HEART

A HEART OF GENTLENESS

TALKING TO GOD
Ask God to help you keep your heart gentle. Talk to Him about times when you haven’t had a heart of gentleness, and ask for His forgiveness.

DIVING IN
Place a small amount of flour in one brown paper bag and rocks or gravel in another. Without their knowing what is inside, have another family member guess, then reach into one bag at a time and describe how the contents feel.

GOING DEEPER
Both bags look exactly the same on the outside, but the contents of one are soft, while the contents of the other are hard. People are like these bags — you can’t always tell what’s on the inside. You learn in 1 Samuel 16:7 that “man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.” God knows you can use your outward appearance — how you act and what you say — to cover up what’s really inside, just like the bags covered their contents. You might act kind and gentle but have bad attitudes or mean thoughts. While God wants you to be gentle on the outside, He also wants your heart to be gentle. When your heart is full of gentleness, God can use you to bless others.

TALKING TO EACH OTHER
– Who is someone you know with a gentle heart? What do you like about this person?
– Who is someone you know with a hard heart? How does this person treat you?
– What causes your heart to become hard?
– What are some ways you can keep your heart soft?

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LEADERSHIP QUALIFICATIONS

Even the prophet Samuel was fooled. When he looked at Jesse’s oldest son Eliab, he naturally assumed that God must have chosen this noble and sturdy young man to be the Lord’s anointed leader. But the Lord makes it clear in this passage that the people he chooses to do great things for him are called on the basis of inward character, not on the basis of outward impressiveness.

Verses 8–11 tell us that Jesse, David’s father, didn’t even include David in the line-up of his sons. He was an afterthought to Jesse. But qualification for leadership is not measured by inches or pounds or degrees or background. What does God look for? Why is it that when Jesse and Samuel were looking at Eliab, God was looking at David? God’s qualifications for leadership are evident in verse 7; read that verse again. For elaboration on what a leader’s heart should look like, flip over to 1 Kings 3:6 (p. 380) and 1 Kings 11:4–6 (p. 393). Whatever else qualifies people for leadership, no one is qualified for greatness—by God’s standard—until their heart is ready.

The leader’s prayer and focus of effort must center here. Skills, intelligence and hard work are all a part of the package. But God reminds us that, in the final analysis, one thing makes the difference. God looks at the leader’s heart.

1 Samuel 16:1 The Lord said to Samuel, “How long will you grieve over Saul, since I have rejected him from being king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil, and go. I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided for myself a king among his sons.” 2 And Samuel said, “How can I go? If Saul hears it, he will kill me.” And the Lord said, “Take a heifer with you and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.’ 3 And invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what you shall do. And you shall anoint for me him whom I declare to you.” 4 Samuel did what the Lord commanded and came to Bethlehem. The elders of the city came to meet him trembling and said, “Do you come peaceably?” 5 And he said, “Peaceably; I have come to sacrifice to the Lord. Consecrate yourselves, and come with me to the sacrifice.” And he consecrated Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice. 6 When they came, he looked on Eliab and thought, “Surely the Lord‘s anointed is before him.” 7 But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.“

“Remembering and forgetting God’s way.”

To remember something simply means to revisit a past event and ponder on it, much like meditation. The memory is a beautiful and intricate part of the human being. The memory is not our enemy; it was actually created by God for a specific purpose. Our memory was created to house the kindness, goodness and grandeur of our great God, but after the fall of man the memory became somewhat corrupted, and, as a result, we don’t have to try very hard to remember the bad things that have happened to us.

The memory is a canvas where life pictures are displayed; it is supposed to be a canvas of rich colors that radiate life, fullness, peace, wholeness, joy, hope and creativity. Unfortunately, the canvas has been smeared by the enemy with pictures of darkness, ugliness and constant loads of heaviness. “How am I supposed to forget these images engraved in my memory, when what happened to me was real and it caused me real pain?” The truth is, God does not expect you to forget your past; in fact, he asked us to remember our past but not in the way we do presently. God instituted specific days for certain feasts to be celebrated by the Jewish people, in order for them to never forget the goodness of him in their lives.

After the children of Israel left Egypt, God instructed them to observe the Sabbath. This was not just for ritual sake; this would bring to their memory the fact that the God of the universe saved their lives from major destruction by bringing them out of slavery, where they had to work continuously, into freedom – that now they did not have to be subjected to the harsh hand of the slave master and for us Christians we remember Calvary’s cross for the purpose of grasping the depth of revelation embedded in the divine exchange that took place two thousand years ago. Where we are today is a result of the situations and circumstances of the past. Where we are going tomorrow will be determined by what we chose to take from the past.

Power Thought: I declare that my memory is a canvas of bright and radiant colors and so I refuse to let the enemy paint on the canvas of my memory.

Search Your Heart…

Relationships can make life wonderful and some can bring you down. We already talked about choosing wisely those that help you progress and grow versus those that can make you spiral. Proverbs 12:26. Today Pastor talked about restoring relationships and one particular point was directly aligned with my Grace Devotional reading. If you are a believer you know that when God speaks about the same topic from different sources you better search your heart, listen and apply. I can’t reiterate the whole message but the one nugget that was a repeat was the revenge factor in the struggle to forgive.

