Thursday, May 10, 2012

A Woman After God's Own Heart ~ Reflection

The Legacy of Your Heart

2 Timothy 2:15 ~ Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.

Becoming a Woman After God's Own Heart
Key #1 ~ Obey God's commands
  • Your greatest impact will come as you "serve your generation by the will of God"--which means choosing to do things God's way, not your own way.
  • Obedience is not always easy.  In fact, it's usually very difficult.
  • There is a battle going on in your heart between doing what you should do and doing what you want to do.
Key #2 ~ Walk in the Spirit
  • Galatians 5:16 ~ But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 
  • Looking to God for His help and obeying this one command will do away with the works of the flesh, which destroy lives, marriages, families, and homes (verses 19-21)
  • As you ask for help from God and walk with Him according to His ways, you reap instead "the fruit of the Spirit," which is "love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control" (verses 22-23)
    • Imagine the heart, the life - and the marriage, family, and home! - where such fruit abounds.
Key #3 ~ Pray regularly
  • Prayer acknowledges your dependence on God.
  • Prayer opens your heart to knowing and fulfilling God's will.
  • Prayer gives you the assurance and confidence that, as you carry out God's priorities, He will give you the strength to see it through to the end.
Key #4 ~ Adopt a long-range view
  • Something as important as doing God's will and living out His priorities will take a long time to complete. -- It will take a lifetime!
  • It's a long-range, life-long, wholehearted assignment from God.
  • This lifestyle is lived -- and built-- by following after God just one day at a time... and another day... and another day.
  • So each day focus on the tasks and people in front of you.
Key #5 ~ Accept your roles
  • It's one thing to have a goal, but it's quite another thing to actually accept the challenge, develop a strategy to press for the goal, make the sacrifices, pay the price to move forward, and blessing of blessings, to realize some part of it.
    • This is where resolve and desire come in.
  • We simply cannot play around with taking such a high calling lightly.
Key #6 ~ Ask "Who am I, and what is it I do?"
  • Whatever your age and stage/season, you must be constantly asking yourself, "Who am I?"
    • "I am a woman after God's own heart!"
  • And the second question you must constantly ask is, "What is it I do?"
    • The answer to this question will constantly change.
  • As you daily seek with all your heart to follow God's laid-out plans and priorities for you, to walk by His Spirit, and to pray faithfully, He will help you make the choices that guide you into His path for each stage and age of your life.

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