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Vision of the Heart

“In their hearts humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps.”  Prov. 16:9 NIV

So often we go through our day to day lives and have moments of epiphany, moments that challenge us and push us to do better and to want more than what we currently have.  We may be influenced by media, pop culture or people we know personally but in any case, we will all reach a point in our life where we want to do something else than what we currently are.

Vision boards have become a popular thing.  Many people hosts and attend workshops which show you how to use magazine and book clippings to craft an elaborate board of flashy quotes and words that are to motivate you and propel you to your destiny.  The purpose and mindset behind vision boards is:  if you see it, you’ll say it; if you say it, you’ll believe it; if you believe it, you’ll accomplish it.  I myself have had a few vision boards.  My vision boards have began as laundry list of desires of material possessions, to attributes I’ve wanted to correct or obtain, down to reminders of what the Lord has said about me. 

I jumped on the vision board aspect due to the verse in Habakkuk 2:2 KJV, “And the Lord answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it.”

I will admit, it took me a while to figure out exactly what to include on my vision board, but I just put my heart out there, and then added words of faith to affirm what I was believing God for.  Before I finished my first vision board, I had everything on there.  This caused my faith to increase.  I then completed a second vision board, I’ve not accomplished a lot of what I see on here.  But I do see my faith increasing to rise to the challenge of obtaining what I want.

There were some things that had to be removed from my vision board.  Because I realized that I was seeking things that I wanted and that didn’t line up with the will of God for my life.  They weren’t bad things, they just didn’t belong to me and weren’t for me.

The Lord says in Jeremiah, “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

In my prayer life I began to ask God to give me His will, His word confirms, “May he give you the desire of your heart and make all your plans succeed.” Ps. 20:4

By God giving me the desire of my heart, I realized that I wanted His desire.  Because he gave my heart what it should desire:  it’s Him, His will, His word, His way and His behavior.  Of course material possessions are desirable but they are not necessary for me to live my life.  The things that will collect dust, rot, burn, depreciate in value, mean nothing to me if I am not growing more and more in him.  Neither do these things matter if they cause me grief and add sorrow, it’s not a “blessing”.

So consider this when seeking something from God, Luke 11:11 “So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him.”

Are you asking for things of the Spirit which brings truth, life and wisdom?  Truth will set not just you but everyone you share it with free.  Life is everlasting with Christ, our time here on earth may not be “comfortable” but it is a part of God’s plan concerning you, to spread the word of His goodness and how His son Jesus Christ’s blood was shed to remit the sins of every living person.  The life we have with Christ will allow us to defeat the woes of the world:  grief, poverty, addiction, loneliness, sin, etc. Wisdom, which is the applied knowledge of God is always present, and wisdom, is given freely from God to live this life of purpose on purpose.

So yes, make your vision board of what you want to see, but in your writing the vision, make sure it’s the Lord’s.

The Inspection

When I tell you Jesus is REAL!! I just love how he deals with me.  He gives revelation in the oddest ways to me, but I love it. I hope you can relate:

I have children. Each different, each special. They all have a similarity though, surface cleaning. I will admit, I'm busy:  four kids, a husband, job, ministry responsibilities and life in general.  So, I have an "honor" system. I trust that if I ask if your room is clean and you say yes, than it is. However, I have wisdom and will take some time to go see for myself. This weekend proved to be a task for my youngest girl.  She had stuff hidden in corners that I didn't even know existed. In frustration I had her pull everything out and prepare to clean her room properly.  Mind you, this all started with a missing jean jacket.

I'd left her for about thirty minutes before I was led back upstairs. I looked at her face. She was overwhelmed. It was just too much. She had laundry that she'd tucked away at the back of her closet which I knew was recently washed and many other items that should have been properly placed somewhere. It was a mess! It was pure chaos and I couldn't allow myself to walk away and leave her in the pile of clutter that was going to have her bound in her room for two days. I knew it was too much for her to tackle alone. Although I was angry to see what I saw hidden in the corners of her room, the stash in the back of the closet and everything tucked away under her bed, the grace of the Lord hit me and reminded me of when I was small. I could feel myself in her, looking at the room, not knowing where to start or where to finish, but wanting be done so my mom would be happy.

