Yielded Hearts
Written by Jarred Rushing
(4 minutes)
All of us have areas in our life right now that we want to see transformed and changed. We know that Jesus died to give us a not-normal life. He died to give us an abundant life. The reward of His suffering would be for each one of us to be living fully alive in the overflowing abundance of His presence. An abundant life flowing from our union with Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Yet, there are areas where we are not seeing the transformation that our heart longs for.
I want to bring you back to a scripture we read last week that is still so significant as we approach Yahweh today.
"You have your heads in your Bibles constantly because you think you'll find eternal life there. But you miss the forest for the trees. These Scriptures are all about me! And here I am, standing right before you, and you aren't willing to receive from me the life you say you want." (John 5:39-40)
Could it be that we are not seeing the abundant life of Jesus in those areas because we are still holding on to something else? Do you remember what kept the Pharisees from embracing the Truth that was standing right in front of them? Their own theological opinions. What they thought about God kept them from embracing God in their midst. We must endeavor today to surrender these theological opinions to the Truth, who is Jesus. As we come to Him, we must come with a yielded heart. A heart that is ready to trust, to believe, and to obey whatever Abba says.
What would happen if, instead of holding so tightly to our own thoughts about a matter, we asked Abba to come violate our opinions and expose us to the Truth? What if we boldly asked Abba to offend our minds to reveal our hearts? That is actually what Abba is trying to do every time we are offended. He's trying to uncover an area that isn't healed yet. He's trying to uncover an area of our heart where we are still clinging to an opinion instead of embracing the Truth. The crazy thing about the Pharisees, the religious spirit, is that they chose their own opinions over the abundant life they said they wanted.
You would think that an encounter with Jesus is all we should need in order to change our minds and embrace His love. But that's not the reality. The reality is that people have come face to face with the Christ, and decided that they loved their own ideas more than they loved Him.
Pastor Tim made several statements on Sunday that I believe need to be at the center of our walk with Abba today:
Our starting point always has to be, "Abba, what is your heart concerning this matter?" and Jesus, does my life look how You died for it to look?
We need to make a bold, courageous move today in our walk with Abba. We need to locate those areas in our life right now that we are desperately wanting to see transformed and changed, and we need to take those matters to the Father and ask:
Abba, what is YOUR heart concerning this matter?
Does this look how You died for it to look?
Am I embracing the Truth in this area of my life, or am I still holding on to my own thoughts, opinions and ideas?
Abba, what would it look like for me to embrace the Truth in this area of my life?
Abba, show me what abundant life looks like in this matter?
Believe me, Yahweh died to speak to You about these things.
He's always more ready than we are willing.
Just this morning in my short, six minute drive to the office I asked Him about His heart concerning a matter and He revealed to me the source of my opinions and beliefs that were actually flowing from an unhealed part of my heart. I let go of my own ideas and I embraced the Truth.
When we come to Him with a yielded heart that is fully surrendered, that is committed to hearing His voice and believing every word He says, that is holding every opinion loosely, we are positioning ourselves to experience real metanoia, real transformation and change at the heart-level. We are positioning ourselves to see the ideas of Heaven penetrate the earth. Your Kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven. Only yielded hearts inherit the flow of Heaven's resources.
I am so excited for a new week to walk with Abba, to hear His voice for myself. But before we wade into deeper waters, let's take a moment and allow His love to tenderize our hearts. Let's allow the love of the Father to wash over us and soften our hearts, preparing them to receive all that He has for us today and this week. There are words that Abba wants to release over us this week that will only take root in hearts that are open and yielded, ready to receive the seed.
Abba, come and prepare our hearts.
Make them ready to embrace the presence of Jesus over our own opinions.
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Worship: "Have My Heart" by Maverick City Music
Honor: Give Online to The Wilderness Place
Share With Us: We would love to hear how you're encountering Abba in your daily walks. Don't hesitate to share what you're hearing, seeing, or sensing in His presence. Email us here!
