#2 – A Loving Heart!

1

 

The first thing most people will say about God is usually, “God Is Love.” You can find those words printed on just about everything. I’m wondering if we get immune to the words, “God Is Love.”

 

 “…for God is love.” I John 4:8

 

God  loves us, even in our sin. As a matter of fact, He loves us so much that he sent His own son to die a horrible and cruel death on the cross, just to prove to us just how much He loves us. He also loves us so much that He gives us a choice. We can either accept His love or not.

Isn’t it amazing to know that God loves us right where we are, just how we are. I’m also thankful with  the thought that He loves us too much to leave us where we are. As we learn and grow in God’s love,  we begin to love others and take care in the way that we present ourselves in order to show just what God’s love did for us.

How’s your heart in the love department?

 

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love…” Galatians 5:22

 

It’s easy to love those that love us and are easy to love. It’s easy to love those that look good, smell good and say nice things to us.

What about loving those that we have a pretty good idea they aren’t too fond of us? It’s hard isn’t it? They hurt and they want other’s to hurt us. They are happiest when we don’t feel any type of love from them or anyone else.

Loving those that can’t do anything for us may be a challenge. How can we show love to someone that has nothing to offer us? Do we even have to have a reason to love someone?

 

“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.” John 15:12

 

Did you know that we can show love just by the look on our face, the tone of our voice, the words we use, our time? We can even show what kind of love we have by the statements that we make on social media.

How long must we know about God’s love and how much He loves us to be able to have love naturally flow from our heart? Do you immediately know when you have done something that you know didn’t show God’s love?

Did you make it right? That’s the hard part, isn’t it?

When we have a changed heart, we will have a convicted heart when we don’t show God’s love to others.

Is this something you need to work on today? I know I do! I want A Heart Like His, I want a heart full of love for those that God loves!

We might need to mention what the opposite of love is… hate.

Do you have hatred in your heart?

Someone not too long ago made a comment about how they didn’t like someone and they couldn’t stand them! When I mentioned the word hate, they said, “hate is such a strong word, I didn’t say hate.” I said,” if you don’t love someone, you hate them, right?  “Oh, no, I just dislike them, and I can say anything I want about them.”

So, when you dislike someone, how is that different than hate?

That gets us to this, do you have a heart full of love…..or hate?

Which do you want the most of?

 

Is there something you need to take care of today? If you are like me, the answer to that is, yes!

 

*Ask God for forgiveness for having hatred in our heart.

*Ask someone to forgive us if we have hurt them with our hate.

*Ask God to help us love the people that we have a hard time loving.

*Fill our minds with loving thoughts.

*Spend our time with positive thinking.

*Read God’s Word and let Him speak to us about anything that our heart may be lacking when it comes to loving others.

*Take our issues to God.

*Get over ourselves and live life without always worrying who loves us and who doesn’t.

*Show others how much we love them!

 

A Loving Heart is what I want, how about you?

Click here to go to the beginning of 31 Days To A Heart Like His

#1 – A Changed Heart!

1

 

In order to begin, 31 Days to Have a Heart Like His, we have to start at the beginning and that is with a changed heart.

 

Has there been a time in your life when you gave your life to Christ?

If so…you changed. You became a child of God!

 

For some of you, it may have meant a change in lifestyle, a change in the way you talk, dress, think and live.

 

If you were very young when you gave your life to Christ, it may have been a simple change just in knowing and having the confidence in a living Savior and you now will grow, live and conduct your life different than the world has to offer.

 

You may be reading this and thinking, “I don’t think I GAVE my life to Christ, I’ve just always believed there was a God and after all, I live in America, right, so that would make me a believer.”

 

There is a bit more to it than just believing and living in America.

 

God’s Word says:

images

 

*There is none righteous, no not one. (Romans 3:10)

No one is good enough to get themselves into Heaven or to earn God’s love.

 

*For all have sinned… (Romans 3:23)

I’m a sinner and you are a sinner. No one is without sin.

 

*The price of our sin is death…(Romans 6:23)

We will pay for our sin in a place called Hell. God sent us His son to pay for our sin so that we could instead go to Heaven to live eternally with Christ and all those that accepted Christ into their lives.

 

*Christ died for us…(Romans 5:8)

God sent His son to die for you and for me because he loves us.

 

*That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. (Romans 10:9)

A very simple prayer to pray is:

Jesus, I do believe You are the Son of God and that You died on the cross to pay the penalty for my sin. Forgive me. I turn away from my sin and choose to live a life that pleases You. Enter my life as my Savior and Lord.

I want to follow You and make You the leader of my life.

Thank You for Your gift of eternal life and for the Holy Spirit, who has now come to live in me. I ask this in Jesus name. Amen!

 

*Whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. (Romans 10:13)

If you called on God through the prayer or a similar prayer in your own words, this verse says, you are saved!

 

If you have been saved for many years or just prayed that prayer a moment ago, you have a changed heart! My heart was changed when I was 14 and oh how thankful I am! If you ever have any doubts, all you have to do is read that verse and ask yourself, “Did I ask Christ into my life and did I ask Him to forgive me of my sin?” If the answer is yes, you have nothing to doubt and no one can take that from you!

