Knowing God's heart is the key to understanding life. I gleaned this bit of info from a devotional book I am currently reading by John Eldredge entitled "Knowing The Heart of God".

Psalm 119:11

11 I have hidden your word in my heart
that I might not sin against you.

Excerpt below from John Eldredge's devotional work "Knowing the Heart of God".

The Heart is Central

"For the eyes of the LORD range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him."

-2 Chronicles 16:9

The heart is central. That I would even need to remind you of this only shows how far we have fallen from the life we were meant to live - or how powerful the spell has been. The subject of the heart is addressed in the Bible more than any other topic - more than "works" or "serve", more than "believe" or "obey," more than money and even more than worship. Maybe God knows something we've forgotten. But of course - all those other things are matters of the heart. Consider but a few passages:

Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength (Deut 6:5) (Jesus called this the greatest of all the commandments - and notice that the heart comes first.)

Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart. (1 Sam. 16:7)

Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (Luke 12:34)

Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. (Prov. 3-5)

Your word I have treasured in my heart, that I may not sin against You. (Ps. 119:11 NASB)

These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. (Matt 15:8)

Oh Great Spirit,
Whose voice I hear in the wind,
Whose breath gives life to the world,
Hear me!
I come to you as one of your many children.
I am small and weak.
I need your strength and wisdom.

May I walk in beauty.
Make my eyes behold the red and purple sunset.
Make my hands respect the things that you have made,
And my ears sharp to hear your voice.

Make me wise so that I may know the things
That you have taught your children--
The lessons that you have hidden in every leaf and rock.
Make me strong, not to be superior to my brothers,
but to be able to fight my greatest enemy: myself.

Make me ever ready to come to you with straight eyes, so that
When life fades as the faded sunset
My spirit will come to you without shame.

John Yellow Lark

Father, send the rain.

Its Worth Learning

We are the people of his pasture,
the flock under his care.
Today if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts.

-Psalm 95:7-8

If you've been taught that God doesn't speak to you, then you're probably not going to be listening for his voice. This all comes down to what kind of relationship you think God offers. "It takes time," I said. "It's something we learn. Name one thing in your life that you really enjoy doing that didn't require practice to get there."

If you want to make music, you have to learn how to play an instrument. And in the beginning, it doesn't sound too good - all the squawks and squeaks and bad timing. You really are on your way to making music. It just sounds like you're strangling a pig. If you stick with it, something beautiful begins to emerge. Or how about snowboarding - learning to do that is really awkward at first. You fall down a lot. You feel like an idiot. But if you hang in there, you come to enjoy it. You get better. It starts to feel natural. That's when it becomes fun. This holds true for anything in life. Including our walk with God. It takes time and practice. It's awkward at first, and sometimes we feel stupid. But if we hang in there, we do begin to get it, and as it becomes more and more natural, our lives are filled with his presence and all the joy and beauty and pleasure that come with it.

It is something to be learned. And it is worth learning.

Excerpt from one of John Eldredge's daily meditations in his book "Knowing the Heart of God".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kX8x...eature=related

Father, send the rain.

I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year
'Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.'

And he replied, 'Go into the darkness and put your hand into the hand of God
That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way!'

So I went forth and finding the Hand of God
Trod gladly into the night
He led me towards the hills
And the breaking of day in the lone east.

So heart be still!
What need our human life to know
If God hath comprehension?

In all the dizzy strife of things
Both high and low,
God hideth his intention.

The King Who Loved a Humble Maiden


God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

-Romans 5:8

Here is Kierkegaard's version of the story:

Suppose there was a king who loved a humble maiden. The king was like no other king. Every statemen trembled before his power...And yet this mighty king was melted by a love for a humble maiden. How could he declare his love for her? In an odd sort of way, his kingliness tied his hands. If he brought her to the palace and crowned her head with jewels and clothed her body in royal robes, she would surely not resist - no one dared resist him. But would she love him?

She would say she loved him, of course, but would she truly?...How could he know? If he rode to her forest cottage in his royal carriage, with an armed escort waving bright banners, that too would overwhelm her. He did not want a cringing subject. He wanted a lover, an equal...For it is only in love that the unequal can be made equal. (Disappointment with God)-end of Kierkegaard's story


The king clothes himself as a beggar and renounces his throne in order to win her hand. The Incarnation, the life and the death of Jesus, answers once and for all the question, "What is God's heart toward me?"

