The Established Heart

(Th purpose and work of Grace is to establish our heart )

"He Establishes Our Heart"

By Arthur J Licursi

1 Thes. 3:13 To the end he may stablish (Greek, sterizo, turned resolutely) your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints.

The most changeable thing about us is our heart - which is principally our soul, with our mind saying "I think...thus and such, our emotions saying "I feel..." and our will, saying "I want...". It’s all about us. According to our natural birth our heart is changeable but always bent toward our self. Instead of having an established heart, all we Christians begin with having a changeable, a movable heart; moved by self-interested thoughts, emotions, and desires.

We need our heart to become solidly established, one that is always bent toward God, not a heart that is changeable and fleeting.

Our heart may be changeable not only in relation to other people, but even in our relationship with the Lord. Yet, God is the faithful and unchanging One; He never changes. His love and grace are always bent toward us. We are the ones who are changeable; we are changeable in our heart. For this reason, Paul was concerned that the hearts of the new believers at Thessalonica would be set, built up, and established by the Lord.

Although we need our heart to be established, we are not able to do this ourselves. Only the Lord can establish our heart. Therefore, we need Him to cause our heart to be solidly established and built up. We receive the mercy and grace from the Lord as He orders the happenings, circumstances and situations of our lives, so that we may be brought to yield to Him… to give Him the permission to establish our heart. Most of us have prayed at one time or another, “Lord, I want to give you my life; make me a holy person.” Upon hearing such a prayer He is working on our behalf to fulfill that God-given desire. Recognizing our free will; He awaited our permission before He works within us to bend our will and do the establishing. When our heart has been established, resolutely turned to Him, it is then changed; it is bent toward being blameless before God.

As always, even this “establishing” is the work of God's grace in our lives. Philip. 2:13 For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. 1 Thes. 5:24 Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it. And of this we may be confident. Philip. 1:6 Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:

"My Energizing Power"

O My child, I have waited long for your coming.
My eyes have grown weary with watching,
And My heart heavy with longing for you.
For I have said, “Rest in Me, “ but you have striven.
I have said, “Stand still,” but you have continued to run.
I have called, but you have been listening to human voices.

Turn to Me.
You do not need to do more. For you will find your quest ended.
Then you will see how futile has been all the struggle.
Like the sinner who misses the gift of saving grace
Through absorption in good works,
So you, My child, have missed My sweet reality
In your frantic efforts to please Me.

As Martha in her desire to minister to Me forfeited
My nearness,
So you have done.
My child, I have need of nothing. I desire only your love.
Give me this first always, and whatsoever service may follow,
You will then do with light feet and a heart set free.
Abandon to Me your whole being,
And I will then work in and through you in such a way
That even as I am using you,
You shall simultaneously experience My energizing power,
So that in the very process of giving,
You will in very truth receive even beyond what you give,
And will in each instance emerge richer and stronger.

There is no loss when you serve Me thus.
For when your life is wholly lost in My life, there is never
Anything but gain.
As the prophet of old exclaimed,
“They go from strength to strength” (Ps. 84:7)
Only sin works death and loss. Righteousness works life and health.

So come first to Me.
Yes, come until the stream of your life
Is swallowed up in the ocean of My fullness.
Then you will go, and you will give,
And in your giving you will never know lack,
The Lord is your shepherd; you shall not want
(see Psalm 23:1).
For the Kingdom of God is righteousness and peace
And joy in the Holy Spirit. (see Rom 14:17)

Frances J. Roberts

This I Know, God is for Me

I am reminded that within all, within Ruth, there is a notion that questions the aspect of suffering in our lives. "Why, if this is God coming to me and why if this is God speaking to me, why does there have to be so much suffering out there? Why Father, does there have to be suffering for me? Or for someone I love? Why, if it is God, would I or another have to suffer?" I admit I often ask this even when I think I understand the answer. I still ask the question. Suffering can be so intense and when we or another is suffering it hurts. We make our cry to the Father and our tears fall for Father truly knows that we need to ask this question.

