WHOLENESS OF HEART REALIZED

Wholeness means nothing broken

1 Thessalonians 5:23   “And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ”.

The world is often a noisy place. So many homes have a TV or radio blaring most of the time. Many restaurants have multiple TVs, sometimes so loud it’s hard to carry on a conversation. Many people just can’t function without some background noise. The image of teens doing their homework with loud music in their room or headphones has been common for a long time. For most it’s just habit, something they are used to; for many I suspect such an atmosphere is an escape from whatever is going on in their hearts and minds. I wonder if this need for noise is for some to drown out loneliness, fear of something or even guilt. Sometimes it’s the enemy’s tactic to try to drown out the still small voice of God.

I’m not saying there is anything wrong with watching wholesome things on TV, listening to music, talk radio or things like that. I’ve always been a musician and love to listen to great music in many genres. Any noise distracts me from the task at hand. It’s so much easier to experience His Presence when our environment, or brains and our hearts get quiet. Shutting out the noise of the world helps us to quiet down our hearts and increase our sensitivity to Holy Spirit speaking, or just being there, in the depths of our hearts. Just His Presence is so wonderful and stress relieving .We receive an inner strength, a greater capability to reflect His love even in the midst of turmoil and strife. As we Practice the Presence we progress in the process described in these verses:

2 Corinthians 5:17   Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

John 15: 4   Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.

5   “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.

Many of you spend time alone with God every day and understand the necessity of that time. Be encouraged to continue and not allow the things of the world, or the distractions the enemy or even other people, to deter you of that habit. Some years ago I read something about prayer that stuck in my heart. The greatest flaw in church leadership is prayerlessness. It’s so easy to get too busy, even when you are doing what you do in service to the King, to do the most important thing you can do in life, which is to spend time with our Father. How long do marriages last without times of intimacy? My wife and I have always had a house rule that one we don’t leave the house without a good kiss. Now that I’m retired we’ve added a good morning kiss once mouths are rinsed.

Psalm 2:12   Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, And you perish in the way, When His wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all those who put their trust in Him.

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How often to I say something with a bark?

The effectiveness of our times alone with God should be reflected in how we act in various situations. Life and people close to us test us without even trying. People get so offended these days, touchy, have too many buttons for people to push that cause us to act in a way that doesn’t reflect Jesus. I struggle with tone of voice. How often, when someone, especially a spouse, says something to us in what we perceive to be a harsh tone of voice do we respond likewise? How often to I say something with a bark? It’s human nature to do so but never the best thing to do. Even when they were about to stone Him, or when they arrested Him and were to crucify Him, Jesus never lost His cool. There was only 1 time when Jesus seemed to lose his cool and it is repeated in Matthew, Mark and John.

John 2: 14   And He found in the temple those who sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers doing business.

15   When He had made a whip of cords, He drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen, and poured out the changers’ money and overturned the tables.

16   And He said to those who sold doves, “Take these things away! Do not make My Father’s house a house of merchandise!”

17   Then His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for Your house has eaten Me up.”

Psalm 69:9   because zeal for Your house has eaten me up, And the reproaches of those who reproach You have fallen on me.

 Just this week something came up that got my blood boiling. My wife said my face was dark red and my ears purple. I was hot about something personal and confidential that could happen that I am opposed to, that demanded my action the next day. There was no way I could just go to sleep that night without praying through, calming down. It took a while but I pressed through into God’s Presence. A wonderful peace overwhelmed all the agitation and stress in my soul and I had a great night’s sleep.

When I woke up the next morning, I had to pray through again. I spoke to people I look up to and trust then took appropriate action, leaving it all in God’s hands. The freedom that comes from surrendering our situations to Jesus is just beyond words. This wasn’t the first time in life I’ve gone through drama like this; sure it won’t be the last. I am so thankful the Lord is our burden bearer. My wife is sure that had I not been able to exchange the burden for God’s peace I would have had a stroke. I’m a husband, a Dad, A Grandpa, a Pastor, and when I see something broken I want to fix it.

All this explains the process we can go through to be made whole, to get our brokenness fixed. People often have areas of their lives that are broken. There’s a choice when you first realize something in your life is broken. Unfortunately too many choose the Humpty Dumpty approach. That can become a horrible downward spiral to the gates of hell. Over the past couple of weeks I heard of 4 suicides and met a young man who had flat lined in a suicide attempt before the EMTs brought him back. Pity parties lead to depression, hopelessness and a despair that can get so bad that drug abuse and suicide all too often seem like the only way out. The opiod crisis isn’t new, just on a bigger scale. When I grew up in Brooklyn, gang violence was minimized because heroin use among the gangs took the fight out of them. I knew of junkies that OD’ed, Acid freaks (LSD) that flipped out so bad they landed in mental hospitals, speed freaks (now referred to a meth) that got so emaciated they couldn’t eat and suffered horribly from malnutrition and other things that come along with drug abuse. I would say that, except in some rare circumstances, suicide is an instant trip to the fires of hell; there was no opportunity for repentance from that sin. It is eternal separation from God.

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There’s a much better way to deal with our brokenness – LET JESUS MAKE YOU WHOLE. One of those suicides was a good friend’s brother who was addicted to meth for many years and intentionally overdosed. Another was this same friend’s ex-wife who rejected the Lord and fell down the pit of loneliness and despair. She had an extraordinary experience with the Lord at a Church, experienced joy like she had never had in life during a service, joyfully dancing and singing as the Lord moved in many hearts. Then we never saw her again. It wasn’t long after she rejected the Lord that she rejected her husband and just went down and down.

At this point I have to ask, “What does Oneness with God look like? The Word gives a picture of it right in the beginning of the creation story,

Throughout the Scriptures we see marriage as a type for man’s relationship to God. Leave and cleave, separate and join to. We separate ourselves from the sinful life we had before coming to Christ and become part of the Church, the Bride of Christ. OK, these are nice sounding analogies but let’s talk about what they mean relative to life in the here and now, where the rubber meets the road.

Isaiah 54:5   For your Creator will be your husband; the Lord of Heaven’s Armies is his name! He is your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, the God of all the earth.

How different would have been the outcome of this lonely woman I just mentioned who killed herself, if she had this kind of relationship with Jesus? So how does that relationship happen? - Leave and cleave, separate and join to. As we take steps of repentance, steps away from a lifestyle that is a death trip, and take steps towards God who gives us life, we grow in this oneness. Your mind can’t grasp how close God can be to you. Relationship with Him is one of faith, acceptance of what the Bible says in our hearts.

Deuteronomy 30:14   But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may do it.

Romans 10:8   But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith which we preach):

Let me challenge you to act on this message repeating Paul’s prayer:

1 Thessalonians 5:23   “And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ”.

The move of Holy Spirit in our hearts becomes a motivation for something. The Grace of God is the enabling power to follow through with that motivation. That motivation in our hearts often starts with the realization in our heart of that brokenness I spoke of. The grace of God then becomes amazing to us and we know what to do and know we can do it. Are you ready to leave your brokenness behind and cleave to Jesus?

v Perhaps it’s to come to a church altar and kneel as a public act, with no fear of what anyone might think or say. You just want to get right with God, regretful of the things you did to break that relationship with Him and ready for a new start.

v Do you need to intensify your commitment to God, to this love affair with Jesus? How long has it been since you experienced Him ever so close because you took down all your barriers to where He can go in your life?

v Maybe He’s speaking to your heart about somebody you need to go to and apologize, ask them to forgive you for something stupid you did.

Come now, stop fighting with God, find a place of prayer and make that surrender you know you need to make.

        WHOLENESS MEANS NOTHING BROKEN