Makeover of the Heart

Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart. – Psalm 37:4

Something to remember: "God said He wanted to remove those walls. He wanted to take out that heart and breathe new life into it. He wanted to pour out His love on her, which He so freely gives. He wanted to heal her heart. He asked if she was willing. Would she allow Him to transform her heart?"

The story of Jabez shows us how abundantly God wants to Bless us. He wants to "give us Kisses from the King" and lavish His love upon us. As a requirement for seeking blessings comes the necessity to allow God's will to unfold in our lives as He holds us perfectly balanced in His hands. Blessings do not and will not come in OUR ways but rather His ways. We ought not ever think His blessings come from something we've done or earned but rather just resting in His salvation, through the Cross, and seeking a relationship with Him. It is a two-fold relationship. I disagree slightly with the study in that we can "let go and let God". I do not think this a true reflection of our relationship with Him. We must take hold of spiritual disciplines and inact our part of the relationship with Him in order to be blessed by God. I understand the meaning of the line but think it distracts from the "relationship" part of what we experience as Christians. We trust God, faithfully seek Him and His will, expect hardship as a Christian it is not always an easy road and we do not live in a "safer" place than the world. We just have the ONE who came to save, who holds us upon high, and blesses us abundantly from His will and how He sees fit!

Questions for Thought:

3. What is God revealing to you as you complete this Study?  How much I often don't take hold of my part of the relationship, such as spiritual disciplines through prayer, reading, quiet time, etc.  I let myself be taken by the distractions of the day rather than intentionally pursuing Him.  Yet, I expect somehow to be Blessed by Him. I know that even my salvation is a blessing and that He is blessing me beyond measure even when I fail to have "relationship" with Him.  But, without the relationship with Him I'm missing so much of the daily, simple, yet amazing blessings He gives.

5.  Write down your thoughts about David and Bathsheba and David being a "man after God's own Heart".  We just went over this in church on Sunday some as we talked about our flesh as seen in Joshua 8 and the pitfalls of our sinful nature and God's response to them out of Love and faithfulness.  David allowed his flesh to distract Him from his God and instead of instantly turning and pursuing God he fell to the flesh with Bethsheba.  The lust of his heart distracted him from his relationship with God.  This did not turn God away from Him. God was faithful to David and loved him enough to reveal his sin to him so that he could not continue in it.  David's relationship with God remained as he repaired what he had done and the distance he created.  I know that I do the same thing and day to day hope and pray that I might be rebuild the relationship between my Father and I as I allow myself to be distracted by "things" of this world and the flesh.

You can find the rest of the questions here.