The Strongest Heart Have The Deepest Scars

I’m not sure about you, but I haven’t met a strong person that does not have a rough past in their lives, where they feel they have scars in the hearts.

Depending on the experiences you may have along the way, they can teach you a lot of lessons, leaving you with scars in your heart. Some being deeper than others.

Learning a life lesson doesn’t usually happen overnight. A life lesson takes some time to learn and some experiences are pleasurable, but others are awful, to the point you may now know what to do next in your life.

Life is really learning experiences where you have to be awake in order to learn the lessons the correct way. Once you do, you will avoid more scars in your heart. It doesn’t really mean you will not get them, but you can reduce the amount of scars coming your way.

Whatever you do in life, make sure you come out strong and with the experience you need. Nothing is really written in stone and all we can do is our best due to the fact that we figure things out along the way.

Remember:

  • The marks humans leave are too often scars
  • The Wound is the place where the light can enter you
  • We don’t die without any scars. Scars mean we lived.
  • It’s been said, ‘time heals all wounds.’ I do not agree. The wounds remain. In time, the mind, protecting its sanity, covers them with scar tissue and the pain lessons. But it is never gone.
  • Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most interesting characters are seared with scars.
  • Scars have the strange power to remind us that our past is real.
  • The best people all have some kind of scar.
  • The human race tends to remember the abuses to which it has been subjected rather than the endearments. What’s left of kisses? Wounds, however leave scars.

Stop punishing yourself for being someone with a heart. You cannot protect yourself from suffering. To live is to grieve. You are not protecting yourself by shutting yourself off from the world. You are limiting yourself.

Scars always represent pain endured. Pain is part of what it means to be human, and scars become silent proof of the humanity. Some scars symbolize that life is full of pain and suffering that must be endured with strength. It’s no exaggeration, that to be human is to be scarred.

The Strength Of The All-powerful God

Psalm 9

Bystanders spotted a nine-year-old boy in a swollen river. He was struggling with all his might to stay afloat in the raging torrent. He did not have the strength to swim to shore, even though it was only ten yards away. Rescuers jumped in and pulled him to safety.

The boy was exhausted, he laid on the riverbank panting and trying to catch his breath. When he could breathe normally again, someone asked him “Did you fall in?” No, he said. “I just wanted to see how strong the current was. I sure found out!”

Psalm 9 talks about the strength of the all-powerful God, the creator. Ruler, and Judge of the Universe. It describes what happens to those who decide to challenge His strength or exalt themselves about Him.

They soon find out how powerful He really is. They lose their thrones. Their kingdom crumble. Their armies collapse. Yes the Lord endures forever. The all-powerful God is the One who protects and cares for those who take refuge in Him.

The same God whose power destroys evil preserves what is good. And no one can break through His protection without His permission. What a comfort to know that God’s power can thwart the wicked and protect the righteous!

I sure can trust a God like that.

Psalm 9

Authority In Christ

Three Things You Need To Know About Your Authority In Christ.

You and I are living in the most interesting human history in time. It’s no time to cower in fear or even allow darkness and evil to prevail it’s a time to use the authority God has given us!

In Luke 10;19 Jesus told us, “Behold, I give you authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you.”

Now, I’ve known about my authority in Christ for a while, but I just don’t always remember to use it! Has that happened to you? Sometimes I just allow things to go on that shouldn’t, instead of using the authority that Jesus gave me.

I believe that the are three things we must be aware of in order to use this authority Jesus has given us:

  • We have to know what it is.
  • We have to know that it belongs to us.
  • We have to know how to use it.

What Authority Is

The authority that Jesus is talking about in Luke 10: 19 is not brute force power. It’s delegated power, much like a policeman possesses. When a policeman steps out in front of traffic and holds up his hand to stop it, he’s not stopping cars and trucks with his brute strength he’s stopping them with the delegated authority given to by God in Christ. You’re backed by all power of God.

That’s the authority you have in Christ. You’re not stopping the forces of darkness, sickness, fear, evil, or lack with your own strength your stopping them with the delegated authority given to you by God in Christ. Your backed by all the power of God.

How Amazing is that – God Almighty Himself is the power behind your authority! Ephesians 6:10 says, “Be strong in the Lord and the power of His might.” That means you can step out in front of the devil, hold up your hand and say no, backed by the power of God’s might.

