From heart to head

You may have heard it say in christian circles, that headknowledge (about God) needs to sink into our heart.
I often said something similar myself.
Yet, I think it might be the other way around for believers.
Believing is something you do with you heart, not your mind, although it can certainly lead to insights in our thinking.
If you’re not a believer you mave have heard the gospel (faith in Jesus) a thousand times and you may even understand very well what it means.
Yet if you don’t have a witness in your spirit, a deep knowing that it’s true, then you don’t believe it right?
As a believer though we know deep down in our spirit that the gospel is true.
When we hear about it a deep “amen” (affirmation that it’s true) rises from our spirit and we may even say it out loud.
Yet it’s possible to believe with our whole heart without fully understanding with our mind what it all entails.
To be honost I believe this is the case for most (if not all) believers.
If we did fully understand we would daily heal the sick and raise the death through our faith in Jesus, because that’s the power that the bible claims the gospel has.
(so keep reading, if you want to experience this…)

So how do we grow our faith?
How do we get more understanding?
It brings peace to know that the truth is already inside of us.
We don’t have to travel to some far place to find it.
The moment we gave our lives to God He put his truth inside of us.
Now this truth only needs to come to the surface and come out.
I’m not just talking about truth of the autority we have in Jesus although this certainly is important.
However more important than that is to know the truth about God’s love for us.
If we do know this I believe miracles will just flow easily out of that revelation.
Because healing is an expression of God’s love.

So we need to get what’s inside our heart into our head.
If we don’t we’ll keep feeling guilty and bad about things of which God said He forgave them.
We have to transfer what we believe in our heart to the thoughts we have in our head.
They need to come into alignment.
That’s when we’ll start feeling his love for us on a constant bases.

How do we do this?
Since believing is basicly a matter of the heart it’s important that we keep practising faith with our heart and not start searching for truth with the mind apart from being connected with our spirit (heart).
I think the most important way to do this is through daily worship.
Not just singing songs, but we need to let the love we have for God bubble up from our spirit and then indeed it can arise into a song or another expression of love.
To connect to our spirit it’s important to silence all our minds concerns so we can focus solely on the goodness of God.
When all other occupations fade away and we truly worship with our whole heart, we open ourselves to experience his love.
But we need to believe him wholeheartedly. Having no doubts in the back of our mind that He indeed is good and loves us tremendously.

Connection with God comes through faith.
So if we want to experience more connection our faith needs to grow.
Why?
Because faith is trust and trust is what all relationships are built upon.
You can’t have intimacy without trust.
This works the same with God.
He doesn’t withold himself from us but He won’t overpower us if we are drawing away from him.
And trust is how we draw near.

Read also the articles in “Journey of the heart (1)”

Activation

Set apart a daily time to worship God.
You can take a walk in nature to be inspired or you can listen to worship music online.
E.g. services from Jesus image.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCu-rO0kN-fbuGKTllbuEvZw
Don’t just listen to songs but engage with your spirit.
Put aside all distractions and express your love to God with your whole heart.
Just believe that He’s right there with you.
Remind yourself of his goodness.
Start thanking him for it.
Focus on him alone and not your circumstances.

Another way of worshiping from your spirit is speaking in tongues.
Read “Supernatural language”.
Make speaking in tongues part of your daily worshiptime.
You can even time an amount of time with a timer if that works for you
or just spontaneously let it flow during worship when it bubbles up.

Of course there are many ways we can worship.
Key thing to remember is that is has to come from your spirit
and that it’s not a mere outward action.
If it comes from a spiritconnection with God anything can be worship really.

Be blessed!

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From heart to head

So what other ways can we grow our faith and let the truth which we believe in our heart permeate our whole mind and everyday thinking?
How can we understand with our mind the things we deep down believe to be true so we can live accordingly.
So we don’t live in a constant split between heart and mind.
So we actually reflect the One we love so much instead of showing a distorted image of him to the world around us.

I already mentioned daily worship as a way to let what’s inside our spirit bubble up to the surface.
What else can we do to get heart and mind closer to each other?
For me art is a great way to do this.
Because art speaks to the heart and flows from it.
Making art is a great way to let what’s inside of us become visible.
And of course writing like I’m doing right now.
The main reason for me to write this blog is for this very purpose.
To become more aware of the truth I’m believing.
I think we too often assume we know it all as believers, especially when we believe for a long time.
But do we really realise what it means that Jesus died for us?
What does this change in our day to day life?

