Heartsickness

Hope deferred makes the heart sick,
but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life. Proverbs 13:12 NIV

How is it that our days can be so filled with joy and happiness, zest for life, and other days feel like all is desperately wrong and an emotional state of sorrow pervades everything?

I had a talk with my heart today. Instead of longing for an impossible situation to be miraculously fixed, I told myself to desire God’s presence instead. Not His help. I’ll let you know how the tree of life’s fruit tastes soon . . . already I’m feeling hopeful.

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The King’s Anointing

I often reflect on the story of when Mary, sister of Martha and Lazarus, anointed Jesus with her costly spikenard.

Did she realize her act of love was the King of King’s prophetic anointing that day?

Jesus knew.

He said simply, “She did what she could.”

Powerful words.

Words I would like to hear Him say.

 

Here’s a bit of a poem I wrote in memory of what Mary did.

 

 

Do What You Can

 

Mary’s love in that hour, symbolically shown,

Was much more than she could have known.

Anoint the Anointed—What a heavenly thought!

He was everything she had ever sought.

 

She began at the top of His head

And, pouring all, bent down at His feet.

Do it, dear Mary, please do it

Pour it all out on Him

Lavish your best, spare not a drop

Your love is the fragrance that gladdens His heart.

 

It’s love for love, so do what you can

Give the King the love He is due

And, Mary, you can fill the world with the scent of it too

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Deep, Sweet Thoughts of Jesus

Not often enough do we turn our hearts to heaven for the sheer joy of seeing Jesus. We fill our days with trivial pursuits, do we not?

Drink from the fountain, the Life-giving fountain, and fill your thirsty soul with the wine of heaven.

That just bubbled up.

And here’s a practical approach.

Imagine the gospel scene of the wedding in Cana and how Jesus turned gallons and gallons of water into wine. Think deeply about what happened by imagining being there. This is a dynamic, creative way to pray, to turn and see Jesus. Notice everything about Him. Be there.

Our imaginations were made for God above all else. We should invite Him in more often.

Another way to experience being with Jesus is to be more aware of His company. We can converse with Him inwardly all day long.

Or, look closely at a flower and consider the miracle and beauty of it and that God made it. The wonder of creation is just a taste, a hint of the stunning, unimaginable wonders to come. This earth and life is a stage on which the Divine Drama is unfolding. Keeping this perspective helps us live through the horrors of evil as well as the boredom, stress, disappointments, and daily grind we all must endure.

A. W. Tozer wrote: “If you will narrow your interests, God will enlarge your heart. ‘Jesus only’ seems to the unconverted man to be a motto of death, but a great company of happy men and women can testify that it became to them a way into a world infinitely wider and richer than anything they had ever known before. To know Him in growing intimacy is to increase in appreciation of all things good and beautiful. The mansions of the heart will become larger when their doors are thrown open to Christ and closed against the world and sin. Try it.” -A.W. Tozer, The Size of the Soul.

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THE FIRE OF ATTRACTION

The saints have seen the burning heart of God.

Their own love has leaped out in flaming response,

and they have loved the Lord their God with all their heart and soul and strength and mind—and their neighbor as themselves.

 W. E. Sangster

 

Not until Jesus unveiled the burning heart of the Creator at Calvary could anyone imagine God’s kind of love. Solomon’s inspired love song penned the essence of it and spoke from God’s heart: “. . . for love is as strong as death, passion as cruel as Sh’ol; its flashes are flashes of fire, [as fierce as the] flame of Yah. No amount of water can quench love, torrents cannot drown it” (Song of Songs 8:6 & 7 CJB).

We hunger for a love we see reenacted over and over in love stories. The lover we’re drawn to in these stories is selfless and kind. He’s unwilling to be apart from his beloved. He’s attractive, so attractive, and expressive of his love, but never smothering. He knows no sacrifice too great in pursuit of the one he loves, to the point of heroism. Unlike all others, he wants only the highest good for the one he loves.

God created us to experience His love and know Him—that is our highest good. “You show me the path of life. In your presence there is fullness of joy; in your right hand are pleasures forevermore” (Psalm 16:11 NRSV).

What is the psalmist specifically talking about? David was a man after God’s heart. Do you think he meant that his pleasures were found in, and from, knowing God’s heart? Were the favors of God’s right hand spiritual favors? They are far better than earthly ones. David loved being with God!

When God is drawing us close, all it takes is a single spark to set our hearts on fire.

 

 

Here is a link to the third issue of FIRE – a journal for those who long for more of God. Please feel free to pass this on and be sure to subscribe to http://burningheartsforgod.com for future quarterly issues.

 

PLAN A SPIRITUAL RETREAT DAY FOR YOUR SMALL GROUP OR CHURCH!

Rekindle your heart and plan a special day with God. Check HERE and on the Burning Hearts for God website for ideas and themes.

Contact me directly for personal spiritual retreat day material: [email protected]

 

 

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