Just A Thought – January 29, 2019
January 29, 2019Just A Thought – January 30, 2019
January 30, 2019Part of your spiritual alignment is aligning your heart to the Word and God’s immense love for you but it doesn’t stop with only an affirmation that you believe the Word. It involves making sure your heart is engaged in the Word because your heart plays a very important role, and not just to keep pumping blood throughout your body.
Your heart is at the center of your believing. Do you believe in your head or in your heart? When asked, most Christians respond by saying they just believe and hadn’t thought about where they believe.
Jack Elder says the heart is where you decide what to believe. The heart is always at work reasoning out things that go with or against your beliefs—what you believe about God, Jesus, your own spiritual life, and even about yourself. Proverbs 4:23 (NLT) says: “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.” Another way to understand it is by seeing the importance of “guarding what enters your heart because it affects your whole life.”
The more we work on aligning our spiritual walk with the finished work of Jesus, the more we understand the importance of believing right. We persuade our hearts in His Love for us. By definition the word ‘persuade’ is the action or fact of being persuaded to do or believe something. You can persuade your heart in any number of directions. A couple fall in love because they’ve persuaded their heart in believing the other person loves them. People jump on a political bandwagon because they’ve persuaded their heart in believing a person has their best interests in mind. Even a serial killer persuades his heart to believe, even though a lie, that he’s doing a greater good. Do you see the connecting action of aligning your heart to God’s Word, thus persuading your heart to believe the truth? You will follow what you believe and where your heart is anchored.
Yet, many believers may not recognize that they believe the Word only with their head. Their heart is not engaged in being persuaded to believe. They are born again, and go to church every week, but they don’t see answers to prayer and wonder why. Perhaps their believing has only stayed in their head. It hasn’t changed their hearts.
You don’t want just a head knowledge of your belief. Your mind will tell you a million things but if those things aren’t anchored in God’s Word, you’re following your heart with blinders. You’re believing from a head knowledge. You need a heart that is convinced—persuaded—that what God says is true, is true.
It’s vital to get your heart engaged in believing God’s Word, His Truth. Anchor your believing in what Jesus accomplished for you—His finished work. That’s persuading your heart. It’s the process of cementing God’s love and His truth in your heart where it will influence your entire life. Paul Ellis (Escape to Reality) puts it this way: Your faith is being persuaded about God. If you will not be convinced that God is good to you, your faith is useless and you will never experience his goodness in your life.
TRUTH: So, how do you start persuading your heart to believe God’s Word, His Truth? By feeding on the Word. Doing so engages your heart. God’s Word is active and powerful and carries the power to persuade hearts. That means it’s alive. It’s alive with potential in your life. The more you are convinced of God’s truth, the stronger your persuasion to believe the Word. When you believe God’s promises and feed on His goodness, you’re persuading your heart to believe. Even as a baby begins to take its first steps, you begin to step out with a persuaded heart believing God’s promises are yours.
Take the next step today to persuade your heart about God’s promises and all that Jesus has provided for you. Get the Word into to your heart. Let your mouth speak His promises. The more personal you make the Word (because it’s God’s word to you), the more powerful it will be in your life. And in doing so, you move from persuading to believing to being convinced. And that makes you a victorious believer, walking in the blessings of God.
APPLICATION: Here are some verses that will enable you to persuade your heart to believe and make positive confessions of the truth of these verses.
Don’t rush through these verses but take your time. Allow the Holy Spirit to teach you. The more consistent you plant the Word in your heart, the more you’ll persuade your heart to believe and walk in the truth. In each of our studies, you’ll continue to grow in Jesus and His finished work for you.
Proverbs 4:23 NLT – “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.”
Make It Personal: I will guard my heart and what comes into my heart.
2 Corinthians 1:20 NIV – “For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ.”
Make It Personal: God’s promises to me are Yes because of Jesus.
Romans 10:8 NIV – “The word is near you, it is in your mouth and in your heart.”
Make It Personal: I will continue to keep God’s Word in my mouth and in my heart.
1 King 8:56 KJV – “There hath not failed one word of all His good promise.”
Make It Personal: God is faithful to keep His promises that are good, and He is faithful to me.
Romans 8:31 NASB – “If God is for us, who is against us?”
Make It Personal: God and me are a majority, and I won’t be afraid of anyone against me. God’s on my side.
1 John 4:17 KJV – “As He is, so are we in this world.”
Make It Personal: The promises of Jesus that as He is, so am I in this world and not just when I get to Heaven.
John 10:10 NIV – “For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.”
Make It Personal: I continue to believe God’s Word, profess sit and speak it out, as I keep it in my heart.
Matthew 19:26 NIV – “With God all things are possible.”
Make It Personal: When I trust the Lord, God makes all things possible.
ASK YOURSELF:
What changes have I made in guarding my heart this week?
How am I persuading my heart to believe Jesus’s finished work for me?
How am I keeping His Word in my heart?
What particular scriptures are becoming stronger in your thinking and believing?
What revelation or deeper understanding has the Holy Spirit given you this week from this study?
Can anything separate you from God’s love?