Turn your heart towards Jesus

Remember when you were so in love with Jesus that nothing else mattered? When your heart burned with love and devotion for your savior? When you first became a Christ follower and your heart was completely His?

Somewhere along the way of our lives with Him have begun to slightly turn from our first love to other things.

"Yet even now," declares the LORD, "Return to Me with all your heart, And with fasting, weeping and mourning; And rend your heart and not your garments." Now return to the LORD your God, For He is gracious and compassionate, Slow to anger, abounding in lovingkindness And relenting of evil.…Joel 2:12-13

The word "return" in this verse in Hebrew is shub. 

         

 shub means-to turn back, return

In the Jewish faith the time period of Elul usually occurs in late August–September. Elul is a time of repentance in preparation for the High Holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.

“Elul,” in Hebrew when the letters are read as an acronym, reminds us of the verse, "I am my beloved's and my beloved is mine"  Or in my translation, God has my heart!

Often when speaking of the time period of Elul it is said that we enter achor el achor, meaning “back to back,” and by the end of Elul we are panim el panim, “face to face.”

Sometimes our hearts turn toward other things and we don't realize that we have turned away from God. If we stay turned for too long we can feel distant and disconnected from Him.  Sometimes we even convince ourselves that God has moved from us. 

If I am honest, I have been in this turned away position. I am not mad at God, I didn't mean to  become back to back. Somehow as I was focused on work, taking care of my mom, doing ministry and living I began to slowly turn away from my first love. This post is so for me! Today is the beginning of my time of Elul. I am choosing to seek God and turn towards Him.

Where is your heart today?  Is it turned away from God? (back to back)

James tells us that God will be close to us if we come to Him.

Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. James 4:8

Are you willing to turn around, to become face to face with God again? (panim el panim)

If you want that closeness and an intimacy with God again you must be willing to turn around and look at Him. When you look into His eyes you will feel both the embrace of your savior and the reassurance of His love for you.

 

The Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as one speaks to a friend.         Exodus 33:10 

My heart says of you, “Seek his face!” Your face, Lord, I will seek. Psalm 27:8

May you be blessed as you seek His face once again.

Love Him with all of your Heart

The command is clear, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart".  Sometimes I am a little confused as to what it means. How do I love God with my heart? Lets look a little closer the heart and the significance it has.

The heart is seen everywhere, necklaces, emoji's, stationary, T-shirts,  cards and just about everywhere you look a heart can be found. Around the world the heart represents one thing, love.

In the bible the Hebrew word used in Deuteronomy 6:5 for heart is "lebab" and in the new testament the Greek word for heart is "kardia". Luke 10:27

Lebab and kardia combine thoughts and emotions. It is the seat of the emotional and intellectual life.

When commanded to love God with all of our heart it means to love Him with our thoughts and emotions.

God deserves to be loved with pure heart. The writer of Psalms seems to express it so well.

Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Psalm 51:10

The"bara" is the same word used when speaking about God creating the universe in Genesis. This verse is asking God to create/re-create your heart to be a pure sanctified heart.

Try praying this,  Lord "bara" my heart so I may love you more!

In Proverbs 4:23 we are told to guard our heart

Above all else, guard your heart,for everything you do flows from it.
Our relationship with God begins with our hearts and so we should protect it from anything that could contaminate it.

What comes to mind that needs to be removed in order for your heart to be protected?

Moses challenges the people of Israel to have a deep understanding of who God is in Deuteronomy 4:39

Acknowledge and take to heart this day that the LORD is God in heaven above and on the earth below. There is no other.

How does this thought of God's authority strengthen your heart?

God wants us to be connected to Him and His word.

For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Jeremiah 31:33.

God has already written His word on your heart! This is why His word penetrates our hearts so well!

How do we love God with all of our hearts?

Love Him with our thoughts and emotions

Love Him with a heart that has been "bara" recreated and pure.

Love Him with a protected heart

Love Him by having a deep understanding of who He is. Names of Jesus

Love Him by knowing His word that is written on our hearts.

Next in this series, Turning our hearts back to God

Love God

Loving Jesus is more than following rules. It's more than doing all the right things. It's more than loving the unlovely. It's more than following the 10 Commandments, being a good Christian, going to church or even reading your Bible.

I've been struggling with this concept this week while reading Mark Batterson's book All in.

To be ALL IN he suggests, "We don’t let what’s wrong with you keep you from worshiping what’s right with God.

I'd like to go slightly different route here. Being All In means that my heart is completely His because Jesus is my one true love. This affects everything in my life.

How do I love Jesus with everything I am?

It's no surprise that Jesus addressed this as did the old testament. (Deuteronomy 6:5)

The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: Love your neighbor as yourself.  There is no commandment greater than these. Mark 12:29-31

It is pretty straightforward, but not easy! Maybe that's why it's called the greatest commandment!

Love God

With all of your heart

With all of your mind

With all of your soul

With all of your strength

Looking at this list I am slightly terrified.

How do you Love God with everything you are?

How do you love someone who you cannot see?

How do you love someone who is not tangible?

There is hope when we love God.

Romans tells us that when we love God He works for our good.

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose Romans 8:28

This helps me want to love Him more! He is working for me as I grow in my love for Him.

I was watching the series A.D. this week. Where Saul and Peter are discussing Saul's conversion to Christianity. Peter says to Saul, "I was with Jesus, he was my friend, my Lord. I love him.  Saul then turns to Peter and tells him, "I have seen him and now I feel him, here as he touches his heart.

I was moved by that little gesture because that's how I feel. I may not have ever seen Jesus visibly, but I know He is with me because I feel him with me. He has made His presence known by giving me peace and joy.

You may not feel Him or His presence. If that is so I want to encourage you today to ask Him to make His presence known to you. The bible promises that if we draw near to Him, He will draw near to us. James 4:8

Join me on the next post to look at what the bible says about loving God with all of our hearts.