HEART

 Your Heart

A big theme in the bible is the heart, it appears over 900 times in the bible, so it is very important. 

Everything comes out of the heart. A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of (Luke 6:45). Your words, actions, thoughts, and motives are a reflection of your heart. For example, girls love clothes, they buy it, wear it, talk about it, and even brag about it (you can love Jesus, and still have a passion for clothes); By knowing what people do and say, you know what is in their hearts.

As water reflects the face, so one’s life reflects the heart (Prov. 27:19).

Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it (Prov. 4:23).

A person thinks their own ways are right (Proverbs 21:2). Why? Because we are prideful, we constantly try to justify our sin, we will even go to scripture and try to find a verse that justifies our sin. That’s why Romans 12:3 says, “We should not think of ourselves more highly than we ought, but with sober judgment.” When you take a sober look at our heart you will find that we all have fallen short of the Glory of God and no one is righteous. There is a way we can have our heart transformed by God.

God will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; He will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh (Ezekiel 36:26). In context, God promised to restore Israel not only physically, but spiritually. He wants the same for us, no matter how impure you are you can receive a new heart from God, and be a new creation, with new desires (2 Corinthians 5:17). Having a new heart you will receive a new spirit, and God will dwell in you.

With A New Heart You 

Become a new creation

Everyone has or is an old creation. When we were an old creation we were in constant rebellion against God, set apart from him because of sin. When Christ makes us a new creation, we turn completely around and go towards him.

Have new desires

Whatever we do comes from our desires. 

Romans 3:10-12 As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.”

All of our desires before Christ are not good, not even one. With a new desire we are able to do good through Christ.

And the verse that summarizes the life we have through Christ.

Ephesians 2:3-10

All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

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Our heart was broken, God fixed it, He created new desires for us through Jesus.

Thanks for reading. Contact me Email, Follow on Twitter @JonSAdams. Your welcome to comment.

BACK_TO_SCHOOL

How Does God Want Us To Present Him At School?

I have SIX tips for daily life.

1. PRAYER

Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke them. Then he gave them to the disciples to distribute to the people. (Luke 9:16 NIV)

Pray before you eat, as a table (out loud). This really shows how serious you are about your faith. Lead the prayer first, then start ask others to lead. This act will not only bring blessing upon your food, but it will start conversations about Christ. This is the easiest way to speak to students about Christ.

At daybreak, Jesus went out to a solitary place. The people were looking for him and when they came to where he was, they tried to keep him from leaving them. (Luke 4:42 NIV)

When I started being serious about my relationship with God, I would read my bible, but I would never pray. As I grew in His grace I learned that prayer is a valuable thing in our relationship. No matter how much you have to do. You always have time for prayer.

2. THE SWORD

Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry. (Luke 4:1,2 NIV)

Christ while in the wilderness studying God's word so that he may stand up to every temptation that the devil had for him. Make sure you study God's word to keep your sword sharp, to be able to fight off temptation.

3. MATERIALISM

What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self? (Luke 9:25 NIV)

Don't worry about getting every achievement or new thing that will give you temporary joy. God will you give joy way beyond what things on earth can give you.

4. UNTOUCHABLES

Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. "I am willing," he said. "Be clean!" And immediately the leprosy left him. (Luke 5:13 NIV)

In Jesus' day when you had leprosy, you were cast from your town or village which you lived in. Has society cast some people out of there groups. Go and touch the untouchables like Christ did.

5. WARNING

The Pharisees and the teachers of the law were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal on the Sabbath. (Luke 6:7 NIV)

Jesus was watched closely, and you will be watched too. Be careful how you live, people are waiting to see you mess up.

6. BUILD UP OTHERS

Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. (Ephesians 4:29 NIV)

If you didn't read the verse please read it. This is HARDEST thing to live by. Pray that the Holy Spirit will only let things come out of your mouth that are a benefit to those who listen.


Thanks for reading. I hope this blog has helped you, and you will put these things into practice. Contact me: @JonSAdams , JonathanSpencerAdams@gmail.com. Leave comments!

Spiritual Growth

No where in the bible does is say "Spiritual Growth." Why did Christians come up with this concept? Before I go any further let's break down the words.

Spiritual- of, relating to, or reflecting the human spirit

Growth - the process of developing or maturing

So we can say that Spiritual Growth is the human spirit in the process of maturing. So the question today is, "How can we become Spiritually Mature?"

God's will for everyone is to become Spiritually Mature.

1. Age does not make you Spiritually Mature

Luke 2:52

52 And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.

1 Timothy 4:12

12 Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity.

Yes, to grow in your relationship with Christ takes time, some are faster then others. Like Paul, he was one day a person that hated Christians, and in a few days he was preaching. You see in the verse above with Jesus, that it took time, but as he grew in stature he grew in wisdom.

Some young people are afraid to step up and set the example for the older. This includes me, I feel like that everyone that is older, is wiser then me, and most are. We need to get back to thinking about our relationship with God instead of comparing our relationship with everyone else's. Everybody's relationship is different.

2. Appearance doesn't make you Spiritually Mature

You know how some people just look Spiritually Mature? Now I am guilty of judging people's faith from the outside. It true, sometimes you can notice people body language.   Body language is the action of there faith. You can say there deeds. Now there is the other body language, it's the language you notice when people talk, like there hand motions, and facial expressions.

Now appearance has nothing to do with Spiritually Mature but your faith and deeds do.

3. Faith and Deeds make you Spiritually Mature

James 2:17

17 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.

You may never grow spiritually without having action/deeds. I am not saying it is impossible. From experience it is impossible, for my relationship with God. It may be different with you. I look at it this way. How i love God is by my Actions. Praying for God to open doors to be a Action-Christian. This will improve your prayer life.

James 2:22

22 You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did.

The person they are talking about is Abraham and his son Isaac. Abraham was instructed by God to sacrifice his son. So Abraham took(action) his son to sacrifice him, then right as he is about to, God stops him. This shows how Abraham's faith and action were working together. What he did made his faith complete with God making him Spiritually Mature.

Another blog about how I grow more spiritual mature click the link Getting Back to Basics

Thank you for reading!! If you have any questions or comments, or you want to give me a topic or a verse to write about. Contact me: jman1424@gmail.com or on Facebook, Twitter @JonSAdams, by phone/text: (770) 533-2582