It’s Belongs To Us

The Bible says that you are the body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:27). Jesus is the Head, we are the Body – and His authority is perpetuated through the Body. When Jesus rose from the dead, He transferred His authority to His Body, the church. In God’s mind, when Christ was raised, we were raised also.

Ephesians 2:6 says that God “raised us from. The dead along with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus.” Both the Head and the Body are seated there, next to God, in the place of power and authority. That means you are seated there! You are seated in the power position, and you are His heir (Romans 8:17). That means that everything that’s His – including His authority – now belongs to you.

How To Use It

The door to exercising your authority in Christ hinges on Ephesians 1:20 and 2:6, the verses say we are seated with God in Christ. I encourage you to meditate on those until you fully grasp the revelation that you are seated with Him, and you are the one He moves through.

Then when adversity arises, use your authority by speaking out what His Word says, using the Name of Jesus. For example you could say, “Sickness. I command you to leave by body in Jesus’s Name according to 1 Peter 2;24 – by His stripes I am healed!” The authority is in the name,

It’s like using the name of the president of a comply – that name can get things done. It’s the same in the spirit realm, except that the Name of Jesus is higher – carries more weight – than any other name (Philippians 2:9).

Think about that! When you use the Name of Jesus believing that you’re seated with Him at the right hand of God, you are backed by all the power in heaven! Every knee must bow to that name (Philippians 2:10).

Jesus made it very clear that His name is the key to all authority: “Whatever you ask in my name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it“ ( John 14:13-14).

In Acts 3 when Peter and John encountered a lame man at the Gate, they sat, “In the name of Jesus, rise up and walk and he did it wasn’t their own anointing or power that raised the man – it was the authority in the Name of Jesus. That same authority in the Name of Jesus. That same authority belongs to us – using the Name of Jesus is how we use it.

If everyone realized the authority we have in Christ and acted on it. we could change the world.

Maybe that’s why the world is trying to stop Christians from practicing our beliefs. We are powerful and have the authority to make the world a better place through Jesus Christ. We just need to realize it and act on it.

Jesus, where are you?

Have you ever walked through something so difficult, so terrifying, that you’ve caught yourself asking ‘Jesus where are you?’ Sometimes when life gets overwhelming m and when things get difficult and confusing, it can feel like our Messiah has gone missing. That’s how the disciples must have felt in an incident that happened right after the feeding of the 5,000. They got in a boat and quickly found themselves in rough waters, being tossed by strong winds. They strained at the oars as the realities of life beat against them.

This storm was terrifying for them. The waves weren’t just ebbing, cresting, and crashing around them. The waves were bubbling up and exploding all around them in unpredictable ways. They couldn’t brace themselves or their boat. They were completely helpless and swallowed up by fear.

Someiits hard not to be completely consumed by fear amid circumstances we didn’t see coming. Especially when we feel helpless, and there seems to be no good outcome in sight.

Even when our storms cause us to lose sight of hope Jesus never loses sight of us. While the disciples were in the boat straining, Jesus was sleeping and saw them. He went to them. And they almost completely missed the miracle in the midst of their mess.

The same miracle worker who multiplied the fish and the loaves was now walking on water near them, and they thought He was a ghost. Jesus’s response to the disciples who missed Him and who cried out in fear is remarkable. The scripture says immediately He spoke to them and said, “Don’t be afraid.” (Mark 50) The word used here means, “don’t resist Me.” And He climbed into the boat with them.

He’s saying the same thing to you and me, He’s not running from our messes. He’s climbing in to be right there with us. And with His presence comes peace.

In the midst of whatever hurts and heartbreaks are disturbing our peace. I pray we will see Him coming. We no longer have to cry out in fear; we can call out in faith. Calm and trusting. Anxious for nothing. Because we know. We know He sees us. We know He’s for us. We know He’s in control. Yes. The Lord is near. And we are safe.

Mark 6 45-52

God Sees, God Knows, God Cares

Trying to control your own life is exhausting. With our mouths, we say that we trust God, but in reality, we get overwhelmed trying to fix and control things ourselves. Our trust in God becomes nothing but a statement we feel we should say rather than what we are actually living out. Distrust settles in. Self-reliance becomes our go-to. And then we wonder why we feel more and more exhausted.

