A Crucified Life - - Has A Willing Mind

 

2 Corinthians 8:12

For if there is first a willing mind, it is accepted according to what one has, and not according to what he does not have.

*Strong's Ex. Conc. No. 4288

Willing Mind:  inclination, readiness

From the Greek word 'prothumia' (pronounced proth-oo-mee'-ah): before-passion, pre-inclined; predisposed.

    Matthew 22:37

Jesus declared, “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’"

    When our minds are willing to love the Lord, then the rest of the body will follow suit. For in our physical anatomies it is the brain that determines how the rest of the body functions. So, too, when our mind is willing to love God before we meet Christ, then naturally we will want to honor God even more so afterwards.

    A crucified life is willing to be obedient to the cause of the cross, the instrument of death by which God has given us life eternal. While it may seem paradoxical, we must remember that God uses the foolish things of the world to confound the wise (1 Corinthians 1:27-29). 

    In a world where right is wrong and wrong is right, living a crucified life stands out. The lighthouse shines its piercing beams into the darkness of the harbor, highlighting the angry waves crashing against the reefs and the boulders. The born again believer is such, shining the Light of God's Love into that same darkness, that same wave of anger currently smashing itself up against the immovable force.

    A crucified life is willing to be the lighthouse. We have chosen to take a stand and stand up for Jesus, raising high the banner of Grace & Mercy through the Lamb of God which takes away the sins of the world. Our stronghold is our God. Our fortifications are Trust and Obedience, Faith and Hope. 

    We stand on the Word of our God as our standard of living, for Christ is our Way of Life. The light of Christ in us attracts other believers to us, as well as those seeking to become a believer. When the discernment of the Holy Spirit is active within a believer, recognition is instant and joyful. "I know you! You're a Christian! I can see Him in your face." 

    But the hateful heart can also see the difference in our lifestyles without wanting anything to do with us except to try and destroy us. Persecution is on every side; no longer does it hide itself away and depend on secrecy and the darkness to hide its agenda. 

    Blatant hate spews forth in abundance and falls on God's church, Christ's bride. She, however, is both resilient and steadfast, waving her Banner of Love to encourage other believers to keep following Jesus Christ. Her faith in one hand, her Bible in the other, the church moves forward and ahead with a steadfast, sober mind.

    1 Corinthians 15:58

Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.

    Galatians 6:9

Let us not grow weary in well-doing, for in due time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.

    1 Peter 3:14

Therefore, beloved, as you anticipate these things, make every effort to be found at peace--spotless and blameless in His sight.

    Colossians 2:6-8

Therefore, just as you have received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him, established in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, which are based on human tradition and the spiritual forces of the world rather than on Christ.

PERSEVERING

Rise Up - Cain

We Will Not Be Shaken - Brian Johnson

Firm Foundation (He Won't) - Cody Carnes

I Will Trust - Red Rocks Worship

I Surrender All 

There Is A Name - Sean Feucht

Yet Not I But Through Christ In Me - CityAlight

Spirit and the Bride - Joshua Aaron

    

Anatomy of The Heart

     When we think of how we make decisions and choices in our lives, we think of the mind as creating thought and the heart as something that must be followed. When in all actuality it is through the heart that all decisions, all thought, all follow-through is done.
     

The spirit-heart starts out black, because we view sin as black/dark. Only the Light of God's Love, Jesus Christ, can turn the heart from black/dark to gold/light.

When we first come to knowledge of the saving grace of God through the cross on which His only begotten Son Jesus Christ died, the blood which Jesus shed is applied to the darkness of our hearts. We call this being saved.

We also call this not enough to live holy. God calls us to holiness in our every day lives because He is holy and He cannot be in the same room as sin, because sin is rebelliousness to God and God's Holy Word. Therefore, we also need God's Holy Spirit to continually work on the darkness of our hearts, like water forming and shaping the rocks in a body of water: constantly flowing, never-ending shifting over and around and through us: making us holy and filling us ever more with God's Light and Love.

