The Gentle Nudging Of Christ

How many of you know that when the Lord is calling you to do something, even when it seems like such a little thing, you need to do it? I recently had a situation arise that challenged me with the verse in James 5:16. “Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.” God had laid on my heart a specific person to go and seek forgiveness from for the attitude of my heart and I had put it off for several days. I really didn’t want to seek forgiveness, mainly because in my mind the very person God had asked me to seek forgiveness from, I felt was just as guilty as I was. So in my pride, I pushed it aside, thinking that maybe this person would realize what they were doing and be the more humble person in the situation. That never happened. God would not allow me to walk away from the responsibility He had placed in my lap. As the days went by the nudges kept coming. And finally, Sunday morning rolled around. The very first verse that was mentioned that morning was James 5:16. I always find it interesting how God uses others to seal the deal once and for all about my obedience. In that moment, I knew I could not fight the gentle hand of the Lord any longer. I knew if I continued in my disobedience the consequences would not be favorable for myself or the other person involved.

As humbly and gently as I knew how, I approached this person and asked for forgiveness. I shared with them that my heart had not been right towards them and that that I had not been treating them with kindness. My heart was laid bare and broken before them. Let me just say,  when God leads you to do something you will be amazed by the outcome! Psalms 51:17 tells us that. God will not despise a broken and contrite heart. He certainly does not! He loves and adores a humble, broken and apologetic heart. That is the very key to the kingdom. It was Christ’s broken and contrite heart that allowed Him to lay down His very life so we could live. Without Christ’s humble spirit we could never experience forgiveness of our sins nor could we experience eternity with our Heavenly Father. Such a beautiful example God has given us through His Son for us to follow. And when we are obedient to do so, the doors of heaven will open up.

The healing that took place in my heart from that experience was nothing short of a miracle. I had been experiencing so much strife and turmoil prior to that conversation. As I walked away from this conversation, my heart was filled with joy, and peace all because I finally chose to obey. When I opened my heart, the Lord poured in the oil of healing. That oil would not have come through any other avenue. This person not only received my broken heart well, but shared with me their heart as well. I had not wanted to open my heart to this person because of their unconfessed sin. God used the confession of my sin as a chance for this person to confess their own. This brought such a revelation to my spirit! How often do we get so caught up in pointing out the sins of others that we refuse to take care of the sins in our own lives?

Matthew 7:3-5 talks about this very concept. We want to pick out the sins of others when we have glaring sins of our very own that are in need of our attention. Jesus called those people a bunch of hypocrites. I don’t know about you, but I really don’t want Christ labeling me as a hypocrite. My heart keeps me plenty busy with the entanglement of sins I find myself involved with. I certainly have no business getting even more entangled by the sins of others.

Call to action

Do you find yourself quick to pick out the sins in others? Is God calling you to seek forgiveness from someone? Are you hearing a still small voice that is nudging you to do something and you’re resisting? If you can honestly answer “yes” to any of these questions or if you are feeling a stirring in your spirit, then run to our Heavenly Father. Seek clarity if needed, but most importantly, be obedient to His nudgings. Don’t put off His quiet gentle voice any longer. Simply obey. You will never regret obeying His voice. Our situations may not always turn out the way we hoped, but even in those instances, God’s ways are better than our ways.

Other posts aligning with this subject: What If?

Gracious Father, you know the inner workings of our hearts. You know what is best for us even when we do not know what is best for ourselves. I pray that as you call to us, we will be quick to listen and even more quick to obey. Help us not to push aside your gentle nudges, but to move forth with boldness and confidence in knowing that you have spoken to our hearts. Help us to remember that our obedience excites your heart. You get energized and captivated by our obedience. Lord, it is our desire to capture your heart and we know that we can do that by walking in obedience to that still small voice and those gentle nudges. We ask all these things in the precious name of Jesus Christ.