If you can relate to these confessions, there are specific examples of this in 2 Chronicles14 and 15, God had given Asa rest on every side because of his dependence on the Kord. God even gave Asa victory in the face of a massive army. Yet in Chapter 16, when king Asa finds himself in a border conflict with Ki;g Baasha of Israel, Ase has a sudden and surprising shift in behavior.

Instead of crying out to God as he has before, Asa immediately turns to his own means of addressing the situation, misusing the treasures of the temple and placing his hope in an unwise military alliance. The ultimate result? Unrest for Asa and his people. This King, whose faith meant victory in the past, invited battles into his future because he refuses to trust God in the present. Just like Asa, our past declaration of faith are no guarantee that we will rely on God in the future.

When life gets hard, we can sometimes wonder if God is blind to all we’re facing. But there’s a reminder tucked into the words the prophet Hanani speaks in verse 9: “For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to Him.”

We serve a God who sees. He is continually aware of every detail of our lives. And not only is God aware, but He’s also looking to strengthen individuals who are willing to wholeheartedly place their trust in Him.

Are there areas where we’re inviting not only exhaustion but possibly destruction because we’re refusing to rely on God? Do our frantic and controlling actions fail to match our faith-filled declarations? Let’s not just declare we have faith. Let’s live our load that we believe God is good, faithful and trustworthy.

He sees, He knows, He cares. And we an rest in that in that today.

2 Chronicles 16: 1-9

How Can I Go Deeper With God?

One of the great joys is to find Christians who are longing for a deeper and more meaningful Christian life. We sense that the answer is found with God and that the Bible should be able to tell us how to have a deeper relationship with God. This occurs because the Holy Spirit has placed that passion within every Christian to know God and grow spiritually. Sadly, many find their church to be primarily a social gathering, and the preaching shallow or empty. Therefore. How does a Christian dive deeper into spiritual things?

Preparing For A Deeper Relationship With God

The first step is to go deeper in your spiritual life and draw close to God is to confess all known sins to God in prayer. David did this in Psalms 51;4. There we read that he confessed his sin to God and God alone. The scriptures teach that confession of our sins restores a Christian’s relationship with God.

I acknowledge my sin to you, and my iniquity I did not hide; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord” and you forgave the guilt of my sin. Selah.

Psalm 32:5

Confession removes guilt if we believe His promises in Psalm 103, Micah 7: 18-19, 1 John.

Who is a God like you, who pardons iniquity and pleases over the rebellious act of the remnant of His possession? He does not retain His anger forever. Because He delights in unchanging love. He will again have compassion on us; He will tread out iniquities underfoot. Yes, you will cast all their sins into the depth of the sea.

Micah 7:18-19

The first step of confession repairs our sun-damaged relationship with God and prepare us for the second step.

The second step to a deeper relationship with God is to pursue Holiness by being obedient to God’s commands. This is, we seek to please Him. (Ephesians 5:10, Hebrews 11:5-6) His commands reveal His will for us. 1 Peter 1:14-16 reveals the God wants us to be holy as He is holy. In 2 Timothy 2:22, He urges us to flee sin. The Old and New Testaments provide us with commands, principles, and encouragement as to how God wants us to live. Hebrews 12:4-11 teaches us that God will discipline us when we are disobedient. His discipline is designed to motivate us to be holy. He does this because He loves us.

But God has not left us alone in our fight with sin. The Holy Spirit will help us if we followed step 1. Confession not only restores our relationship with God, but it enables the Holy Spirit to fill us or empower us moment – by -moment so that we can live a holy life and know our God deeper. The momentary filling of the Spirit is being “filled with the Spirit’ and the repeated filling of the Spirit moment after moment (Ephesians 5:17-18) is called walking in the Spirit. (Galatians 5:16)

“How to be filled with the Spirit,” “What are the signs that a person is filled with the Holy Spirit? And “Holy Spirit gives us victory over sin.”

When we are walking in the spirit, we will be having greater victory over sin, and Christ’s promise in John 14:21 will be fulfilled x. In that verse, Jesus tells us that our sins hinder us from knowing Him more. Or stated positively, obedience helps us understand the deeper truths of Christ.

He who has my commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me, and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him.

John 14:21

Notice Christ’s promise that if we want to know God more and deeper, we must keep His commands. That is true because then the Holy Spirit has greater freedom to teach spiritual truths.