Knowing the Heart of God

"...When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him.

Two weeks ago, I came home from my fourth Journey to the Heart, a program put on by the Advanced Training Institute in Chicago. Most of you are probably familiar with it. Why we continue to go back seems to puzzle everyone we run into, but the reason is simple: we will never be perfect. The opportunity to get away for ten days and just seek God, and allow him to peel back yet another layer of our own selfishness and pride is an opportunity rarely experienced by the youth of our day, and one we want to have as long as we can. We also have been taking girls back with us as a ministry and have found it a blessing beyond what we could ever imagine.
Back in September of 2009, when we were on our second one, Madison, one of the team leaders who was there, gave a message that stuck with me and really hit home hard on this last journey. I have always struggled with making lasting changes for the good in my life. Most of us do. I think the reason for this is because Satan is out to steal, to kill, and to destroy. When a seed of truth that could impact us eternally is planted in the garden of our hearts, he does all he can to snatch up that seed and take it away before it can take root. Madison shared three steps to find the heart of God, and to continue "living the journey" at home:

1. Pursue God - run after him, search for him in the scriptures, pursue him until you find yourself surrounded by his greatness and his love!
2. Believe God - when you find him in the scriptures, believe what he says. Those rhemas are promises...not to be easily forgotten, but applied to life! It amazes me how difficult it is to believe those passages for what they are. Taking scripture at face value is not as simple as we think.
3. Praise God - I am not talking about thanking God. Thanking God is acknowledging what he has DONE. Praising him is acknowledging who he IS.

These foundational steps have prompted me many times to step back into God's will, and to realize how real Satan is and how much he wants to steal away my heart! I have started writing down a promise from God every day in my journal and hanging onto it. It has helped me to believe God when he says he will do something. All the promises he made to David are still applicable to you and me for today! Here are some of the ones the Lord has given me in my quiet times the past few weeks:

"And now shall my head be lifted up above my [spiritual] enemies round about me: therefore will I offer in his tabernacle sacrifices of joy; I will sing, yea, I will sing praises unto the Lord!" (Psalm 27:6)

"My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my mouth." (Psalm 89:34)

"I, even I am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins." (Isaiah 43:25)

"Fear not; for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine. When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee; when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned: neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. For I am the Lord thy God, The Holy One of Israel, thy Savior...since thou was precious in my sight, thou has been honorable and I have loved thee; therefore will I give men for thee and people for thy life. Fear not. I am with thee..." (Isaiah 43:1b-5a)

"...everlasting joy shall be upon your head; you shall obtain gladness and joy; and sorrow and mourning shall flee away." (Isaiah 51:11b)

"Blessed be... the Father of all mercies, and the God of all comfort, who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God." (II Corinthians 1:3-4)

I have also started turning a psalm or other passage of scripture into a prayer of praise to God. This reminds me to praise God, not just thank him. I find it immensely difficult to live out the Christian life the same way at home that I do at the Journey. There is a definite difference of atmosphere, and so many ways that Satan loves to trip me up. The other day, I was driven to the point of despairing life itself. Satan had brought so many lies and so much irritation and frustration into my life at that moment that all I wanted was relief! Thinking back on a sermon I heard recently, I jotted down what the pastor had said in my notebook, clinging to the reality of the fact that his words were so true!

"We need more than just relief. We need repentance towards our self-centered lusts. Our greatest need is to submit unconditionally and surrender to God."

How true! In my life, I often find myself running from tests I never studied for...tests that Jesus warned would come! He told his disciples not to be surprised if the world hated them, because it hated him first! I often expect life to go my way when in fact, Jesus has already announced that it won't! In the midst of all my anger and doubt, I even felt irritated at God. "Why are you letting this happen? Don't you know how much I want to be faithful to you? Don't you care about me at all? You certainly aren't showing it!" In the midst of my self-pity and hypocrisy, God seemed to prompt me to look at Him for help. "You are not representing me the right way." That still small voice seemed to prompt in a way that frustrated my stubbornness even more! I reached for Charles Spurgeon's book "Morning and Evening" and flipped open to the correct day. What I read was really convicting. Conviction had not been exactly what I had in mind. My problems were everyone else' fault...or so I assured myself...

"They lay their own foundation and hew out the pillars of their own house, refusing to be debtors to the sovereign grace of God."

Certainly it was not working out my way! My mind flew back to Madison's talk about pursuing God. I had been sitting there giving ground to Satan - what he wanted most - and letting Jesus Christ down! For a moment I was well assured that I was the only Christian in the world stubborn enough to dig herself into such a mess! I realized later on that so many of us are prone to fall into the same entrapment's of the enemy. I was encouraged to lean on the verse I put at the top of this post. God will lift up a standard against the enemy when he comes flooding in. That standard is you and me! Will we be strong enough to withstand that flood? Will we represent our Lord and Savior and stand strong amidst all the pressures of life? Or will we allow Satan to break down the barriers of our Lord, and come in and steal, kill, and destroy? Think on these things this week and may you be encouraged...you are not alone in the battle!

~Hannah