The Heart of the Matter

Is faith being set aside? I ask the Lord this at times when I see myself failing to see how a certain situation will work out, or when I know in my own heart that the Lord has the ability to answer prayer above and beyond what I ask or think, yet allow my faith to be quenched by a fellow believer who may express "doubt that it will work out that way". The shoe has been on the other foot plenty of times and I am ashamed to say that I have been a faith-squasher a-plenty, but it is when your own faith is squashed that I suppose we notice it the most. What a sad state of affairs this brings to the individual believer as well as to the church, when we do not believe God enough to know that He has all power to deliver us from any situation or to work in another's heart to bring them into the ways of the Lord.

Lord, in these days of falling away and uncertainty, increase our faith and the faith of our loved ones, the faith of the church throughout this world. Having no children of our own, being an uncle and aunt have meant much to Syd and I. Our nieces and nephews are precious and yes, we "worry" about and pray for their inner man and futures continually. To some it may be hard to understand how another's children could mean that much, as their own keep them extremely occupied; though I know that some parents, even those with many children, stay very involved with the children of their siblings. One of the biggest prayers we have for our "extended children" is that their faith will be strong. When faith is strong we have no doubt that God is going to work out His best for us and others in any given situation. We believe things that seem impossible. This faith doesn't depend upon how others feel, or even upon how we feel, it is dependent upon the promises of God. Allowing the Lord to instill this faith within assures us of lives that will be of spiritual "good success".

As christians, we know that we are here for a purpose and it is for a very important work. It is the work of loving the Lord our God with ALL that we have and loving our neighbor as ourself. Another purpose that we are upon this earth for is to show true faith that God will do what He says He will! Ultimately it is for the purpose of bringing glory to our great Heavenly Father, His Son Jesus Christ and the Spirit of God who teaches us from God's Word. We have our immediate family to think about, pray for, encourage, spend time with, do things for.  Then we have our extended family, namely our local church, and the universal church. These we seek opportunity to fellowship with, pray for, share words of encouragement and comfort, as the Lord leads. There is yet another group of people who God has commanded us to live and move amongst; these are our neighbors. When Jesus was asked, "who is my neighbor?", He responded with the parable of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10:29-37. The answer is obvious; our neighbor is anyone whom God lays upon our path. We are told to "love thy neighbor as thyself."

For the past many weeks the Lord has brought the matter of love to me over and over. It has been woven throughout Scripture that I have read in my personal Bible time; through messages that I have heard in church; through encouraging words of fellow believers. Often the Lord seems to "bring us up to a certain matter" so that we will not be a "forgetful hearer, but a DOER of the work." I remember our pastor in South Carolina telling us, "how long do you study a particular matter that God has laid upon your heart?...until you're DOING it". In this teaching in James 1, James uses the words, "continueth therein". A person who continues in something is someone who is doing it regularly.

God knows how to get to "the heart of the matter" and He knows how to guide the matter of the heart. I have always loved the phrase, "where the rubber meets the road". It has come to my attention that this is exactly the way my mind works. It took me over 40 years for the Lord to teach me this. When a particular situation arises my mind seldom seeks for or bothers with the "issues" that go along with it. These can usually be thrown out immediately, as they almost never have any bearing with the heart of the matter. "What really motivates, to create the situation?" that's the question that I ask myself. Since the Lord has made me this way, I know that He can temper this with seeking to empathize with others and to "weep with those that weep". For over a month I have been reading through the gospels. Jesus got right to the matter of the heart in His dealings with individuals and yet, more than anyone else, He can empathize with us in our trials and tribulations. This is the God whom we serve! This is the One who is teaching us how "to live is Christ" - to live as Christ. "Christ in you, the hope of glory."(Col. 1:27).

A very precious thought...He never misunderstands our heart. We will judge according to appearance, though we are told not to. We will misunderstand people's motives, having no idea what they truly are, but quickly judge them with misguided judgement. Oh Lord, please teach us to depend upon you to teach us how to deal with people. Our Lord never makes an inaccurate judgment and He will never forget the things that we have done in His name. What a wonderful God we serve!

Beautiful jewels clung to our trees for days after the ice storm. As the sun shone through they displayed the glory of the Lord in His ways in nature!

My prayer for you and for me is that we will take God at His word and that we will love Him with all of our heart, soul and mind. I pray that He will teach us how to love others as He loves them. "Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith..." Let Him be our focus. Surely the more we focus on Him the more like Him we will be.