H-ear-t part 3
Following your heart can only come from listening to your heart. That still, small voice deep inside (your heavenly Father saying "I love you, I love you, I love you" with every beat of HIS heart in your chest) is what leads you, guides you, directs you, and protects you. Faith comes from hearing, and hearing from the Word (which is Jesus, which is love) of God. You can't believe something you don't know. The Divine Order is knowing and believing, receiving and releasing. So make sure you're always focusing on the heart of the matter. Which, of course, is the heart. And what's in the middle of "heart"? EAR. Listening. I can't harp on this enough. Listening is so important. Two ears, one mouth, right? Listen twice as much as you talk. And, unfortunately, there's this idea out there that people don't listen to understand, they simply wait for their turn to talk. In my own life I make a policy of not arguing with people. I don't believe it ever does any good. If you're defending your position you're not going to change it. But if someone wants honest conversation and has an open mind about something... that's different. I probably won't tell you what I think unless you specifically ask me. And even then I'm going to take a good long look and see if you really want to know, or if you just want to fight about it. I think debate and discussion is important. But arguing never gets anybody anywhere. Trying to convince someoen else that "I'm right and you're wrong" is not a great attitude to have. And even if you ARE right... it's STILL better to be kind. Building relationships is more important than proving your rightness or their wrongness. Only together can we truly move forward. If it's you vs me, and someone has to lose in order for someone to win... then we all lose. Because we're all in this together. What I think I'm trying to say in my usual roundabout way is that we need to really major on the majors and minor on the minors. We need to agree to disagree. You don't have to agree with everything I say. But if you can find ANYTHING to agree on, then we can start from there. Common ground. And that, again, comes from listening. From being open to the possibility that there are people out there who know something you don't. And knowledge is power, right? The more you know. If you know better, you can do better. So listening is important. That's my point. And listening to that still, small voice of God deep inside you is vitally important. Hearing what the Spirit is speaking so that you can, well, speak what the Spirit is speaking. That's the best way to receive and release the love of God. Probably the only way. Let God love you, and love Him back by loving the people you come into contact with. Receive it and release it. Know it and believe it. Fill yourself to overflowing with what you've already been filled with. Hear it... and do it. God can't lead if you don't follow. He made the Way of Grace. We respond with the Walk of Faith. When you experience that love of God, I'm telling you, you won't WANT to do anything except return His love by lavishing it onto the people you come into contact with. Because it's so good. It needs to be shared. Love is giving. God gives it to us, and we give it back by giving it to each other!