Heart Issues

Last night in FLO Bible Study, we talked about “heart issues”. We talked about carrying baggage from our pasts with us into every new day. We talked about unforgiveness. We talked about guilt.

I truly believe that admitting that there is a heart issue is the beginning of healing. So many times we think that if we THINK the right things and KNOW the right things then we are okay. I have just recently come to understand that knowing and believing are truly two totally different, although related, things. We first have to realize what we BELIEVE and FEEL about God…not what we are supposed to believe and feel, but what we REALLY believe and feel. When we are honest with ourselves and with God, then we have an accurate starting point….

Believe: to accept that something is true or real; consider, think, suppose, deem, judge
Perhaps you truly believe that God has failed you; that He has let you down, that He should have done more, that He should have protected you or someone you love. Believing something that is false does not make it true. For years, people believed that “bad blood” was what made folks sick. They believed it totally and without question –“with all their hearts”…to the point of draining blood in an attempt to heal everything from a headache to a fever…but the fact that they believed it, did not make it true, and many people died as a result. Perhaps you believe false things about God….and it is draining the life out of you. Be honest with God. Confessing your belief about Him does not change the truth about Him, but it does allow your heart to be opened to understand the truth.

Feel: to experience an emotion or physical sensation; sense, be aware of, be of the opinion, experience
Maybe you don’t believe that God has failed you. Perhaps you believe that God is perfect and that His ways are perfect and that He is in total control of your life, but right now you feel hurt, scared, angry, frustrated, impatient, disappointed, or just confused and that you have lost your focus. By checking what you feel against what you believe, you may find that you are truly closer to God than you thought. Your feelings can betray you. Just because you feel something does not make it true. I know that I ate 45 minutes ago…Still, I “feel” hungry….I believe that what I ate was enough to nourish my body and that I should not be hungry, but the fact remains that I FEEL hungry. Even though I feel hungry, I know that I do not need more food. I believe that my body is not truly hungry and that the “feeling” of hunger is deceiving and will cause me more troubles in the long run if I believe it…I will over eat and I will gain weight….and that will negatively affect many other areas of my life. Perhaps what you FEEL is in contradiction to what you know and what you believe to be true about God. Giving in to what you feel can lead to behaviors that will negatively impact other areas of you life.

Know: to have a thorough understanding of something through experience or study; understand, be aware of, comprehend, be knowledgeable about, appreciate, grasp, realize, see, get
You may KNOW a lot of things about God, but I am praying that you will figure out what you FEEL about Him, what you BELIEVE about Him. When you know where you really are with God (not where you wish you were, or where you think you should be, or where everyone else thinks you are), you allow GOD to come in where you are. I believe this is where so many of us unintentionally deny Him the privilege of completely healing us. We let Him in where we wish we were, or where we think we should be…and where we really are is still broken and beaten and battered. Be honest with yourself, and be honest with Him. Let Him come in where you are. In doing that, you are allowing HIM to take you where you need to be, and you will arrive there whole, healed, and ready to move on.

Trying to get my heart right reminds me of Jacob fighting with God. It is exhausting. It is a wrestling match. It is the ultimate battle between my human-ness and my spiritual-ness. Trying to get my heart right requires desperate desire for nothing aside from God’s presence. Trying to get my heart right requires me to let go of everything…everything…let me say it once more…every-thing. Getting my HEART right requires me to stand, kneel, fall flat on my face before my Savior….for no other reason than to get MYSELF right with Him. It is an ongoing battle. Over the past few months I have learned to trust what I know to be true about God and have come to BELIEVE what scripture says about Him and His nature, despite how I feel and despite my understanding of my circumstances.
Getting our hearts right with God requires complete submission, total trust, and absolute faith in God our Father for no other reason than because of who He is. It is a heart issue. It is between your heart and God. No one can fight this battle for you. Like Jacob, you may come away physically wounded (He may not dislocate your hip, but, like we said last night, He may not do what we think He should and that may hurt terribly), but your HEART will be where it needs to be…whole, complete, healed, and totally completely uncontrollably passionately madly in love with your Creator.

Hugs,
K