When you tie your happiness into the offenders unhappiness you give someone the power to control your peace of mind and happiness. Think about how you hope something doesn’t work out or that they are miserable. You wait for it, wait for it and the blow doesn’t come. What can happen? Your bitterness grows and sometimes we want to help push their unhappiness. How… we defame their character, share the offense, embellish it, slander them, anything to diminish them and make yourself the superior person. Proving your superiority you become all the things you are blaming them of being. You are investing so much energy on making sure you orchestrate their unhappiness. Of course all the time pretending like we don’t have ill will. Someone has to pay right? You need to fuel that superiority by staying angry at the offender. What can help, because really it’s not healthy and certainly isn’t how God intends for us to live.

1. Deal with your issue of superiority. Look inside for your insecurity, why are you self justifying your actions to harm, is your view of self distorted? What is lacking in you that you feel the only solution is for you to show them, teach them a lesson?

2. Deal with the issue of liability. Why do you want to make sure the other person pays? Are you harsh, withdrawn entirely, ignoring them? If you are dealing with a person who is broken believe that they are hitting bumps and getting bruises daily in life as a result of their actions. Can you be the person that graces them with the forgiveness you have been granted over and over? To forgive we need to move in the act before our hearts fully forgives. If we are waiting for the feeling and not acting we will be waiting forever.

3. Overcome evil with good.. Love your enemies Proverbs 25:21 If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat; if he is thirsty, give him water to drink. 22 In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head, and the Lord will reward you.

Once you deal with these things you can approach and discuss the offense in wisdom and love.

I know I know. So hard right? Aren’t the most fulfilling things those that we have put forth the greatest effort. Working on forgiveness and I am thankful that God is working and showing me how to be better.

XOXO ~ Cybill

My mouth, my heart!

​Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer. ~ Psalm 19:14 (ESV)

Sin will always take you further than you intended to go, keep you longer than you intended to stay & will always, always cost you more than you intended to pay!!

Lord and Master, I freely give you my heart and my mouth today! I’m asking that you take them both and align them with Your perfect will and plan for my life. Send your Holy Spirit to reside in me this day for Your glory. Let others clearly see You in my journey. I ask these things in Your Precious Son’s Mighty Name, Amen!!

Aligning…OnPurpose!!

All things made NEW…

Ezekiel 36:26 “Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.

I am a woman of God born into sin and I sin – we all do!  But thank God for the Blood of Jesus!  Jesus died on the cross so that we can be free for the bondage of sin.  Going to church doesn’t save you.  Doing “good works” does not save you.  Just talking about it does not save you.  True repentance and reconciliation is what is required – Confess & Believe read Romans 10:9

2 Corinthians 5:16 – 18

16) So from now on we regard no one according to the flesh. Although we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. 17) Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away. Behold,the new has come! 18) All this is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation:…

Vs. 16 is about our outward exterior Vs. 17 is about being brand new in our heart and mind Vs. 18 is all about Jesus died on the cross therefore we are afforded this gift.  It’s about the SPIRITUAL CHANGE and not so much a physical change.

Don’t look at my flesh…I am carnal.  Only God really knows.  Don’t look in the mirror…measuring up is not part of the package!  You must received this gift by FAITH.  My faith is what I have to offer…not works of “good deeds.”

Today, I will stop regarding myself by my flesh, my attitude and my works – it is all about my HEART!  My heart is made new every morning because my Savior Jesus Christ lives in my heart.

Do you have a personal relationship with Him?  Do you want one?

Pray this prayer aloud with me:

I confess with my mouth that You, Jesus, are Lord, the Ruler over all. You are the Christ, the Son of God. I believe in my heart that God raised You from the dead and You are alive forevermore, seated on Your throne in heaven next to the Father. The heavenly hosts worship before Your throne. I believe Your blood that was shed on the cross washes away all my sin. I receive You as my personal Lord, King and Commander. I invite You into my life as the Lord and Ruler of my life. I no longer choose to be in charge of my life. I give it to You. I invite You, Jesus, to have first place in my heart and my life. I ask for Your cleansing blood that was shed on the cross to come now and wash down over all my sins. Come make me clean. Restore me to a right relationship as a child of my heavenly Father.Thank You, Lord, for Your cleansing blood! I stand clean and white in Your presence. I put on Your robe of righteousness which You are handing to me. Thank You, Lord. Holy Spirit, I welcome You into my heart, my soul and my body. Come, enter me now. Take up residence within me. Be the Source of power in my life. Be the Source of my life. I choose to live and walk by Your leading within. I acknowledge You as the River which flows from the throne of God, and is now flowing within my heart (Jn. 7:37-39). Come flow within me. I want to sense Your flow within, and live out of Your flow for the rest of my life. Give life to me now, I pray in Jesus’ name. I receive the Holy Spirit. I receive the River of Life. I receive You, Lord Jesus. You are my all and my everything. Thank You, Lord, for saving a sinner such as I was and now equipping me with Your empowering Holy Spirit. What amazing gifts You have given to me!

Now wait quietly in His presence: See the light and energy of the Holy Spirit swirling around within you, changing you, transforming you, enlightening you, empowering you. Is He speaking something to you? Tune to His voice, which is flowing thoughts, and hear what He is saying to you. Respond with, “Yes, Sir.” as He is giving you your very first instructions as your new-found Commander and Friend.

Written by: The “Butterfly”

Being Made New…OnPurpose!