You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.
Jeremiah 29: 13 (NIV)
The songs With Lifted Hands and Tell Your Heart to Beat Again can give us encouragement when we face defining moments in our lives. This devotion looks at some of the phrases in those songs.
Nuggets
- Every time our hearts beat, God is right there.
- God wants to be involved in every aspect of our lives.
- It is when God shakes up our lives — makes us take stock — that we really look to Him.
- We have to lay ourselves at God’s feet.
- We have to choose to start again.
I went to bed last night thinking I was going to write on one topic today. I got up this morning and decided to change it to something else. Then, God changed it again.
You see, when I started writing this, I was sitting in a hospital waiting room in the big city. My BFF’s husband was having surgery.
He is a great guy with a huge heart. He gives me drive-by hugs. “Hey, Elaine. How ya doing? [Hug] Good to see you!” And he walks off to hug someone else.
When I told Adam that he was in the hospital, we talked about how he is a man of God. He is solid in his faith.
This came up suddenly, but God has this. He told me so on the way down — yes, through music.
With Lifted Hands
With every heartbeat in my chest
God knows exactly what we need — even before we do. He knows what is happening in our circumstances, in our bodies, and in our lives. God knows the plan for our lives.
Every time our hearts beat, God is right there. He already knows what the next moments will bring; He is right there beside us in this moment; and He will help us put the past behind us.
I Surrender
Lord, I surrender all that I have
We have to give everything to God. We have to put it in His hands.
I know. I know. That is so hard sometimes.
It is hard for us to surrender. Sometimes, we just want to keep doing what we are doing. Other times, it just seems so overwhelming.
Overwhelming or not, we can’t do it on our own. And I am not just talking about our favorite sins that we want to keep hold of here. Changing anything to a healthier lifestyle needs God’s help.
God wants to be involved in every aspect of our lives. No, He doesn’t care if we wear the red or the blue today. He does care how we present ourselves through our wardrobe.
More importantly, God cares about how we are taking care of His temple. “Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? …” (I Cor. 6: 19 NIV).
God cares about how we are representing Him. Are we obeying the laws and commandments? Or are we ignoring them.
Yes, God knows that we aren’t going to be perfect until we get to heaven. We have to keep surrendering to Him on a daily basis – sometimes a minute-to-minute or a second-to-second basis.
Defining Moments
The days in the past, the days yet to come.
Things usually come to a head at some point. There is a break. There is a turn around.
We all have defining moments — those moments in life that make us the men and women we become. It seems to us that our lives are categorized by before this event took place and after this event took place.
God is in control of these defining moments. In fact, He is very good at making sure we have these defining moments. If things are going alone smoothly, we tend to forget about Him.
It is when God shakes up our lives — makes us take stock — that we really look to Him. He is right there. He never makes us go through them alone.
Yes, sometimes, we have to change what we do — what we eat, our bad habits. But look at it.
The days in the past can’t change. They may weigh on us, but we shouldn’t let them. We need to confess the things we need to confess, forgive ourselves, and move on.
The days yet to come are uncertain. But God is right there. Remember, He has a plan, and He is working that plan.
Everything
I'm giving You all I am
Nope, we can’t keep the pet sin. Nope, we can’t keep our bad habits.
We have to lay ourselves at God’s feet. We have to give Him our hopes and dreams and let Him make them into what He wants us to be.
Then, on the way home, after the surgery had been a success, I heard another song.
Tell Your Heart to Beat Again
Beginnings
Part of what makes the defining moment special is it is a start. The bad part is behind us. The sickness is behind us. We can’t continue to focus on that.
God doesn’t want us to wallow in the regret, pain, or anger of the past. We wants us to grow past it.
We have to choose to start again. That starts the healing process. God gives us a redo. He will help us pick up all the pieces.
I love this one line in the song. “Be a picture that reminds you Who has carried you this far.”
God has carried us this far. He is not going to stop now. We get to show that to others. Our defining moments make our testimony real.
Yep, God has this.
Father. You love us so much. You will never leave us to face our defining moments without You. You are always there to heal us — physically, mentally, and most importantly, spiritually. Lord, with every beat of our hearts, with every fiber within us, we surrender our wills and our lives to You. Help us to learn what we must from these moments. Change us in the ways that need to be changed. Help us to grow closer to You. Amen.
What do you think?
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