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The Open Eyes-of-the-Heart

"Do you understand all these things?" "Yes," they said, "we do." Then He added, "Every teacher of religious law who becomes a disciple in the Kingdom of Heaven is like a homeowner who brings from his storeroom new gems of truth as well as old." (Matthew 13:51,52 NLT)

Have you got a heart for the Lord? Have you got a heart for the Kingdom of God? Really, is this a heart matter? The Lord says that if you really have a heart, that is going to mean spiritual understanding.... There are people whose good hearts are not rebellious to the Lord. They are not the people who say, "I will not have the Lord's Words." They make a response to the Lord, and it comes from their hearts. But some good people have reservations. Some very good people say, "Now if I go all out for the Lord, you know what my friends will think of me? Do you know what the people in my church would say about me? And you know, perhaps my position in business will be interfered with. I must be very careful. I must not lose my influence with others. I must think about what other people will think and say. Now, my committee expects this of me. If I really go all out for the Lord, my committee will be very angry. Perhaps they will ask me to resign." Do you see what I mean? Very good people, but they are influenced by policy. I was talking to a man once, and as I talked to him, he saw what I was meaning. And when I was finished, this is what he said. "Yes, Mr. Sparks, you are quite right. I quite agree with you. But if I was to go the way that you are going, I should offend all my friends. And in my work for the Lord, people would begin to withdraw their support with money. So I must think about my people and about the Lord's work." Very good people, very devoted to the Lord. There is no doubt about it that they love the Lord, but you see these reservations. It says about Caleb of the Old Testament, that he had another spirit, and he wholly followed the Lord....

I say to you: have you understood all these things? I have much more to say to you about spiritual understanding. But, oh, how important it is that I should have eyes to see, to see behind the things that are said and done, and see the meaning of the Lord. These people only heard His Words, and saw His works, but they did not understand the meaning. And they lost so much. Ask the Lord to give you spiritual understanding. And ifyou don't understand, don't say, "I don't understand." Go to the Lord and say, "Lord, make me understand. Open the eyes of my heart." That will show that you mean business with the Lord, and if you mean business with the Lord, the Lord will mean business with you.

To do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice.

He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God? § Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams. § To love Him with all the heart, with all the understanding, with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love one’s neighbor as oneself, is more than all the whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.

So you, by the help of your God, return; observe mercy and justice, and wait on your God continually. § Mary … sat at Jesus’ feet and heard His word … “One thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.”

It is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.

Prov. 21:3;  Mic. 6:8;  1 Sam. 15:22;  Mark 12:33;  Hos. 12:6;  Luke 10:39,42;  Phil. 2:13

The spirit will return to God who gave it.

The Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being. § There is a spirit in man, and the breath of the Almighty gives him understanding. § The first man Adam became a living being. § The spirit of the sons of men … goes upward.

While we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord … We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. § With Christ, which is far better. § I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus.

I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.

Eccles. 12:7;  Gen. 2:7;  Job 32:8;  1 Cor. 15:45; Eccles. 3:21;  2 Cor. 5:6,8;  Phil. 1:23;  1 Thess. 4:13,14;  John 14:2,3

Reliant Rest

Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him" (Ps. 37:7).

Those who rest in Him are often accused of passivity. But the Lord Jesus, who is our life, never was, nor ever is, passive.

"Do you suppose that the Father ever doubts the victory that has been won by His beloved Son? Do you believe that He has a single cloud as to the result? And faith looks at things as the Father looks at them. That is the secret of all strength and courage.

"Why has the Father given us His revealed Word? That we may think the same thoughts, have the same feelings, in our measure, as Himself. There is not a thought or feeling that arises from the old man that is not false. But we have new life capable of receiving and delighting in the very thoughts of our Father." -J.C.B.

"How am I to know what is the Father's mind towards me? Is it by judging of it from what I find in myself? Surely not! Supposing that I even found good in myself, if I expected the Father to look at me on that account, would it be grace? There may be a measure of truth in this kind of reasoning; for, if there be life in my soul, fruit will be apparent; but this is not to give me peace any more than the evil that is in me is to hinder my having peace." -J.N.D.

"The Lord Jesus has passed into the heavens, now to appear in the presence of the Father for us.' It is the Lord Jesus who gives abiding rest to our souls, and not what our thoughts about ourselves may be. Faith never thinks about that which is in ourselves as its ground of rest; it receives, loves, and apprehends what the Father has revealed, and what are His thoughts about the Lord Jesus Christ, in whom is His rest." -J.N.D.

"Let us labor, therefore, to enter into that rest" (Heb. 4:11).

New Set of Clothes

In Christ Jesus