A Clean Cup

“When Jesus had finished speaking, a Pharisee invited him to eat with him; so he went in and reclined at the table. But the Pharisee was surprised when he noticed that Jesus did not first wash before the meal.
Then the Lord said to him, “Now then, you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. You foolish people! Did not the one who made the outside make the inside also? But now as for what is inside you—be generous to the poor, and everything will be clean for you.” Luke 11:37-41

Jesus rebukes the Pharisees for their religious looking “clean” cup. Yes, from the outside all looks pristine and lovely but all the while the inside their hearts were full of filth. The Pharisees were known for having the appearance of perfection in the religious world. They looked like they were doing everything right from the outside, but inwardly they were in complete opposition to the word of God. I think it’s safe to say that in one-way shape or form, we have all walked down this road before. We have all made ourselves appear to others as if everything is peaches and cream, but inside our hearts are not right with the Lord. As far as everyone else knows our world is perfectly fine, but we know that our hearts are not in tune with our Heavenly Father’s. We may even have a feeling of distance between us and the Lord. We continue to go to church week after week, put a smile on our face and wear that “everything is fine” mask. All the while, no one knows that our walk with the Lord is on shaky ground. Please tell me I’m not the only one who is guilty of cleaning up the outside of my cup only to neglect the inside. Yes, I have walked down that road in my past and believe me, if you are not there now, and you never have been there, please do all you can to keep your heart right before the Lord because living like all is well when your walk with the Lord is dying is a horrible place to be. God would rather our hearts be clean, pure and right before Him with our outward appearance looking like it’s in shambles then the other way around. 

“...The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” 1 Samuel 16:7

Another side of the “Clean Cup” Mentality
The other aspect of this clean cup mentality that I have been thinking heavily about is this whole disillusioned notion that we have to clean ourselves up before we come to the Lord. Some people will even go the extreme of thinking that before they can ever set foot inside the doors of a church building they need to be perfect. I can not recall one time in scripture where it says to get all your ducks in a row first before Jesus will have anything to do with you. In fact, scripture tells us just the opposite. Christ came to seek out and to save those who are lost (Luke 19:10). Christ loves us so much that while we were still in the midst of our wrongs, in the depths of our addictions, and in bondage to our sin, in that very moment is when He willingly laid down His life for us (Romans 5:8)! This is the beauty of our Heavenly Father. He loves us right where we are at. Now, please note here that while He laid down His life for us while we were yet in our sin, it is not His desire that we remain there. Christ did not lay down His life to set us free just so we can feel better for a short time only for us to return to the bondages of sin once again. No! Christ came while we were in the depths of our sin to set us free so we can stay free. So we can live a life that is full of love, joy, and peace. He called us to live a life that beckons others to come to the feet of Jesus and find freedom as well.  

Clean Enough
Have you ever gone to the Lord thinking that you have “cleaned yourself up enough” only to have the Lord convict your heart? I have to say, I must raise my hand on this one. I am so guilty of trying to clean up myself and then trying to approach the Lord only to realize that when I put my cleanest, whitest clothing on and then stand beside the King of Kings, I look quite dingy and stain ridden next to the creator of all perfection. It is in these moments that I all I can do is say, “Here I am Lord, dirty, spotted, stained, tattered and torn. And despite my best efforts, this is the best I can do. I place the rest in your hands.” Jesus, with all compassion in his heart, looks back at me and says, “My daughter, I never wanted you to try to clean yourself up. I just wanted you to come as you are. For it is an impossible thing for you to do. This is why I have poured out my blood on the cross for you. It is only by my blood that you can be made clean, unspotted, unstained, whole, complete, and as white as snow. I love you as you are. Let me do the heavy cleaning from now on.” It puts tears in my eyes just thinking about how much the Lord loves us, that He wants us to come as we are so He can do the dirty work of cleaning the sinful mess that we have made of our hearts. He doesn’t want us to try and do His job. Besides even when we try, we will always fall short. We are not capable of cleaning up sin. When we try to clean up the sin in our lives all we end up doing is making a bigger mess by smearing, smudging and possibly even adding to it. I sometimes wonder why we as Christians feel the need to do God’s job. Is it that we don’t trust Him with our heart or is it that we are too ashamed of what we have done and wished it wasn’t so bad? I’m guessing it’s a little of both at times. 

How to keep a clean heart
God is looking at our hearts and not just the outward appearance (1 Samuel 16:7). He is looking at our secret place. He is looking at everything that everyone else cannot see. There is nothing hidden from the Lord (Hebrews 4:13). He desires for our hearts to be a place of righteousness, honor, and truth. He wants our hearts to be pure and upright. But what must we do in order to keep a clean heart?