He surely didn’t die “just” so we could go to heaven one day.
Now that is great but I fear too many believers have stopped expanding their faith and simply believe they know all that there’s to it.
If we truly understood with our whole mind what the gospel means we wouldn’t be ashamed anymore of our past and even our most recent sin.
We would bring them to the cross daily as soon as we were convicted of them, and simply leave them there behind. Repenting of course and not keep doing them.
Not because conviction of sin enables us not to do it anymore but because the conviction of his righteousness inside us does. Enabling us to live righteous indeed.
Because we already are righteous at the core of our being.
We just have to believe it so we’ll start living it out.

Believing it is all it takes for this to happen. Not tryer harder in our own strength.
That’s what happens when we understand with our mind what we believe in our heart.
We need to understand who we are in God’s eyes (not men’s).
If we know who we are we start living accordingly.
We don’t have to do things in order to become acceptable to God or anyone else.
When we gave our lives to Jesus He transformed our nature. Our core. Our heart.
Faith is the only thing we can “do” to make us acceptable to God.
And even the ability to believe is a gift.
But we can choose to accept this gift or reject it.
When we accept it God accepts us!!!

To know that Jesus died for us is not understanding.
Understanding is knowing what this means for our everyday living and putting it into practise.

Activation

Write down for yourselves (and perhaps share it with others and asking them to do the
same) what the gospel means.
Make it practical. How does it change your everyday life?
What aspects of the gospel are you not seeing yet in your own life?
What truths need to sink in deeper?
Take time to read about and meditate on these aspects so you gain understanding and it becomes a reality for you.

Ad some (or one) creative expressions to your regular activities.
(we ALL have creativity!)
Preferably daily, like (art) journaling or writing poetry.
This can be just 10 minutes a day.
Or even just once a month or week if that’s all you can make time for.
Plan it in your agenda right now.
Focus on expressing God’s love for us (which He mainly did through the cross).
Don’t go after feelings.
Go after revelation, and feelings will follow!

Read “Art Journaling”.

Be blessed!


What am I reading?

All of Grace (The infinite love of God), by C. H. Spurgeon.

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No trash!

So what does the gospel mean for daily living and what does it NOT mean?
It does NOT mean that all of a sudden we have to perform, to measure up in our own strength to God’s standards of living.
It does not mean that we have to walk on our toes for the rest of our lives trying hard to obey and live up to God’s instructions without him enabling us to live in his ways.
It does not mean that we are worthless trash because we sinned.
The worst garbage, fit for nothing, since after all Jesus had to clean up our messes and whipe us clean from our own filth.
This is actually what many people believe, unfortunately.
Their whole lives, although they are saved through faith, they keep proclaiming how worthless and undeserving they are.
But that is NOT the gospel.
The gospel means good news by the way.
Not bad news mixed with a little bit of good.

NO!

It’s ALL good!

Now the gospel doesn’t deny our hopeless sinful state.
However that’s not news.
Most people have some sense of sin and failure.
They might just brush it away though, comparing themselves with others who seem worse than they are. Saying they are not that bad, in an attempt to remain a sense of value, which we all so desperately need right?
The worse we feel about ourselves the more we’ll deny it. Holding on for dear life to the dignity we feel we need to have in front of others. But also deceiving ourselves.
The truth that we do fail in living in love, selfcentered where we should have loved others as much as we love ourselves, since otherwise we put ourselves above them, is not something we want to hear.
And even if we are very loving persons indeed, there’s always a place where this love comes to an end and we put ourselves in the first place. After all who’s going to take care of us if we don’t stick up for ourselves. (the answer is: God does!)

Read also “Giving”.

So out of fear for selfpreservation we place ourselves above others.
And out of that same fear, we deny it.
I am talking about both believers and unbelievers here by the way.
Don’t think that as a believer you’re better than your neighbour.
The difference is though that believers have a choice.
They received a change of heart.
And now they are able to live selfless lives in complete love.
Yet they can only do this when they connect with their Maker daily.
It’s an ongoing journey where they become more like him as they go.

But yet, despite the fact that we all are more sinful and selfish than we even admit to ourselves,
God saw something of great worth in us. Something worth redeeming.
Now THAT is good news indeed.
Don’t throw yourself on the garbage dump because you got convicted of sin.
God didn’t do that so neither should we!

Yes we should be able to honostly look at ourselves and admit the filth in our lives.
However the purpose should be that we come to the realisation that we need Jesus to save us from ourselves.
Don’t keep digging in the dirt once you’ve had a conviction of sin and received Jesus as your Savior.
He will do all the future weeding that is needed.
Just trust him.
He is now your righteousness and He lives inside of you.
Be honost and make right your wrongs if you need to, but don’t continue living on your own merit like you did as a non-believer.
The good news is that now the merit of Jesus’s perfect life is accounted to you.
This is not just to get you to heaven one day but it’s the basis on wich God accepts you every sinlge day.

