Prophetic
The Eyes, the Heart, and the Mind
Joshua 8:32-35 – “There, in the presence of the Israelites, Joshua inscribed on the stones a duplicate of the law written by Moses. 33 All the people, rulers, leaders, and judges were standing on either side of the ark, in front of the Levitical priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord. Both resident foreigners and native Israelites were there. Half the people stood in front of Mount Gerizim and the other half in front of Mount Ebal, as Moses the Lord’s servant had previously instructed them to do for the formal blessing ceremony. 34 Then Joshua read aloud all the words of the law, including the blessings and the curses, just as they are written in the law scroll. 35 Joshua read aloud every commandment Moses had given before the whole assembly of Israel, including the women, children, and resident foreigners who lived among them.”
As I read, prayed, and pondered the Word of God today, I was challenged by the connection of active, victorious faith and the eyes, heart, and mind.
God told Joshua, “Be strong and have courage.” He saw the problem but rehearsed in his heart God’s history with Israel and filled his mind with the Word. After a great victory, he read every word Moses had commanded them. (Joshua 8:32-35).
In Matthew 15, the disciples were alone in the storm, and Jesus came walking on the waters of the storm. They saw the storm, and fear gripped them. Their frame of mind caused them to believe that Jesus was an apparition. He said, “Do not be afraid.”
Impetuous and hungry, Peter requested confirmation: ‘Command me to walk on the water!’ Jesus said, “Come!” Peter heard and responded in faith, but his vision of Jesus was overcome by his sight of the waves! His focus shifted. We do that. We believe and step out, moving toward the promise, but see the problem, and the potential of the problem steals our hearts, and fear grips us. With fear filling Peter’s heart, he began to sink.
He had two choices at that moment. Sink and drown or refocus, repent, and call on Jesus. He chose rightly. Connect that to Jesus’s revelation of defilement and the heart.
If our hearts are filled with the Word and saturated with His imagery, if we refuse to allow ourselves to focus on the problem and fill our hearts and minds with His person, promise, and history, we won’t sink.
It takes the courage that comes from focused faith to stand in the storm. That courage comes from filling the heart and mind with Him, and with full hearts, we see only the victory, not the potential disaster. Fear is the fruit of wrong focus. Faith is the fruit of right focus.
Jesus is saying, “Come!” The storm becomes a problem only if we lose focus. If He fills our vision, minds, and hearts, the storm is incapable of hurting us.
LORD, help us to connect the dots and totally trust You!
It All Flows From the Heart
Matthew 5:43-48 – “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor’ and ‘hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to you, love your enemy and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be like your Father in heaven, since he causes the sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Even the tax collectors do the same, don’t they? 47 And if you only greet your brothers, what more do you do? Even the Gentiles do the same, don’t they? 48 So then, be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
As I read Matthew’s Gospel today, I was inspired to pray and reflect on specific passages. If we read scripture without chapter divisions and verse distinctions, we often see something previously not linked.
Jesus’ ministry, method, and pattern were to build precept upon precept and put line upon line as He wove a theme of life practice and spiritual revelation. He gave the information needed to live godly lives.
In Matthew 5:44, He emphasized loving those we consider our enemies (our antagonists). In Matthew 6:6-13, He gave us the biblical pattern of prayer. In vv. 14-15, He connects forgiveness from us and to us to prayer. It is the doorway or the key into His presence.
Then, in vv. 19-21, He highlights the focus and warns against making the fulfillment of the flesh our focus. The ground is the flesh, and heaven the spiritual. The one we elevate to preeminence will house our treasure and produce the fruit of that realm.
It is interesting to see the link between Matthew 6:33 and 7:1-2. Judging is done from one of the realms (fleshly desires or God’s heart). Also, generosity, or the lack thereof, flows in the same stream. The Law of Sowing and Reaping is clearly seen.
Matthew 7:12-13 does not offer unrelated topics or principles. The Golden Rule is connected to the Narrow Door and its absence to the Wide Door and Broad Road.
In verses 21-23, we discover that the foundation for our confession stems from a stream of self-centeredness or God-centeredness. We cannot earn favor with God, but we can earn disfavor. Consistent behavior, good or bad, is a reflection of the heart. You can’t fake it ’til you make it with God. We cannot earn favor or perform our way into favor, but we can perform our way out of favor.
Everything flows from the heart. If our behavior is unsavory, we need to examine our hearts. If He holds our hearts, He extends His hand, and we have the provision needed to be Who He designed and desires us to be.
LORD, help us to surrender our whole hearts to you!
The Heart or the Hand?
John 14:15 – “If you love me, keep my commandments.”
As I read, prayed, and meditated on the Word of God today, a singular thought kept reverberating in my heart and mind: the heart. Scripture teaches that the heart, attitude, and motive are more important than the deeds. That’s not to say acts are unimportant, but they are the fruit of the heart, not the source. We tend to focus on the visible, but God always goes to the root, the core, or the source.
In Matthew 5, a chapter filled with invaluable life guidance revelations, we confront this reality of the heart vs. the hand (deeds). Various sectors of religious thought have interpreted Matthew 5:20 to emphasize works, acts, or deeds. While that is included, true righteousness flows from the heart, not the hand.
Jesus addressed angry words and deeds as revealed in the law. He then went to the root, the heart, the true source. Anger in the heart is the source of murder and abuse.
He addressed immoral acts in light of the commandments of the law and then went to the source, the heart. Out of the heart, proceed the stimulus for the acts. We are told to love God with our heart, soul, mind, and strength. That is All Encompassing!
The Church and the world tend to major on Actions and even try to legislate right behavior. Then, they are frustrated when human behavior does not get better. If we chop off weeds, they grow back more prolifically; actions are weeds. If we go to the root, we rid ourselves of the weed problem. What is the root? It is the heart. Until Jesus becomes LORD of the heart, there will be an ongoing problem with deeds.
