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Pursuing the Heart of God – Day 49 – A Woman After My Own Heart

Pursuing the Heart of God – Day 49

A Woman After My Own Heart

Lord, what does it mean to become a woman after Your own heart? Please describe what that looks like. Help me see that woman through Your eyes, and then, teach me how to become her and pursue You more passionately. Give me the desires of my heart, O Lord. I will delight in You.

A Message from God’s Heart to Yours:

My darling, I created you for My enjoyment. I desire to have a deeply intimate relationship with you. I want to be involved in all aspects of your life. It pleases Me when you are eager to meet with Me in the secret place, quieting your heart and mind enough to see if I might say something. I speak to you often, whether you hear Me or not. Many times you do not discern My voice from your own thoughts because you do not anticipate that I will speak to you. The first step to hearing My voice is to expect and believe.

Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If you hear My voice and open the door, I will come in and eat with you and you with Me (Revelation 3:20). We will enjoy sweet communion and fellowship together. I hear all of your prayers and requests, but I ask that you leave room in the conversation for Me to speak also. I desire to encourage you, uplift you, teach you, guide you, comfort you, give you My wisdom, and pour out My love on you. You may experience all of Me, when you put Me first and daily meet with Me away from the noise and distractions.

Mary, the sister of Martha and Lazarus, was a woman after My own heart. She knew how to honor and please Me by sitting at My feet listening to what I said (Luke 10:38-42). She eagerly waited in anticipation to hear every word that fell from My lips. She did not want to miss one thing I said. She endured the chastisement of her distracted sister, Martha, who was busy with all the preparations. Martha scolded Me to tell Mary to help her, but I would not. Mary had chosen what was better, and I would not take that from her. Mary wanted to hear everything I had to say and remained close to Me in order to hear Me. The way to experience a close relationship with Me is to sit with Me daily and eagerly listen to every word I speak.

Do not merely listen to My voice, but also, obey it. Anyone who loves Me will obey My teaching. My Father will love them, and We will come to them and make Our home with them (John 14:23). Love Me with all your heart, soul, and mind (Matthew 22:37). Demonstrate the fullness of your love by listening to Me and obeying Me in the things I teach you. You are My child, even My heir. Everything I have is yours. Ask anything according to My will, and you will have what you asked of Me (1 John 5:14).

You may never be able to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God (Ephesians 3:18-19). But I would love to try to help you grasp it. Let Me fill you to overflowing with My love, beyond your imagination. Know and feel My presence as you sit with Me in two-way conversation.

Will you meet with Me more often? Will you sit at My feet listening to what I say? Do you desire to know what’s on My heart? Will you spend more time in My Word getting to know Me better, so that you can believe My promises and discern My voice? Will you pursue Me as passionately as I have been pursuing you? I created you to love you, My child. I know your inmost being (Psalm 139:13), and I desire that you would know Mine—what makes My heart come alive. Actively chase after Me and become a woman after My own heart.

Prayer:

Abba Father, make these dead bones come alive for you. Renew a steadfast spirit within me (Psalm 51:10). I desire a deeper, more intimate knowledge of You and relationship with You. Please help me establish a practice of meeting with You daily. Let me discern the promptings of Your Spirit within me, and then, obey. I submit my will to Yours, my heart to Yours, my spirit to Yours. Please make Your Word come alive for me as I read it. I want to know You better and hear everything You say. Give me ears to hear You and the heart to obey You. Please make Your home in me. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.

Two-way Conversation with God: 

  • Loving Father, please give me specific ideas, for me personally, on how to establish a regular practice of putting You first, meeting with You. (Write down all the thoughts you receive.)

 

  • Jesus, fill me with Your love that surpasses knowledge. Speak to my heart today. (Record every word and thought He gives you.)

 

  • Holy Spirit, make the things of God known to me (John 16:13). Let me hear Your truth today. (Journal whatever you hear in your heart.)

 

Review God’s thoughts and impressions you’ve sensed and written above. What Scripture comes to mind as you review your notes? Use the concordance of your Bible to look up an impression from God’s Word. Record the verse or passage here. Write all insights and encouragement the Holy Spirit illumines for you as you read God’s Word right now.

