Heart of Hearts-A Call to Action

This is a poem written by my brother about what it means to be an intercessor for others. When he first read it to me I was brought to tears, because the raw words were not disguised. This is reality for many. For those of you who were at his Graduation from advanced(Ellerslie fall 2014) you might remember hearing this before. The words and heart of it jump off the page begging me to listen. Prayerfully consider what he has written.

“Today I saw the fallout

Of the heart man, his dirty hands

The ugliness of how he stands

When Left to flesh and self filled plans

Where is the heart of hearts?

Today I saw the breakdown

Of the family man, his broken lambs

The wife alone in barren lands

 When truth exposed his hidden scams

Where is this heart of hearts?

Today I saw the orphans

With great distress, in hopeless mess

Yearning for some love and rest

Fledglings but without a nest

Where is the heart of hearts?

Today I saw the trafficked girl

From hellish life, a battered pearl

Lost in mind, with death unfurled

Without a hope, without a world

Where are you heart of hearts!

Today I saw the aborted child

Killed by vice, a life reviled

Ripped from breath, denied a smile

Destined death by gruesome guile

We need you heart of hearts!

The heart of hearts says

I Am here

But where has gone your learning ear

For truth is not when fear is near

You have My heart but not My tears

I gave My will

You gave Me jeers

By standing still and wasting years

Now share My love, pour out your life

And smile with My joyful light

For I am the heart of hearts”

by

   Cameron Mangin

Trust…Delight…Commit…Be Still…and Wait

Psalm 37 takes us through a process of waiting upon God. What does that look like? Hashing a little deeper into these verses has just made me think about it in a totally diferent way. Waiting on God is not about you, but about letting God work without getting in His way. It is a time of clearly seeing the work of God, that you could not do in your own strength.

“To wait on God means to pause and soberly consider our own inadequacy and the Lord’s all-sufficiency, and to seek counsel and help from the Lord, and to hope in Him (Psm. 33:20-22; Isa. 8:17)… The folly of not waiting for God is that we forfeit the blessing of having God work for us. The evil of not waiting on God is that we oppose God’s will to exalt Himself in mercy.”- John Piper

TRUST {in the LORD , and do good; dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness}

>>>H982-A primitive root; properly to hie for refuge (but not so precipitately as H2620); figuratively to trust, be confident or sure: – be bold (confident, secure, sure), careless (one, woman), put confidence, (make to) hope, (put, make to) trust.

What are  you trusting in? Is your confidence in the nature of who God is? He always accomplishes His purposes. He is trustworthy. We can be bold in our trust. Remember the trust fall as a kid that all your friends would want you to do? Its allowing yourself to free fall in the unknown knowing that your Father will catch you. You don’t doubt that He wont catch you, because He has your best interest in mind. Put everything on him with the confidence that you have. Trust him and do good, live like Jesus in the place that you are and Trust!

DELIGHT {yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart}

>>>H6026-A primitive root; to be soft or pliable, that is, (figuratively) effeminate or luxurious: – delicate (-ness), (have) delight (self), sport self.

This word is a verb, an action to take “exquisite delight” in. Captivate yourself in Him; in His beauty. There were  times when I was younger that I would look at this verse and think that this was how God would please me with what I want. But no, this is rather a verse describing what the desire of our hearts should be; Himself! He will fulfill the desires of our hearts, far beyond any earthly pleasure or thing.  How do you become captivated by the Lord? Look at Him; Read about Him; See Him in your everyday life; Speak to Him. If our desire is not for Jesus alone, then there is something wrong with our desires.

“If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.” -Colossians 3:1-4

COMMIT {your way to the LORD; trust in him, and he will act. He will bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justices as the noonday}

>>>H1556-A primitive root; to roll (literally or figuratively): – commit, remove, roll (away, down, together), run down, seek occasion, trust, wallow.

To literally remove your way from yourself and put it upon God. We burden ourselves with our own way, trying to carry and direct it on the paths that we think our lives should go. God asks us to commit it to Him, to trust that He will do it. To let go of our end knowing that God is in control, and has not forgotten any of us. What is really interesting is the fact that the last part of this verse correlates with Isaiah 58(He will bring forth your righteousness as the light and your justices as the noonday). Isaiah 58 talks about a fast acceptable to God, which would be comforting the oppressed, loosing the bonds of wickedness, sharing your bread with the hungry, bringing the homeless into your homes. This is the righteousness and justices that we are supposed to be doing that God says He will bring forth to the light.  In committing our way to God, we are still to serve him, wherever we are knowing that he desires us to be his hands and feet no  matter what the situation. He will act on behalf of our lives.

“Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.  In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.“-Proverbs 3:5-6

“Commit your work to the LORD, and your plans will be established… The heart of man plans his way, but the LORD establishes his steps.” -Proverbs 16:,3,9

BE STILL { before the LORD and…}

>>>H1826- A primitive root (compare H1724, H1820); to be dumb; by implication to be astonished, to stop; also to perish: – cease, be cut down (off), forbear, hold peace, quiet self, rest, be silent, keep (put to) silence, be (stand), still, tarry, wait.

Be still, stop wandering, be quiet and listen. Your heart is always running with things that you have to do and say. It wanders from God, and we forget our position before Him. That His nature is an all powerful one; that He can do what He says, we only have to be quiet.

“The LORD will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.”-Exodus 14:14

“Be still and know that I am God…”-Psalm 46:10

WAIT { patiently for him.}

>>>H2343- A primitive root; properly to twist or whirl (in a circular or spiral manner), that is, (specifically) to dance, to writhe in pain (especially of parturition) or fear; figuratively to wait, to pervert: – bear, (make to) bring forth, (make to) calve, dance, drive away, fall grievously (with pain), fear, form, great, grieve, (be) grievous, hope, look, make, be in pain, be much (sore) pained, rest, shake, shapen, (be) sorrow (-ful), stay, tarry, travail (with pain), tremble, trust, wait carefully (patiently), be wounded.

