THREE ESSENTIALS FOR AN UNTROUBLED HEART!

THREE ESSENTIALS FOR AN UNTROUBLED HEART!

John 14:1-3

14:1 Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.

2 In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.

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

Even the most faithful of God’s servants are subject to occasional troubled hearts. What troubles us is our own sin, the sin of others and the feeling that God is absent. Many are the tangled knots of circumstance that seem to defy solution. In our text the disciples had just been told that Jesus was going away and that they could not follow. Peter specifically was told that his faith would fail.

John 13:33-38

33 Little children, yet a little while I am with you. Ye shall seek me: and as I said unto the Jews, Whither I go, ye cannot come; so now I say to you.

34 A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.

35 By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.

36 Simon Peter said unto him, Lord, whither goest thou? Jesus answered him, Whither I go, thou canst not follow me now; but thou shalt follow me afterwards.

37 Peter said unto him, Lord, why cannot I follow thee now? I will lay down my life for thy sake.

38 Jesus answered him, Wilt thou lay down thy life for my sake? Verily, verily, I say unto thee, The cock shall not crow, till thou hast denied me thrice.

Now Jesus offers three essentials for an untroubled heart.

1. A FIRM FAITH IN GOD! “Ye believe in God…”

I am told that this can be read either in the indicative mode or the imperative and that it is best to read it in the imperative. As such it is a strong urging to not abandon one’s faith in God. Untroubled hearts are firmly convinced in the existence and goodness of God.

2. AN EQUAL FAITH IN JESUS! “Believe also in me…”

If we read the first indicative and the second imperative we read it this way. “Since ye already believe in God you must also believe in me.”

John 10:30 I and my Father are one.

 

3. A CONFIDENCE IN JESUS’ PROMISES! “I will come again…”

Samuel Goldwyn said, "A verbal agreement isn't worth the paper it's written on." No promise either verbal or written is of any value if the one making the promise is not a person of integrity. We can trust the promise because it is Jesus who makes it.

Ps 56:3

3 What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee.

Dear Lord, my only safe refuge is in you and your promises. When I am afraid let me trust in you. AMEN

GROW UP!

GROW UP!

Eph 4:15

15 But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:

Phil 2:3-4

3 Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.

4 Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.

          What is maturity really? In Ephesians, Paul indicates that it is courtesy in the midst of honesty. In Philippians, he says that it is humility coupled with selflessness.

          I think that maturity is the ability to balance your liberties with your responsibilities. If, in any situation, your liberty trumps your responsibility then you are acting immaturely. It is when we are able and willing to set aside personal liberties so that we may do what we should that we display maturity.

          The real measure of maturity comes down to the way we think. If we are always thinking of ourselves then we are acting childishly. If we are sensitive to others then we are on the road to maturity.

Dear Lord, let me have the mind of Christ today who humbled Himself for the sake of others. AMEN

SHARE THE NEWS – SHARE THE LIGHT!

SHARE THE NEWS – SHARE THE LIGHT!

2 Cor 4:6

6 For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

Do you see the three-step process in this verse? Focus on it once again. Do you see it? God is the source of light! He commanded his light to SHINE OUT. That light has SHINED IN our hearts but the result is that we must now GIVE THE LIGHT.

There is a story, supposedly true, of Rose Crawford who had been blind for 50 years. Then she had an operation in an Ontario hospital. She said "I just can’t believe it," as the doctor lifted the bandages from her eyes. She wept—when for the first time in her life a dazzling and beautiful world of form and color greeted her eyes and she could now see.

          The amazing thing about her story, however, was that 20 years of her blindness was unnecessary. She didn’t know that surgical techniques had been developed, and that an operation could have restored her vision at the age of 30.

          The Dr. said, "She just figured there was nothing that could be done for her condition. Much of her life could have been different." Rose did not know! The good news had not reached her.

Dear Lord, let me pray – give – and go so that those who sit in darkness may see the light. AMEN