Prayer:

Lord, I thank You for creating me and loving me beyond my imagination—beyond what I can grasp and understand. I desire to know You as well as You know me. I want to know Your heart, listen to Your voice, and carry out Your will and plans. Lord, thank You for speaking to me and sharing Your desires. Help me to remain in relationship with You, even as You remain in me. I want to pursue You as passionately as You pursue me. Give me the desire to honor You and please You by sitting at Your feet listening to every word that falls from Your lips—they are sweeter than honey to my mouth (Psalm 119:103). I love You, Lord, and I want to become a woman after Your own heart. In Jesus’ precious name, I pray. Amen.

Supporting Scripture:

Psalm 51:10-12, 10Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. 11Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. 12Restore to me the joy of Your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.

Psalm 119:103, How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!

Psalm 139:13-14, 13For You created my inmost being; You knit me together in my mothers’ womb. 14I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Your works are wonderful, I know that full well.

Jeremiah 29:11-14, 11“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 12Then you will call on Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. 13You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart. 14I will be found by you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back from captivity.”

Matthew 22:36-39, 36“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” 37Jesus replied: “’Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38This is the first and greatest commandment. 39And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”

Mark 11:22-24, 22“Have faith in God,” Jesus answered. 23“Truly I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea.’ And does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them. 24Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.”

Luke 10:38-42, 38As Jesus and His disciples were on their way, He came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to Him. 39She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what He said. 40But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to Him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!” 41“Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, 42but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”

John 14:13-14, 13“And I will do whatever you ask in My name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14You may ask Me for anything in My name, and I will do it.”

John 14:23, Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves Me will obey My teaching. My Father will love them, and We will come to them and make Our home with them.”

John 16:13-15, 13“But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on His own; He will speak only what He hears, and He will tell you what is yet to come. 14He will bring glory to Me by taking from what is Mine and making it known to you. 15All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is shy I said the Spirit will take from what is mine and make it known to you.”

Ephesians 3:16-21, 16I pray that out of His glorious riches He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being, 17so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people; to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. 20Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, 21to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

1 John 5:14, This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of Him.

Revelation 3:20, “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with Me.”

Copyright © Sindy Nagel. All Rights Reserved

Pursuing the Heart of God – Day 43 – A Stay-In Order: Stay in Me

Pursuing the Heart of God – Day 43

A Stay-In Order: Stay in Me

Lord, with this COVID-19 pandemic, our state has issued a stay-in, stay-safe order. It keeps getting extended due to a daily increase in reported cases, hospitalizations, and deaths. Lord, I will give You thanks in the middle of this difficulty, because it has given me more time to spend with You. What a huge gift it has been to rekindle the romance of an intimate relationship with You, my Bridegroom. Lord, what is on Your heart for me to learn and accomplish during this gift of extra time that You have given me?

A Message from God’s Heart to Yours:

My darling, My bride, My heart for you is to do exactly as you have been doing since this stay-in order was established: Stay in Me. What does that mean? Return to Me. Seek Me. Come near to Me. Remain in Me. Hope in Me. Trust in Me. Pray to Me. Believe in Me. Have faith in Me. Talk to Me. Ask Me. Tell Me. Listen to Me. Know all of Me. Love Me. Obey Me. Acknowledge Me. Acclaim Me. Witness for Me. Share Me.

Remain faithful to Me, for I am your husband. I have betrothed you to Me (Hosea 2:19-20). Stay in relationship with Me. Do not lust after other lovers. Do not put your trust in other gods. Do not turn to other pleasures instead of Me. Do not wander from the sheepfold. Do not get lost in obscurity. Do not become independent of Me; but be even more dependent on Me. Stay in Me. I am the Lord, and I love you more than you will ever comprehend. I pray that you will be able to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ for you, that you may know this love that surpasses knowledge and be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God (Ephesians 3:18-19).

I am your Bridegroom. Your greatest joy comes from knowing Me personally and intimately. Know who I am. Know My ways. Know My promises. Know My Word. Stay in relationship with Me. Fear Me in awe and reverence, walk in obedience to Me, love Me, and serve Me with all your heart and all your soul (Deuteronomy 10:12). Put Me ahead of everything else in your life. I want to be first; I am a jealous God (Deuteronomy 4:24). I am protective of our time together and our relationship.

I desire to stay in daily communication with you. Meet Me in the secret place and pursue Me with all your heart. Speak to Me and listen to Me. Call to Me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know (Jeremiah 33:3). I want what is best for you. No human mind has conceived what I have prepared for those who love Me (1 Corinthians 2:9). My plans are to prosper you and give you hope and a future (Jeremiah 29:11). I will do immeasurably more than all you ask or imagine, according to My power that is at work within you (Ephesians 3:20). I have given you My gift of the Holy Spirit who stays in you; please honor that gift by staying in Me; stay in and stay safe. I care about you, My friend.

