Increasing Love and Faith Toward God 298

Transcription

1 Increasing Love and Faith Toward God 298 Heart-training with diagrams Repentance According to Grace Barry Hall 2008 A lifestyle of repentance is a continual process of trading earthly glory sources for the presence of God. Repentance means to change our mind. Repentance is effective when we change the beliefs, loves, and the fears of our heart. We do that by speaking truth out loud, listening to what we are saying, and by letting the truth sink down deep into our heart:...faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ. (Rom. 10:17)....confess with your mouth...and believe in your heart... (Rom. 10:9). for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness... (Rom. 10:10)....and will assure our heart before Him in whatever our heart condemns us; for God is greater than our heart and knows all things. Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God (1 John 3:19-21). Delight yourself in the Lord... (Psa. 37:4). So take diligent heed...to love the Lord... (Jos. 23:11). for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. (Mat. 6:21). The repentance that God desires is without regret:...the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret... (2 Cor. 7:10). So, God wants us to feel sorrow for sin but it is NOT God s will for us to repent by how bad we make ourselves feel for sin. The focus for repentance is our heart, not our outer behavior. Behavior is the result, not the cause:...the heart of man reflects man. (Pro. 27:19). They always go astray in their heart... (Heb. 3:10)....from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the...evil things... (Mark 7:21-23a). Teach your heart to believe that the payback for repentance is so great that turning our dependance away from earthly glory and sin is a price well worth paying;...repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord (Acts 3:19). So repentance is more than stopping the bad behaviors! Repentance includes changing our mind about God s grace and our being able to enter before God. If repentance hasn t taken us to deeper levels of experiencing God, it isn t really complete yet. So, read the statements on these pages out loud and listen to what you are saying. At each (pause) stop and rest into letting your heart believe. Don t worry about having to do everything perfectly, only believe to the extent that you are able at the moment. Then, move on to the next statement. Just be sure to use the (pause) for time to think about what you just said, and for letting your heart believe and love the truth of it. Please also note that while these are called levels of loving God, don t make the mistake of moving from one level to the next and leaving the earlier ones behind. The first goal (mostly levels 1-2) is for you to use these pages as a tool to re-train your heart until you change from wanting, and from working to achieve a sense of having human glory in order to feed yourself by subtle forms of self-directed praise. If you haven t been diligent applying these things for the first 2 levels, levels 3 and 4 won t seem realistic for you at all. John 5:44 (NASB) explains why it works this way. The second goal (mostly levels 3 and 4, but 1-2 are prerequisite) is to re-train your heart until you are able to rest into confident faith changing to a place of being free to confidently believe that the grace of God is so great that you are able to continually receive the glory that is the presence of God. By this you will be living in the realm of the kingdom of God and praising God s glory HERE (instead of praising your human glory). The Bible calls it living to the praise of His glory (Eph. 1:12) and also living to the praise of the glory of His grace (Eph. 1:6). More information about doing this is available on the website or in the ebook called Come and Drink. Important: Keep using levels 1-3 until you come to a place of freely being able to believe that you can and then actually have entered the throne room with the heavenly realm all around and in you here. As you stand before the Father, trust that Jesus is presenting you to the Father and that you are inside the Holy Spirit all around you. What if you don t feel like rejoicing about the truth? It is treating the truth honestly to thank God for what you know to be true in your head even when you don t feel like it. The truth is worthy of delight and passion in your tone of voice even when your heart isn t there yet! There are spiritual exercises in the appendix of the Hearttraining book for helping you to enter and receive the presence of God. Please keep in mind that these exercises will work best AFTER you have used the diagrams to help direct your heart toward God.