Excerpt from one of John Eldredge's daily meditations in his book "Knowing the Heart of God".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TY_FpV05n-c

Father, send the rain.

Bless the Lord, O my soul.

O Lord my God, you are very great.

You are clothed with honor and majesty,

wrapped in light as with a garment.

You stretch out the heavens like a tent,

you set the beams of your chambers on the waters,

you make the clouds your chariot,

you ride on the wings of the wind,

you make the winds your messengers,

fire and flame your ministers.



You set the earth on its foundations,

so that it shall never be shaken.

You cover it with the deep as with a garment;

the waters stood above the mountains.

At your rebuke they flee;

at the sound of your thunder they take to flight.

They rose up to the mountains, ran down to the valleys

to the place that you appointed for them.

You set a boundary that they may not pass,

so that they might not again cover the earth.



You make springs gush forth in the valleys;

they flow between the hills,

giving drink to every wild animal;

the wild asses quench their thirst.

By the streams the birds of the air have their habitation;

they sing among the branches.

From your lofty abode you water the mountains;

the earth is satisfied with the fruit of your work.



You cause the grass to grow for the cattle,

and plants for people to use,

to bring forth food from the earth,

and wine to gladden the human heart,

oil to make the face shine,

and bread to strengthen the human heart.

The trees of the Lord are watered abundantly,

the cedars of Lebanon that he planted.

In them the birds build their nests;

the stork has its home in the fir trees.



The high mountains are for the wild goats;

the rocks are a refuge for the coneys.

You have made the moon to mark the seasons;

the sun knows its time for setting.

You make darkness, and it is night,

when all the animals of the forest come creeping

out.

The young lions roar for their prey,

seeking their food from God.

When the sun rises, they withdraw and lie down in their dens.

People go out to their work and to their labor until the evening.



O Lord, how manifold are your works!

In wisdom you have made them all;

the earth is full of your creatures.

Yonder is the sea, great and wide,

creeping things innumerable are there,

living things both small and great.

There go the ships,

and Leviathan that you formed to sport in it.



These all look to you

to give them their food in due season;

when you give to them, they gather it up;

when you open your hand, they are filled with good things.

When you hide your face, they are dismayed;

when you take away their breath, they die

and return to their dust.

When you send forth your spirit, they are created;

and you renew the face of the earth.



May the glory of the Lord endure for ever;

may the Lord rejoice in his works --

who looks on the earth and it trembles,

who touches the mountains and they smoke.

I will sing to the Lord as long as I live;

I will sing praise to my God while I have being.

May my meditation be pleasing to him,

for I rejoice in the Lord.

Let sinners be consumed from the earth,

and let the wicked be no more.

Bless the Lord, O my soul.

Praise the Lord!

A Proven Way

Stand at the crossroads and look,
ask for the ancient paths,
and where the good way is, and walk in it,
and you will find rest for your souls.

-Jeremiah 6:16

One of the most haunting experiences I have ever had took place on an early summer day in Alaska. After a twenty minute walk through a spruce forest, we were led into a broad, oepn meadow about four hundred yards across. "They're sleeping now, but they'll be back tonight," our guide said. "C'mer - I want to show you something." We followed him to a trail of massive footprints, with a stride of about two feet between them, pressed down into the bog and making a path through it. "It's a marked trail," he said. A path created by the footprints of the bears. "This one is probably centuries old. For as long as the bears have been on this island, they've taken this path. The cubs follow their elders, putting their feet exactly where the older bears walk. That's how they learn to cross this place." I began to walk in the marked trail, stepping into the firm, deep-worn places where bears had walked for centuries.

I'm not sure how to describe the experience, but for some reason the word holy comes to mind. An ancient and fearful path through a wild and untamed place. A proven way. I was haunted by it, could have followed that path for a long, long time. It awakened some deep, ancient yearning in me. There is a path laid down for centuries by men who have gone before us. A marked trail. And there is a Father ready to show us that path and help us follow it.

Excerpt from one of John Eldredge's daily meditations in his book "Knowing the Heart of God".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdq9Q8wJdjc

"Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner."

Often the prayer is compressed "Lord Jesus Christ have mercy on me" or even to the bare bones of the one word "Jesus," constantly repeated.