Prayer:

My faithful Bridegroom, I love You with all my heart. I will seek You in the morning and wait expectantly to hear Your voice (Psalm 5:3). I, too, desire to communicate with You in a more intimate way. I cherish the time we spend together each morning, and I will be more diligent to remember to speak with You throughout the day. You are my life coach, my daily bread, my living water, my champion, and my friend. I will depend on You to meet all my needs. Lord, please speak to me now in a more personal way, so that I know deeper places of Your heart. In the name of Jesus Christ, I pray. Amen.

Two-way Conversation with God: 

  • Father God, I will stay in Please show me the best way to accomplish that in my life and current situation. (Record every thought that enters your mind.)

 

  • Jesus Christ, please reveal Your heart for my relationship with You. What do You desire, and what does it look like for me? (Write down all words and ideas He gives you.)

 

  • Holy Spirit, thank You for staying in me; help me to stay in How do I walk in step with You and remain in constant communication with You? You know me the best. How is this best accomplished in my life? (Journal every impression, every thought, every idea the Holy Spirit prompts you with right now.)

 

Review God’s thoughts and impressions you’ve sensed and written above. What Scripture comes to mind as you review your notes? Use the concordance of your Bible to look up an impression from God’s Word. Record the verse or passage here. Write all insights and encouragement the Holy Spirit illumines for you as you read God’s Word right now.

Prayer:

Merciful Father, thank You for Your desire for a greater intimacy with me. It is difficult to comprehend the depth of Your love for me, Your child. I am in awe of Your character and Your ways. I am so blessed by You, and I pray I may be that kind of blessing to others on Your behalf. Lord, thank You for Your great love and grace. Please stay in me and let me experience all the fullness of Your heart. Thank You for the abundant life in Your Spirit. In the name of Jesus, my Lord, I pray.Amen.

Supporting Scripture:

Deuteronomy 4:23-24, 23Be careful not to forget the covenant of the Lord your God that He made with you; do not make for yourselves an idol in the form of anything the Lord your God has forbidden. 24For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.

Deuteronomy 10:12, And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to Him, to love Him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

Psalm 5:3, In the morning, Lord, You hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before You and wait expectantly.

Jeremiah 29:11-14, 11“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 12Then you will call on Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. 13You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart. 14I will be found by you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back from captivity.”

Jeremiah 33:3, “Call to Me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.”

Hosea 2:16, 19-20, “In that day,” declares the Lord, “you will call Me, ‘my husband’; you will no longer call Me ‘my master.’ …I will betroth you to Me forever; I will betroth you in righteousness and justice, in love and compassion. I will betroth you in faithfulness, and you will acknowledge the Lord.”

1 Corinthians 2:9, However, as it is written: “What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived”—the things God has prepared for those who love Him.

Ephesians 3:16-21, 16I pray that out of His glorious riches He may strengthen you wit power through His Spirit in your inner being, 17so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp  how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. 20Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, 21to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

Copyright © Sindy Nagel. All Rights Reserved

Pursuing the Heart of God – Day 16  – I am the Lover of Your Soul

Pursuing the Heart of God – Day 16  – I am the Lover of Your Soul

Dear God, how is it that You, the Creator and Ruler of the universe, love someone like me? How do I know that you love me for sure? I do not deserve your love. I cannot earn your love. And yet, Your Word says You love me. Why is it that You love me, Lord?

A Message from God’s Heart to Yours:

My child, I am the lover of your soul. I knew you and loved you long before I created you. You are mine. You belong to me. I love you with a deep, unconditional, everlasting love. My love for you will never change. I am the same yesterday, today, forever (Hebrews 13:8). I am love (1 John 4:8).

My love for you is My greatest gift to you. You cannot earn My love. It is a free gift, just like My grace. Every good and perfect gift is from above (James 1:17). My love defines who you are and whose you are. I demonstrated My love for you in this, while you were still a sinner, I sent My Son, Jesus, to lay down His life for you (Romans 5:8). I loved you then, and I will always love you. I am dependable. You can count on Me to love you into all eternity.