2 Increasing Love and Faith Toward God 299 Level 1: God is and God is NOT God is (Your name), God is good, it is evil that is evil....the Lord is good... (Psa. 135:3)....Holy is He. (Psa. 99:3). Heart, believe in...the tender mercy of our God... (Luke 1:78). Heart hear and believe that It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in man. (Psa. 118:8)....the Lord is good; how blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him! (Psa. 34:8).... (Your name), I humble myself into believing this truth: God...has not despised...the afflicted; neither has He hidden His face from him... (Psa. 22:24)....My heart trusts in Him, and I am helped... (Psa. 28:7). Heart hear this: The Lord is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble (Psa. 9:9 NIV). And,...God...comforts the depressed... (2 Cor. 7:6). He is...the Father of mercies and God of all comfort (2 Cor. 1:3).... (Your name), hear this! God loves me because it says,...the Lord loves His people... (2 Chron 2:11). God s love includes me because IT IS WRITTEN:...great is your love toward me... (Psa. 86:13 NIV).... (Your name), let yourself hear and believe that...none of those who take refuge in Him will be condemned (Psa. 34:22). It is safe for me to trust God because...those who know Your name will put their trust in You, for You, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek You (Psa. 9:10). IT IS WRITTEN that...he will not fail you... (Deut. 4:31) and, I submit into believing that these truths apply to me.... (Your name), I am confident and secure in the truth because, IT IS WRITTEN about God that...i will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you (Heb. 13:5). And,...the Lord will not abandon His people on account of His great name... (1 Sam. 12:22). I love the truth and I let myself believe that...the Lord will not abandon His people, nor will He forsake [us, as] His inheritance. (Psa. 94:14). Lord, YOU are...the Shepherd and Guardian of [my soul]. (1 Peter 2:25).... (Your name), I can trust God because He does not lie;...has He spoken, and will He not make it good? (Num. 23:19). And, God is not a man, that He should lie... (Num. 23:19); IT IS WRITTEN that He is...god, who cannot lie... (Titus 1:2). And, heart listen and let yourself hear that...the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect (Rom. 12:2). My God is NOT... My God is not like other people. Heart let yourself hear and believe that my God is NOT (from the diagram) (pause).

3 Increasing Love and Faith Toward God 300 Level 2: Turning From Idolatry of the Heart Fill in the blanks with something from one of the diagrams below. Pause at the end of each sentence and give yourself time to hear and believe what you just said. Have fun directing your heart toward God with joy! Listen to yourself and rest into faith! (One of these...) I thank YOU Lord! I love that I don t have to get the power, stress relief, or pleasure I need from sin. (pause)... I love that I don t have to feed on my human glory or worship myself because of (from the diagram) (pause)... I thank YOU Lord, I love that I don t have to find pride or be validated by (from the diagram) (pause)... I repent of reassuring myself and finding the protection I need by faith in (from the diagram) (pause)... I grab my heart and I turn it from finding the pleasure and thrill I need by (from the diagram) (pause)... I turn my heart to love that I don t have to find excitement and delight by (from the diagram) (pause)... I love that I don t have to get the power or the confidence I need by faith in (from the diagram) (pause)... (Then this...) And I trade drinking from these things for receiving God s presence. I determine to enjoy You far more (pause)...

4 Increasing Love and Faith Toward God 301 Levels 1-4, Heart-training with related Bible verses Lord Jesus, I praise You for being the way, the truth and the life and that I CAN come to the Father because of You (pause). In order to turn away from earthly things and sin, I turn my heart to believe and love Your grace that lets me,...put on the armor of light...put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts. (Rom. 13:12 and 14). It is Your grace Father that lets me freely receive the Holy Spirit who comes from You and who radiates from Jesus (pause) (Your name), I am trading earthly glories for the glory of God s presence;...glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh, (Phil. 3:3); Glory in His holy name; let the heart of those who seek the Lord be glad. (1 Chron. 16:10):...the nations will bless themselves in Him, and in Him they will glory. (Jer. 4:2)......the Lord gives grace and glory... (Psalm 84:11). (Note: God gives the glory that is His presence. God does NOT give the glory that belongs to Him in worship.)... (Your name), I turn my heart from disbelief and self-protection I turn from hopelessness and discouragement about my being able to receive the presence of God (pause);...seek first His kingdom and His righteousness... (Matt. 6:33). Thank You Jesus for the truth! Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has chosen gladly to give you the kingdom. (Luke 12:32); Draw near to God and He will draw near to you... (James 4:8). And, Jesus died...so that He might bring us to God... : Jesus said...no one comes to the Father but through Me (John 14:6); I...have confidence to enter the holy place... (Heb. 10:19) because...through Him we...have our access in one Spirit to the Father (Eph. 2:18);...we have boldness and confident access through faith in Him (Eph. 3:12);...he who comes to God must believe...that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him. (Heb. 11:6)....draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need (Heb. 4:16);...we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus...draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean and our bodies washed with pure water. (Heb. 10:19, 22).... (Your name), I turn my heart from disbelief and fear about being able to rest confidently, open up and receive the presence of God. I delight in the truth that Jesus made a way for me to draw near and that God WILL draw near to me (pause). (Your Name),...do not be negligent now, for the Lord has chosen you to stand before Him, to minister to Him, and to be His ministers... (2 Chron. 29:11); Rather than daydreaming of earthly glories and setting those before me, I can do what David did when he said, I have set the Lord continually before me; because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. (Psa. 16:8); Therefore, I boldly trust that I am entering (or, have entered ) into the throne room to come (or, stay ) before the Father. How precious is Your lovingkindness, O God! And the children of men take refuge in the shadow of Your wings. They drink their fill of the abundance of Your house; and You give them to drink of the river of Your delights. For with You is the fountain of life; in Your light we see light (Psa. 36:8,9);...come to the waters...delight yourself in abundance. (Isa. 55:1,2)....I am confident and secure about God because I can playfully...receive the kingdom of God like a child... (Luke 18:17);...on...the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, 'From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water. But this He spoke of the Spirit... (John 7:37-39)....You give them to drink of the river of Your delights. For with You is the fountain... (Psa. 36:8,9);...His Son...He is the radiance of His glory... (Heb. 1:2,3);...the fountain of living water, even the Lord. (Jer. 17:13) And, rather than daydreaming of earthly glories and enjoying those things, I determine to thrill myself with God s presence by doing what David did when he said, I have set the Lord continually before me; because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. (Psa. 16:8).