1. Walk in Forgiveness
“ If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9

Our clean heart starts with walking in forgiveness. We must seek forgiveness from Jesus Christ in order for us to be purified and cleansed from our unrighteousness. Christ cannot and will not cleanse sin from our hearts if we are not willing to seek forgiveness first! A clean heart begins with forgiveness from our Savior! 

2. Walk in Humility
“Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.” James 4:10

This was one of the problems that the Pharisees had. They refused to humble themselves. They wanted to be lifted up without walking in a place of humility. Walking in pride got them nothing but one big chastisement after another from Jesus. I don’t know about you, but I have found myself tripping over my pride more times then I care to admit. I thank God for his grace because without it I would find myself so deep in trouble that Solomon in all his wisdom might just be stumped in getting me out of my pit.

3. Walk in Love for the Lord
“He answered, Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind; and, Love your neighbor as yourself.” Luke 10:27

 Forgiveness washes us clean but love can keep us from going from wanting to go back and be repeat offenders of those same sins. Love covers a multitude of sins (1 Peter 4:8). Love can keep us walking in freedom from our past sins. It can keep us from wanting to run back to the bondages that we once found ourselves so easily entangled in. I can think of a time or two when the love of others has kept me on the straight and narrow. How about you? Can you think of times in your life when the love flowing from someone for you has kept you from sin and danger? This is just how our Heavenly Father works. He loves us so much that His love is capable of keeping our faces turned toward righteousness and away from sin in so many instances.

The same thing goes for when we love the Lord with a fervent type of love. It will keep us from the desire of sin in our lives. Now, does this mean that if we keep our love for Christ in a passionate state that we will never sin? No, because we are human. We are bound to miss the mark even when we are not trying to do so on purpose.  But loving God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength can sure keep us out of a lot of unrighteous situations.

4. Walk in Obedience
“He replied, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.” Luke 11:28

When we hear God’s word and obey what it says this is yet another way of keeping our hearts clean before the Lord. At the very core, this is what our Lord requires of us, to act justly, love mercy and walk humbly with our God (Micah 6:8). We can not walk with God if we are too busy disobeying His word. I would like to point out that this verse does not say blessed are those who hear the word only. The blessing does not come unless we hear and obey. Blessing comes with obedience. One of the blessings we get from obedience is having a clean heart before the Lord.

Lord, Help us to not just look at the outward appearance and pretend that everything is okay while completely ignoring the inner workings of our hearts. Help us to remember that we must walk in forgiveness, walk in humility, walk in love for you and walk in obedience in order for our hearts to be kept pure. You desire for our hearts to be righteousness. Help us not to just clean up the outside, but to clean up the inside as well. Thank you, Lord, for the direction of your word and we desire to walk in obedience to it. In Jesus mighty name, Amen.

Unchecked Emotions And God's Faithfulness

Just the other day we had a ladies meeting at our church. The main text was from Psalms 34 and the woman delivering the message shared just how easily it is for us, especially as women, to become overwhelmed by our unchecked thoughts, fears and emotions. In today’s post I wanted to share with you yet another testimony of God’s goodness, faithfulness and how He continues to make my jaw drop in amazement.

The very next day as this whole idea of submitting our thoughts, fears and emotions to the Lord was still very fresh in my mind I received a phone call. On the other end was a friend of mine who was in a panic. “Jessica, what in the world am I going to do with this situation?” She began to share the events that had just transpired. She was flooded with emotions of frustration, anger and was very heavy hearted. The tears began to flow, and I was finding that everything I knew to say in a situation like this did not help her perspective to change. It seemed that the more I tried to share the more her emotions piled up on top of her. Her situation was one that I truly did not have a clue how to solve in and of myself. It was in that moment that I realized that the Lord had allowed me to hear that message the night before for situations such as these. I heard that message not  just for dealing with the unchecked emotions in my own life, but also helping others to deal with unchecked emotions in their lives as well. So I did the only thing I knew to do in a situation like this. I placed her at the feet of our Heavenly Father. I prayed with her, cried with her and for her and for the situation that she faced. When I finished praying I heard a change in her voice. There was a peace that passes all understanding guarding her heart and mind through Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:7). Her situation did not change, her problems were not solved, but she had simply placed them at the foot of the cross. She had laid her burdens down and left the outcome up to the Lord. This is exactly what God desires for us to do, he wants us to give up our burdens to Him. The burdens we try to carry are not meant for us to pick up. This is why we feel so heavy hearted. This is why we feel so overwhelmed, like we are being crushed under a weight too heavy for us to carry, because it is a weight too heavy for us to carry. We must put it down and allow the Lord to pick it up for us.

