“Let My love enfold you in the radiance of My Glory. Sit still in the Light of My Presence, and receive My Peace. These quiet moments with Me transcends time, accomplishing far more than you can imagine. Bring Me the sacrifice of your time, and watch to see how abundantly I bless you and your loved ones. Through the intimacy of our relationship, you are being transformed from the inside out. As you keep your focus on Me, I form you into the one I desire you to be. Your part is to yield to My creative work in you, neither resisting it nor trying to speed it up. Enjoy the tempo of a God-breathed life by letting Me set the pace. Hold My hand in childlike trust, and the way before you will open up step by step.” Jesus Calling, pg, 26-Sarah Young
Hearing and Seeing Hearts Jesus said, “I prefer a flexible heart to an inflexible ritual.” (Matthew 12:7, The Message)
This is how it works: whenever someone has a ready heart, insight and understanding flow freely. But if there is no readiness of heart, any trace of receptivity soon disappears. That is why Jesus taught using ‘stories’ or ‘parables’.
Stories and parables create readiness and nudge you toward receptive insight. In a hardened or inflexible heart state, we can stare at the obvious till doomsday and not see it, listen until we are blue in the face and not get it. Not only that, but we also tend to leak out and forget what seemed plain and simple yesterday.
This is how (Isaiah 6:9, 10) put it; ‘your ears are open but you don’t hear a thing. Your eyes are awake but you don’t see a thing. The people are blockheads! They stick their finger in their ears so they won’t have to listen; they screw their eyes shut so they won’t have to look, so they won’t have to deal with me face-to-face and let me heal them.’
Through our daily Inner Journey he imparts to our new heart God-blessed eyes—eyes that see! And God-blessed ears—ears that hear! Ask yourself the following questions; do I have a ready heart? Are my ears on? Are the eyes of my heart focused on Jesus abiding on the throne of my new heart?
If the ears and eyes of your heart are receptive and tuned to Jesus insight and understanding will flow freely. This was the heart of how Jesus lived as the Son of Man- ‘I only say what I hear my Father saying and I only do what I see my Father doing!’
God is continually using the story of our own Inner Journey with him to create readiness and to nudge us toward receptive insight/God-sight and God-sound. His story in and through us creates a deepening hunger and thirst for intimacy (into—me—see). And it’s not only in us; but those around us gain fresh insight into their personal journey through our grace story as it is told in our daily journey and reflected through our heart.
According to the story of the sower in Luke, Jesus teaches that it is from our hearts that we gain all spiritual guidance and understanding. The seed sown on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a good crop. (Luke 8: 15 NIV) Your Inner Journey will shape that noble and good heart, which increasingly enables you to hear, retain and persevere with Jesus through anything!
‘All valid spiritual direction comes to us through our heart—the seat of true knowing and our ‘eyes’ and ‘ears’ in the spirit. If we discern the “will of God” it is through our heart. Knowing our true identity and destiny is achieved through our hearts as well.’ (Living from the Heart Jesus Gave You, pg. 67)
“In solitary silence we listen (in our new heart throne room) with great attentiveness to the voice that calls us beloved. God speaks into the deepest strata of our souls, into our self-hatred and shame, our narcissism (total self-focus), and takes us through the night into the daylight of His truth.” Brennan Manning
“A hostile world! I call to God (from my heart), I cry to God to help me. From his palace he hears my call; my cry brings me right into his presence—a private audience! (Psalm 18: 6, The Message)
Just like the mother of a newborn; his ears are attentive to our heart-felt cry for him. He alone will suffice. A daily private audience with the King of Kings keeps our heart soft, broken and pliable. So we remind ourselves as we learn this new life lived from the heart—I will daily veil myself in thee and wrap my tender new heart with the softness of your presence.
Contrary to the viewpoint of pop culture, our hearts aren’t just the ‘feeling’ or ‘emotional’ side of us. Feelings are certainly generated and experienced from the heart, but also by the mind/body. “The function of the heart is to organize our life as a whole. (Dallas Willard) This is especially true for our prayer life—a life not previously understood or experienced.
Our disorganized, wounded, incongruent ‘old heart’ betrays our masks, and reflects our daily core need for a Savior. Jesus (from the throne of our heart) sweeps into our ‘brokenness’ with a new heart—one that is capable of containing the very love of God—one that also develops the capacity to express Father’s heart to our own core, our family and friends, and then to the world.
The new heart Jesus gives us, passionately organizes our life around the Trinity. We tend to focus on either; ‘Jesus’ or ‘Father—yet we discover on our Inner Journey that they are a relational community filled with their Holy Spirit. Jesus takes up residence in our new heart, the very essence of their community. From there, they model how we can live a whole, good and godly new life. Their heart beats with fiery passion and contrite humility. And that new heart is empowered by the redemptive blood of Jesus.
You/we are now charged with the high responsibility of caring for your/our new heart. The heart work of our daily Inner Journey keeps it pliable and molded to Father, Son and Holy Spirit’s awesome will lived out through us. Our new hearts literally become the ‘manger’ of Christ’s daily birth in us! He alone can nurture his life in and through us! This is our intentional, continuous coming to Jesus to believe the gospel for our lives every day!
We are Nurtured by Father’s Heart in our Inner Journey! Ron Ross
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