Friday, May 1, 2009

Secret of the burning heart

I have been going through a cool patch. Those times when I know I'm still madly in love with Jesus but couldn't put in the effort to spend quality time with Him.
The "you know I love you" phase. I feel tired, like I spent so much time crying out and now - I'm burned out. It shouldn't be an excuse though.

In my devotions this morning I came across something interesting;-

We need to learn this secret of the burning heart.
Suddenly Jesus appears to us, fires are set ablaze, and we are given wonderful visions; but then we must learn to maintain the secret of the burning heart— a heart that can go through anything. It is the simple, dreary day, with its commonplace duties and people, that smothers the burning heart— unless we have learned the secret of abiding in Jesus.
Much of the distress we experience as Christians comes not as the result of sin, but because we are ignorant of the laws of our own nature.
For instance, the only test we should use to determine whether or not to allow a particular emotion to run its course in our lives is to examine what the final outcome of that emotion will be. Think it through to its logical conclusion, and if the outcome is something that God would condemn, put a stop to it immediately.
But if it is an emotion that has been kindled by the Spirit of God and you don’t allow it to have its way in your life, it will cause a reaction on a lower level than God intended. That is the way unrealistic and overly emotional people are made. And the higher the emotion, the deeper the level of corruption, if it is not exercised on its intended level. If the Spirit of God has stirred you, make as many of your decisions as possible irrevocable, and let the consequences be what they will.
We cannot stay forever on the "mount of transfiguration," basking in the light of our mountaintop experience (see Mark 9:1-9 ). But we must obey the light we received there; we must put it into action. When God gives us a vision, we must transact business with Him at that point, no matter what the cost.
We cannot kindle when we will The fire which in the heart resides, The spirit bloweth and is still, In mystery our soul abides; But tasks in hours of insight willed Can be through hours of gloom fulfilled.


Oswald Chambers.

3 comments:

Omo Oba said...

this is a lot to chew on...
I know how u feel, and i feel like the older I get, the more cynical and i am, and the more I second-guess everything...may God give us the heart of children that we may love Him. but my question, how do we transact business with a vision at the very point we are given the vision, when we dont have tools to execute yet?

Anonymous said...
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Anonymous said...

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