The hardened heart

[Not me]

19 hours ago, Sonshine said:

I do empathize deeply and understand. Thank you for sharing.  I have lost three babies (two at six months’ gestation).  For me, it was like I just had to read and read and read the Bible to keep going.  It was and still is like a continual “dying” and it’s only because of the Lord that I am able to press on with life.  God bless you, Renee.

I have no words to say, but may God fill you with Himself.

May His love surround your heart, Not me  

[missmuffet]

On 2/2/2020 at 2:31 PM, ReneeIW said:

Solution to what? There are times when my daughter comes home and goes straight to her room and when I don’t hear from her for a few hours, I go check on her and find out she’s hurting for whatever reason and I comfort her even though she did “nothing” to receive help from me. I’m a flawed human being and I’m there for my children whether they do something or not. How much more is our Father there for us?

Sometimes we are incapable of doing anything, but other saints are always praying for us, angels are ministering  to us, Christ is leaving the other sheep to come find us, and the Father promises never to leave us or forsake us. 

Other saints are praying for us?

[missmuffet]

6 hours ago, Sonshine said:

Yes, that’s what Christians (saints) do, missmuffet.  We pray for each other. “The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.” James 5:16b

Ok, your reference to saints are other Christians on this earth.

Edited February 4, 2020 by missmuffet

[ReneeIW]

23 hours ago, missmuffet said:

Other saints are praying for us?

 

7 hours ago, missmuffet said:

Ok, your reference to saints are other Christians on this earth.

Yes. I think the Bible refers to all Christians as saints.

Romans 1:7 King James Version (KJV)

⁷ To all that be in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

Philippians 1Paul and Timotheus, the servants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons: 2Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

[missmuffet]

5 hours ago, ReneeIW said:

 

Yes. I think the Bible refers to all Christians as saints.

Romans 1:7 King James Version (KJV)

⁷ To all that be in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

Philippians 1Paul and Timotheus, the servants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons: 2Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

That is correct 

[JustPassingThru]

On 2/2/2020 at 12:54 PM, Sonshine said:

I do empathize deeply and understand. Thank you for sharing.  I have lost three babies (two at six months’ gestation).  For me, it was like I just had to read and read and read the Bible to keep going.  It was and still is like a continual “dying” and it’s only because of the Lord that I am able to press on with life.

Precious sister, ...my heart aches because your heart aches...

What I'm going to say isn't meant to minimize or disregard the pain, ...I hope you understand it's meant to help, encourage and hopefully shed some light on the emotional roller-coaster you are on.

We read God said, "Let Us make man in our Image," ...what that is telling us is Adam wasn't created to die, ...because God can't die, ...that means Father didn't give us any means in ourselves to place all of the pain, grief, questioning and the strong emotions that go with them in a file and then place them in a file cabinet , close the drawer and they are "out of sigh and out of mind."

I "know" the pain of death, whether it be the death of a loved one, my parents both died in the early 70's, or the death of a love relationship, my wife divorced me and took my two precious daughters and went back to her high School boyfriend after Carter gave him amnesty for being a draft dodger during the VietNam War and he ran off to Canada.

What "can" we do when the "grief" arrow pierces our heart, ...nothing, ...because the "original" prototype was never "programmed" to deal with grief.

However, our loving Heavenly Father has provided a "solution" for us, ...He allowed the Son of His Love to die, ...He "experienced" grief for the first time in Eternity, ...the "solution" He has provided for us is:

Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light.  Matt 11:28-30

We find our "rest" from what ever is troubling our souls when we "join" with Jesus by being "yoked" to/with Him.

What the first Adam can't provide for us, ...the Second Adam can, ...God has suffered the grief and pain of losing His Son through death, ...but Father Himself resurrected His Son from death, ...that means He can comfort us with/from His experience.

What we must do is "take" on the yoke of/with Jesus, ...we have to stop trying to carry the grief and pain all alone, and allow the "peace" that comes from our much stronger big Brother who is pulling the heavy load of grief with us, ...that inexplicable, infathomable, incomprehensible Peace that passes all human understanding that flows through that yoke, just as sure and real as the strength of two oxen yoked together recognize the strength and effort of the other!  Praise the Lord!!!

Another benefit of being "yoked" with Jesus is we come to learn from Him and "know" Him more fully Col 1:9, ...as hard as it is to understand and accept, ...it was His "will" that your babies didn't survive, but rather than question why, ...we need to look at Who, ...we have to trust in His Knowledge, Mercy and Grace in their lives, ...would you really want them to have to of grown up in today's world, ...can you be 100% sure they would of been born again and go to Heaven, ...please, ...consider and weigh the grief of them dying at infancy as opposed to an eternity in the Lake of Fire.

Beloved sister, this grief you are carrying is blinding your eyes to reality, ...dear one, you haven't "lost" your children, you "know" where they are, ...Father, in His Love, has sent them on ahead of you, ...I personally believe, they are now fully developed, probably around the age of thirty, ...they aren't sad, they have "grown up" with Jesus and they are joyfully waiting for your reunion with them.

Please, ...rather than "live" with your "loss," ...why not "live" with that guaranteed joy "inexpressible" of that reunion, ...why not give your grief to Jesus and "replace" it with the thoughts of which one will you run to and hug first?  

In His Love my dear sister, ...may our Lord richly bless and comfort you...

