“Create in me a clean heart, O God. And renew a right spirit within me.” Psalm 51:10
Get Your Heart Right!
Our heart is the center of who we are. Our creator placed a heart inside each one of us to give us physical life and a center for our spiritual being. Without a heart, life would not be possible.
All of the sacred literature teaches that we are to guard our heart because it is the very source of life, both physical and spiritual. With our heart we determine our actions and with our actions we make a life. The living of our life reflects what is inside of our hearts and it does not tell a lie.
This is why we must continually ask our Creator to renew our spirit and create a clean heart within us. Take a moment today to think about your heart. What is going on inside of it? It is where it needs to be? Do you need your Creator to help clean your heart and renew your spirit?
He will, if you will simply ask Him and then yield to His work in and through you. With your Creator at the center of your heart, you are sure to head in the direction that will take you into blessing and fulfillment!
“Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.” 2 Corinthians 5:17New Relationship!
If we are in a relationship with God through Christ Jesus, then we are a new creation. The old sinful person we used to be has gone and is no more. The words “new creation” indicate that we have been changed into something new, different and special. Being renewed in Christ is to be made into something better.
It is sometimes a struggle to remove the old sinful self and totally enjoy the renovation of our new and better lives. In fact, you may find that it is still a struggle today, but know this: if you will stay faithful in your relationship with God, He will stay faithful to work in and through your life to renew you and rid you of the sins that seek to keep you from the better life that you were created for.
Colossians 3:1-3 says: “Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of Heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand. Think about the things of Heaven, not the things of earth. For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God.”
Colossians 3:10 says: “Put on your new nature, and be renewed as you learn to know your Creator and become like Him.”
There is a better life for each of us to live. We cannot live it in our own limited power, but we can live it to the fullest in the strength of our Creator, Who loves us and has an amazing plan for our lives. Take some time on this first day of the New Year to think about how you can enjoy living as His new and improved creation. God bless and lived blessed!
I believe that there are universal principles that have the ability to make a big difference in each of our lives, if we will work to put the principles into practice. Reading the principles is a start, but only a start. Knowing the principles are good, but not good enough. Talking about the principles is heading in the right direction, but there has to be more than talk. We need action, because the principles will work, if we will work the principles.
Jim Rohn once said: “You can’t hire someone else to do your push ups!” Each of us have hard work that we need to do physically, mentally and spiritually, if we are going to experience the fulfillment of success and victory that we were created for.
Each of us have been blessed with the opportunity to live extraordinary lives, that our Creator allows us to share with one another. It’s only an idea, until you put it into practice. Ideas thought in our heads produce possibilities, while principles practices in our living produce growth.
Here is the very simple truth: Work the principles and the principles will work for you! Learn the principles and then put them into practice and watch as amazing things begin to manifest in your life. The Bible is full of instruction and direction for living the fulfilled life, but the instruction and direction has to be about more than facts and knowledge that we have put inside our heads. It has to be truth that we believe in our hearts that motivates us to live a different kind of life, day after day, after day.
During the next year, we are going to go on a journey to try to learn the principles and while we are learning them, also put them into practice in a consistent and persistent way. I want to invite you to join me at Grace Place each Sunday morning at 11 AM to learn about the principles and be challenged and encouraged to put them into practice.
I really believe that this New Year is all about a New You – the YOU that your Creator created you to be. So let me encourage you right here and now to do three things in getting ready to take this journey:
1.) Think about and decide that you want the better life that you were created for.
2.) Believe that God desires for you to have it and because of what He has done for you, you deserve it! (That’s what GRACE is all about!)
3.) Get ready to put the principles into practice in the new year, so you can grow into the new you!
You can do this and the amazing and fun part is that we get to do this together! Live blessed, it’s a great way to give your Creator glory…
Michael Joe Harvell 