Prescription for a Strengthened Heart

Wait on the LORD; be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart; wait, I say, on the LORD! Psalm 27:14 (New King James Version)

Lately, as I read Scripture, I am purposefully looking for God’s commands and promises to me. As I follow the commands, His promises are fulfilled. While His love is not dependent upon what I do or don’t do, His blessing, favor, prosperity, and promises are definitely connected to my obedience in words, thoughts, and actions.

If I want my heart to be strengthened, then it is imperative that I wait on God and stand in courage. Looking to God entails focus, fixation, and expectation directed toward Him and what He is able to do. Often times, though, that is not the way I am living my Christian life, or at least has not been the way I have lived it up to this point. In some areas, I have been able to do that, but in other areas I have not. I want that to change and God is faithfully showing me how to go about it.

Looking to God to meet my physical needs is not a struggle for me, but looking to Him to meet my emotional needs has been! I learned as a youth to see how quickly a person could seemingly “fill” the voids of my heart. I did not realize how emotionally empty and hungry I was until I became a part of a church family and experienced the love of Christ through them. That is a good thing in itself, but what happened with me is I began to view it as the ONLY way to get my emotional needs met. Being with certain people became my escape mechanism from the hurts and disappointments of life. Later on, during my Bible school years, I learned to share problems with others and saw how good their attention and sympathy felt. As I became an adult the search was on as well as the ever growing belief that there was a person out there…somewhere…who could do for me what God alone could do….fill the void, fix me internally, and meet the numerous heart and mind needs. No such person exists but that never stopped me from looking.

Last night was a turning point for me….one I am trusting is permanent. In the midst of wanting to let an individual know I was in turmoil and wanting to taste once again of the “drug” of acceptance, affirmation, and attention, God invited me to resist the urge to confide. Rather than pour my heart out to this person, God advised me to pour it out to Him. He knows the cycle of emotional dependency will never be broken any other way. To my amazement, when I looked to Him rather than to a person, the turmoil ceased, the sadness left, and the pull toward another’s care was gone. My heart was strengthened and a joy I have known little of met that present emotional need. I wake this morning singing a victor’s song!

Father, keep showing me the choices that will lead to freedom. I want to learn how to look to You! Amen.

Spirit Song - Maranatha Singers
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWEDBaFy0SI

Getting into God's Word and letting God's Word get into me one truth at a time.