A question I ponder often.  What would it truly look like if I could love God with all my heart, my mind and my strength?  How would my reactions to others be different?  “The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might” (Deuteronomy 6:4-5).  Yet, how?  I so long to know and to live that. Despite that being my desire, I find myself at times distracted by the things of this world.  A conflict, a response to others, a selfish thought, pain, sorrow, and my own failure of heart to love with that intensity anything.  Though I know only God can transform my heart to look like His. But how long will it take? Sometimes it feels like forever.

It would seem at times that when more of His tenderness presents itself within my heart, it too reveals another area of stoniness.  And I know that any failure to look like Jesus, is a failure of my loving Him fully as I should.  Saturday, I went to the Holy Land Experience where the play was about Simon Peter.  At the end, Peter ran forward singing a song to Jesus as he entered heaven and Jesus embraced him.  That song spoke of God’s love, mercy and grace to one undeserving sinner and I wept bitterly for that portrayed me as well.

King Josiah was one whom the Bible tells us ^“like unto him was there no king before him, that turned to the Lord with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the law of Moses; neither after him arose there any like him” (2 Kings 23:25).

Love God with All his Heart

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What does it take to have a transformed heart? And what would that look like?  The Children of Israel are urged throughout Deuteronomy to remember where they have been.  Moses pleads with them to remember the goodness of God in the wilderness so that they would remember the Lord, He is God and there is none other. But the sad part is, after all that they had seen, they still did not fully see God as precious, one to be treasured—hence why they kept falling so easily into idolatrous worship.  Their minds were closed.  Had they fully understood, they would have loved Him.  And how would they show that love?

Obedience honors God.  Rejoicing in Him honors God.  And loving God with all your heart, mind, and strength honors God.  But how do we get a transformed heart?  Can we do that on our own? The children of Israel could not as we see in Deuteronomy 29:26

A Hardened Heart

“You have seen all that the Lord did before your eyes in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to all his land— ³ the great trials which your eyes have seen, the signs, and those great wonders. ⁴ Yet the Lord has not given you a heart to ^[a]perceive and eyes to see and ears to hear, to this very day. ⁵ And I have led you forty years in the wilderness. Your clothes have not worn out on you, and your sandals have not worn out on your feet. ⁶ You have not eaten bread, nor have you drunk wine or similar drink, that you may know that I am the Lord your God.  Deuteronomy 29:2-6 (NKJV)

What had it taken for these people to be prepared to go into the promised land?  They had walked through the wilderness, facing trials, difficulties, and tests.  Many had fallen along the way due to unbelief, blatant disobedience, and failure to love God as their greatest treasure.

³⁰ The Lord your God is about to go^[bl] ahead of you; he will fight for you, just as you saw him do in Egypt^[bm] 31 and in the wilderness, where you saw him^[bn] carrying you along like a man carries his son. This he did everywhere you went until you came to this very place.” ³² However, through all this you did not have confidence in the Lord your God, ³³ who would go before you on the way to find places for you to camp, appearing in a fire at night and in a cloud by day to show you the way you ought to go.  Deuteronomy 1:30 NKJV

A Transformed Heart

Ah, but Moses continued to warn them that when they do not see God as precious, then they will fail again.  Yet, there is hope.  If when they see all these things, they turn to look for God, He will restore them.  Furthermore,

the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live. Deuteronomy 30:6 NKJV

Cutting away the dead flesh surrounding our hearts at times can be a very painful process.  So, God alone can give us a transformed heart, one that can love Him with all our mind, our heart, and our strength.  Yet, He knows our joy is dependent on this.  Our joy can only be full when we find our creator in all His glory as our greatest treasure.

