Your Heart Lies

“Go with your gut.” We hear this often, and I can’t say I disagree with it. If I feel like something is right, I do it. If I have peace about something, I do it. Should we stop trusting our hearts though?

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; Who can know it? (Jeremiah 17:9). This verse says it all, we actually don’t know our hearts. Think about how much we trust ourselves to make the right decisions, to say the right thing, to do the right thing. We sincerely try to do what’s right, but sometimes it’s just not in us. How often do we fail? We think we’re trusting God, but we’re really trusting ourselves. In Romans 7:15-16, Paul says that he doesn’t understand what he he does, for what he wills to do, he doesn’t practice, but what he hates, he does.

How do we trust ourselves if, by nature, our hearts are wicked? These next verses explain it perfectly. Just like there is bad, there is good, just like we have deceitful hearts, we can have pure hearts… God wants to give you a clean heart.

He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool: but whoso walketh wisely, he shall be delivered (Proverbs 28:26).

I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh (Ezekiel 36:26).

It’s about transformation, walking wisely with a renewed heart of flesh. Walking wisely means understanding what the will of the Lord is, giving thanks for all things, submitting to one another in the fear of God (see Ephesians 5:15-21). I hope we can all get to a point where we know we are trusting God in us, not ourselves. Only then can we make right decisions, from the little to the big things, how to spend the day, career, relationships, etc.

God wants to lead you in the right way, is your heart open to Him?

❤ Carin

A Life Changing Message

“This is going to be a life changing message.” That’s kind of how last week’s Friday night young adult service began. *sigh* (confession) Sometimes when I hear that I’m like, is it really though??

Good news, it was a powerful message…and so I’m sharing 🙂

The Power of The Word

You can’t win at life if you’re not reading the Bible! We’re in a daily battle…with ourselves, spiritually and with the world. Are you equipped to fight?

In Matthew 4:1-11, Jesus went head to head with Lucifer and was tempted three times. Check out the scriptures, “it is written…” Jesus said that each time he defeated the devil. This is a prototype for us. We have to use the word of God to fight and win…and sometimes, just to make it through.

Some of you might not understand this at all, what is meant by “fight the enemy” or being in a “daily battle”. Take a sec and think about your day yesterday, were you tempted to do anything you know you shouldn’t do (lie, cheat, fight, drugs, sex, etc.)? These are just some of the daily battles we have to overcome. Obviously, we experience much bigger battles in life too. So, how do we win?  

Jesus used the word from the book of Deuteronomy to defeat Lucifer, and even Lucifer used the word to tempt Jesus (Matthew 4:6). If Jesus needed the word, how much more do we need the word?

The pastor said a few other things that really got my attention:

– He never met a person who prays for 30 min and reads the word for 30 min daily who can’t defeat their problems

– If you get one thing down, reading the Bible, you’ll self correct several other things. (The word is life, it’s how you win.)

– Only study the truth so you can identify the junk, no matter where it’s coming from (sometimes people preach but they don’t preach the truth…you need to be spiritually strong enough to discern this)

– Other people can’t fight your battles for you (yes others can pray, give advice, etc, but if you are not in the word, it’s gonna be tough!)

Let God turn your Bible into a weapon. He loves you soo deeply and he always wants you to win. He’s patiently waiting for you.

Here’s a challenge for you: start reading the Bible daily. Even if you start with just a few scriptures, a chapter…it counts, just be consistent. Every book in the Bible is meaningful (even if it’s not making sense lol). Are you hurting, looking for purpose, struggling with something? You have the BIGGEST help from your Father up above. Can you know God’s voice if you don’t know Him, his word?

If you’ve fallen away from your faith, if you need strength, even if you don’t believe…just try it and see what happens. I want that W, that victory for all of us (Matthew 3:17)

With lots of lovee ❤

Rinny

P.S. Thanks to our guest speaker, Pastor Tim Dilena of Brooklyn Tabernacle, for the awesome word. http://www.brooklyntabernacle.org/

Questions, thoughts? Feel free to comment! 🙂