Proverbs 23:26 (NIV) ~ My son, give me your heart. 

The heart is where our emotions come from, it is where we feel and are touched by the things of life. The Bible says in Psalm 86:11 (NIV), “Teach me your way, O LORD, and I will walk in your truth; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name.” It is with the heart that we believe in Jesus, and it is with a willing heart that we follow Jesus. A heart full of love for God that flows with compassion is what God desires to work with; a heart full of kingdom living principals, with pure holy motives.

Yet, the heart can be very fragile, it can be easily broken. Though we see pictures of a heart and the shape of it as a romantic gesture, the truth is the natural shape of someone’s heart from their body is just a muscle with many valves to pump the blood around the body. However, life flows from the heart.  It is better to have a heart of flesh than a heart of stone. The Bible says in Deuteronomy 6:5 (NIV), “Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.” Notice if you will that to love God begins with loving Him with all your heart. The Bible also says in 1 Peter 3:15 (NIV), “But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord.” 

God cares about your heart. He cares about the deep things from your heart and the things that cause your heart pain. The safest place for your heart to be is within the hands of Jesus, who is the Healer of the broken-hearted. 

My friend, in our text for today, God is kindly saying in all wisdom from Proverbs 23:26 (NIV), “My son, give me your heart.”  And more than that, He’s saying, “Give me your heart and let me keep it safe.” Will your response be as the lyrics of this song by Darlene Zschech: 

This is my desire, to honour you; Lord, with all my heart I worship you,

All I have within me, I give you praise, all that I adore is in you,

Lord, I give you my heart, I give you my soul. 

God bless you my friend, Matthew

Isaiah 66:8 (KJV) ~ For as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children. “Shall I bring to the birth and not cause to bring forth?” saith the LORD. 

Shall God give you a promise and not let it come to pass? Lord, forbid us to think such a wicked thought. For the LORD has promised in Isaiah 53:11 (NIV), “…So is my word that goes out from my mouth. It will not return to me empty but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.” 

Just like a woman in labour, sometimes she will experience struggles and pain, yet the end result is worth it all, for the joy of giving birth supersedes the pain of labour. So it is when you conceive a dream or vision in your heart, it grows inside of you. Then, when the time is right, there may be many painful struggles and many a night travailing in prayer. Giving birth to something can be a labour of love. There may be tears during the night, but joy comes in the morning. 

When you set out to pray for a loved one who is still not saved, or who has wandered away from the Lord, you may experience a lot of travailing in prayer, a lot of painful heartache about your loved ones, before the Lord. But keep being faithful, for your prayers will be answered by a faithful God who hears your cry for those you love, as our text for today says in Isaiah 66:8 (KJV), “For as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children. ‘Shall I bring to the birth and not cause to bring forth?’ saith the LORD.” God is a faithful God, and as you are faithful in prayer for a new birth, or a lost soul returning to the home of our Father God, your labour of love will be rewarded.

Furthermore, we can believe God for a new birth of a church, a new church planting programme. It all starts off in prayer when someone conceives in his or her spirit, a dream from God, to plant a new church, or give birth to something new within the church. There may be pain and some struggles, there may even be opposition to your wanting to see something new give birth, but do not give up, keep travailing in prayer and when the time is right it will be born. Notice if you will the wording from our text for today in Isaiah 66:8 (KJV), “she brought forth children.” God will cause an abundance of blessing to come upon your dreams and your willingness to believe Him for something new. 

My friend, what a beautiful picture that is painted for us today from the stroke of a pen from the Holy Spirit that God is a faithful God. When we conceive things from God in the spirit and nurture them by faith and travail in prayer, He will bring to birth new beginnings in the Kingdom and dreams bursting forth into reality. 

God bless you my friend, Matthew.