When I told her I would help her, you could literally see the weight of it all just leave her small body. She seemed like she wanted to float. I did what I could to get her started and only asked that she fully participated. She did the best she could for one hour and we called it a night. The next morning, I tackled the big stuff, cleared off her floor and brought her back in the room to examine my work. It was a long way from finished, I'd just gotten the "obvious" mess. There was other messes that were there due to my neglect that she wouldn't look for, too small clothes, or just too many. I'd made up in my mind to minimize her haul. Because she has so much, it's easy to believe and understand how keeping such a mass in order in such a small space was impossible. I empathized with her. God's grace ministered to me and I didn't even know it.

It was a taxing day for both of us. Both of us exhausted, cranky and moody but once completely finished, we were elated. We were able to relax and enjoy one another and then I believe she understood where I was coming from and I understood her.

It was when I got out of the shower that God reminded me that his word says that He is the searcher of the hearts and minds of men. I first wondered why that scripture would drop on me. Then I thought back of my day and how it could relate.

Often times we as people, believe that we have it all together, we are surface clean. I mean so much so that we have the world fooled to believe that we are so in connection with God with our sharp clothes, new vehicles and "put together" selves that we forget he will come to examine us.

I think of the cockiness we exude to believe that we can spend the time in our rooms (our lives, the churches, our positions, our titles) often doing nothing but what we think will please the eye. Oh what happens when mommy or daddy comes to step into the room instead of walking passed the door? The shock that was on my baby's face was enough to know more was going on. I know that she preferred me to not have come in the room but just rather pass by.

Rev. 3:20 says, "Look! I stand at the door and knock. If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in, and we will share a meal together as friends."

If I'd gone up to her room and it was clean, as she claimed, then she would have welcomed me with open arms.  How often does Christ come to see about us, how often has been at the doors of our heart knocking, seeking entrance, but our rooms (lives) are so messed up that we can't do a quick straightening up because we know that he's coming to see if we've done a deep cleaning.  We're not ready.  We can't hide our truths so we avoid him or prepare for the worse, judgement.

But I thank God that he is gracious.  The same grace that he allowed me to show my daughter is the same grace that he will give you.  Although we may believe and even know that our lives are not ready for the final judgment, during this time of grace, Christ will get into the mess with us and will help us get into the deep and hidden places to clean us up and make us presentable to Him.  

Jer. 33:8 - ”I will cleanse them from all their iniquity by which they have sinned against Me, and I will pardon all their iniquities by which they have sinned and by which they have transgressed against Me."

To add clarity, based on the scripture, we cannot help God help us, we have to be yielded and open to the exposure of the hidden things we often believe we can keep hidden at times of examination.  We can't.  Trust that God, our Father is an excellent Father.  If we want him to fully bless us, we have to have the sense to know that he desires all or nothing and is not up for negotiations.

I could have went to the hard side with this easily but won't.  I will say this.  Don't take the grace of God as an option to surface clean.  Trust that he will stop by and see about you for himself.

When he does and how he does, will you be ready?

Forgiveness

Matthew 6:14-15

¹⁴ For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you…

Matthew 18:21-22

²¹ Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times?

²² Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.

Seventy times seven God?  But you have no clue how much that hurt me.  You have no idea how much that angered me!  How will I ever trust them again?  How will I move past this?  I’ll do what you say….

But have you forgiven?  Forgive is a verb whose definition is to stop feeling angry or resentful toward (someone) for an offense, flaw or mistake.  It is also defined as cancelling a debt.

Often times we move on with forgiveness as a noun, it’s a thing that we do because we are told to do so by the word of the Lord.  We use the noun of forgiveness as a band aid to cover an open wound that needs greater attention.  When utilizing forgiveness as a noun we don’t actually complete the act of forgiving the offense or person.  We just use the word as a filler in a sentence to make us feel good about ourselves and wear forgiveness as a badge of strength on our uniform of “perfection”.  What we actually do is use the badge of forgiveness to cover the bacteria and infection of bitterness, anger and often end up with bruising.

You can't forgive without loving. And I don't mean sentimentality. I don't mean mush. I mean having enough courage to stand up and say, 'I forgive. I'm finished with it.' - Maya Angelou

If we moved in forgiveness, the actual act of it, we’d have to go through the process, it’s the process that pains us so.  In the process we have to visit the offense again.  In reexamining that wound we will find the part and areas affected or in some cases infected and will have to start the cleansing process in order for the actual healing to begin. 

Many of us don’t move in the realm of empathy or compassion when we get to this part.  We don’t see things from that person’s perspective.  It’s too much to think that they may have been wounded before and are acting out of past afflictions.  It’s difficult to consider they were not taught the proper way to love.  In the same essence, we can and often should take into consideration that this fault of hurting others is now a “character” of the person or that this person is never fully aware of what they’ve done.  Yet we are still required to forgive.