 “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:29-30

The Lord’s burdens are light. When my friend gave her burdens to the Lord, He replaced them with his burden of peace. I don’t know about you but I would much rather be walking around with a burden of peace than a burdened heart, overwhelming frustrations and a weight of anger on my shoulders any day of the week!

The story could end right here and that would be a pretty great testimony in and of itself of gaining peace in an not so peaceful heart, but our God has a way of blowing the doors right off their hinges just to show how He is able to move on our behalf. I no sooner got off the phone with my friend and within about 10 minutes it rings again. She was calling to inform me of an update in her situation. God had completely changed the heart of the other person that was involved! My friend had received a tearful apology with deep heartfelt conviction and was so blown away that she wanted to call and inform me of the 180 degree change! My friend told the other person involved  that she had called me and that I had lifted her and the situation up in prayer. This other person involved said, “That is why I felt so convicted! God was using those prayers to move in my heart.” And with that the situation was resolved!

All I can do is sit back in awe! We serve a pretty amazing God, one who can change a heart in an instant and make a very bad situation be resolved in a moment. Now, I realize I did not go into exact details about the situation, but all I can tell you is that unless God changed the hearts of each person involved, it would not have ended well for anyone. I thank God for His unending faithfulness and answers to prayers. If you are dealing with emotions and fears that are unchecked, or maybe you have a situation staring you in the face and you have no idea what to do with it. Take your thoughts, fears, emotions and your situation and lay them at the feet of Jesus. He is faithful! I can not promise that the situation will work out as you might want, but it will always work out for the good of those who love Him (Romans 8:28).

Lord, I thank you that you desire to work on our behalf. I thank you for desiring our thoughts, emotions, and fears to be laid at your feet. I thank you that you desire for those things not to overwhelm us. Thank you that your yoke is easy and your burden is light. Help us in those moments of crises to lay everything down at your feet so that you can carry what we were never meant to ever carry. Thank you for the answers to prayers even when we don’t see them answered in the way that we would like, because we know that you have a greater good in mind for us than we can see in this moment.  You are a truly awesome God. We love you so much!

"Shooting" The Wounded

There is an old saying that states: “Only Christians shoot their wounded.”

Have you ever been “shot” by a fellow Christian? The interesting thing about this is that when we get “shot” by someone outside of the four walls of the church we can brush it off and justify it by saying “since they don’t know Christ, they don’t know any better.” It seems to be easier to forgive and move on. But when we are “shot” by a fellow brother or sister in Christ brushing it off proves to be a bit more challenging. We have a tendency to hold our brothers and sisters in Christ to a higher standard, and rightfully so. But, when we are “shot” by one of them it can make the pain that much harder to take. I recently had a situation happen in my life that caused such disappointment in my heart I didn’t even know what to do with it. All I wanted to do was justify myself, but the Holy Spirit would not allow me to walk down that path at all, I just needed to keep quiet on the subject matter and allow the Lord to work out “all things for the good” (Romans 8:28). In light of this, I was forced to do some searching. “God, what should I do? How do I respond?” I was reminded of Jesus’ statement in Matthew 5:39 “to turn the other cheek.” Along with this verse, the Lord reminded me of a previous post I had written entitled “Our Defense Mechanisms.” Yet again, the Lord is bringing me back around to test me at my words. In that post, I had challenged you all to copy that list down, know it and then when a situation arose you would know what to do. I was faced with one of two choices, I could take this list and apply it to my disappointed heart and crushed spirit, or I could throw out all that God had taught me. Somehow, sticking to the word of God seemed like the better of the two choices here. So, I found myself pulling out that list “How to treat those who hurt us” and doing some warfare with it. In light of this particular situation, I found my list was missing one key element that I needed for healing to take place in my heart in this particular situation. Now, I realize that this list was written in light of our enemies, but it really can be applied to any situation in which we are hurt by someone, be it a fellow Christian or not.

“Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.” Ephesians 4:32

• Respond with forgiveness

Paul is writing this letter to the Christians of the church of Ephesus. He is not addressing how we should treat the nonbeliever. There are many other portions of scripture that address forgiveness where the target of our forgiveness is not so specific, in other words, we are called to forgive the sinner as well as the saint. But in this particular case Paul is clearly addressing Christians so we can see that our responsibility to our brothers and sisters is kindness, compassion, and forgiveness. What a challenge forgiveness can be sometimes, especially when part of us wants the other person to “feel our pain.” Forgiveness can often be a huge exercise in the area of faith. We are called to forgive even in the face of being “shot” by other Christians. We are to forgive in those moments of disappointments. We are to forgive when our brothers and sisters do not act like Christ. We are to forgive when it hurts. We are to forgive in those times when we feel justified for holding onto our grudge. We are to forgive when we want the other person to “pay.” What it all boils down to is this... We can not control the behavior of others, but we can control the way we respond to them, and our response should be the way Christ would respond, with forgiveness.

The other area of forgiveness that we must also take into consideration is not just in the area of forgiving others, but we must also forgive ourselves. We mess up, miss the mark, and fall short of the glory of God each and every day. We can choose to hold those mess-ups over our own heads and allow them to weigh us down or we can choose to lay those things at the foot of the cross and extend the hand of forgiveness to our own heart. I don’t know about you, but I personally find it harder at times to forgive myself than to forgive others. I have a tendency to carry around my shame and guilt and much like a broken record, I keep replaying these moments of mishaps. The Lord desires forgiveness for our hearts just as much as He desires forgiveness for the hearts of others. He wants us to walk around in freedom, not under an umbrella of condemnation. Forgiving ourselves is one of the keys to walking a victorious life in Christ.

I choose this day to rehearse the things on the list, “How to treat those who hurt us,” and I choose to walk in forgiveness both for the one who did the “shooting” and for myself. I do not know the outcome of the situation, but I know that when I do my part the Lord is ALWAYS faithful to fulfill his part at the perfect time. He is never late. And whatever the circumstance He will work all things for the good (Romans 8:28).

Lord, I thank you that you are in control of all things. I thank you that the situations we find ourselves in you knew about long before we ever saw them coming our way. You know how to work out all things for the good. Your word says that you know the plans you have for us. You have plans to give us a hope and a future. I thank you that whatever “wounds” we may acquire on this walk with you that they are not meant for our harm. You desire to work in us a Christ-like character, and in order to become more like Christ, we have to walk through the tough things of life. Help us in this area of forgiveness. It can be so hard at times, but we know that when we walk in forgiveness we are becoming more like Christ. Help us not to rehearse those moments we mess up. Help us to forgive ourselves just as freely as you forgive us. Thank you for being patient with us as we learn to walk in your ways each and every day.  

Related Posts: "Our Defense Mechanism," "Hurts," "Extending The Hand Of Forgiveness," "Testing My Words," and "Echoing The Heartbeat Of God"

Extending The Hand Of Forgiveness

“Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times? Jesus answered, I tell you not seven times, but seventy-seven times” Matthew 18:21-22

How many of us get frustrated with having to forgive someone for the same thing twice? I know I am guilty of not wanting to extend grace and forgiveness for a repeated offence. Jesus wants us to understand something in this verse. A person with a heart of compassion is hard to come across. Peter thought he was being compassionate when he asked if he should forgive seven times. But in the eyes of Christ, forgiving someone seven times for the same offence does not necessarily qualify us as having developed the characteristic of compassion in our lives. God does not just want us to be compassionate when we want to. He wants us to be characterized by a life filled and overflowing with compassion and forgiveness, and if that takes seventy-seven times to develop that characteristic in our hearts, than that is the path we need to take. Christ is not asking us to keep track of the number of times we bestow forgiveness on someone for repeated offences, that is not the point here. He is trying to nurture and develop in us a life characterized by compassion. He wants others to be able to see in us a compassionate heart. This is not so people can use us and abuse us. It is so others can see what Christ looks like by the way we live. It is so others can see Christ face to face. It is so others can identify that the compassion they see in us is not coming from us, but rather flowing through us and that the source of our compassion comes from Christ himself!