Life for believers is not a waiting time.
We’re not standing in line, waiting to die so we are saved from this life including our own mistakes.
No, salvation is for now.
In the spirit realm we already have acces to God, who lives in heaven.
And it’s exactly through drawing near to him that we get changed and delivered from our old ways of living.

Death is not our savior.
Jesus is.
And because He died in our place we are now in rightstanding with God.
That’s the only basis on which God accepts us.
When we received this sacrifice of his life in our place, on our behalf.
But Jesus death and resurrection are a doorway.
The gospel is not a historic fact alone.
The gospel is that we get to be in God’s presence daily.
It’s only then that we get changed indeed and live according to whom He already changed us into on the inside.

The gospel is not that you live towards something but from something.
Or rather Someone.
We don’t live to get value and acceptance but we live from the value and acceptance we already have.
That’s the only way we can ever live accorcing to God’s standards of life.

Activation

This is for anyone who doesn’t think they’re sinful…
Just take a regular day of your life, like today or yesterday, and ask yourself honostly how many decisions, actions and attitudes and words you spoke were done out of selfpreservation and not out of love and care for others…be honost you don’t have to tell anyone, it’s just you.
How many of you activities did you do for yourselves?
Even when they outwardly appeared to be for others, where your motivations mingled with selfish desires?
Did you do it to feel good about yourself or to receive a thank you or paycheck?
Did you expect anything in return?
What did you do with 100% selfless motivation?
(Don’t get me wrong, you’re allowed to have fun! That’s not sinful in itself. This is just a check to see that our good works are often mixed with selfcenteredness and that our core drive is often selfpreservation.)

Now don’t get all hang up on how bad you are. That can be a form of selfcenteredness as well! Then you try to earn life which is never possible. Read also “5. Blockages (3)”.
Just give your life to God, including your sin (!) and receive him as your Savior.
See “Free Gift”.

For believers:
Just repent and lay it down at the foot of the cross if you see any sin in yourselves.
And of course make it right and ask forgiveness from the people you wronged.
Thank God that Jesus is your righteousness and lives inside you.
Just spend time in his presence daily and He will change you from the inside.

Read also “Soaking”.

Contemplate on the fact that Jesus died for sinners. Not saints.
The fact that He died for us shows that we have value that no sin can diminish.
Don’t resist God by calling someone (yourself) worthless whom He deemed worthy the life of his own Son, Jesus.
No sinner is trash in God’s eyes, and certainly not a redeemd one!
You are not a sinner anymore when you’re saved.
You received a whole new nature that’s spotless, you’re just learning how to live from that place of perfection and being loved and accepted, instead of striving towards it through your own merit.

Find a daily activity that you really enjoy and are able to do without feeling you have to perform or deliver. Remind yourself while doing it that salvation is like that.
It’s a gift from God for us to enjoy.
Not something that can be earned or paid back.

Be blessed!

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Redemption

What is it we believe in our heart but need to understand more with our mind?
I think the main thing is the cross. Redemption.
None of us believers are properly using our mind when it comes to this.
We sing and write about it (yep, me too) and it may give us a moment of awe when we ponder it.
Yet I believe our lives would be totally different if we fully grasped it with our mind.
I’m not althogether sure we are able to though.
It might be something that just has to grow as we continue in our journey into the heart of God.

Just think about it.
A God that created the whole world becomes part of his own creation and rescue’s it from their wickedness by dying in their place. Paying the rightfull penalty that they deserve to pay.
Like a judge pronouncing a sentence because it’s the right thing to do, because justice requires it, and then undergoing the punishment himself. So that the criminal doesn’t has to!

Although it’s not likely this happens in real life we can at least imagine it right?
One person taking the fall for another out of love.
Yet that the God of the universe goes so far in his love for us is astounding.
If we make something and it doesn’t work out the way we intended it to be we easily throw it away.
We can have another go at it. Trying it again.
Now of course you (hopefully) don’t discard your own children like that, but we are mere men, and so are our kids.
We were created ourselves just as they are.
God was not created though.
He is the Creator.

It’s just crazy mindblowing that the Almighty Power Most High takes the form of a seed.
As small as we all started our existence in this world.
And then slowly, as slow as we do, grows into a man.
Even if He came right away as a man and appeared to us, like He did in the old testament several times (called the “Angel” of God) it would be quite amazing if you ask me.
A God that would go so low, coming down to us.