5 Increasing Love and Faith Toward God 302 Level 3: Oh God! I love what you do for me Think about the earthly benefit of being close to someone who makes you confident, or think about clothing that is identity and confidence to you, or think about a blanket that makes you feel secure. The goal here is to derive those same benefits from the closeness of God; do this by pausing at the end of each statement and thinking about the presence of God touching you and being that same benefit to you. I love that I don t have to find (from benefits) in sinful and idolatrous ways. And, I trade that for enjoying and loving God s presence far more. God thank you! I love that Your presence touching me is (from the benefits) (pause to think of His presence all around and touching you as being that benefit). Benefits: my escape and what relieves stress... my protection and reason to NOT be afraid... my confidence and what reassures me... my thrill and pleasure... my power and strength... my refuge and security... my goodness and perfection... what soothes and comforts me... my excitement and my greatest treasure... my significance... Oh God, I love that You love me and it thrills me that You let me love You back (pause). I rest confidently that the Holy Spirit flowing through me is a person who is [ being or wanting ] (from the diagram below). And, I rest into receiving the Spirit of God who is [ being or wanting ] (from the diagram below), that He is all over me, touching me, and in me (pause to think of His presence touching you as having the attributes you just said).

6 Increasing Love and Faith Toward God 303 Level 4: Being to the praise of God s glory and advancing His kingdom. Important: Apply the statements below while trusting that you are in the throne room (with your whole body HERE) standing before the Father with Jesus behind you and that Jesus is presenting you before the Father. to the end that we...would be to the praise of His glory (Eph 1:12); I turn my heart from living to the praise of my own human glory. And, I set my heart to continually sacrifice the internal praise that normally goes toward myself. Exalting myself is empty and meaningless. It doesn t count for eternity! And, it doesn t always have to be about what I get. It is by my drawing near and by thanks and praise for receiving the kingdom that I am able to offer a kingdom kind of service to God that is so great it creates a sense of awe:...since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe (Heb. 12:28). Since I am constantly drinking from something and since praise is always the result, I can give a sacrifice of praise toward God that is continual: Through Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name (Heb. 13:15) I admit my neediness and it is my childlike dependance on the presence of God that exalts and honors Him in heavenly realms. By turning my heart to depend on God, He becomes my God and that exalts and honors Him before vast numbers of saints in heaven and a huge audience of angelic and demonic rulers and authorities. I love that so many are watching....rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places (Eph. 3:10);...spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places (Eph. 6:12);...let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace... (Heb. 4:16); we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus (Heb. 10:19); Speaking of being in the throne room it says,...we have...witnesses surrounding us... (Heb. 12:1, examples of those in the heavenly audience are listed in Heb. 11). I love that I can...be to the praise of His glory... (Eph. 1:12). And, I delight that my childlike faith actually makes God feel pleased. I love the thrill from knowing that there truly is eternal value and significance in exalting and honoring God by my childlike dependance and faith toward Him. Instead of the empty and meaningless life of living to the praise of my own human glory, I set my heart to continually be to the praise of God s glory. And, I love that doing this has value for eternity. I love that I can draw near to You and that You draw near to me. God thank you! I love that God s presence touching me, (from the diagram below) (pause to think of His presence touching you as being what you just said). And, I rest into believing that You God are wanting to use me to demonstrate these things about You to the people around me. By faith Lord I am trusting You to do that and I am trusting that my eyes are on you to show me where, when, and how... (More of these verses and heart-training statements are in the Heart-training ebook in the section about our access to God. The Heart-training ebook is available for free upon request at )