For many of us forgiveness doesn’t come easy. It requires us to swallow our pride, humble ourselves and extend the hand of Christ in the very moments we want to be extending the hand of revenge. We are not capable of repeatedly forgiving someone for the same offence and not carry around a chip on our shoulders about it without Christ operating in our lives. It is necessary that we allow Christ to work in our hearts so that forgiveness can flow freely in our lives. Otherwise, we will give up long before Christ has even had the opportunity to change our hearts.

To read more on compassion visit: The Lord's Compassion, Echoing The Heartbeat of God , Jesus Chose The Least Of Theses, Getting Dressed (Part 1)

Lord, I thank you that you desire to develop in us hearts that are filled with compassion and full of forgiveness toward others. I thank you that you are going to be right beside us in those times when we want to extend the hand of revenge rather than the hand of forgiveness and you are going to work in our hearts so that we can choose to forgive in those moments. I thank you that you want our lives to be characterized by a forgiving heart so that others can see you in us. We know that we are incapable of accomplishing this on our own and that it is only by you working in us that continual forgiveness can flow. Work on our hearts this week Lord, that we can extend the hand of forgiveness seventy seven times if needed! And let our lives be characterized by a continual flow of compassion extending from our hearts in each and every moment when forgiveness is needed.

Echoing The Heartbeat of God

I wrote in last weeks post about representing Christ to the world and that we are all called to be Christ’s ambassadors. Now that we know that this is one of our greatest responsibilies as Christians, we need to better understand the heart of God so that we can accurately represent Christ to the world. What is on the heart of God? What is God’s heartbeat? I want to share with you some things that make up the heartbeat of God.

1. God’s heart beats with an overabundance of love for us.

“How great is the love the Father has lavished on us…” 1 John 3:1

We are called to love just as Christ loves us. We are called to lavish love on people! How would people react to us if we loved them just for the sake of loving, expecting nothing in return? How would they respond if we loved those whom society labels the “unloveable?” This is what Christ does. He comes in and loves us when we don’t “deserve” to be loved. We are called to respond the same way.

 “Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.” 1 John 4:8

God does not mess around, He is serious about the topic of love. He goes as far as saying if we don’t love, we don’t even know Him. I do not want to find myself in a place of not knowing God because I chose not to love.

For more reading on God's love visit the love series.

2. God’s heart beats with all the fullness of compassion over us.

 “The Lord is gracious and righteous; our God is full of compassion.” Psalm 116:5

God desires us to live a life filled and overflowing with compassion for people. When we reach out in compassion for others, most of the time that same compassion will come around and reach out to us when we are in need. Compassion starts with us.

For more reading about God's compassion visit: The Lord's Compassion

3. God’s heart beats richly with mercy, mercy that says “you will not get what you deserve.” Thank God for this mercy because I know I deserve far more than I will ever get.

“But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive in Christ...”
Ephesians 2:4-5

God expects us to be merciful to others. He has set a beautiful example of mercy for us by sending His one and only Son to die for the sins we have committed, sins we should have taken the blame and punishment for. I don’t know of any better example of mercy than this. This is mercy at it’s finest!

“Be merciful just as your heavenly father is merciful.” Luke 6:36

We are called to extend the same hand of mercy to others around us. There are going to be many times in our lives when we will be tested in this area! And as for me, there have been many times that I have fallen flat on my face failing miserably because I did not extend mercy when mercy was needed. But I thank God he is so quick to hand me mercy in my times of need. I am also thankful that the Lord does not measure the amount of mercy He will show us based upon how much mercy we have shown others. If this were the case, God's mercy would be very limited in my life for sure!

To read more on God's mercy click here.

4. God’s heart beats with immeasurable amounts of  forgiveness for us from our sins.

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9

When we go to the Lord with a humble heart and confess, he never hesitates to forgive. God does not sit there and try to list off reasons why we don’t deserve his forgiveness. He already knows we don’t deserve it. I am so thankful he is faithful to forgive me without reservation!