What does this tell us about God?
And what does this say about us?
For one it shows that God is approachable.
Perhaps not in his full glory, especially not for those that rebel against him.
Which is all of us…
But it also shows how involved He is with us.
That really nothing can keep him from loving us and going after us.
Pursuing our hearts.
Doing everything to win our heart for him.
So He toned down his glory so we could bear looking at him.
He is not too proud for that.
We would probably be…

“What do you mean, I have to go down into that pit to save someone. I’m a king.
My clothes will get stained. It will take effort. I will get tired. Let someone else do it!”

That would be our response if we were God…
We’re all about getting honor for ourselves.
Looking good.
Saving effort if we can.
Unless…it would be our own kid.
Then (if we’re a good parent) we would go down that pit to save them right?

So what does this whole story of redemption say about us?
Apart from that it shows how kind and loving God is, it shows how valuable we are.
I don’t think God would die for animals.
Even though He loves them very much.
(I believe their redemption is tied to men’s.)
But He died for men!
He died for us!

We might need eternity to let this sink in.
To understand what that means.
What it says about both God and us.
Our whole mind needs to come into alignment with this truth.
To see how valuable we are and how humble God is.
Then truly everything we do and think and feel changes.
We become selfless lovers of God and others.
Not putting ourselves down, but not putting ourselves above anyone else either.

Then we know that we are loved all the time.
Then we don’t have to continually strive to get love and approval.
Then life truly is much more beautiful and peaceful.
Then we are fully at rest and fully fulfilled.

Activation

Make it a daily habbit to ponder redemption.
You can read a few lines in a book everyday with this toppic.
(the blood, the cross, the gospel, grace, God’s love etc.)
Or it can be as simple as putting up a picture in your house that depicts it,
and intently look at it a few seconds daily on a set time.
(like before you go to bed or when you get up)
Or meditate on it during your soaking time.
Or a combination, or whatever works for you.
I’m sure there are many other ways.

Be blessed!

I have these two pictures in my house that help me remember:

Resources:

Living the cross centered life, keeping the gospel the main thing, C. J. Mahaney

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No other gods

“… if the Lord is with us, then why has all this happened to us?”

That’s what Gideon asked when his country was under constant attack of enemies who again and again destroyed all their crops so they had barely something to eat.

I love how God approaches Gideon with this phrase:

“The Lord is with you, O mighty man of valor.”

In fact Gideon was hiding in fear for the enemies, secretely trashing wheat in a wine press…
So what was this greeting all about?
Thankfully God showed up and revealed that He hadn’t abandoned them after all.
He was still willing to deliver them and protect them, despite the fact that they had been worshiping other gods.
But this would only happen if they turned their backs to these foreign gods and start worshiping God again.
So God empowered Gideon to destroy the images and altars of these false gods.
Baal needed to be taken down.

Read also “Purpose of worship”.

This took great courage because Gideon would basicly have to stand up against everyone in the land, even his own family, since they all worshiped Baal.
But it had to be done and God would be with Gideon while he did it.
So Gideon destroyed them.
He took down Baals altar and the pole next to it and instead he built an altar for God and sacrificed on it the bull that was probably meant to be offered to Baal.
Of course did meant trouble, and the people wanted to kill Gideon.
But his father wisely responded that Baal could fight for himself if he was a god.
So they left him alone.
Then Gideon raises up an army and through divine help they defeat the enemy.

Unfortunately the story doesn’t end there.
After their victory Gideon used the spoil, existing of golden ornaments, to make an ephod and put it up for people to see.
An ephod was a garment that was part of the clothing of the high priest.
It was used to ask counsel from God, to give directions in specific circumstances.
Gideon probably meant well when he made it, wanting to bring honor to God.
Yet God had not told him to make it.
God was always very specific in his instructions in which He had to be worshiped.
He had told Gideon earlier to make an altar for him but not to make an ephod.
The bible tells that it became a snare for Gideon and the people, and they bowed to it.

I remember being surprised when I read this.
It didn’t seem to ad up to the Gideon that bravely stood up against other gods and destroyed them.
Yet he was not altogether worshiping another god, but God, Yahweh himself, in the form of an object.
Something He always forbids. Much like the Israelites had done in the desert when they made a golden calf and proclaimed it to be the God that had delivered them.
Thereby greatly diminishing God.
So what was the problem here? What lesson can we draw from it?

