Proverbs 4:20-23 NIV, 20 My son, pay attention to what I say; turn your ear to my words. 21Do not let them out of your sight, keep them within your heart; 22 for they are life to those who find them and health to one’s whole body. 23 Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.
Breakthroughs will happen at anytime and anyplace. Sometimes you can feel when a breakthrough is on the way. But I love moments when a breakthrough hits without warning, the suddenly of God. You know you need it; you were desperate for it. And sometimes we question will it ever happen? But God, He always come through and at always the right time!
Sunday morning, I had my breakthrough. I was listening to a worship song while I was getting ready for church. This song has been played on repeat for the past 2 weeks. I played it on my way to work and on my way home. I would play it at night before going to bed, it became my “go to” worship song during a time of desperation. I have ministered before on how a prayer can be a song and song can be a prayer. And this one song had become my desperate declaration of prayer. That song is “For My Good” by Maverick City. The song was originally released in the fall of last year, almost a year ago. But God knew, for such a time as this, that I needed this song to be my declaration cry. And then it eventually turned into my anthem shout in this season for this moment in time!
Before I share with you about my boo-hoo woe is me season, I first need to share about the breakthrough to give God the glory. During the past 2 weeks while listening to the song “For my Good”, I would cry out to God, focused on my pain, my heartache, my frustrations. But Sunday morning my tears of grief had turned into tears of joy! The song for me went from coming from a place of pain, to turning into a place of healing. I was rejoicing, celebrating and dancing that had spontaneously combusted that morning. I had a vision of God giving me a heart transplant, restoring my life at a time when I had felt like the enemy was trying to destroy me. God gave me a change of heart, a change of attitude and a new mindset.
After that I went to church, and I was talking to my bonus daughter Samantha who was scheduled to minister that morning. I told Samantha that God was going to do something big in service, that He was going to do something great. My wife Kim and my bonus son Luke were doing worship at church that morning. There was a heavy presence of God in the sanctuary during worship. The congregation was singing aloud. During worship God gave me a vision and He showed me that He was doing heart transplants in other people in the sanctuary too. There was so much freedom and joy that morning. Samantha preached an awesome message and there were young people in the altar.
Rewind. Leading up to Sunday I had gone through a tough season, a valley, that lasted almost 5 months. Have you ever had one of those seasons where you are trying to do everything right for God but then life all around you “seems” to be crashing? I say “seems” because sometimes our perception of life can become cloudy when we lose focus. Sometimes things are not as bad as we may feel they are. Proverbs 4:25 says “Let your eyes look straight ahead; fix your gaze directly before you”. When God has us step out in faith we need to put on spiritual blinders, you know like blinders that are put on horses. The blinders prevent horses from seeing what is to the left and to the right, they can only look straight ahead. Horses can become easily distracted or startled if they were to look to the left or to the right. When God gives us a vision He wants us to be fixated on what is in front of us, what is ahead of us. Not looking back. And not to be distracted or startled by what is around us.
Proverbs 4:23 says to “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.” Guard your heart. Not always easy, is it? Especially when as Christians we are to love one another, we are to love people, we are to trust people, we are to interact with people. To share the gospel, to build community, to create unity. But I have learned that no matter how much you love people not everyone is going to love your back. That no matter how you try to be nice to people that not everyone will be nice back to you. Regardless, we still need to love people and to be good to them as Jesus said we are to.
I am good when it comes to looking out for people and protecting them. But where I fail is that I am not good at protecting myself, I am not good at guarding my heart. Because of that I went through a season of hurt and heartache. I had left my heart wide open thinking that I was invincible and untouchable. Have you ever felt like the enemy uses you as a punching bag? And you take one hit after another, trying to maintain your composure, trying to stand firm, trying to still walk in love. But I had lost my focus which also led to a season of stress, frustrations, health issues, insomnia, and overthinking. I also was taking things personal and easily offended. That is not who I am, that is not my nature, and that is not who God created me to be. Which adds to even more frustration because I had allowed the enemy to taunt me.
Out of this season I had to learn a hard lesson of how important it is to guard your heart. That there is a way to guard your heart and still protect people at the same time. But with frustration that sometimes we will try to justify it as “holy anger” or “righteous anger”. How we react and respond to situations says a lot about our character.
Jesus says in John 13:34-35 NKJV, 34 “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. 35 By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”.
Commands are to be followed right? But we sometimes fall into the trap of the enemy when we lose our focus. And then we cry to God… “But Lord, they are supposed to be a Christian too, but they are not loving me back. People are being mean to me, they are being jerks, it is so unfair! They do not deserve my friendship; they do not deserve my help”. But Jesus never said to love one another only if they love you back and treat you fairly. Nope we are commanded to still love others, regardless of how we are treated.
Proverbs 25:21-22 NKJV, 21 If your enemy is hungry, give him bread to eat; And if he is thirsty, give him water to drink; 22 For so you will heap coals of fire on his head, And the Lord will reward you.
Are you in need of a heart transplant too? A change of heart? A change of attitude? God is a God of breakthrough. Call on Him. And always remember to guard your heart and trust God to guard your heart.
Philippians 4:6-7 NIV, 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
