The Longest Road

I have been thinking a lot about the roads that we travel in our lives. We all travel them, there may be other people on the road near you, but so many times we miss the most important road, the one that few of us travel. The verse in Matthew 7:13-14 "Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it." I know that is talking about our path to the kingdom of God, but I also have to wonder if it is talking about the path to understanding and implementing the truth of who God is. I will explain my thoughts.

There are so many of us in the world today that are full of head knowledge, they can quote scriptures, they can tell us specific portions of the bible that we are walking portions too, they go to church on Sunday, but the truth of who God is, is just head knowledge, it is not in their hearts. I believe God said it perfectly clear in Psalm 119:11 "I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you." He said hide the words in your heart, not your head, not in your mind, but in your heart.

The road to your heart is the longest and hardest road. I don't know why that is, but I believe people can walk around and have no true heart knowledge of who Jesus Christ is, but they think they do. The thought and the know is different. I don't know what causes the know, but to truly know Him they would not just be Sunday Christians, focused totally on self, worried about everything thing, other than what Jesus Christ wants. This is why marriages are failing, this is why families are struggling, this is why kids are walking away from the church, it isn't about the Bible, it isn't about the pastor's it is about the heart of Christianity, it is about our hearts, so full of junk that we can't allow the word of God to penetrate into our inner most being, our hearts.

I don't know what the answer is, but I believe God has to really open the eyes of the blind, the blind to who He is, the blindness to the issues of the heart, it is going to talk God and that is the only way that people will see His truth, that we must hide the words in our heart, we must live the truth not through our minds, but through our hearts.

Lord I come to you and I pray that the knowledge that I have will not just be head knowledge, but heart knowledge, the the longest road from my head to my heart will be open to Your truths, that it will be open to You and closed to the world garbage. Lord help me to allow You and know You more and more each moment of the day. I don't want to be of this world, only living in it with my heart for You. I love you and I pray this in Your precious Holy Name Jesus.

I don't know if you prayed that prayer and meant it, but Jesus wants you, He desires to have you not just living in your head, but allowing Him to live in your heart. It isn't enough to live on Sunday for God, but we must live every moment for Him, may the knowledge be hidden in your hearts and not your head.

Marriage Is Like Our Christian Walk

Marriage is a perfect example of our walk with God. For love is not just a feeling, it is a choice and when things are failing in our marriage, we have to look at our hearts, because more times than not, it comes down to a heart issue, not a outward issue. Most issues in marriage start in our hearts, just the same with most issues with our relationship with Jesus Christ, it starts in our hearts.

How many times have you heard someone say I have fallen out of love with my spouse. People feel that love is just a feeling, but love is something more than a feeling it is a choice. We must make a choice that says no matter how I feel, I will love the person, no matter what has happened I will love them. It isn't about my feelings it is about theirs and by doing this we are making a choice to love and honor our marriage vows. And by honoring the very vow that we have taken, we honor God.

Just as in marriage it is a choice, our spiritual walk is a choice as well. Do you know that more people say I don't feel like doing it, or I don't have the desire to read or pray. We have to make a choice that says regardless of how I feel I will honor God. Our sin nature crops up and blocks our walk. It says I don't want to do it so therefor I must not have too. That is the devil using our flesh to control us. I have heard people say that if God desired me to want Him He would give me the desire. That is not true, because the desire is ours to choose. Just the same way it is in marriage, we may not feel like it, we must make the choice to do it. We are all about feelings, but God is all about choice. We must make the choice to walk with Him regardless of how we feel, we must chose that no matter what I will continue to move forward in my relationship with Him regardless of how I feel. It comes down to a choice, our choice.

Prayer

Our Prayer Life

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 "16 Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you."

Have you ever thought about the verse, pray without ceasing, what does it mean to you? 

I have thought about this verse a lot, because in at least 39 other places in the Bible it talks about how we must have a heart of prayer, that we must be vigilant in every area to put it before God in prayer. Do you ever just feel like you haven't had time to pray in your day? It is easy to get that way, we get busy about many things and forget the very reason that God has us on the earth. He has a purpose for us and we can walk what He calls us to or we can just walk in our flesh. God calls us to rise above our flesh, to be different than the world. Romans 12:2 "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect." How do we renew our mind? We do it through prayer, we must be in a constant state of prayer. 

I believe that we can be in communication with God at all times, just like we have a communication with anyone that we talk with daily. We don't address them every time, we just continue to talk with them. Why can't we do that with God? We must be in constant communication with Him, He should be our best friend, not just someone we go to when we have problems. How does that work in our friendships when we just call on our friends when we have problems? Friendship will be one sided. We don't want our communication with God to be only negative, we must be present with Him all the time. 

We must have a heart of prayer, constantly open to God. We must be willing to thank Him in all situation, we must praise Him in the midst of the storm, we must be willing to look past our circumstances and see God. He is in it all and when we change our prayer life from being in a constant state of negativity, we change the way we communicate and we change how we are individually. Isn't it time for a change in our walk with Jesus? Stop looking horizontally for your answers and start looking to God. 

It isn't just prayer, it is a conversation with God. What does your conversation look like?