THE HEARTBEAT OF GOD
A friend recently shared with me about a heart transplant surgery that she watched years ago on one of those real-life-in-the-E.R. shows. It was simply fascinating. As she shared, I visualized with a sense of wonder how the surgical team redirected the patient’s blood flow through a machine and removed his heart. Then they retrieved the “new” heart that had been preserved in a cooler of ice and connected it in the patient. After everything was reconnected, one of the surgeons leaned in close and began to tap the heart with his index finger. The surgeon tapped a steady rhythm on the heart to get it to start beating again. For several moments, the heart beat with an irregular rhythm. But as the surgeon continued his steady tapping, the heartbeat conformed to his rhythm. My friend commented that those moments were amazing!
and beautiful to her. The Holy Spirit ministered to her through watching this surgery that she needed Him to tap her heart to beat with the rhythm of His love for her.
Have you ever considered that God’s love has a rhythm, a heartbeat? His love’s rhythm is meant to be a steady influence on the pattern of our living. Just like our heartbeat needs to be steady for all things within our physical body to function properly, God’s love needs to be a steady influence within our souls for all things in our spiritual life to function properly. Scripture declares that God is love, and Jesus is called the Son of His love. Jesus taught that the greatest commandments are to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love our neighbors as ourselves. Scripture goes on to say that we love Him because He first loved us. God’s ultimate destiny for our lives is that His unfailing love pulsate within us and influence all that we are, all that we feel, all that we think, all that we say, and all!
that we do.
I wonder what would have happened had the surgeon not tapped a steady rhythm on the transplanted heart. Would it ever have beat as desired? This surgeon knew that regardless of the many hours of surgery and the skill of the surgical team, in the end, the critical need was to retrain this vessel to beat as designed. And with the whole team watching, the surgeon calmly began the process of gently reminding the heart of its destiny. Patiently he tapped the life-sustaining rhythm into existence. And all celebrated!<SPAN style="FONT-S!
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Like this surgeon, God knows exactly what retraining is needed in each of our lives. We are vessels designed to house and minister His Holy Presence. Is the Lord leading you into a process of being gently reminded of your destiny in Him? Will you yield to His rhythm? Know that He will calmly and patiently tap the life-sustaining rhythm of His Love into your existence. And all will celebrate!
1 Kings 8:58 -- (Message) May he keep us centered and devoted to him, following the life path he has cleared, watching the signposts, walking at the pace and rhythms he laid down for our ancestors.
(NKJV) that He may incline our hearts to Himself, to walk in all His ways, and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His judgments, which He commanded our fathers.
1 Samuel 13:14 …The LORD has sought for Himself a man after His own heart…
FROM THE BREAD at http://thebreadblog.blogspot.com/
ON THE LIGHTER SIDE:
SPENDING TIME WITH GOD!
One day Jesus told His disciples a story to illustrate their need for constant prayer and to show them that they must never give up….” Lk. 18:1 (Life Application Study Bible)
“Daddy, how much do you make an hour?” the little boy asked. “It doesn’t matter, I’m busy, why don’t you go play?” Dad replied. Later that evening as the boy was going to bed, he asked, “Daddy, won’t you tell me how much you make an hour?” “$20 an hour,” answered the father. Now let’s go to bed. As the father put the little boy to bed, the son asked, “Daddy, can you loan me $10?” The father said, “No, a child your age doesn’t need $10.” Then the father retired to his own bedroom. In the quiet of darkness, the father reflected back to his son’s odd question. The little boy heard a knock on his bedroom door. It was his Dad. The father walked over to the boy saying, “Son, I don’t understand your request, but here’s the $10 you asked for.” The boy said, “Great!” reaching under his !
pillow he pulled out another $10 and said, ”Now I have enough! Daddy, can I buy an hour of your time?”
Not only is this a reminder of the importance of our spending time with our families, but also a reminder of the importance of spending time with our Heavenly Father. If you feel empty, if you feel out of direction, if you feel confused, if you don’t feel as fulfilled as you’d like…first review the amount of time you’re spending (or not spending) with your Heavenly Father. Not only should we review the total time we spend interacting with our Heavenly Father daily, but also look at how many times throughout the day we interact with our Father. As a good physical diet consists of several meals throughout the day rather than one large meal, so it is with our spiritual health: focus on spending time with the Father many times from your waking moment to when you fall asleep.
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