But that takes time and effort. Time to allow the Holy Spirit to deconstruct the darkness and construct us into honorable friends of God, holy and acceptable to Him.

First, the heart is washed clean by the Blood of God's Lamb, Jesus Christ, the Messiah, the Savior of the world. 

Anyone who believes that Jesus Christ is LORD is saved. Romans 10:13 "For whosoever shall call upon the name of the LORD shall be saved." That is when the blood is applied to the heart because Romans 10:8-10 "But what does it say? “The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,” that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: that if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised Him out from the dead, you will be saved. For with your heart you believe and are justified, and with your mouth you confess and are saved." 

Why do we want to speak out our salvation? Why not? There is nothing to be ashamed of: but there is everything to rejoice aloud! 

So we see here in these three verses that the heart makes the decision to believe and the mouth speaks what is in the heart. 

But the heart had to be able to hear the Word before the Spirit could apply the Word in the heart. How did the heart hear the Word?

So faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the message about Christ. Romans 10:17

The Word that was preached, the gospel of salvation through Jesus Christ, who died on the cross in our stead, was buried and rose from the dead and is now seated at the right hand of the Father is the Word that the heart did hear and receive upon believing this to be truth. 

Our spiritually anatomically correct heart does not stop there, though.  We now know that our hearts can think, and hear so let us continue our journey through The Word. 

Because the heart is the decision maker, it is also the place of understanding, where wisdom is applied; therefore the heart can also see: 

Ephesians 1:16-19 "I ask that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened (shine brightly), so that you may know the hope of His calling, the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints, and the surpassing greatness of His power to us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of His mighty strength."

Job 42:5 "My ears had heard of You, but now my eyes have seen You." Proverbs 18:15 "The heart of the discerning acquires knowledge, and the ear of the wise seeks it out." Whether discernment or hearing, it is the heart doing the work.

     Through Psalm 34:8 we see that our hearts have mouths, as it is impossible to taste or chew without a mouth. 

"Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!" And again in Hebrews 6:4-5 "It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened (shone brightly), who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit---who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age--..." 

     The heart also drinks in through the mouth the Living Water that comes from Christ Jesus. In Matthew 5:5 "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, For they shall be filled." And again in John 7:38 "Whoever believes in Me, as the Scripture has said: ‘Streams of living water will flow from within him.’” These 'streams of living water'? The Holy Spirit. John 7:39 "He was speaking about the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were later to receive. For the Spirit had not yet been given, because Jesus had not yet been glorified." 

     We could say that our spirit-heart resembles this:

It is a busy heart, indeed. And when the heart has accomplished all which God has set forth for it to do, the heart will be holy and pure and acceptable to God the Father, ready to be in His eternal holy presence. 

Seasons

I realize that in this blog there are quite a few days 

where I have said nothing at all. I had a mental breakdown.

Do you know how hard it is to say that? It is an admission 

of helplessness. Doctors couldn't diagnose me correctly.

Doctor after doctor referred me to psychiatrists 

because they thought I was crazy or depressed.

Though depression attacks me now and then,

I do not live in a state of depression.

A mental breakdown used to be called a nervous breakdown.

Either is appropriate.

I was also told to do my own research.

The internet is the 'information highway'. 

It is also the 'misinformation highway'.

In order to find the right pages, 

you need the right doctor.

So I called on Dr. Jesus,

and He sent His Holy Spirit

to guide me in all my ways.

I have been diagnosed with Fibromyalgia.

I have been diagnosed with Osteoarthritis.

So, I am learning to live with pain.

I adapt.

Doctors do not want to hear that.

I don't want to say it.

But it's true.

Why hide behind a mask of "everything's fine",

when it really isn't?

Here I sit, at my little desk,

in my comfy chair and foot rest,

sharing my life and my heart with

whoever chooses to listen.

Some days there will be many posts.

And some days there might be nothing at all.

Seasons of life. Seasons of hope.

Seasons of pain. Seasons of joy.

This is my season of sharing.

May you be blessed.

Chrysalis

He’s changing me from glory to glory.

And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

Romans 12:2

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