2 Corinthians 3:17-18

¹⁴ But their minds were closed.^[ac] For to this very day, the same veil remains when they hear the old covenant read.^[ad] It has not been removed because only in Christ is it taken away.^[ae] 15 But until this very day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their minds,^[af] 16 but when one^[ag] turns to the Lord, the veil is removed.^[ah] 17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is present,^[ai] there is freedom. ¹⁸ And we all, with unveiled faces reflecting the glory of the Lord,^[aj] are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another,^[ak] which is from^[al] the Lord, who is the Spirit.^[am]  2 Corinthians 3:14-18 NET

¹⁵ But even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart. ¹⁶ Nevertheless when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. ¹⁷ Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. ¹⁸ But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as ^[b]by the Spirit of the Lord.  2 Corinthians 3:15-18 NKJV

And we all having been unveiled in face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image, from glory to glory, even as from the Lord, the Spirit.  2 Corinthians 3:18 Berean Literal Study Bible

Concluding thoughts

A transformed heart can only be accomplished by God.  So, what is our part? To turn to Him, to seek Him, and to rejoice in Him. And when we have a transformed heart, we see and reflect His Glory to the world.  It is never our Glory; but His that shines forth to the world around us.  When we know that, we can even rejoice in the trials and sorrows; because we know He is through them transforming us until one day, I will look like Jesus.  One day, I will have a perfect transformed heart overflowing with joy, hope, faith, love and His Glory.

DO YOU KNOW CHRIST AS YOUR SAVIOR AND LORD?

If you don’t know Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord: I urge you to go to my page titled How to Be Saved by clicking on this link.  There is nothing more important than this; because,  He is the way, the truth and the life. Therefore, I urge you to seek Him today.

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Can You Really Know the Lord, He Is God?

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©Effie Darlene Barba, 2019
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New King James Version (NKJV)

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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It has been a fascinating journey at times on mountain peaks so high I can not imagine ever having doubt.  At other times, I have trudged through valleys that carried me into the depth of sorrow.  The wilderness, with all its uncertainties and questions, surrounded me at times.  Each step of the way along this journey, there has been one constant—that is the Lord He is God, there is no other.  In Deuteronomy, Moses reminded the nation of Israel of this truth.  Every step of their journey had one purpose. That they might really know the Lord He is God, there is no other. But the question then arises, does your heart really know that? Or does anything else capture your heart? Is He enthroned upon your heart?

How often did Moses warn the people not to allow their hearts to roam so far from God?  Yet, we tend to, just as they wander so easily.  Worries, concerns, and even grief enters our hearts; pulling our focus off Him and onto our momentary comforts.  Still, were we to recognize that trials come so we might run steadfastly into His arms of love.  For all who know Him and have tasted of His goodness, we find that even the wilderness has purpose.  Through it all, God reveals Himself to us that we might know the Lord, He is God and there is no other beside Him. Oh, how I long for the day that I might always rejoice in Him and never allow my heart to stray again or my mind to doubt.  Still, even when I do stray, He remains faithful to His covenant promise to me.  Sealed in the blood of Christ, I am forever His and He mine—no matter what.

When We Fall

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Our study moves us from the book of Numbers into Deuteronomy as I continue to follow the outlines for my life group.  That way I am sharing with you the thoughts as I prepare each lesson.  But as we move, I cannot help but notice Deuteronomy is quoted 195 times in the New Testament. Three times Jesus found strength in Deuteronomy, quoting from its text when confronted by Satan in the desert.  God’s word provides us with the strength to victoriously respond to Satan.  So, it is fitting today to look at Deuteronomy and derive from its rich pages 3 things one must do in a crazy world such as we live: Remember, Hold Fast to God’s Truth, and Rejoice in Him alone.

We are surrounded by trials, temptations, false prophets, and even demons whom Satan would wield against us.  His fiery darts flying at us from all sides.

So, what are 3 things we must do as represented in Deuteronomy? I believe Deuteronomy tells us we must remember, we must hold fast to the Truth of God, and we must rejoice in Him Alone.  That is how we find hope, strength, joy, and victory in a crazy world that is hell bent on destroying our faith.  For that is where we live.  Fiery darts come at us from all sides; but we can rest assured that God has already secured our victory, if we know Him.  So, all these battles along the way are only bringing us closer to Him.  The annoyances, the constant pressure pushes us closer to Him if only we remember, hold fast, and rejoice in Him Alone.

Deuteronomy is filled with wondrous sermons and songs, all to bring the Children of Israel to remember, hold fast to truth, and to rejoice in God Alone.

REMEMBER

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