His Heart, My Home

The Father gave us His best! He gave us His heart… all of it! He held nothing back from us!

“God showed His most overflowing love for humanity by giving His most precious gift of all: His unique Son. This gift was the ultimate sacrifice. God sent His Son into the world so that everyone – whoever they are – who personally trusts in Christ will not perish. 
They will not face condemnation but will have eternal life. This life is a full, supernatural life, knowing God and enjoying His love, peace, and joy forever.”
(John 3:16, Word Come Alive Paraphrase)

When I say the Father “gave us His heart”, of course, I am referring to His Eternal Son, the Word who became flesh, Yeshua Messiah, Jesus the Christ.

And the love, which God so graciously and generously poured into our hearts by His Spirit, motivates us to give Him our hearts, holding nothing back, surrendering all to Him.

But what does the Bible actually mean when it speaks of the heart? We know that God is not simply referring to those wonderfully designed and incredibly efficient “blood pumps” that beat in our chests, and sustain our physical lives.

They are vitally important to us now, but they won’t last forever. God does care about our physical hearts and our physical bodies, but He has the bigger picture, the eternal reality, in mind, when He speaks about our hearts.

OUR FOREVER-HEART

God is referring to our spiritual heart, our “forever-heart”. Our spirit-heart is the center of our spiritual life.

Our spirit-heart is the gateway, whereby God enters into our lives as we extend our faith-invitation to Him. With our hearts, we “believe unto righteousness”, and with the mouth “confession is made unto salvation”.
(Romans 10:8)

Our spirit-heart is also the dwelling place, or temple of God’s abiding presence within us.
(1 Corinthians 3:16)

And just like our physical hearts, which both receive and discharge blood, our spirit-heart is both an inlet for what we receive from God, and an outlet through which we release God’s love, presence, and power to others.

GOD, I GIVE YOU MY HEART!

Think about what we are saying when we say, “Lord, I’m giving my whole heart to you.”
It means we are open to everything He wants to impart to us, and everything He wants to release from us.

It means we are giving Him the very center of our being, yielding our lives completely to Him, moment-by-moment, beat-by-beat of our heart.

It means we want His thoughts to become our thoughts, and His ways to become our ways. It means we are willing to yield all to Him, so that His will becomes our will, and His priorities become our priorities.

In this way, our heart becomes united and synchronized with His heart.

GOD’S LOVE IS “WOMB-LOVE”

“Racham“is a Hebrew word that can be translated as love, mercy, or compassion. It literally speaks of the womb, describing the tender love of a mother for the child within her. The life of that precious baby is totally and completely dependent on the nurturing, sustaining environment of the mother’s womb for its survival and growth.

The first beat of our physical heart took place inside the womb of our mother. We were connected to her by the love that gave us life. Of course, the mother and the baby growing within her, each have their own individual hearts. But their hearts are intimately connected as one. The mother’s heart affects and strongly influences the baby’s heart, and vice-versa.

In the same way, our “racham-connection” to the Father’s heart strongly influences our hearts. We are intimately connected to Him, heart-to-heart, spirit-to-Spirit. If we are sensitive to Abba’s heart, we will share His desires, His thoughts, and even His emotions, experiencing sadness, when He is sad, and joy when He is rejoicing.

Again, that is IF our heart is in sync with His.

RESERVOIRS AND PIPELINES

He actually created our heart to be not only a reservoir of His love, but also a vessel or a pipeline of that love.

Our hearts are to RECEIVE the love of God, and then RELEASE that love, back to Him, to ourselves, and flowing freely to others.

This is the way God’s love is supposed to operate and move in and through our lives.

” Let us love with divine love, because He first loved us with divine love.”
(1 John 4:19, Godbey Translation)

But much of the time His love flows into us as a flood, but out of us as a trickle.

Let’s look at Romans 5:5. It says Holy Spirit pours out God’s love into our hearts. The Greek word translated as pours is the word “ekcheo”.

A FLOOD OR A TRICKLE?

Ekcheo can refer to a massive, cascading, unstoppable flood, but it is also used to describe “the slow dripping of drops into separate individual containers.”

In this context, I believe both meanings are appropriate. Here’s why I say that:

Often, we receive God’s love, but we fail to allow Holy Spirit to fill and refill us. So our heart-reservoir begins to run low. Over time, we begin to ration out our love – a little here, a few drops there… drip, drip, dripping into individually marked containers: my spouse, my kids, my family…

But now, I’m almost dry, and I’m not willing to pour out what remains to my co-workers, or neighbors (well, maybe a drop or two occasionally, if they did something nice for me). But not to strangers and for sure, none for “that jerk” who just cut in front of me on the highway. Sad, but true.

Questions for Reflection:

● The Bible says, “Love never fails.” But, of course, we all fail from time to time. What does that tell us about ourselves?

● Have you ever “back-slidden for a lengthy period of time? Was it serious enough to require “spiritual open-heart surgery”? How did you feel afterwards?

We don’t have to die of thirst. We are right here beside the well-springs of living water.
We can do these two things to prevent that “dry-as-cracker-juice” scenario:

FIRST:
Avoid those things (selfishness, worldliness, and sin) that harden our hearts, clog our spiritual arteries, and hinder the flow of God’s love, in and through our lives.

That’s why we are told: “Keep (guard) your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life.” (Proverbs 4:23)

SECOND:
The infilling of the Holy Spirit is not a one time event. It is an ongoing process that supplies and replenishes God’s love to our hearts.

“… be getting filled” with the Spirit.
(Ephesians 5:18, Rotherham)

We do that by embracing those things that open our spirit-heart valves to a fresh inflow of God’s presence, i.e., prayer, God’s Word and worship.

The supply is endless. So keep on soaking in His presence. Keep on drinking deeply of His love. Nothing else can satisfy. Nothing else can get you as high!

“How deeply intimate and far-reaching is His love! How enduring and inclusive it is! Endless love, beyond measurement, that transcends our understanding—this extravagant love pours into you until you are filled to overflowing with the fullness of God!” (Ephesians 3:19, TPT)

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Ian Rustia and Anne Ruiz, co-founders of
Student Life Organization, Inc, just returned from a mission-trip to Bantayan Island, where they met with pastors and church leaders, and shared the Word of God and their vision to reach the young people of that area with the gospel.

SLOI provides educational opportunities to
many physically disabled and financially disadvantaged children, both declaring and demonstrating God’s love to them and their families.

Your generous giving will help them as they prepare for even more outreaches in the near future.

“I mention this not because I’m requesting a gift, but so that the fruit of your generosity may bring you an abundant reward.”
(Philippians 4:17, TPT)

Would you please give today? If so, please use this link: paypal.me/anaferuiz

Thank you! We pray that you will experience God’s richest blessings as you give freely and cheerfully in Jesus’ name!