Saturday, December 22, 2012

From the Heart, Devotion #6

            I am so thankful for the opportunity the Lord has given to me to be in full time ministry!  I am very much looking forward to all that will be going on in the New Year!  With all of the planning, researching, writing, and a lot of other things with starting this ministry I just realized last night that I never did share with you why I chose “Reflecting Truth Ministries” as the name for my ministry!  I just dived in and wrote five devotionals and not once did I share this tidbit of my heart.  Woops! J
            In Luke 6:45 Jesus said, “The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart.  For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks.” (NIV: New International Version)  What a great reminder this is!  What is in our hearts is what is reflected out to the world.  In Luke 8:16-17 Jesus also said, “No one lights a lamp and hides it in a jar or puts it under a bed.  Instead, he puts it on a stand, so that those who come in can see the light.  For there is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed, and nothing concealed that will not be known or brought out into the open.”
            I am working on a book that has to do with what is reflected from our hearts and why.  It’s entitled “Reflections of the Heart.”  I’ll keep you updated on when it’s published and available for you to purchase (hopefully sometime next year).  Here’s an excerpt from chapter two: “What we are passionate about is where our heart is.  If our number one in our hearts is our job then our life is all about that job.  If our number one is our spouse then everything in our lives is about them.  Anything that takes the place of God is where our devotion lies.  Where our heart is determines where God is in our lives.  In Mathew 22:37 (NIV) Jesus says, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.”  This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is like it: “Love your neighbor as yourself….”  If our heart is devoted to something other than God then we are not following the greatest of all of the commandments.  We need to ask ourselves why this person or thing is more important than God.”
            I have been teaching Bible Studies ever since I was a teenager.  I have always loved teaching!  Now I am a wonderfully blessed married woman and my sweet husband and I have three beautiful children between the ages of six and twelve.  I love teaching about the importance of God being in first place in our lives.  If He is in first place then that is what is reflected out to the world but if He’s not in first place then that’s what is being reflected out into the world.  I’ve done both!  There was a time in my life when my husband and my kids took the top place in my life and boy was I suffering!  Don’t get me wrong please!  I love my family with all of my heart but the priorities in my life have changed for the better!
            When God convicted me of idolizing my husband and our children I turned to His Word.  In Exodus 20:4 it says, “You shall not make for yourself and idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.”  An idol is not just a thing that looks like a minnie statute, it can be a person, place or thing.  The most important commandment is to love God first with everything, my heart, mind and soul.  The second most important commandment is to love my neighbors as I love myself.  My neighbor’s includes my family!  When the priorities were placed in the right order, God first, husband second, children third, life became blissful!  Not that life is always “perfect,” but my Rock, my Foundation is God and no one or no thing else.             

I am so incredibly thankful for you!  I pray for you constantly!  I am so humbled by your love and support.  Thank your for taking the time to read my devotional postings.  May the Lord bless you and your loved ones!  Have a very Merry Christmas! 

 

           

           

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