The Spirit Living in Our Heart

We are a proud people. We boast about our possessions, successes, children, and heritage. But about power in our weakness? Not so much. I’m hard-pressed to think of anyone who brags about their frailties, including me.

Isn’t it interesting that the apostle Paul confidently boasted of his weaknesses? It raises some critical questions. Could our misplaced boasting be the key to understanding why we don’t fully experience God’s power? Too often, we take pride in temporary possessions that hold no eternal value—things that moth and rust destroy.

In God’s economy, the way up is down. He opposes the proud and elevates the humble. His ways are loftier and often opposed to our own. We esteem strength, beauty, and achievements. Yet God is drawn to the humble, the outcast, the weak. Acknowledging our weaknesses to God doesn’t cause Him to look at us with disdain, much as society is prone to do. God doesn’t chastise us for being weak. On the contrary, He’s drawn to the lowly, the feeble, and downtrodden.

For too long, I’ve concealed my weaknesses from God and others as if God were unaware. My lack of faithfulness and fear have impeded my effectiveness when God has asked me to move forward. I wrongly believed He was disappointed with my inability to step out in faith. It wasn’t until I moved forward despite my fear that I experienced His grace, which was more than enough.

Let’s take inspiration from Paul’s life and follow his example (2 Corinthians 2:9). Confessing our weaknesses is not a process of shame but of deep spiritual growth. When we’re honest with God, it draws His heart toward us and opens the door for lasting transformation. A transformation that will inspire others to marvel at God’s immeasurable power at work in previously weak areas in our lives.

Turn to God with an open heart and acknowledge your needs. Only then can you experience God’s power and grace. 

I met my husband in my mid-thirties. Now, I know it was well worth the wait, and I can see God’s wisdom in His timing. Back then, however, I struggled to maintain hope and belief. Life until that time seemed to be a consistent string of pain and disappointment.

While waiting, I felt inspired to buy a ring that symbolized there being good in my future, something that represented God still having good plans for me. The ring only cost fifty dollars on a clearance sale, but what it cost me was the decision to believe and maintain hope when it looked as if there was no reason to hope.

The day I bought that ring, I went to my car after leaving the store, wept, and prayed. My heart had only strings of hope to hold on to, and my faith was certainly no larger than a mustard seed. But … well, we know what God can do with that. Within two years, I was married to my husband, a man who far surpassed my hopes and dreams.

Our hearts need to know that good awaits us. Faith gives us the courage to ask, seek, and believe God to bring about the dreams He has placed in our hearts.

When we face loss, that’s often all we can see. Fear tells us there is no reason to hope, no purpose to go forward, but that’s a lie. We need to take steps forward to eventually achieve a positive outcome. Our happy ending in any area of life depends on seeking God, asking for His wisdom, and obeying His direction (Matthew 7:7).

We can’t give up. If we give up, there really is no hope, but if we keep moving forward and take our lives in the direction God has chosen, we can know beyond a shadow of a doubt that doors of good will open.

In what area of life do you need to stir up your faith again? Seek God to learn what He wants you to do next and move forward with hope.

As an American, my national tree is the oak tree. There are many species of oak, some deciduous and some evergreen. These oaks produce thirty-eight different kinds of fruit known as acorns.

But oaks are prone to a disease called heart rot. This is a fungal disease that affects the tree’s central core. As a result, the infected tree slowly deteriorates as it rots from the inside out. Sometimes, the tree looks strong and healthy from the outside, but soon it will fall, revealing its actual, dead state. Even the acorns are rotten inside.

Similarly, Jesus speaks of true faith and true believers as contrasted with false faith and false believers (Matthew 7:19-20). The false believers are like diseased trees that produce bad fruit. Jesus says we can recognize people by their works—good and bad. Nevertheless, God will judge sin and cut down and burn all the dead trees. All of us have rotten hearts and are dead in our sins when we defy the holy and just God.