I love you no matter what you do. My love for you is unchanging and consistent. My love is forgiving and forgetting. My love is unfailing and wonderful. Nothing you do will increase or decrease My love for you. You are My beloved child. I love you no matter what. You do not understand the depth of my love for you because you cannot grasp it. It is so much different from any other love you know and feel.

You need not wonder whether I love you and accept you as you are, I do. You are worthy of My love because you are My child. I created you to love you, and ask that you, in turn, love Me with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength (Mark 12:30). If you love Me, you will obey Me, and I will come and make My home in you (John 14:23). I will never leave you or forget about you (Joshua 1:5).

Respond to Me in love. Accept My free gift of love and grace. When you invite Jesus into your heart, I give you another indescribable gift. I send My Holy Spirit to live in your heart. I not only love you, but I live in you. Your body is My temple, My dwelling place (1 Corinthians 3:16). I love you from the inside out. You have a member of the Godhead living in you and loving you at all times. How wonderful is that? I am the lover of your soul, because your soul is My home. I have made My home in you, and I love My home. I love you, My friend. I have loved you before the beginning of time, and I will love you through all eternity. 

Prayer: 

Heavenly Father, thank You for Your good and perfect love. Help me to grasp the depth of that love as we communicate today. Lord, will you show me Your heart for me as Your child. Lord, help me to know and feel Your presence with me right now as we talk heart to heart. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.

Two-way Conversation with God:

  • Father, describe to me what it was like to send Your one and only Son, Jesus, to die for me. (Write the thoughts that come into your mind.)

 

  • Jesus, so great is Your love for me, that You were willing to die in my place, for my sin. Please share Your heart with me about this sacrificial love. (Record any words or impressions that enter your heart.)

 

  • Holy Spirit, You are the gift of God’s love, who dwells in me. Please share with me what You want me to know today. (Jot down all thoughts and senses you experience in your mind and heart.)

 

Review the Holy Spirit’s thoughts and impressions you’ve sensed and written above. What Scripture comes to mind as you review your notes? Use the concordance of your Bible to look up an impression from God’s Word. Record the verse or passage here. Write all insights and encouragement the Holy Spirit illumines for you as you read God’s Word right now.

Prayer:

Dear Jesus, I cannot thank You enough for Your unconditional love and Your sacrificial demonstration of that love on my behalf. Thank You for making a way to be reconciled to God, the Father, and for the gift of the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit, so that I may communicate with all three members of the godhead any time of the day or night. This is such a spectacular gift. I so appreciate all that You have done for me and continue to do for me. I love You with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.

Supporting Scripture:

Joshua 1:5, I will never leave you nor forsake you.

Psalm 25:10, All the ways of the Lord are loving and faithful toward those who keep the demands of His covenant.

Psalm 32:8, I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my loving eye on you.

Psalm 100:5, For the Lord is good and His love endures forever; His faithfulness continues through all generations.

Psalm 86:13, For great is your love toward me; You have delivered me from the depths, from the realm of the dead.

Psalm 108:4, For great is your love, higher than the heavens; your faithfulness reaches to the skies.

Psalm 117:12 For great is His love toward us, and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever. Praise the Lord.

Psalm 118:1, Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His love endures forever.

Psalm 136:3, Give thanks to the Lord of lords; His love endures forever.

Psalm 144:2, He is my loving God and my fortress, my stronghold and my deliverer, my shield, in whom I take refuge, who subdues peoples under me.

Song of Songs 2:4, Let Him lead me to the banquet hall, and let His banner over me be love.

Isaiah 54:10, “Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed,” says the Lord, who has compassion on you.

Mark 12:30, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.”

John 14:23, Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves Me will obey My teaching. My Father will love them, and We will come to them and make Our home with them.”

John 15:13-14, “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are My friends if you do what I command.”

John 16:27, “No, the Father Himself loves you because you have loved Me and have believed that I came from God.”

Romans 5:5, And hope does not put us to shame because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

Romans 5:8, God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

1 Corinthians 3:16, Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst?

Ephesians 2:4, But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.

Ephesians 3:16-19, I pray that out of His glorious riches He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know His love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

Hebrews 13:8, Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

James 1:17, Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.

1 John 3:1, See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!

1 John 4:8-10, Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed His love among us: He sent His one and only Son into the world that we might live through Him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

1 John 4:19, We love because He first loved us.

Revelation 1:5-6, To Him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by His blood, and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve His God and Father—to Him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen.

Copyright © Sindy Nagel. All Rights Reserved