In the cleansing process of forgiveness we must also look into ourselves, this is the most challenging.  Because you have to consider that if you wronged someone, how would you want them to treat you?  Would you want individuals to write you off and make you nonexistent in their lives or would you like the opportunity to offer the “olive branch” and move on?  Did you have a role in the offense due to a past encounter that you didn’t seek forgiveness on?

Once we examine our faults or seek compassion for ourselves we can give compassion to others.  In this, we don’t have to forgive and instantly return to the person with the level of trust and relationship that we had before.  You don’t have to.  Because in your returning to that person or relationship, if done right, you’d return better than you were before.

How?

Isa. 43:25

“I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake; And I will not remember your sins.”

This may be coming from God but we who have the spirit of God in us have the ability to move on with a clean slate.  Think of this.  I posted recently that we must become like little children.

Matt. 18:3 NIV

And he said: "Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

This scripture does not only apply in the area of faith, but also in our behavior.  Consider this:  you take your child to a new park, there are children playing that your child does not know.  The child comes to you after five minutes of playing with a new child to ask if their “friend” can have a snack with you or perhaps share one of their toys.  As an adult, we teach our kids to not call people “friend” so easily as we consider this a title to be earned in action and relationship.  Regardless, your child will play with this kid.  Say another comes along to play with the new “friend” and they abandon your child.  Your child will still say, my “friend” went to play with someone else.  Even if it’s minutes to an hour later, if that child comes back, often times they have not lost their title nor has your child ignored them and refused to play with them, unless you told them to do so.

Another example could be if you discipline your child.  That child will still come in at night to give you a kiss and say they love you, not even minutes after the incident.

If you look at each offense with that mindset, the mindset of a child, how easy would your life be?  Children really don’t have enemies.  In their mind, any act of kindness and interest is a moment to make a new friend.  Adults, due to awareness and experience often don’t have the same openness to other people.  If you meet someone that generally let’s things roll off their shoulder, they are called naïve.  Are they?

Is it possible that this person has come to take each moment in life on a minute by minute or second by second basis instead of an encounter by encounter or apology by apology mindset?

Consider the freedom of being able to just let go.  If you were a dandelion and everything that you needed for flourishing, for abundance, for joy and for increase in your life depended on you forgiving a person, you’d have to soften your heart, peel back your hardened exterior and let go.  You’d have to let go because everything that you hold on to in anger or hurt is going to eventually cause your purpose and moments of promise to die. 

Think of the things that could have happened that died waiting for you to move on from an “I’m sorry” or an “I apologize” that you never did or may never receive.  Consider the apologies that you missed.  Have you even forgiven yourself for pains you may have caused others due to selfishness, ignorance, an addiction, a rebellion or just plain immaturity?  Have you forgiven yourself for the things you’ve done that hurt you?

Take a moment and consider the cost.  Is it worth holding on to the anger or pain?  Has not letting go of that wrong made your life better or are you at peace with the pang you feel in your heart when you think of it?  How much more valuable would it be for not just you, but your family if the person you cut off was present or you returned your presence to the family?  Is the separation worth the lost time you can’t get back?  Is reminding the person that they hurt you helping your relationship or weakening it?  Do you like when people remind you of your past? 

I will conclude by saying, if you are ready to forgive, start with yourself.  I can lead you to the Lord’s prayer at Matt.6:9-13.  Here are others to review:

Acts 3:19
Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord,

1 John 1:9
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

Daniel 9:9
The Lord our God is merciful and forgiving, even though we have rebelled against him

Matthew 26:28
This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.

Christ has handled every single sin that man has committed on the cross.  The sins went with him into the burial ground.  He took it a step further and took them to hell.  When he rose from the dead, he came back with newness!  In that newness, there is liberty and freedom.  Remember that God’s mercies are new every morning. (Lam. 3:23)  He exhibits the heart and life that he wants us to live here.  Remember “thy kingdom come, thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven”.  So we have the ability and password to make things happen in our lives that may have not happened before.  We were given the access to this by Christ himself, our chief intercessor.

I pray you come to a place where you can be free from the bondage of unforgiveness and that you do so because your life depends on it.  God’s plan and purpose for you is to prosper and to do well.  Remember it is a process, but it is a necessary process that you must experience in order to walk in the abundant life that Christ has come to bring.

Thank you for reading.  Be blessed.