The prayer has been in use for nearly 2,000 years as noted in the book ‘The Way of a Pilgrim’ ( The Pilgrim Continues His Way) written by an anonymous Russian author.

Some people synchronize the prayer with the breath; especially in conjunction with an abridged version of the prayer. You say "Lord Jesus Christ" on the in-breath, during which you invite God's sanctifying presence, and "have mercy on me" on the out-breath, during which you expel your sins. At the end of the out-breath, of course, you are momentarily out of air - that is, helpless and thus dependent upon the divine mercy.

Classical description of Jesus prayer is:
Sit down alone and in silence.
Lower your head, shut your eyes, breathe out gently, and
Imagine yourself looking into your own heart.

As you breathe out,
say "Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me."
Say it, moving your lips gently, or simply say it in your mind.
Try to put all other thoughts aside.
Be calm, be patient and repeat the process very frequently.
Keep the mind free from dreaming;
make it closed to suggestions of the enemy.
This will lead to Divine desire and love.





Father, send the rain.

Give us, O Lord,

steadfast hearts, which no unworthy thought can drag downwards;
unconquered hearts, which no tribulation can wear out,
upright hearts, which no unworthy purpose may tempt aside.

Bestow upon us also, O Lord our God,

understanding to know Thee,
diligence to seek Thee,
wisdom to find Thee,
and a faithfulness that may finally embrace Thee.




Father, send the rain.

The Weaning Process

But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

- Matthew 6:33

God wants us to be happy, but he knows that we cannot be truly happy until we are completely his and until he is our all. And the weaning process is hard.

The sorrows of our lives are in great part his weaning process. We give our hearts over to so many things other than God. We look to so many other things for life. I know I do. Especially the very gifts that he himself gives to us - they become more important to us than he is. That's not the way it is supposed to be. As long as our happiness is tied to the things we can lose, we are vulnerable. This truth is core to the human condition and to understanding what God is doing in our lives. We really believed that God's primary reason for being is to provide us with happiness, give us a good life. It doesn't occur to us that our thinking is backwards. It doesn't even occur to us that God is meant to be our all, and that until he is our all, we are subhuman. The first and greatest command is to love with our whole being. Yet, it is rare to find someone who is completely given over to God. And so normal to be surrounded by people who are trying to make life work. We think of the few who are abandoned to God as being sort of odd. The rest of the world - the ones trying to make life work - seem perfectly normal to us.

Excerpt from one of John Eldredge's daily meditations in his book "Knowing the Heart of God".

http://listen.grooveshark.com/#/song...vagant/1170553

http://listen.grooveshark.com/#/song...g_Sings/606064

With bended knees, with hands outstretched, do I yearn for the effective expression of the holy spirit working within me:

For this love and understanding, truth and justice; for wisdom to know the apparent from the real that I might alleviate the sufferings of men on earth....

God of love, understanding, wisdom, and virtue. Let us love one another, let us practice mercy and forgiveness, let us have peace, born of fellow-feeling...

Let my joy be of altruistic living, of doing good to others. Happiness is unto him from who happiness proceeds to any other human being.





Father, send the rain.

The Real You

I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you. I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.

-Ezekiel 36:26

The Big Lie in the church today is that you are nothing more than "a sinner saved by grace." You are a lot more than that. You are a new creation in Christ. The New Testament calls you a saint, a holy one, a son of God. In the core of your being you are a good man. Yes, there is a war within us, but it is a civil war. The battle is not between us and God; no, there is a traitor within us who wars against our true heart fighting alongside the Spirit of God in us.

A new power is in operation. The Spirit of life in Christ, like a strong wind, has manifestly cleared the air, freeing you from a fated lifetime of brutal tyranny at the hands of sin and death...if the alive-and-present God who raised Jesus from the dead moves into your life, he'll do the same thing in you that he did in Jesus. (Romans 8:2, 11 The Message)

The real you is on the side of God against the false self. Knowing this makes all the difference in the world. The man who wants to live valiantly will lose heart quickly if he believes that his heart is nothing but sin. Why Fight?

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What God Sees When He Sees You

No, a man is a Jew if he is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit.

-Romans 2:29

Your sin has been dealt with. Your Father has removed it from you "as far as the east is from the west" (Ps. 103.12). Your sins have been washed away (1 Cor. 6:11). When God looks at you he does not see your sin. He has not one condemning thought toward you (Romans 8:1). But that's not all. You have a new heart. That's the promise of the new covenant: "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws" (Ezek. 36:26-27). There's a reason that it's called good news.