[JustPassingThru]

1 hour ago, PromisesPromises! said:

Thank you for a beautiful reminder to ALL of us in Christ that we need never allow grief to harden our hearts.

Thank you dear sister for the kind and gentle remarks, ...I was very apprehensive about me, being a "man," entering it to a normally "woman's" domain. 

Your quoting of 2 Cor 1:3-5 is a life verse Father gave to me, "before" I came out of the tunnel into the other side.

Since you are so close to Sonshine I hope sharing some more in response to you will act as a "filter" that she can prayfully meditate on.

After my wife left I met a woman and we were living together (before I was born again), ...she had two young children and a baby, she was a waitress and worked the afternoon-evening shift, she took care of the children and the baby in the mornings and on the way to work she dropped off the baby with a friend, ...when I came home I picked up the baby and took care of her and the other two after they came home from school, ...it was perfect and actually blocked out the thoughts of my own daughters, ...she was into New Age and told me we were soul mates, ...I believed it because we seemed to fit like a hand in a glove, we both shared the same likes, thought the same way about child raising, had so many things in common, ...actually it was so much better than my marriage had been, ...then one night she didn't come home and that was the end, she called the next morning and told me where to drop off the children and baby, ...and my life shattered like fine crystal falling on a tile floor, ...my mind snapped and I was no longer sane.

During my "healing" process of reading the Words in red in the Bible I had been given, ...I started to learn about myself, ...with this woman was the very  "first" time I had "given" my heart to someone, ...you ladies know this, but I've found most men don't.

As my walk with my Lord progressed over the years I learned He wanted my heart, ...but I was very skeptical about giving it again, ...in fact I didn't know if I even could, I didn't know if I even had a heart to give, ...for years I never allowed anyone to be close to me other than my cat, Katy.

But God, ...He kept lovingly asking for it, ...I resisted, but He was breaking down my resistance, I would almost come to the point of giving it to Him and then turn away, ...not ever wanting my heart to be broken like that again!

Then one day I agreed, ...but told Him truthfully, ...if this was going to happen then He would have to be the One who did it, ...He would have to place His Agape Love in my heart...and He did, ...also He took away ALL of the grief and pain, ...the memories don't bother me anymore.

Man it was like I was on cloud nine, ...I had such a profound love for my brothers and sisters in the Lord, ...the ones that bugged me no longer bothered me, ...in fact we became best friends, ...then the day came when Jesus gave my heart, ...that I had given to Him, ...to someone else!

JESUS....., how could You, of all people of done that, ...I felt betrayed, ...angry, ...ready to quit.

He came to me with that voice, I had heard in my heart so often for so many years, "son, my child, do you trust Me?" And images flashed through my mind when He had been there for me, "Yes," "My child, ...it's better to give than receive."

And I could write for years non-stop of how He has led me to people in need that needed to "receive" and afterwards I understood the wisdom in His words, ...it's better to give than receive,  ...knowing in my "heart" I had pleased my Father,    Praise the Lord!

So sister, I have learned the significance of what you have quoted in 2 Cor 1:3-5...

The cure for a hard heart, ...ask Jesus for a "new" Agape filled heart, ...and then give it to Him and watch how and who He will give it to.

Sonshine, precious and beloved sister, their are so many opportunities He can provide for you to give your love to a child and receive their love back as a volunteer, ...I'm certain if you ask, Jesus will lead to exactly the right place and opportunity for you to be, ...and be fulfilled, ...that ache in your heart will be gone and, ...you will find, ...your cup runneth over.

Lord bless dear one

 

I'm not saying this is for you, ...but I'm sensing I need to include it...

I know a pastor in Oregon, the church felt the Lord was leading them to buy a hospital in Mexico, ...a hospital for handicapped orphans, ...the congregation takes turns on ministering to these children with their two weeks of vacation, ...they all come back blessed by being able to serve these "unwanted" children, ...with many just being left at the front door and not knowing who the parents are, ...those children have many "gringo" moms and dads.

Praise God

 

 

[john1]

On 2/1/2020 at 3:23 PM, missmuffet said:

Unrepentant and continual sin can cause the heart to be hardened.

Deuteronomy chapter 30 verse 6

The LORD your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants, so that you may love him with all your heart and with all your soul, and live.

[Gershom_young]

On 2/2/2020 at 4:23 AM, missmuffet said:

Jesus tells us that the heart is a place for good and evil and that what comes out of the mouth-good or bad- begins in the heart Luke 6:43-45. A hardened heart can dull a person's ability to perceive and understand. Anyone's heart can be hardened, even a Christian. Unrepentant and continual sin can cause the heart to be hardened. Pride can also cause the heart to be hardened. If a person has a setback in life it can also cause a person's heart to be hardened. Repentance, the study of the word of God and being obedient to God is a remedy. 

Deuteronomy 10:16 Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiffnecked.

Deuteronomy goes so far as to describe hard hearts as having foreskin requiring circumcision! Uncircumcision in the Old Testament was considered unclean and represented a shameful state of being out of covenant with God. Just as circumcision cured this state, circumcision of the heart can be thought of as removing the hardness of heart and pride (stiffneckedness), to increase the heart's sensitivity to God's promptings. In Deuteronomy 10, God commands His people to circumcise their own hearts, but on later occasions, He speaks of doing this for us, as it is something we are unable to achieve by ourselves.

Although our hard hearts only need to be circumcised (covenanted) once, Christians still need to continually soften their hearts to the Holy Spirit's promptings.