Setting My Heart
(Read Genesis 30 & Ephesians 5)

Genesis 30:37-39 37Then Jacob took fresh rods of poplar and almond and plane trees, and peeled white stripes in them, exposing the white which was in the rods. 38He set the rods which he had peeled in front of the flocks in the gutters, even in the watering troughs, where the flocks came to drink; and they mated when they came to drink. 39So the flocks mated by the rods, and the flocks brought forth striped, speckled, and spotted.

(As the animals came to drink they would see spotted and speckled rods on the ground near their watering hole which was also their breeding ground. As they came to the water and breed they did so while looking upon the spotted rods. The result was that they produced spotted and speckled offspring and it was all because of what they saw when they came to the water.)

Ephesians 5:26 26so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word,
(More than once the word of God is referred to as water. It cleanses us from the impurities of life in much the same way the laver was used to purify the priests in the Old Testament before going into the presence of the Lord. The blood deals with sin but it’s the water that deals with impurity.)

Exodus 38:8 8Moreover, he made the laver of bronze with its base of bronze, from the mirrors of the serving women who served at the doorway of the tent of meeting.
2 Corinthians 3:18 18But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.

(It’s not an accident that the lavers of water were made from the mirrors of women. As the bible tells us the word of God is like a mirror.)

Proverbs 4:23; 23:7 23Watch over your heart with all diligence, For from it flow the springs of life. 7For as he thinks within himself, so he is. He says to you, “Eat and drink!” But his heart is not with you.

(When I come to God’s word I will reproduce what I see i.e. Whatever my heart is set upon when I come to the bible will determine much of what I see in the bible.)
Psalm 24:3-4 3Who may ascend into the hill of the LORD? And who may stand in His holy place? 4He who has clean hands and a pure heart, Who has not lifted up his soul to falsehood And has not sworn deceitfully. (I do not hold or entertain thoughts that contradicts God’s word.)
Matthew 7:7 7“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.

(Jesus promises revelation if we will seek: eg. If I’m “looking for love” in the scriptures – I determine to find the verses that reveal God’s love and my service to others:

1. I pray the scriptures – seeing myself partaking and dispensing God’s love.
2. I affirm in prayer that since God is love and that I am in Christ I am love also.
3. I see scriptures that I never before interpreted as love scriptures.)

Other areas of bible reading to experience revelation:
1. Greatness of God.
2. Benefits of God.
3. Abundance (freedom from lack).
4. Kingdom of Heaven.
5. Healing (physical and emotional)
6. Discipleship.
7. Faith and Hope (Comparing the two in scripture).
8. Evangelism.

Affirmations:
What I behold in my heart I seek from scripture and experience revelation.

I am in union with God – I have the mind of Christ.

God speaks in and through me.

I speak only God thoughts.

ALBERT FINCH MINISTRY