 

Okay, now that we have the most important step taken care of, are you ready to move on to do a bit of “heart surgery” and be inspired and encouraged to have a heart like His?

 

I’m ready and I’m excited!

 

I will see you right here tomorrow with our first heart trait, of that like our Savior, Jesus Christ!

 

I would love to hear about your heart change. You can send me an email or comment right here on the comment section. Remember, when you have an opportunity to tell of when Christ made a change in your life, you could be that encouragement that someone needs to read and hear about. Don’t let any opportunity pass you by to share what God has done for you!

 

31 Days To A Heart Like His!

1

I’m excited to start a series for the entire month of October on:

                                                          31 Days To a Heart Like His!

I hope you will make this spot a regular stop in your day to get a quick dose of inspiration to have a heart like Jesus.

I’ve always been intrigued by the story of David in the Bible.  David had quiet a life.  All the ups and downs, troubles, triumphs and even having to pay deeply for the sin in his life.  One thing was for sure, he loved God.  The thing that gets me the most about his story, is how he was described in Acts 13:22.

                                                    “A man after God’s own heart!”

I would love to hear God describe me as a “woman after God’s own heart.”  How about you?  How do you want God to describe you?

If you answered yes, then join me this month as we go through:

                                                  31 Days To a Heart Like His!

Something to think about today:

On a scale of 1-10, how would you rate your heart in being like His?

*1 – Not even close

*5 – I’m working on it

*10 – Confident that I would be described as a man/woman after God’s own heart!

You might be saying to yourself, “I don’t even know where to start in trying to have a heart like His.”  If that is you….you have come to the right place!  Let’s find out together and encourage each other to reach #10 on the scale!

Can you imagine how our world could change if more people would strive to have a heart like His? Let’s begin with you and me.

I’m ready, how about you?

                                                          As in water, face reflects face,

                                                      So a man’s heart reveals the man.

                                                          Proverbs 27:19 (NKJV)

What is your heart revealing about you?

Each day I will have a link for each topic.  You can mark this as your landing page and read and re-read any posts as we go along!

Day 1 – A Changed Heart

Day 2 – A Loving Heart

Day 3 – A Compassionate Heart

Day 4 – A Heart of Mercy

Day 5 – Don’t Make Me Angry!

Day 6 –

Day 7 –

Day 8 –

Day 9 –

Day 10 –

Day 11 –

Day 12 –

Day 13 –

Day 14 –

Day 15 –

Day 16 –

Day 17 –

Day 18-

Day 19 –

Day 20 –

Day 21 –

Day 22 –

Day 23 –

Day 24 –

Day 25 –

Day 26 –

Day 27 –

Day 28 –

Day 29 –

Day 30 –

Day 31 –

 

What Does His Heart, My Desire Mean?

hearthisheader9

 

 

 

 

Question:

How did you come up with the name, His Heart, My Desire, as the name of your writing ministry?

My Answer:

In 2004, I was at my first writer’s conference and as I met so many new friends, I noticed many had names for their ministry and website, etc. That was one of the many things I had never even thought about in this new world of writing.

In my quiet time that evening, I asked the Lord to show me what He wanted me to do with this desire I had to write. I threw in my other question; “Is there a name or tagline that I should have for my writing ministry?” What I heard next was…..crickets. Then I fell into a peaceful sleep. Does that happen to you, too?

The next day while sitting in a workshop, the words, His Heart, My Desire, popped in my head. I wrote it down and read it over and over the next couple of days. I knew that was my theme for my writing. Since that day, I claimed, His Heart, My Desire as my theme and have never thought another thing about it because I knew it was from the Lord.

My purpose in writing is to encourage women to strive to have a heart like His in our everyday living.

Question:

That’s great, Beverly, but what exactly does His Heart, My Desire mean?

Since the day that I became a Christian at the age of 14, I have strived (notice I didn’t say successfully) to live my life according to the Bible, which is God’s letter to you and I. It is filled with examples of how to live a life that honors and glorifies Him. Because of our sin nature, we will never have a heart as pure as His, but we can strive and do our best.

“Therefore, be imitators of God as dear children.”Ephesians 5:1 (NKJV)

I like how the Phillips translation has this verse:

“As children copy their fathers, you, as God’s children, are to copy him.” Ephesians 5:1

Some of the attributes of God’s Heart that we can strive to imitate are:

A Loving Heart

A Kind Heart

A Peaceful Heart

A Righteous Heart

A Compassionate Heart

A Wise Heart

A Truthful Heart

A Heart of Humility

Is there a certain attribute of God’s heart that you are struggling with or that you have improved on? If you don’t want to post it in the comment section, please feel free to email me. (click on the sparkly gold button in the right-hand sidebar at the top.)

Thank you for taking the time to read my post today and I will let you know when my e-book is ready on this very subject, His Heart, My Desire! I’m so excited to share more with you and in more detail!