Too many Christians today are living back in the old covenant. They've had Jeremiah 17:9 drilled into them and they walk around believing my heart is deceitfully wicked. Not anymore it's not. Read the rest of the book. In Jeremiah 31:33, God announces the cure for all that: "I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people." I will give you a new heart. Sin is not the deepest thing about you. You have a new heart. Did you hear me? Your heart is good.

The 2 excerpts above are from John Eldredge's book of daily meditations "Knowing the Heart of God".

Sometimes prayer is a silent meditation, just "listing to God." These are two of my favorite poems that have lead to meditative grace, for me.







Father, send the rain.

1 Corinthians 13 (New International Version)

1 Corinthians 13

Love

1 If I speak in the tongues[a] of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames,[b] but have not love, I gain nothing.

4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. 11When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. 12Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

CONSECRATION TO THE HEART OF JESUS

O Jesus, we know that You are sweet.
That you have given Your heart for us.
It was crowned with thorns by our sins.
We know that today You still pray for us
so that we will not be lost.

Jesus, remember us if we fall into sin.
Through Your most Sacred Heart,
make us all love one another.
Cause hatred to disappear among men.
Show us Your love.

All of us love You.
And we desire that you protect us with Your
Heart of the Good Shepherd.
Enter into each heart, Jesus!
Knock on the door of our hearts.
Be patient and tenacious with us.
We are still locked up in ourselves, because we
have not understood Your will.

Knock continuously, Oh Jesus.
Make our hearts open up to you,
at least in reminding us of the passion
which you suffered for us.

Amen




Father, send the rain.

The Greatest Dignity of All

The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. And the LORD God commanded the man, "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die."

-Genesis 2:15-17

He enables us to love. He gives us the greatest treasure in all creation: a heart. For he intends that we should be his intimate allies - to borrow Dan Allender's phrase - who join in the Sacred Circle of intimacy that is the core of the universe. To share in this great Romance.

Just at we have lost our wonder at the world around us, we have forgotten what a treasure the human heart is. All of the happiness we have ever known and all of the happiness we hope to find is unreachable without a heart. You could not live or love or laugh or cry had God not given you a heart.

And with that heart comes something that just staggers me. God gives us the freedom to reject him. He gives to each of us a will of our own.

Good grief, why? He knows what free-willed creatures can do. He has already suffered one massive betrayal in the rebellion of the angels. He knows how we will use our freedom, what misery and suffering, what hell will be unleashed on earth because of our choices. Why? Is he out of his mind?

The answer is as simple and staggering as this: if you want a world where love is real, you must first allow each person the freedom to choose.

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A Love Affair of the Heart

Love the Lord your God with all your heart...

-Luke 10:27

Above all else, the Christian life is a love affair of the heart. It cannot be lived primarily as a set of principles or ethics. It cannot be managed with steps and programs. It cannot be lived exclusively as a moral code leading to righteousness. In response to a religious expert who asked him what he must do to obtain real life, Jesus asked a question in return: "What is written in the Law?...How do you read it?"
The man answered: Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind"; and "Love your neighbor as yourself."

"You have answered correctly," Jesus replied. "Do this and you will live." (Luke 10:26-28, emphasis added)

The truth of the gospel is intended to free us to love God and others with our whole heart. When we ignore this heart aspect of our faith and try to live out our religion solely as correct doctrine or ethics, our passion is crippled, or perverted, and the divorce of our soul from the heart "that God has given us" is deepened.

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To Harden Our Hearts

For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.

-Matthew 5:20

What makes the Day of Judgment so unnerving is that all our posing and all our charades will be pulled back, all secrets will be made known, and our Lord will "expose the motives of men's hearts" (1 Cor. 4:5 emphasis added).

This is the point of the famous Sermon on the Mount. Jesus first says we haven't a hope of heaven unless our righteousness "surpasses that of the Pharisees" (Matt. 5:20). How can that be? They were fastidious rule keepers, pillars of the church, model citizens. Yes, Jesus says, and most of it was hypocrisy. The Pharisees prayed to impress men with their spirituality. They gave offerings to impress men with their generosity. Their actions looked good, but their motives were not. Their hearts, as the saying goes, weren't in the right places. A person's character is determined by his or her motives, and motive is always a matter of the heart. This is what Scripture means when it says that man looks at the outward appearance but God looks at the heart. God doesn't judge us by our looks, or our intelligence; he judges by our hearts.