Dying to self could be rendered, surrendering to Jesus, or being transformed in our hearts and minds. The core of who we are must be completely yielded to Him. Our feelings are often weeds, and trying to reform feelings will not result in a transformed heart but a frustrated mind.
If we want to have a righteousness that surpasses the Scribes and Pharisees, we have to have a transformed heart. Too many only give Jesus their heart, theoretically and religiously, not in reality. We continue to allow our emotions to produce unwholesome actions rather than our hearts producing the fruit of righteousness that exhibits and expresses the heart and mind of Christ.
It’s the heart, not the hand, which needs to be redeemed! Acts are evidence of the condition of the heart. They do not change their heart. They reflect the heart. What’s in our hearts? Our deeds portray it!
LORD, please transform our hearts so that what is in our hands matches our hearts!
Living With No Sense of Lack
Deuteronomy 8:4 – “Your clothes did not wear out upon you, neither did your feet go bare during those forty years.”
As I read, prayed, and mused on the Word of God today, the Awesomeness of God filled my mind and overflowed in my heart. In Deuteronomy 8, we have the recounting by Moses regarding Israel’s journey from Egypt to Canaan. Many miracles were rehearsed. But one captured my attention, that was Deuteronomy 8:4.
That is astounding! Think about the aging process, weight gain and loss, and the day-to-day dealings with the elements. They had clothing that renewed itself! I realize that this may be an expression depicting God’s detailed care, but the expression alone speaks to God’s awesomeness. At the least, we can say, “They had no lack!” That is amazing!
In Deuteronomy 9, Moses spoke of their past and future deliverance, where they would defeat giants. That was literal, but for us, it may be figurative. If we take God’s promises to heart, we, too, know that we can live without lack and with the confidence that no giant can stand and gain victory over us! We can live unconquerable lives!
The warning Moses gave is germane today. Deuteronomy 9:4 – “Do not say in your heart, after the LORD your God has defeated them from before you, it is because of my righteousness that the LORD brought me in to possess this land…” What I heard in my heart was, “Say no to pride!”
Israel was instructed to diligently keep God’s commandments and to fill their hearts with love for Him. They were to circumcise their hearts (surrender fully) and resist the Spirit and Word of God.
He made it clear that they had a choice. If they chose God in total surrender, His Blessings would be their constant companion. But if they did not, the curses would come!
Revelation 22:14 is our ambition: “Blessed are those who do (keep) His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.”
Heaven is beyond my finite ability even to imagine! Serving God is a struggle UNLESS and UNTIL we give Him our All. If He is LORD of All, All the time, His commandments are not difficult because our heart’s deepest desire is to please Him, and Christ in us makes obedience easy and natural.
If it is not natural and is a constant struggle, maybe we should examine our surrender or lack thereof! LORD, help us die to self and surrender ALL to You. Help us cease trying to DO and just BE, living in total surrender. The Awesome God is our God! Life without Lack is His Provision!
May the LORD help each of us to learn to live with no sense of lack, knowing that He is our provision!
Co-Existence?
Numbers 22:55-56 – “But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land before you, then those whom you allow to remain will be irritants in your eyes and thorns in your side, and will cause you trouble in the land where you will be living. 56 And what I intended to do to them I will do to you.’”
As I read, prayed, and pondered the Word of God today, the thought of “co-existence” kept tugging at my heart. As believers in God, followers of Jesus, and adherents of the Bible, we struggle with “co-existence.” That struggle is often because we interpret “God is LOVE” to mean tolerance of sin. God IS love, and He is also Holy and Just.
A warning of trying to be “tolerant” of wickedness is found in Numbers 33:55-56. God told Israel to destroy the inhabitants of Canaan. There are many reasons, including the hybridization of the race, which dates back to the cohabitation of angels with humans. The worship of Baal, Molech, Ishtar, and the many demon gods would pollute the seed line through which redemption would come.
There is more, but time and space prohibit me from an in-depth discussion. But the warning that transcends eras is clear. The warning pertains to “co-existence.” You can’t have a non-aggression pact with the devil. We are to be holy because God is holy. We are to seek purity of heart. Trying to “co-exist” with wickedness creates a condition that either permeates us with the sin or becomes, as the verses declare, “splinters in our eyes, and spears in our sides, and will trouble us in the land.”
Gross wickedness that believers try to “co-exist” with becomes negative leaven in us and society. We must love the sinners, but we must separate ourselves from the wickedness. We cannot ignore the evil and sit in silence, allowing the followers of evil to remain comfortable in their condition.
If we love people with the love of God, we will warn them and point them to Jesus. We do that with humility, gentleness, compassion, and overflowing love. Our desire is restoration, not condemnation. As Christians, we are different. Ignoring evil does not make it less evil or less destructive. It emboldens it.
John 3:17-18 – “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, so that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world should be saved. He who believes in Him will not be condemned; but he who does not believe has already been condemned for not believing in the Name of the only begotten Son of God.”
John 3:36 – “He who believes in the Son has eternal life; and he who does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God shall remain on him.”
If we love God and love people, we will not seek “co-existence” with wickedness. We will present the Truth, the Way, and the Life to them, living separate from their practices. Being good is not a ticket to heaven, but being born again is. “If a man is not born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God,” John 3:3.
We walk a complicated line living in a world of wickedness. We struggle with the seeming conflict of God’s love and judgment. But, allowing the wicked to live unconfronted, thinking all roads lead to heaven, is not an option. Love demands we warn of destruction and reveal the Truth and Life in Jesus!
Remember, we are not called to co-exist but to resist and be transformed into the Image of Christ Jesus our Lord!
Roy's Covenant Corner 