One reason we ask is we so often see God through the screen or lens of our own longings and desires. Longings and desires that are so deeply set within-set within all, that it's only through Christ's power coming to us that we could ever hope to be free of them and see them for what they are. We easily prefer to view things and gravitate toward - not only people with the same 'views' that fit our lens- but certainly toward messages and truths out there that will 'fit our view', fulfill this view by appealing to our sense of entitlement in life and our particular forms of self righteousness that we have embraced. ie what we have predetermined should be. Self fulfillment I think it's called.

The good news is that God does come to us, He does offer us Truth and fellowship with Him that would include sufferings, include being rejected of others, include talking of the deep work of the Cross within our sufferings. Jesus offers us intimacy and unity with Him that only comes and is worked deeper as we commune with Him on this level of truth. Through our suffering. Through careful examination of all inner attitudes that would oppose growth in our character ultimately.


Psalm 6:9

David said "This I know, God is for me."

And for you & I we can say "This I know, God is for me. "

Jesus prayed for us all that our faith would be continually strengthened. He prayed that we would have courage to travel onward and unravel every misconception and wrong notion within. And that as we courageously do so, that in turn, we would be a strength to someone else. It's not complicated or difficult to understand how the Body of Christ works.

May the Father give courage to be moving forward, NOT in living out a fulfillment of self, but instead a fulfillment of Christ. We cannot live and serve both. It's one or the other. Truly it's only Him that can satisfy and we long for Him on a level that is deeper than we know and He will take us there as we give up our own sense of entitlement, even to ourselves. "Be merciful unto me, O God be merciful unto me: for my soul trusteth in thee: yea, in the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge ... "

Lord, let our hearts not grow weary. Come to each of us Lord as we ask the question of why does there have to be suffering in our lives, or in another's life. And Father, as we not only ask the question, give us also courage to hear the answer. Help us Lord to experience you in the depth that comes as we cast aside our own version of preconceived notions and desires that would strive against total dependance, deepening trust and devotion to you. "

(Oz's thoughts on suffering --> here )

Malcolm Smith: The Gospel

The Gospel is the call to rest, to receive the free, undeserved gift that God has given us in Christ. There is nothing man can do to earn salvation from his past, or his present acceptance and walk with God. It is, from beginning to end, the grace of God, which can only be received by faith.

The body of truth that proclaims the revelation of God is called the Good News. News, by definition, is the announcement of something that has happened, not a list of things that must be done! All that must be done for a man to live in perfect union with God has been accomplished by Jesus in His death and resurrection.

The heart of the Christian life is to stand in wonder before His love and say, "Thank You!"

The Gospel is not a call to do something, but the announcement that all is done in the One Who stood for all.

The Christian life is not living in our own strength and resources, but from the infinite Christ Who lives within those who believe. All human strength will come to an end sooner or later, leaving each of us with charred, burned out life. But His strength knows no end!

We have one function in life: to be the manifestors of His life to the world. Only when we are living His life are we truly living our own! This is the reason for our creation.

We realize that He is not only the past tense Savior from sin, but also the One Who now lives within us in the present tense, our life and breath. Christianity is not a formula, but the Person of Jesus Himself.

Never think that Christianity is a matter of adjusting behavior, but rather, of letting Christ live through us in His strength and power.

(Malcolm Smith)

Still Looking, Still Longing, Still Searching

I was thinking of Mary this morning. Looking for Jesus' body at the tomb, still looking, still longing, still searching for Him. This while the other disciples had went home again, but she alone remained. Her question was, "where have you laid him, tell me, I will take (his body) away." (John 20:15)

Oh that we would all have this kind of passion within us for Jesus. Even when others turn away for whatever reason, in pursuit often of ambition and self, or a Jesus that only tells people maybe what they want to hear, oh that within us instead our hearts would burn even stronger for Jesus at that moment, just as her's did. Even if it means to be misunderstood and to be alone as she was - the thought of denying our hearts the love that was ours , that it would be even stronger within.

She found Him didn't she. She found Him in a gardener no less. So many would have never recognized Him in the form He chose to appear in. Just an ordinary gardener, but she recognized Him, she recognized His voice as He called her name. Jesus knew the longing within her, the searching that would not be denied. Oh how she wanted Jesus and would find Him. He would not disappoint her.

