Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. Delight(surround) yourself in the Lord and he will give(put or set) you the desires of your heart. -Psalm 37:3-4
Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and your plans will succeed. - Proverbs 16:3
In the moment when you become a Christian, a follower of Jesus, you receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, you receive the gift of eternal life, and you also receive a changed heart. It's an amazing feeling when the Holy Spirit immediately washes you clean and you can sense the change within you. Your heart may have lusted over one thing or was jealous over another. As the sanctification process happens, the plans of our hearts are changed. Without Jesus, I would have no desire to go and share the love of the gospel to the people in Kenya.
Desires of my heart. Upon receiving Jesus as my Savior, my desires changed. I wanted to read my Bible, go to Church, fellowship with other believers and grow in my relationship with Jesus. My future plans also changed to want to do the will of God and fulfill the plans He has for my life which He knew before I was even thought of. "To man belongs the plans of the heart...". It's Jesus who puts the plans into the heart, it is up to me to follow those plans and be able to live out exactly what God has for me, all in His strength and direction.
My heart belongs to Jesus.
Jesus places His plans(desires) into my heart.
I pray and seek the desires of my heart, and ultimately they fall back on what God wants.
But I love this next part, Solomon says, "but from the Lord comes the reply of the tongue".
Desires come from Jesus, I seek out the desires He placed upon my heart, and out comes plans from Jesus for my life. The next part involves more than just myself. It's super easy to think of becoming something, it's completely different to live that out. Which is why I love the second part of this verse. The words, yes I will go, come from Jesus. My humanity says to stay, stay here where it's safe and comfortable. But Jesus gives me His answer, go and do my will. His answer is Kenya. His answer is all that I need to live out the desires He placed within my heart when I accepted Him as my Savior. He is giving me the wisdom and direction to 'articulate and accomplish [His] plans'.
I've noticed over the past 2 weeks since getting my official assignment to Kenya, waves of fears. What's amazing is how quickly Jesus replaces those with His peace and comfort. Could those things still happen, yes, but I don't hesitate to not go because of them. A conversation this afternoon led me to this verse, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow has enough worry of its own. (Matthew 6:34) Fears are going to appear, but the fruit of the Spirit helps us to focus our hearts back on Jesus and the ultimate plans He has. The Spirit also helps us to see in a way that is opposite to that of this world. Any new change in our life, good or bad, is going to come with unknowns. And with those unknowns come fear. When we take a step back and try to see the big picture, we realize whatever is ahead, God already knows.
Have you ever had a conversation where you leave and realize, "I have no idea what I just said but somehow the other person seemed encouraged"... It's moments like that where Jesus' spirit works in every part of who we are to 'articulate and accomplish [His] plans' no matter how big or small. And in this example, it's probable to say that we didn't specifically pray before hand for this encounter and often they happen without us even realizing it. And that's what I love about Proverbs 16:1. This proverb tell us that our words are articulated by Jesus and the plans that He puts in our hearts are accomplished through Him in us. It's all about Jesus and it's all for Jesus. May we face our fears, search out the desires of our hearts, and ultimately lean on Him to 'articulate and accomplish [His] plans'.
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