Devotion by Pastor Audrey Ng
Previously, I shared about how God wants us to give our whole heart to Him and how He wants to cleanse our hearts from sin and impurity.
After allowing Him to first enter and then purify our hearts, let us move on to the next step.
- INVITE GOD TO LIVE IN YOUR HEART
Ephesians 3:17-18 (GNT)
And I pray that Christ will make His home in your hearts through faith. I pray that you may have your roots and foundation in love, so that you, together with all God’s people, may have the power to understand how broad and long, how high and deep, is Christ’s love.
Jesus wants to reside in our hearts.
Matthew 12:35 (NLT)
A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart, and an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart.
WHAT YOU TREASURE IS IN YOUR HEART
Whatever you find to be important or totally valuable to you, that is what is in your heart, whether good or bad! To lead a godly lifestyle, you need to guard what is stored in your heart.
In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus was talking to a whole bunch of people about this and He touched on the topic of money. The easiest way to find out what a person values is to see where they put their money. If we’re not careful, it’s easy to fall in love with money and have it at the centre of your heart.
Luke 12:34 (NIV)
For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
So here’s the big question—do you treasure God in your heart or is there something else that has taken over God?
We often hear: “What controls your heart controls your eyes.” This includes what you read, what you watch on TV, what websites you frequent, and so on. We have to focus on God, get our hearts chasing after Him, invite Him in and let Him fill us up.
When we have Jesus in our hearts, we have to ask ourselves: Are we showing forth God’s love to those around us?
I Peter 1:22 (NLT)
You were cleansed from your sins when you obeyed the truth, so now you must show sincere love to each other as brothers and sisters. Love each other deeply with all your heart.
Christlikeness in us is attractive. People will want to be around us and spend time with us because they feel the love of God in us. The closer we are to God, the more we will want to love people because love is the nature of God. We will be more filled with God and have more love to give and it becomes a never ending, growing cycle.
I Thessalonians 3:12-13 (NLT)
And may the Lord make your love for one another and for all people grow and overflow, just as our love for you overflows. May He, as a result, make your hearts strong, blameless, and holy as you stand before God our Father when our Lord Jesus comes again with all His holy people. Amen.
This verse tells us that the more we love, the more God will fill us with His love.
2 Thessalonians 3:5 (NLT)
May the Lord lead your hearts into a full understanding and expression of the love of God and the patient endurance that comes from Christ.
Can you imagine how vast, how grand, and how immensely huge God’s love is?
If God is in your heart, He will be the focus of your heart.
- FOCUS ON GOD
In psychology there is something known as a shame spiral. It’s when you do something wrong, then feel bad and guilty about it. You start to think a lot about what you did wrong, and how you’re not good enough. You end up doing it again because it’s what consumes your mind. And the cycle goes on. The only way to get out of it is to get your heart focused on something else. We have to be careful to keep our hearts focused on that which is good.
Luke 21:34 (NIV)
Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with dissipation, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you unexpectedly like a trap.
God doesn’t want your heart to be weighed down. He created you, loves you and wants what’s best for you. He wants you to live life in all its fullness. But you have to keep your heart focused on God because whatever you hold dear, that’s where your heart is.
If you have been carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders, may the burden gently roll off your back. May you break free from the chains that bind you and finally be able to move forward. May life bring you unexpected joy and remind you how wonderful it is to be alive … as you set Christ at the centre of your heart.