Reflections: Strong Hearts

Hello Everyone, 

I wrote this quite some time ago, and thought it would be a good reflection post for you all to read.  I know when I wrote it I was very encouraged by what I felt God had given me through it :-)

It's just some thoughts I jotted down when I wrote it about some scripture that I felt had spoken to me, I still have yet to decide if it will be turned into a devotional blog... Let me know your thoughts...

Phil. 4:4-7

"Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Rejoice in the Lord; 

• God wants us to rejoice in HIM with every moment we are given. We have Good moments and we have bad moments and God deserves them all.
• He wants us to praise HIM in every aspect of our lives and with all our heart.
• He wants us to strive to enjoy life to the best of our abilities

Do Not Be Anxious;

• To worry is to display a lack of confidence in God’s care and control in our lives.
• When we worry, it’s almost like we put a wall up between us and God, and that never helps, I know.
• We should work towards giving our hearts completely to God. We do that by daily saying Lord take my heart and make it yours, take my life and let it be as the song say’s.

Let the Peace of God guard your hearts;

• God’s love for us transcends everything else in the world; HIS love is what saves us in the first place.
• The peace of God is a part of who God is and ultimately a part of who we are in HIM. Amazingly, God offers us HIS peace so that our hearts can be a peace.
• Many of us have struggles, but when we let HIM, God can give us peace even in the strongest of storms.  He wants us to have a strong heart. 
• We can accept this peace if we want to, by simply putting into practice the things in verse 4. It’s not always easy but it’s not impossible.

Closing thoughts

• When we apply these three steps in our Walk with the Lord things begin to change. While we still have things we have to struggle with on a daily basis, our hearts are stronger because of what we are working towards. 
• By rejoicing in the Lord our hearts become happy, by not being anxious we open our hearts to Gods leading, and by let the peace of Christ take its place in our hearts we can overcome just about anything that comes our way

Closing Verse- 1 Thes. 3:13 520313

 “May He strengthen your hearts so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all HIS Holy Ones.”

God wants us all to have Strong Hearts, think about that as you go about your day to day, give to him your hearts deepest desire and see what happens.

Thanks again for visiting "The Gathering Room"

Stand Strong and continue to believe the teachings given to you... (2 Thes. 2:15b NCV),

M.E.