Hold on to loyal love and don’t let go, and be faithful to all that you’ve been taught. Let your life be shaped by integrity with truth written upon your heart. That’s how you will find favor and understanding with both God and men—you will gain the reputation of living life well. Wisdom’s Guidance~ Trust in the Lord completely, and do not rely on your own opinions. With all your heart rely on him to guide you, and he will lead you in every decision you make. Become intimate with him in whatever you do, and he will lead you wherever you go. Proverbs 3:3-6 The Passion Translation
Compassioned Fatigued
If we become “compassioned fatigued” during a crisis that affects so many people in so many ways, then we need to check our hearts and make sure we have not slipped out of the “position” of being the servant of the Savior. We are not the Savior; we are the servant of the Savior. This has always been my biggest challenge during a crisis, and if I stay in position, stay on mission with God, in followship of God, I am good. But when I step out of followship and take the lead, I get quickly overwhelmed and then the enemy steps in and my passion becomes worn and I feel trapped in fatigue by a lethargic strong hold. Am I trying to be the fixer? Am I compassioned fatigued and soul weary? Just Checking…
The choices and consequences are clear. Rely on people alone, and life will be tough and brutish. Rely on the one True God, and life will be rich and productive. The Voice Commentary
Healing Words~ Listen carefully, my dear child, to everything that I teach you, and pay attention to all that I have to say. Fill your thoughts with my words until they penetrate deep into your spirit. Then, as you unwrap my words, they will impart true life and radiant health into the very core of your being. So above all, guard the affections of your heart, for they affect all that you are. Pay attention to the welfare of your innermost being, for from there flows the wellspring of life. Proverbs 4:20-23 The Passion Translation
Threat Level HIGH
We are in a season of life where the threat level is high, undefined and unceasing. We have no end date and no endgame in sight. We are growing through without a lot of facts or knowledge, only with day to day revelation. We can have a strong inner spiritual core in uncertain times such as these. Yet we also know, extreme challenges will draw out what is in our hearts. No doubt about it, what is in our hearts will be seen clearly. Into the issues of our life will flow what we have tucked into our hearts. What is the condition of our heart? What are the prevalent attitudes flowing into our life situations? Just Checking…
“Christ creates calm assurance. He is a shelter when disappointment rains down in sheets of insecurity. He is a rock in a stream of raging uncertainty. He is light in deepest darkness. He is a voice of reason when all hell breaks loose. The presence of the Holy Spirit in your life is your true north. Do not capitulate to the cares of this world. Stay in touch with your Savior. He is your calm assurance.” Boyd Bailey
Inner Core Strength
What Direction Are You Headed? The strength of our inner core determines the course of our life, as the wellbeing of our heart is seen in times such as these. Everything we do now, flows from our heart. The nobility of our life comes out of the strength of the purity of righteousness in our heart. Our inner strength is bolstered from a heart to heart relationship with God. What we seed into our heart is bloomed out into our lives. There is no doubt about this as we watch the reaction and flesh out of our human condition in times such as these. Yet, we also see the opposite, a calm, self-controlled response out of the heart of those under the rulership of God’s Love. Which authority have we positioned our lives in? We can see clearly the answer to this question by whether we are impulsively reacting or godly responding to our life situations in times such as these. Which is it reacting or responding? Just Checking…
The heart is most devious and incurably sick. Who can understand it? It is I, the Eternal One, who probes the innermost heart and examines the innermost thoughts. I will compensate each person justly, according to his ways and by what his actions deserve. Jeremiah 17:9-10 The Voice
Heart Check
I have to keep my heart in check, making sure my relationship with God is vertically strong. I can’t extend a horizontal compassion to a world challenged by so much, if I don’t have a vital-vertical relationship with God. My horizontal beam will crash to the ground without my vertical connection with God, being heart to heart strong. Have I entrusted my heart to God, guarding it with His Word? Have I developed new spiritual disciplines to match the need to keep up with the new reality I find myself suddenly living out? In times such as these, am I open-hearted to God? Am I willing to be taught, to learn new things? Am I finding myself often bowed at the cross of Jesus Christ, willessly seeking Him? Am I giving God total access to my heart? Just Checking…
Back To The Cross
Doesn’t our real life always go back to the cross where the reality of truth is seen so clearly? The Cross where Jesus faced His greatest sacrifice, His greatest trial on this earth. The challenge of the cross of Jesus was great, but the God purpose was greater, and as it played out, becoming the most victorious endgame ever known to mankind. The cross as we look at the symbol of it, we remember that Jesus hung vertically. Jesus was in a vital-vertical relationship with His Father God and was, never, out of connection with His Father God as He horizontally stretched out His arms, embracing the full weight of the sins of this world on Him. How could He bear that? How could He endure it? Simply-Significantly a Vital-Vertical relationship with His Father God. What supported that relationship, what made it strong? Willessness. (Matthew 26:36-46) Jesus fleshed out so much of His will, that He sweat blood, then He willessly said: “Not My Will But Yours” and moved forward with a supernatural strength, on mission with God. Am I fleshed out? Am I willess? Am I wholly-holy surrendered to God? Just Checking..
Positioned In Christ
The cross symbolizes exactly how we are to stand. Positioned firmly in Christ, I stand vertically, wholly-holy aligned with God, in relationship with His way, truth and life. I am willess, horizontally wide open as an extension of God to my world. I am an ambassador of God’s Kingdom. I know what selflessness is. In times such as these, where the whole world is in pandemic crisis, we must stay positioned in Christ, in vital-vertical relationship with Him, wide opened to God’s life and direction. We must fight the temptation to do things in our own strength, to be independent of God. Have I given God total access to my life? Just Checking…
Psalm 86:11-12 Teach me your way, Lord, that I may rely on your faithfulness; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name. I will praise you, Lord my God, with all my heart; I will glorify your name forever.
Just A Thought
I was created to worship God, to be in personal relationship with Him. Do I relate to and with Him on a “need” basis only? Do I have a deep desire to connect with Him, heart to heart, because of friendship, respect, honor, reverence, and love? Do I have a constant conversation with God? Do my circumstances distress my relationship with God? Do I choose to stay wholly-holy aligned with God despite what my situation shouts out? Is my heart’s passion for friendship with God affected by my worldly viewpoint? Or is my bond with Jesus steady, sure, and unbroken? Is my love and devotion for God unchanged by my life situations in this world? Checking my heart today and changing it up to a vital-vertical, wholly-holy aligned life with Jesus. Am I a picture of the cross? Do I reflect the resurrection power of Jesus? Am I mirroring Jesus’s undivided heart of loyalty to the Father God? Does God have total access to my heart? Am I becoming wholly-holy His? Just checking…
Whatever our circumstances may be, that holy, innocent, and eternal child must be in contact with His Father. Oswald Chambers
Our “Just A Thought” table at The Bridegroom’s Café is very popular because the meals are very palatable as comfort food that evokes long conversations and great fellowship. We hope you enjoyed this meal today. Please share it with others using your social media platform. We can have a constant conversation with God, a very long, unending day to day talk as we listen up to The Bridegroom’s Voice.
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