Jesus, however, always provides hope for the broken and rotten heart. He tells His followers that He is the vine, and they are the branches. When we abide in Him, we will bear much fruit. We are no longer dead trees because our branches are connected to the vine: the Lord Jesus.

Jesus’s roots hold living waters. Only from Him comes eternal life, and the branch will never wither away from the everlasting vine. In love, He laid down His life for us—His friends.

You can be a dead tree or a living branch connected to the everlasting vine. Only through Jesus, the everlasting vine, can you produce good fruit. Be a branch.

The days of getting up and being ready in fifteen minutes have vanished.

Although I’m in relatively good health, my life cycle has changed. This fact dawned on me one morning when it seemed I simply could not get ready.

A diagnosis of glaucoma and dry eye disease means I must use three types of drops daily. One twice a day, another once a day, and still another several times a day. Keeping up with the schedule taxes my brain.

Patches of extremely dry skin also resulted in a prescription cream that I had to apply twice daily for two weeks, with two weeks off before repeating the treatment.

And then there are the pills I swallow. One to control my acid reflux. A daily aspirin because I’m over fifty, along with the daily vitamin to make sure I get what I might not through food. Add a beta blocker to regulate my Tachycardia. Finishing off the list is another over-the-counter acid reducer to help the prescription-strength one. Of course, there are more for other age-related issues, but you get the picture.  

I shouldn’t complain—and usually don’t. Others are worse off than me. My wife has a pouch full of medicine she must take daily to deal with health issues far more severe than mine. And those with rare diseases or other life-altering medical issues can top her—such as my brother who has Parkinson’s.

Reading what Paul says is comforting—and should be for all who have reached the later life cycle or are suffering with life-altering medical challenges (2 Corinthians 5:1). I may not spend as much time as some do dolling up certain parts of my body or toning my muscles, but I don't neglect it through unhealthy habits either. Regardless, my body will do what bodies do: age, change, and eventually die.

We can’t keep these bodies alive, but God can—and will. Just not in their present form. When we die, or when Christ returns, our bodies will be transformed and fitted for our eternal home. A home where no pain, sickness, disease, medicine, or death will inhabit. Nor will there be any more life cycles.

Enjoy the life cycles—despite the changes they bring. They mean you are one step closer to eternity.

I have a confession: I don’t embrace interruptions delightfully. Truthfully, my best days are focused, productive, and distraction-free. There, I said it. Perhaps this is your confession as well.

For the most part, this mindset works to my benefit. Yet, admittedly, there are times when I would do well to embrace life’s interruptions. And for me, one Friday was one of those times.

On that day, it snowed in my state—a rarity but a welcome, lovely surprise. Schools and many businesses closed, and there was a buzz of excitement in our town as everyone prepared for the snow.

Although we didn’t get a lot of snow, we had enough to enjoy for one lovely day. When the flurries began, I ceased working, went outside, and enjoyed the excited squeals of children on my street. Later in the afternoon, when the snow was still falling, my husband and I walked through our neighborhood and, once again, I watched children play, slide on makeshift cardboard toboggans, and even build a snowman. How they managed this with the little bit of snow we had, I can’t say. But I can say I was delighted with the entire experience. 

As I reflect upon this, I realize how much it must thrill God’s heart when we delight in Him, in His creation, and in the simple pleasure He provides.

This verse was King David’s words, written from personal experience as a man who loved God supremely and found his greatest joy in Him (Psalm 37:4). Yet David wasn’t advocating this as a means of receiving whatever we want. Instead, he was saying that delighting in God transforms our hearts to conform to His. And when this happens, we delight in what God desires for us, which is always the best, most blessed things in life. Things like snow days.

So, while it’s admirable to stay on task and work wholeheartedly in whatever we do, there are other times when we’re wise to embrace life’s surprises. And if we do this, we may find ourselves delightfully interrupted and wonderfully blessed.