Oh, the joy of living from right motives, from a clean heart! I doubt that those who want to dismiss the heart want to dismiss our consciences, set aside the importance of character.

3 excerpts from John Eldredge's book of daily meditations: "Knowing the Heart of God".

Father, send the rain.

Understanding His Word

If you love me, you will obey what I command. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever - the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.

-John 14:15-17

We need God to hlep us understand his Word. We can't separate a walk with God from our reading of the Scripture. The two go hand in hand. Like having a tour guide as you wander the halls of the Louvre. Unfortunately, too many people approach Scripture without an intimacy with God, and they either end up frustrated because they've gotten so little out of it or, far worse, amass an intellectual understanding quite apart from any real communion with God. It usually results in religious pride.

The Bible is meant to be read in fellowship with God. Things can get really weird if we don't. Let me say that the more we know the Scriptures and the more they become a part of us, the more we'll find that we can walk with God. Having spent a good deal of time in the Word of God, you'll give the Holy Spirit a library within you to draw upon.

An excerpt from John Eldredge's book of daily meditations: "Knowing the Heart of God".

http://listen.grooveshark.com/#/song..._Angel/8557140

Bless us abundantly, O Lord, for we are lost and in great need of Your boundless Mercy. Send us the Holy Spirit with the Light of Wisdom, the Grace of faith, the courage to submit our will to You. You are perfect Love and what You choose is our True desire, even when these earthbound selves protest.

Shout louder, Lord. Make us hear.

Gaelen Shere

Father, send the rain.

Psalm 139 (New International Version)

Psalm 139

For the director of music. Of David. A psalm.

1 O LORD, you have searched me
and you know me.

2 You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.

3 You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.

4 Before a word is on my tongue
you know it completely, O LORD.

5 You hem me in—behind and before;
you have laid your hand upon me.

6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too lofty for me to attain.

7 Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?

8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, [a] you are there.

9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,

10 even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.

11 If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,"

12 even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you.

13 For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother's womb.

14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.

15 My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place.
When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,

16 your eyes saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me
were written in your book
before one of them came to be.

17 How precious to [b] me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!

18 Were I to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand.
When I awake,
I am still with you.

19 If only you would slay the wicked, O God!
Away from me, you bloodthirsty men!

20 They speak of you with evil intent;
your adversaries misuse your name.

21 Do I not hate those who hate you, O LORD,
and abhor those who rise up against you?

22 I have nothing but hatred for them;
I count them my enemies.

23 Search me, O God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.

24 See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.


Footnotes:
Psalm 139:8 Hebrew Sheol
Psalm 139:17 Or concerning

It is the last day of September and I thought time for a bit of overview. We had 1833 views since this thread opened. Accounting for those posting in it, I'd say we have between 35 and 50 pray-ers. And that is a wonderful thing. I was hoping for ten.

Thank you God, for leading anyone here, thank you pray-ers for posting here and reading here and praying for each other's intentions. Thank you for prayers for atheists.

As for me, I'll never stop praying for all here, I have everyone embedded in my list. And because there are many non-prayers, I hope we all remember not only posters and lurkers here, but also their families and loved ones here and those that have passed.

My personal intention for October at this point is Peace. Peace here among us, peace in our personal lives, peace in our families - and in the world. I believe in the power of prayer - I believe we matter - I believe there is no problem too large for God - and He loves me, and He loves you, and if it be His will, the potential for fearful destruction and suffering can be constantly reduced.

As always, if you have an intention of your own post it - or PM me and I'll post it - and please keep coming. Please post your prayers or thoughts or inspirations -

I'd like it if we didn't use the thread to preach, but also please do use it to bring the Spirit to one another.

Peace of Christ be with you all.



In Jesus' name, I ask, if it be Your will,
Father, send the rain.

Prax/all:

I found this forum a few months ago and have been a daily reader and sometimes participant. I thought that it would help me to strengthen my faith but frankly it has done the opposite. I am feeling more pulled away from God than ever and I don't know how to stop the slide.

I ask that you pray for guidance for me and for strength to endure this trial.

Lord help me for I know through your grace all things are possible.

Amen.