H-ear-t part 2
The center of the heart is the ear. Hearing what the Spirit is saying. Because you can't give what you don't have, and you can only give what you do have. So you have to KNOW what you have. And look at Romans 10:17 (NLT), "So faith comes from hearing, that is, hearing the Good News about Christ." The Divine Order of things (and I did a podcast episode about this not too long ago, check it out: Jesus Rant podcast) is knowing and believing. In that order. Because you can't believe something you don't know. Faith comes from hearing. Listening to the heart. Let me say it another way. "We love each other because he loved us first" (1 John 4:19, NLT). I believe one of the most powerful verses in the Bible is Luke 3:22 (NLT), "and the Holy Spirit, in bodily form, descended on him like a dove. And a voice from heaven said, "You are my dearly loved Son, and you bring me great joy."" This is so wonderful to me. Because the approval of the Father will always empower the Son. And because this is what heaven is saying. "I love you, I love you, I love you. I can't do anything but love you!" That's what we hear when we listen to our heart. And that's when we DO when we listen to our heart. We are empowered (by our heavenly Father's love) to love! God and people. Loving God and loving people. Loving God BY loving people. Letting HIM love the hell out of us and then loving Him back by loving the hell out of the people that we come into contact with. That's what this life is for. That's what this life is all about. That's what this life IS. Because to live is to love and to love is to live. Because what we have inside is too good and too big and too powerful to keep to ourselves. It is what the world needs more than anything. So listen to that still small voice, let God love you, and in that way fill yourself to overflowing with what you've already been filled with. Hear what the Spirit is speaking--and notice that it wasn't until the Holy Spirit descended like a dove that Jesus, and those around Him, heard those Words. The Spirit is always speaking, but it is the indwelling of the Spirit that lets us hear it. It is when we listen that we hear. Prayer, to me, is every bit as much about listening as it is about speaking. Speaking in tongues is a pure way to pray. You don't even know what you're saying, but God does. Listening is one of the best ways to pray. We spend so much time telling God what's wrong. What we ought to do is listen to God tell us what's RIGHT. "You are my dearly loved Son and you bring me great joy." I'm telling you... that will fire you up. Fill you up. Equip and empower you to live your best life. To receive and release the love of God. To experience Jesus's abundant, everlasting, eternal, Resurrection Life of love by letting Jesus live His own life in you, and through you, and as you. Living life from a posture of rest. Which, by the way, is not inactivity, but Holy Spirit directed activity. And the Holy Spirit only ever has and ever will direct us to do one thing: Love! God is love. God is a Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of love. The Spirit of love lives in us, and comes out of us, when we hear what the Spirit is speaking. When we SAY and DO what the Spirit is speaking. When we let the love that is inside come out by knowing and believing that it's in there!