Journal Entry ~ 10/30/19

9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? 10 "I the LORD search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds."  - Jeremiah 17:9-10

Many of us have experienced the deep joy that comes from being in the center of God’s will - it’s when we’re serving others, when we choose obedience over rebellion, when we’re loving sacrificially, when we lean in and listen over turning away, when we’ve done the hard work of learning from our trials, when we finally confess and repent of a sin we’ve hung on to for far too long, when we forgive a deep hurt we’ve been carrying, we experience His abundant blessings in our lives. It’s in these times we have an overwhelming sense of His presence, His comfort, and His strength. The joy and the contentment in these moments is simply unmatched. 

But the opposite is also true - when we are feeling unhappy, when we’re struggling to move on, we can know it's because somewhere in our lives, we're not walking in the law of the Lord. If you’re struggling, it’s not because of someone else, it’s because of you. Look at your heart and listen. Where are you failing to keep His Word?

He tells us we are to store His Word in our hearts - perhaps we’ve not spent consistent time in His Word lately. We're told to live in community with fellow believers - perhaps we’ve not made church or small group a priority.  We are told we are to have no gods before Him - perhaps there are people or things that have been taking priority in our hearts over Him. We are told we are to be humble - perhaps pride is ruling some aspect of our lives  We are not to have a spirit of fear - perhaps our anxieties have taken over.  

Our hearts are deceitful. If we are storing fear, anger, despair, or foolishness in our hearts, we are sinning against Him. And until we root that sin our of our hearts, we’re not going to be able to move past our struggle. We have to recognize and capture those thoughts and make them obedient to Christ - meaning we have to grab a hold of the sinful thoughts and lay them at the foot of the cross, confessing them and refusing to pick them back up again. 


Press on ~ you are loved 💗

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