Blessed are the Pure in Heart

Matthew 5:8 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God

Hello dear friends and quiet followers,

In my quiet time today the Lord laid a message on my heart, which I wanted to share before it left me and my mind would once again become full of other things.

The message was simple...I even hinted at this in my last post. It has to do with cleaning. Just when I think I have come to the end of this cleaning and clearing...yet another area of our home, like the top of a cupboard will come to mind and I think "Oh yes I must get to that, no doubt its dusty and a lot of things will need to be discarded". 

So as I was meditating on this, I felt the Lord impress on my heart "that's what I've been doing with you". He's been cleaning and clearing my heart while I've been cleaning and clearing our home !!! (smile). I felt quite excited about this. 

It's so easy to fill our hearts up with wrong thinking, to form judgements about people or situations, without stopping to ask God what does He think about it? To assume He thinks as I do. To a non-believer this sort of self-examination possibly does not even enter their consciousness, but for those who do believe, and who strive to be pure in heart, then it is a very important matter. 

I believe prayer is key, as in prayer we can seek God's will and His heart in all situations. There have been many times of late when I have been greatly troubled. Our world is in such a state. I often write about world events in my journal and will write, where is this all headed?, but then I also write, that no matter what, God knows the outcome, and I don't need to worry. All I need to do is to trust Him completely, to cleave to Him, to His word and speak to Him all throughout the day. Sometimes the Lord puts a little picture into my mind. I know it's from Him as I wasn't thinking it. One day He showed me me standing and it was like a wave came and bowled me over. Then in this picture my spirit stood up. What was impressed on my heart was this: I need to surrender to God all areas of my life, as there are so many things/situations I will have no control over. I need to surrender my circumstances, my surroundings and my relationships completely to Him. 

I often repeat Proverbs 3: 5-6 to myself, actually if I am having an anxious day I will say it a lot "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not on thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct thy path". This proverb gives me great peace !! For me it is a surrendering, releasing prayer. I let whatever that is troubling me go, I unclench my hand. I release it to His control and care.

This is the way the Lord is working within me. This is the cleaning and clearing He is doing. He is helping me to trust Him. He is teaching me just how very vital it is to develop and deepen my faith, my dependence on the Lord in all areas of my life. 

If I am trying to control situations, then I am not trusting that He will help me, I am merely living my life trusting in my own strength. When I pray I ask the Lord to clean out any junk in my heart, any fear, any anxiety, any negative or wrong thinking. 

Matthew 5:8 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God

What does it mean to you to have a pure heart? I looked up a commentary on this scripture at biblehub.com and I liked what Elliot's commentary said: purity of heart excludes every element of baseness, hatred and greed.. and  'for they shall see God' : brings with it the power of seeing more than others see in all through which God reveals Himself--the beauty of nature, the inward light, the moral order of the world, the written word, the life and teaching of Christ. Though we see as yet "through a glass," as in a mirror that reflects imperfectly, yet in that glass we behold "the glory of the Lord" (1Corinthians 13:12; 2Corinthians 3:18).

Life with the Lord is a journey. We are always on the anvil, He is hammering away (if we submit and desire this) to help us draw closer to Him, to grow in faith and trust, to seek His heart of pure Love and to imitate that. What a wonderful blessing to know God and to keep on learning more about Him. I'm grateful for everything He has delivered me from, even though most of the time it is painful.

I hope this little writing is encouraging to someone. I am just sharing what God is doing in me, but maybe it will resonate with you too? Many blessings and peace to you ~ Linda

Contentment

Hello friends and quiet followers, my last blog post was called 'strangers and pilgrims' and without even intending to I ended up being a stranger here for just over a year.. So I am sorry for that. 

I just felt a strong urge to pull away from a lot of 'online' activities and give my full attention to my home and family, and that's what I've been busy with over this last year. I'm so glad I made that decision, that I chose to put that part of my life before anything else. I also believe this is biblical. Our homes/marriages are meant to be first in our life and our home environment should be peaceful and a haven for all who enter, especially our husbands and children. I've also been delving deeper into the Word of God, praying harder and asking the Lord to help remove any junk from my heart.

I had spent too many years feeling very stressed, like I was on an invisible treadmill. That's because I was, and I was just trying to juggle too many plates. My health wasn't good, I was getting sick a lot and had problems sleeping. Obviously I couldn't do it all.  So I decided to close my soap business completely. I still help my daughter and manage my own home and that is enough. I wish I had done it sooner as what I am doing now brings me joy. I have peace and always feel very contended being at home, being around my grandchildren and doing all the homemaking related work. I don't miss the soap business one little bit !!

I feel like I'm creating a 'new calm', a 'new rhythm' in our home, something altogether different. I think homes always used to be this way. Mum's were mostly at home, and sometimes grandparents might have been living in the house too, so that meant extra help with the day to day tasks. My own Nana was such a joy, with such a ready smile. I loved her soft, crinkly old hands and her full biscuit tins. She didn't live with us, but we visited her every Saturday for a big scrumptious morning tea and often aunties/uncles and cousins were there too.

                                    

I also wanted a clean, tidy and organised home and I knew no one was coming to do this for me. It was my job. I believe good organisation is vital in a home, as it saves time and helps everything to run more smoothly and calmly.  e.g If I want to mend something, I know exactly where to go to get my sewing box and where my little extra bits of fabric are that I will need for the task, without having to spend half an hour searching all over the house for it. I actually have my sewing machine set up most of the time, so I can easily fix things. 

I find I spend less at the grocery store as I have a better idea of what's in my pantry, and freezer and can plan meals accordingly. Because I have more time to cook I enjoy it more too. I believe this is the way things should be. I don't know what's happened in the world, why it's all changed so much and so quickly. Well...I suppose I do know. I know it's a whole lot of things, but we can change our lives. We don't have to go with the staus quo. We can make a new normal, create a way to live that suits us, and our beliefs. 

Anyway....so I have been slowly going through my entire house from room to room, hallways, cupboard, linen cupboard etc, organising almost everything. I'm pretty sure I may have mentioned all this before, so forgive me if I have :) but it's a pretty efficient system now I must say. I've taken endless excess to thrift stores too. We normally don't need bigger houses, (unless we have a large family) we just need to have regular clean outs !! I know some people aren't bothered by clutter, but I am not one of them. Clutter makes me feel stressed.  Still, having said this...I believe this is something I will routinely need to do as by nature I am always acquiring more stuff ! especially books and clothing from thrift stores (my two weaknesses) :)

Well friends that's all I wanted to say for now...... other than it's Winter time here in New Zealand, I still have trees that haven't been pruned yet..oops, I still have weeds in my garden, there is still cobwebs to be pulled down here and there and the dust is always settling. I have more pumpkin gingerbread planned to bake tomorrow :) and I still probably need to lose a few pounds, but hey tomorrow is a new day. I have joy in my heart today, peace in my life on a regular basis and I know I am loved by the Lord. Life is good ! I hope it is good for you too x

Blessings and peace ~ Linda