“For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your father will not forgive your sins.” Matthew 6:14-15

God also passes on the responsibility of forgiveness to us as well. He expects us to forgive others, just as He forgives us, freely, willingly and without reservation. God forgives with no strings attached, and no condemnation. Wow, what a responsibility we have to forgive! This can be so  challenging especially when in our humanness we feel like we can justify our reasons for not wanting to forgive. God’s word tells us that if we are unwilling to forgive others then He will not forgive us. Ouch! What a shot to the human ego! Lord, help us to keep a heart of forgiveness toward others.

Read more on forgiviness.

5. God’s heart beats with deliverance and healing.

“He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.” Psalm 147:3

While we can not deliver people from their bondages or sicknesses, we serve a God who can! God calls us to pray for those that need deliverance and healing. Our prayers are like a launch pad for God to take off from. When we present our hearts to the Lord he will respond. Our prayers do not fall on deaf ears. Please bear in mind, sometimes we need to keep seeking the Lord for healing and deliverance. This is not because the Lord is not listening, but rather He is working in our hearts as we wait upon Him for his answer in His timing. When we try to rush things we will often miss the bigger plan God has for the situation. It is God’s desire that we go to Him when we are in need of deliverance and healing.

“Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.” James 5:16

As Christ’s ambassadors, we are called to love as God loves, shower those we meet with Godly amounts of compassion, mercy and forgiveness, and to pray for healing and deliverance. These areas are some of the very heart beats of God. We are called to echo God’s heartbeat so that we can show the world who Christ is.

Listen to the song that inspired the title of this post.

Lord, I thank you for a greater understanding of your heart! I thank you that you desire to use us to reflect your glory so that we can show the world exactly who you are and what you look like. Lord, there are going to be times when we mess up and misrepresent you, but I pray that you help us to draw closer to you in these moments and that you use them to teach our hearts more about your character. Lord, I pray that we learn what It means to echo your heartbeat.

His Mercy Is New Every Morning

I am so thankful that God's mercy is new for each and every morning. I do not have to live with the guilt of my past mistakes. I can live under his forgiveness each day. God does not drag our old skeletons out from the closet of forgiveness just to remind us of what we have done. As long as I have asked forgiveness for that particular skeleton, then His mercy is new for me today and every day! THANK YOU, LORD! I know that I would be drowning in a sea of sin if it wasn't for the mercy of God coming to my rescue. I am so thankful I serve a God who comes to my rescue with a life preserver in hand to save me from my own sin. He provides a way out for me.

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9

“He will again have compassion on us, and will subdue our iniquities. You will cast our sins into the depths of the sea.” Micah 7:19 (New King James Version)

You may have heard the phrase  “the sea of God’s forgetfulness.” This phrase stems from Micah 7:19. God does not keep a record book of our confessed sins. They are wiped out and forgotten about when you put them under the blood of Jesus Christ. The sad part about this beautiful thing the Lord does for me is this, I am one who tends to drag them up from the bottom of the ocean, only to find myself drowning from sin I have already confessed. I cling to them and live in guilt over them. I attended a Beth Moore conference a while back and she made the comparison of these sins being like ankle weights. As we try to swim, the ankle weights are fine for a little while, but eventually, they tire us out. And if we hold on to those sins long enough they will pull us under. I find it hard at times to simply let go of the sins that so easily entangle me. I somehow convince myself that if I hang onto them, they will bring me security. However, this is a false sense of security. God is calling us to true security, a security that can only be found by letting go of the past sins, by cutting off the ankle weights that will inevitably drown us.

I don’t know about you, but I have to constantly be reminding myself that I can move on because I am forgiven and free from a particular confessed sin. Confessing our sins is only the first step in staying free. It is so important that we don’t strap on the ankle weights of yesterday’s sins. Think about how much lighter our steps can be when we never put the ankle weights on. What a wonderful God we serve! God grants us freedom from our sins and past mistakes, but it is our responsibility to stay free from them. Now, that does not mean the Lord will not help us when we find ourselves stumbling over the sins of yesterday. But it does mean He expects us to take on some responsibility and do our part to stay free.

Lord, I pray that this week we do as you have done, and throw our confessed sins into the sea. I pray that we keep them there and not go after them. I pray that we live in freedom and not guilt or condemnation over the things we have done. I am so thankful that we serve a God who doesn't drag out old sins. Lord, help us to live in your freedom of forgiveness today, this week, and every day.