Sometimes waiting hurts with anticipation. Its a heavy weight upon our souls, because we know God is doing something, but maybe we don’t know what that is. We want to see it and yet we can’t. We could shake our fists at God and ask “Why?” or we could wait patiently in the joy that is set before us for today, knowing the all-powerful God, our Abba Father is in control. Knowing that we need not fear because He will do the best.

“The LORD is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him. It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the LORD.”-Lamentations 3:25-26

“But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.”- Isaiah 40:31

“Wait for the LORD; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the LORD!”-Psalm 27:14

“If any are inclined to despond, because they do not have such patience, let them be of good courage. It is in the course of our feeble and very imperfect waiting that God Himself, by His hidden power, strengthens us and works out in us the patience of the great saints, the patience of Christ Himself.” – Andrew Murray

A Love that Gives

“You can give without loving, but you cannot love without giving.” -Amy Carmichael

The giver of life gave a greater love. Greater then anything we can comprehend. The pure white of His righteousness meets the filthy blackness of our unrighteousness, because He desired us.

He loved us.

The desire of His lover heart was to wash away the filth, so that we can have the sweet unity of fellowship with Him. That love and desire for a lost people was so strong in the heart of God that He gave everything, out of love.

We are not desirable in our sin…Yet He thinks so.

So He gave.

Not out of duty or obligation, but out of the deepest wells of His heart. He gave up everything. His very life.

He came to romance the world! To romance me, with a burning passionate love.

“Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm, for love is strong as death, jealousy as fierce as the grave. Its flashes are flashes of fire, the very flame of the Lord.” – S of S 8:6

This is the love that was so strong that it overcame death. How is that possible? Life was given so that we could have life.  Jesus was so jealous for the love of His people that He overcame the impossible; death. The jealously of God. Can we even comprehend it? He was jealous that sin had captivated us, that we thought we knew better. He was jealous that we couldn’t be with Him, because we had chosen sin. There was no way to escape sin that leads to death after that path was chosen. We are sinners and yet He desired us while we were yet sinners.

“For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us…  For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.”  -Romans 5:7-8, 10

Would you die for a criminal even if you knew they would not appreciate that you did?

Would you die for them even if you had no assurance that they would except the love that you were giving to them?

When I think deeply about this, it truly overwhelms me. There was a point this past summer that I was talking to a man who had been in prison for 7 years and even a mental institution for awhile. As we talked and I mentioned Jesus a couple of times, he started to quote some scripture to me. I quickly became a little puzzled, because this man seemed to be living in a life of sin, and yet he knew scripture. When I asked him how he knew so much scripture, his response was what really awakened me. “While I was in prison I read the bible, you know? I had a lot of time on my hands, so I started reading.” It was right then, that I realized Jesus loved this man. That He was seeking this man! The Spirit of God had been reaching out to Him in a place of brokenness and He wasn’t done yet. After a long conversation, this man walked away reading the book of John, and I realized that this man did not come up to my business for no reason.

It broke me, because not only did this man teach me a little bit about the love of God for the world, but also for the love He has for me. Because I am a sinner. I am not any different from the man that has been in prison. Maybe you can’t see my sin as clearly as his, but before God’s holy standard, I am the same. But different. I have a hope that was an anchor for my soul, firm and secure(Hebrews 6:19). I was made pure. He sanctified me. This love of God, came down and washed it away, and saved me by His Sons life. There was nothing that I could do to bring me into right relationship with the Creator of the universe, because I was a sinner. All I could do was except that He had done it. My sins were no longer mine, He took them away. And this is my hope, that the blood of Jesus made a way for me, to be clean. All I have to do is believe His word, and praise His name for the work that He alone could do. But it doesn’t end with me, its something that reaches out to the whole world!

“But HE was pierced for our transgressions; He was crushed for our iniquities; upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with His wounds we are healed.” -Isaiah 53:5

“So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through His own blood.” -Hebrews 13:12

“But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim);  because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. “- Romans 10:8-9

 

Our Response – to the deep, vast, unmeasured, love of Jesus:

“By this we know love, that He laid down His life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers… Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth…Anyone who does not love, does not know God, because God is love… In this is love, not that we have loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.” -1 John 3:16,18, 4:8, 10-11

“Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.” -John 15:13

Out of a romance one has with a lover, there is action. They want to prove their love for each other; it is their delight. What does our love with Jesus produce? Is it this same giving love that He has given to us? Are we willing to give all for the unmeasured love that He has shown us?

But not as much willing… is it our chief desire?

The love that we are to show, that we are to live out, is not what someone deserves. But rather showing love when it is hardest, when they don’t deserve it. That was the love that was shown to you and me. Its not an easy love. But when you understand His nature, when you understand what He gave to you, there is no fear in love.

“GOD IS LOVE, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgement, because as he is so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.  And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother. “-1 John 4:16-21

“It is impossible to love deeply without sacrifice.” -Elisabeth Elliot

There is no fear in reaching out to the sick, lost, weary sinner. There is no fear to go to places you have never known; to move on without knowing; giving your all and not knowing the outcome. There is no fear in committing to the Father’s heart, in reaching out to the fatherless and the widow. Because there is no fear in love and God is love! We can step out in confidence and give this love. That is His nature. This is the love of God!

“So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory. Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you. So I will bless you as long as I live; in your name I will lift up my hands.” -Psalm 63:2-4