I believe it’s a warning.
Even when we worship God, which sounds good in itself, we can obviously go astray!
Our intention might be right, yet 1% disobedience to what God commands us is really 100% disobedience to God.
You can’t disobey just a piece of God. You either obey him or you don’t.
We can initially do something out of love, with the intention to serve people.
Which is a form of worship because you express your love for him, by loving whom and what He loves.
Yet selfish motivations can easily sneak in. When you receive gratitude and honor for what you initially did as an act of giving (I’m not saying we shouldn’t honor and thank people!) your heart needs to stay pure, completely focusing on serving out of love, and not on what we get from it in return.

The best way to do this is to acknowledge that all our abilities come from God.
Every ounce of strenght to help others, and every little piece of wisdom and revelation come from him. Even our every breath is a gift from God.
We should never let our success define us and put it up as a visible symbol of our accomplishments. That’s basicly what Gideon did!
And it’s idolatry even if it doesn’t have the name of another god.
I’ll tell you the name. It’s called SELF.
He took the spoil from his victory and put it up and worshiped it.
Perhaps under the disguise of giving honor to God.
Probably even deceiving himself!
Thinking it was an act of worship.
But it was an act of worshiping himself and not God.
And it became a snare.

Read also “Purpose of worship”.

Activation

Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you if you have other gods.
Are there places in your life that outwardly look godly but are really (tained with) worship to self?
Where are you still on the throne of your life and haven’t surrendered to the lordship of God completely?

Be blessed!

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Victory

There’s an interesting element in the battle in which Gideon defeated his enemies.
At a certain point it talks about two chiefs of the enemy he killed at a rock and at a winepress.
Earlier in the story, God met him at a winepress.
Gideon then makes an offering and puts it on a rock.
So the winepress and the rock speak of encounter and sacrifice in this story.
For me this shows that if we worship God (which is an offering) and if we encounter his presence God turns this into victories over our enemies, which are the battles we face in life.
Whether this is fear or depression or lack of any kind, I believe this is the main way to overcome them.
By losing ourselves in absolute adoration and wonder of God and seeking his face.

See also “8. Thanksgiving” and “9. Soaking”.

Be blessed!

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A wedding

Unity with God
Marriage with Jesus
Taking part of his death
Becoming selfless lovers

An army is released
It is the bride of God
Fighting for justice
For what’s on his heart

Jesus’ mission

God didn’t just send Jesus to the world to save it.
Yes that was his purpose as well, but He wanted a bride for his Son.
A people that would love him back the way Jesus had loved them.
A people that would respond to his unselfish act of self-sacrifice by fully dedicating their own life to him in return.
That’s the perfect prototype for marriage.
It’s based on a devotion that’s equal in both partners.
If one loves the other but that love is returned in a lesser decree, you might not have a satisfactory unity.
The one that does most of the loving may actually be the most content partner.
Yet God didn’t just want Jesus to be content with us.
He wanted him to be thrilled with a partner that loved him back without witholding any place of their heart.
Jesus loves all people that come to him, and even those that never come, He died for.
For just a chance they would return back his love for them.
(NB: NOT to EARN it back, that’s not possible, but to respond to it in a fitting way)
So God is looking for a bride for his beloved Son.
Of course all who receive him become children of God. Brothers and sisters of Jesus.
But the bride would be something else.
She would not withold anything from God!
And the invitation to become fully his was for all who would be saved.
So preparations were set in place.
A time was set for the ceremony.
A time only the Father knew.

When Jesus, Son of God, finished his work on earth as a man, living and dying on our behalf, and left for heaven again, his involvement with us wasn’t done.
He didn’t save us just to leave us on our own again.
He poured out his Spirit on us, enabling us to be free from the enslavement sin brings.
But that’s not all.
He wants an intimate relationship with us. To walk with us daily as we go through life, discovering his love and beauty more each and every day.
Despite the hardships we may endure, just like in any good marriage, his devotion for us is for better or for worse.
He never leaves us, but He still respects our free will.
We can still choose to obey him or not.
And to spend time with him daily, or…to ignore him totally.
He will keep drawing us to himself, in the same measure with which He drew us to himself before we accepted his salvation.
When He pulled at out hearts telling us that there was something more.
Or rather Someone!
Someone that’s involved in our eternal well-being and doesn’t want anyone to be lost and separate from him forever. That’s basicly the summary of what hell is: eternal seperation from God.
And now we are married to him, or should I say betrothed (dutch: in ondertrouw)?
This is more than an engagement. It’s a registration by the autorities that and when you will get married.
When we accept Jesus as our Savior and submit to him we are registered in heaven as his future “bride”!
(of course this is symbolical/spiritual language)

But what does this look like? A marriage with Jesus?

Download the article and you might get a glimpse…it’s FREE!

May it bless you!

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