We look for Him in the same way. WE see Him in forms which we never expect Him to appear but nevertheless we see Him and recognize Him because of the longing within. Others might miss Him but we shall be looking, we shall be searching, we shall be longing after Him. For we know we shall find Him we know we will hear His voice.

Heart Longings

Everything we ever longed for is found in Christ! There is such an intense longing placed within all mankind for intimacy with their Saviour (Christ). God so loves and cherishes His creation, He longs for us to know His love and to find the love that we were all created to experience.

After we come to know Him, we go from "image to image" and 'glory to glory' ! The sooner we all can come to the realization that no human reasonings can offer us this depth of intimacy and sharing, the better.

I really want to spend my days and years to come ALL in pursuit of Christ. Have you ever heard that song, if tomorrow never comes? I don't know if tomorrow will come, I don't know what it will be like, but I do know that TODAY I can hear His voice, share love with Him, be loved and cherished by Him, growing in the intimacy of oneness with Him.

What should we do with the Cross? What should we do with the one true fact, that Christ longs for us, to a degree we don't understand: that we have within us, all of us , a longing to be satisfied by Him? He sent Christ to fully & completely satisfy us, he does this as he opens our hearts, cleanses us, and we receive forgiveness. He keeps the door of our hearts opened, knowing that intimacy is meant to be expressed continually between us. That is love, that is intimacy. The longing within is so deep as is the love, that the intimacy is expressed continually.

Will we fill this need and longing within us with Christ? or in the pursuit of other things that will fade away and leave us more empty inside than ever. Satisfying us briefly, superficially, but not deeply, in our deepest most being.

There is one thing we can count on - all things will pass away, but Love, His Love, will last forever.

1 ¶ The song of songs, which is Solomon's.
2 ¶ Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth: for thy love is better than wine.
3 Because of the savour of thy good ointments thy name is as ointment poured forth, therefore do the virgins love thee.
4 Draw me, we will run after thee: the king hath brought me into his chambers: we will be glad and rejoice in thee, we will remember thy love more than wine: the upright love thee.
5 I am black, but comely, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents of Kedar, as the curtains of Solomon.
6 Look not upon me, because I am black, because the sun hath looked upon me: my mother's children were angry with me; they made me the keeper of the vineyards; but mine own vineyard have I not kept.
7 ¶ Tell me, O thou whom my soul loveth, where thou feedest, where thou makest thy flock to rest at noon: for why should I be as one that turneth aside by the flocks of thy companions?
8 If thou know not, O thou fairest among women, go thy way forth by the footsteps of the flock, and feed thy kids beside the shepherds' tents.
9 I have compared thee, O my love, to a company of horses in Pharaoh's chariots.
10 Thy cheeks are comely with rows of jewels, thy neck with chains of gold.
11 We will make thee borders of gold with studs of silver.
12 ¶ While the king sitteth at his table, my spikenard sendeth forth the smell thereof.
13 A bundle of myrrh is my well beloved unto me; he shall lie all night betwixt my breasts.
14 My beloved is unto me as a cluster of camphire in the vineyards of Engedi.
15 Behold, thou art fair, my love; behold, thou art fair; thou hast doves' eyes.
16 Behold, thou art fair, my beloved, yea, pleasant: also our bed is green.
17 The beams of our house are cedar, and our rafters of fir.

Salvation is a Person, not a Thing

Because I come from a Christian background where salvation is limited to the notion of a simple one-time prayer, or a decision made when you walk down front, or raise your hand to agree with the speaker’s summation of the Gospel, it can be quite easy for me to lose site of the real meaning of the Gospel. The Gospel is a person, not a moment, or a thing.

It is the continual grace bestowed on me through the work done in and through the Person of Christ.

Salvation is not a detached gift of God in some gracious and miraculous way bestowed upon man.

Salvation is Christ, and to experience salvation is to experience Christ. It is not the experience of something, but of someone.


The Bible does not teach that Christ has salvation and dispenses it like a benevolent master giving gifts to his servants who obey him. Christ is our salvation and gives Himself to us as our salvation. He is our life; He is our strength; He is our peace; He is our joy; He is our wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption.”

—George W. Peters, A Biblical Theology of Missions (Chicago: Moody Press, 1972), 65