[Brian’s thoughts of the day: Jan. 21st]
TRUE DELIGHT!
A face book friend recently quoted one of my favorite Bible verses (Psalm 37:4) in his status today. In that verse it says to, "Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart." In that verse, it says that if we delight ourselves in the Lord, He will give us the desires of our heart; but what if you don’t know WHAT the desires of your heart even are? On the recommendation of another friend, I recently read a book by Christian author Byron Easterling called, 'Dream Big, Dream Often'. In the book the author talks about the very concept of learning to courageously pursue our dreams while in the process of earnestly seeking God’s heart. Looking back on myself now, for years I was on autopilot. I was, according to Byron’s book, what is called a 'repressed dreamer'. I worked really hard to keep things stable in my life. I avoided any risk or change out of fear. I stayed doing the same job because of the fact it was financially secure. I worked a tremendous number of hours so that I could make my house payments, car payments, pay my bills, and keep things stable at home. As many of you know, over the last year and a half my “stable existence” had kind of been unexpectedly dumped on its head. It seems like everything in my life at the present is uncertain, except for one thing: My relationship with God (and my dependence on Him) is now stronger than it’s ever been. Additionally, this entire journey has caused me to have deep perception and begin to understand what the desires of my heart truly are. I almost think that in order to understand our heart desires—we need to learn how to delight ourselves in the Lord- FIRST. In the past, I always read/interpreted that verse with the second part of the verse (the giving us the “desires of our heart”) being a “reward” for accomplishing the “task” of delighting ourselves in the Lord. As my perspective and circumstances have radically changed--it’s left me wondering if in order to even discover what the desires of our heart are, we must first learn who God created us to be. By spending intimate time with God, I’m beginning to understand more deeply who I was created to be and subsequently I am beginning to discover what my true heart desires are. By getting to know my Creator and the one Who made every part of me—I am beginning to understand myself and my own heart better. Who better to help you understand the dreams in your heart than the one who placed them there?
Daneille Snowden [Blog Editor]: Brian and I are friends from our high school youth group and had recently reconnected on facebook. Also, I was there when he first accepted Christ in 1982 at a Keith Green concert. I have been following his Facebook posts on his journey back into intimacy with God and offered to share them on a blog. Check out my blog: http://snowdenwiththefam-daneille.blogspot.com/
A face book friend recently quoted one of my favorite Bible verses (Psalm 37:4) in his status today. In that verse it says to, "Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart." In that verse, it says that if we delight ourselves in the Lord, He will give us the desires of our heart; but what if you don’t know WHAT the desires of your heart even are? On the recommendation of another friend, I recently read a book by Christian author Byron Easterling called, 'Dream Big, Dream Often'. In the book the author talks about the very concept of learning to courageously pursue our dreams while in the process of earnestly seeking God’s heart. Looking back on myself now, for years I was on autopilot. I was, according to Byron’s book, what is called a 'repressed dreamer'. I worked really hard to keep things stable in my life. I avoided any risk or change out of fear. I stayed doing the same job because of the fact it was financially secure. I worked a tremendous number of hours so that I could make my house payments, car payments, pay my bills, and keep things stable at home. As many of you know, over the last year and a half my “stable existence” had kind of been unexpectedly dumped on its head. It seems like everything in my life at the present is uncertain, except for one thing: My relationship with God (and my dependence on Him) is now stronger than it’s ever been. Additionally, this entire journey has caused me to have deep perception and begin to understand what the desires of my heart truly are. I almost think that in order to understand our heart desires—we need to learn how to delight ourselves in the Lord- FIRST. In the past, I always read/interpreted that verse with the second part of the verse (the giving us the “desires of our heart”) being a “reward” for accomplishing the “task” of delighting ourselves in the Lord. As my perspective and circumstances have radically changed--it’s left me wondering if in order to even discover what the desires of our heart are, we must first learn who God created us to be. By spending intimate time with God, I’m beginning to understand more deeply who I was created to be and subsequently I am beginning to discover what my true heart desires are. By getting to know my Creator and the one Who made every part of me—I am beginning to understand myself and my own heart better. Who better to help you understand the dreams in your heart than the one who placed them there?
Daneille Snowden [Blog Editor]: Brian and I are friends from our high school youth group and had recently reconnected on facebook. Also, I was there when he first accepted Christ in 1982 at a Keith Green concert. I have been following his Facebook posts on his journey back into intimacy with God and offered to share them on a blog. Check out my blog: http://snowdenwiththefam-daneille.blogspot.com/
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"It's easy to be a "Christian" when life is good. The real sign of a person's relationship with Jesus is who they are when things are hard and it seems like life is falling apart." ~Brian