and Obedience

I’ve been reading through the book of 1 Samuel over the last few days and I thought I should share some of my thoughts with you today.

As I am reading through, I realise that one of the biggest themes running through this book is Obedience. We first encountered this through the prophet Eli and his sons. Eli’s sons lived a very immoral life and did not follow the commandments of God. They disobeyed God in how they treated the sacrifices of the people. Eli was judged, because he did not caution his children. He shared in their disobedience by not disciplining them and by eating out of the portion of the sacrifice that was not meant for the priest. The consequence was that the priesthood was taken away from Eli and his descendants and death and suffering was introduced into the family. There was a generational curse that would limit the descendants of Eli, even though they had nothing to do with the initial disobedience. (1 Samuel 2:27-36)

Additionally, his disobedience caused the glory to be temporarily taken away from Israel. (1 Samuel 4:11, 21)

The disobedience continues with Saul after he became king. In his heart, he desired the approval and praise of men rather than the approval of God. His reign was so much about keeping appearances that he broke the protocol and made the sacrifice that was not his place to make. (1 Samuel 15:1-10 ;15:20-26)

He gives three reasons for his disobedience: (1 Samuel 13:8-11)

  1. The Philistines (his enemies) were closing in on him.
  2. The people were afraid and scattering away from him.
  3. Samuel had not arrived at the time that he said he would.

To be very honest and frank these are the reason that I also sometimes feel inclined or tempted to disobey God. We often go off and do things in our own understanding because God is taking too long. We are convinced that God is late – that he cannot tell time or that he doesn’t understand the pressure that we are facing. What is very interesting in that story is that Saul had already waited for 7 days. 7 days was the exact number of days he was instructed to wait (vs.8). It was on the 7th day when the appointed hour had come that he gave up the wait and made the sacrifice. The full instructions was that he should wait for the 7 days at which time Samuel would make the sacrifice on behalf of the people. To him it was a small thing but to God it was a big deal. Partial obedience is still total disobedience.

“Waiting reveals the content of the heart. The longer you are left to wait the more of you will be revealed. You cannot outsmart time.”
ACMorgan

Here are the three things that we need to remember when we find ourselves being tempted to disobey.

  1. God is Bigger that our problems and greater than our adversities.
  2. God’s approval is more than a thousand confident votes of people.
  3. God is never late – He is the creator and the controller of time and space.

If we remember these three truths we will make our decisions based on what God wants and thinks and not what our situation is telling us to feel and do.
We need to understand God’s heart in order to understand why he would tell us to wait and why he would give us the instructions and commandments he does. I find that it is much easier to follow him when we do. God cares for us. He loves us and feels what we are feeling. He never wants us to be afraid or intimidated by our problems and challenges. His thoughts and plans for us are good, to prosper and not to harm us (Jeremiah 9:11). When problems do come our way God’s commitment is to make them turn into situations that will prosper and profit us. But he needs our cooperation to do this.

God is a god of process and principles. He lays them down for us in order for us to measure and test our hearts against. Anytime you find yourself in conflict with what He has said, we can step back and check our hearts for wrong motives and hidden agendas. It’s important to check and correct ourselves instead of forcing it, because we not only make mistakes, but we also miss out on the opportunity to grow in our character. God wants to change us as He is changing our circumstances. He can’t have old you in the middle of the new thing He is doing (Mattew 9:17). So, He needs change in the inside of you too.

My Prayer for you today, is that you hear God in a new way and that you will have the grace and the contrite heart to obey His word and will for your life. I pray that you receive clear instructions today from above about what you should and should’t do, in Jesus name.