My One Word 2019 – Guard Your Heart 4/22-24

Proverbs 4:23 English Standard Version (ESV)
23 Keep your heart with all vigilance,
for from it flow the springs of life.

Guard your heart.
Wow.
As I was working through the additional Lent blogs, of which, I only added a handful, I was struck how many times that someone wasn’t guarding their heart.

Judas – he wasn’t guarding his heart. He was known to be a liar, and thief.
Peter – he wasn’t guarding his heart when he denied Christ 3 times before the cock crowed.
Martha – she wasn’t guarding her heart when she said to Jesus “Master – go straighten out Mary!”
Jonah wasn’t guarding his heart when he was sent to Nineveh – I did a whole study on Jonah in Itty Bitty Bible Study!
Abraham – he wasn’t guarding his heart when Sarah suggested Hagar to carry their child.
Miriam and Aaron weren’t guarding their hearts when they spoke against Moses.
Job – he wasn’t guarding his heart when he was depressed. Somewhere in there, God was stirred up in a whirlwind, and spoke to Job, and he repented!
David – he wasn’t guarding his heart when he called Bathsheba to the palace.
on and on and on and on throughout scripture we can see that humanity is as it has done since the day Eve didn’t guard her heart and had a talk with the devil, and since Adam didn’t stand up for what God had told him, and he followed along with Eve. First peer pressure!

My current situation – here is the prayer I’ve been sending around:

Prayer warriors…a request..for the week of April 21, 2019
Nutshell…travel Sunday, Thursday and Sunday,and Monday.
Procedures Tuesday and Friday.
Next week Jim has two procedures. We have much travel. We would like you to agree with us in prayer:
Our Travels would be blessed and all protected, all pilots will be rested, and alert.
Machinery, both for travel and for surgery, will perform at top standards or higher.
Doctors and medical staff will be alert, clear headed, well rested and not ill.
Jim and i would have the peace that passes understanding as we abide in Jesus, our prince of peace.
I would walk in manifestation of health, i say no to vertigo, migraines, any dizziness or ear pain. I say that Jesus took those stripes so that i am healed!
I declare life to Jim’s body, in Jesus’s name.
I confess that cancer must leave, in Jesus’s name.
I speak peace and confidence because of our position with God the father, because of the blood of Jesus Christ.
I pray that through this challenge, our love for each other, and our love for Jehovah God will grow exponentially.

Thank you all for your prayers. I’m going to tag a few of you… share a you see fit.

I am confessing God’s promises.

Passover.
Friday, April 19, 2019 was the first night of Passover.
The thing about Passover is that Moses told the people to sacrifice a lamb, and to put the blood on the doorposts to warn the death angel that this home was covered by the blood price God demanded for sin.

Death and disease came into this world because of sin.

I’m not saying that Jim or I or anyone else has cancer because of THEIR sin – but that this world has fallen so far from the Paradise that God intended, and our bodies were not made to excel in this environment. It’s why they lived longer and longer as you go back closer and closer to the Creation.

Then the flood – because of sin.
Then, man couldn’t live as long anymore.
And, they didn’t have fast food and coffee places on every corner!

This is a fallen world.
You and I are fallen humans.
Our bodies are no longer as strong as they once were. From the day we are born, our bodies go about dying.
I could delve into the whole genetics and how we are losing our genetic resilience (Jim could add the pod case about folks getting dumber) but, I want to get back to the Bible.

Jim has death in his body called cancer.
Jim gave his life to Jesus Christ – 1975.
Jim’s sins were covered by the blood of Jesus the day he invited Jesus into his heart.
Jim’s healing was purchased by the stripes on Jesus’ back.
Jesus said on the cross – IT IS FINISHED.

BECAUSE JIM HAS THE BLOOD OF JESUS ON HIS SOUL, THE DEATH ANGEL, OR DEVIL, HAS TO PASS OVER BECAUSE HE IS A CHILD OF GOD!

What happened next to the Israelite/Hebrews? They were set free from the slavery of Egypt.

I believe that cancer is a type of Egypt – something that sucks the life out of you, and beats you down.
I believe that Jesus came to deliver us from our Egypts. Yes, that means sin and the punishment for that sin. But we also have the promise that by his stripes we WERE healed!

I’m going to back down a little bit…do you always see the manifestation of your healing in this lifetime? obviously, no.
Do I know why? Sometimes, in my life, I do.
Other times, I don’t.
Other times, I get really upset that I do not see the answer.

This is when I need to guard my heart.

What do I believe? Here’s a simple answer:

I believe in God, the Father almighty,
creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried;
he descended to the dead.
On the third day he rose again;
he ascended into heaven,
he is seated at the right hand of the Father,
and he will come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic Church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting. Amen.
The Apostles Creed

I also believe that the Bible is the word of God, add verse about all scripture….

It says that I can ask what I will and it shall be given unto me, if I ask in Jesus’ name.

In our life, we have seen children raised from the dead(possibly me…), broken bones healed, sicknesses removed and many other things. We have also seen certain physical issues NOT get taken away, or removed.
do we give up?

this is where I have to guard my heart….it says that he that endures to the end….

Does it mean the Bible isn’t true?
This is where I have to guard my heart…it’s an act of faith.

Faith is the substance of things hoped for, and the evidence of things not seen.
Without faith, it is impossible to please God.

Faith is a choice.
Love is a choice.
believing that My Father God, who has given me so many good gifts, is a bad God because of the few things that I haven’t gotten, or the sickness or disabilities he has chosen not to heal (on my timeline) is to not love God, to not have faith in God, and to not be patient with God.

I am believing for the Passover of Jim’s bodily struggle from this fallen world.
I am believing for Jim to be brought out with silver, and with gold, and not be feeble ever again…
I am believing that we will both enter into the promise land, by faith in the person of Jesus Christ.

guard my heart – for out of it flow the wellsprings of life….

Psalm 19:14 King James Version (KJV)
14 Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength, and my redeemer.

Proverbs 18:21 King James Version (KJV)
21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.

James 3 says a lot about the dangers of the tongue.

Deuteronomy 30:15-20(NIV) – specifically:
19 This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live 20 and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the Lord is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

Today, I choose life!

Joshua 24:14-15 King James Version (KJV)
14 Now therefore fear the Lord, and serve him in sincerity and in truth: and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood, and in Egypt; and serve ye the Lord.

15 And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

As for me and my house – we will serve the Lord!

We place the blood of Jesus upon the doorposts of our heart.
We declare the protection of the Angel of the Lord.
We command, in Jesus’ name, the death angel to pass over our home and family!

Today is day three of our medical week.
first flight – excellent.
first procedure – accomplished well, and Jim is in little pain.
Tomorrow is the flight out of the country.
Friday is the big procedure for Jim.
Saturday is a recovery day.
Sunday is a flight back to the states.
Monday is a flight from Orlando to Pittsburgh and back home.

Time for praising!

I’m doing some editing from Cancun, Mexico, as Jim is in the operating room for HIFU.

Therefore, this is actually day five of our medical week.

I’m sitting outside of the hospital cafeteria, listening to the birds and construction.  I am at Peace!

Hi!
My hope in the midst of despair and my joy in the face of depression is because of my relationship with Jesus Christ. If you do not have one, or are not sure you will join him in heaven, please check out these links.

Thanks for joining me in this journey,
In His hands and under His wings,
~Christi
Ps 63:7 Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings.

“The Lord does not give me rules, but He makes His standard very clear.
If my relationship to Him is that of love, I will do what He says without hesitation.
If I hesitate, it is because I love someone I have placed in competition with Him, namely, myself.” – from My Utmost for His highest

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