The Heart's Necessity

What good is it for one blind man to lead another? He will fall into a ditch and pull the other down with him. How can a student know more than his teacher? But if he works hard, he may learn as much.
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The Essential Character
What kind of character do you have? Do you make assumptions about others? Are you easily moved by other people’s assumptions? In order to have sustainable and enjoyable relationships, you need a strong unmovable character.

Love is the foundation of a strong reliable character. Walking in love enables you to be patient and kind, never jealous or envious, never boastful or proud, never haughty, selfish or rude. You won’t be irritable or touchy and you won’t demand your own way when you walk in love. You can learn how to not hold grudges and you will learn how to hardly even notice when others do it wrong (1 Corinthians 13:4,5). To walk in love is to choose to do all of these things. To walk in love is to make life an enjoyment and to be able to enjoy others. To choose a good life, strength of character is in order.

Knowing the love of the Lord and relying on the strength of His character – joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and mercy – will manifest the very same character in your life. By concentrating on Him, your roots grow down into His truth and you may find nourishment from Him. The inevitable growth in the Lord and establishment of character is produced by relying solely on Him in mercy, grace, faith, and trust.

Take care to live in me and let me live in you. For a branch can’t produce fruit when severed from the vine. Nor can you be fruitful apart from me. Yes I am the Vine; you are the branches. Whoever lives in me and I in him shall produce a large crop of fruit. For apart from me you can’t do a thing.
-John 15:4-5

Are you easily moved and weighed down by your opinions and the opinions of others? If you rely only on the truth of the Lord’s judgment and love, then strength of character shall be yours. His demands are of mercy, grace, faith, and trust.
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And why quibble about the speck in someone else’s eye – his little fault – when a board is in your own? How can you think of saying to him, ‘Brother, let me help you get rid of that speck in your eye,’ when you can’t see past the board in yours? Hypocrite! First get rid of the board, and then perhaps you can see well enough to deal with his speck!
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Mercy
Mercy is the starting point if you want to understand the truth of the Lord’s judgment and love. You will understand mercy when you start to understand and believe that you need mercy just as anybody else would need it. Mercy begins with a sense of equality. Coming to terms with the fact that you in fact have fault will allow you enjoy being around others because then you can accept other’s faults as well.

Because we often do not fully understand our own circumstances nonetheless others the mercy you show others is based only on the fact that you are learning about your own life as is the next person about theirs. You have been given your own circumstances to deal with and to learn to live with. To accept your lot in life makes mercy a lot easier if you see it as including the people you’re involved with and how they treat you. Does anyone know what the best way is for others?

I said to myself, I’m going to quit complaining! I’ll keep quiet…but as I stood there silently the turmoil within me grew to the bursting point. The more I mused, the hotter the fires inside. Then at last I spoke, and pled with God: Lord help me to realize how brief my time on earth will be. Help me to know that I am here for but a moment more. My life is no longer than my hand! My whole lifetime is but a moment to you. Proud man! Frail as breath! A shadow! And all his busy rushing ends in nothing. He heaps up riches for someone else to spend. And so, Lord, my only hope is in you.
-Psalm 39:1-7

Forgiveness is an acceptance of someone else’s differences. The difference in their stage in life, the difference in their handling of things, the difference in your weaknesses; they are not better or worse than yours, just different. If you reserve your judgment then you can be open to the ways of the Lord.

In order for Him to show you His mercy, love, and faithfulness, you are to let Him show you where you are wrong. He will make all of your wrongs right is you are merciful to those around you and you leave judgment to Him.

Come to me and I will give you rest – all of you who work so hard beneath a heavy yoke. Wear my yoke – for it fits perfectly – and let me teach you; for I am gentle and humble and you shall find rest for your souls; for I give you only light burdens.
-Matthew 11:28-30

Showing mercy is what will change your heart and develop your character in all the right ways. If you take care to live in Him and believe in His mercy then the rest of you will fall into place.
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A tree from good stock doesn’t produce scrub fruit nor do trees from poor stock produce choice fruit. A tree is identified by the kind of fruit it produces. Figs never grow on thorns, or grapes on bramble bushes. A good man produces good deeds from a good heart. And an evil man produces evil deeds from his hidden wickedness. Whatever is in the heart overflows into speech.
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Grace
Mercy is the gateway to grace. The grace of God is living from day-to-day and moment-to-moment without regard to how people are behaving around you. You cannot expect yourself to never upset anyone and chances are, someone is going to upset you, so to ensure that you are doing as you should you can stay close to the Lord by yielding to His Spirit.

But you have received the Holy Spirit and He lives within you, in your hearts, so that you don’t need anyone to teach you what is right. For He teaches you all things, and His the Truth and no liar; and so just as He said, you must live in Christ, never to depart from Him.
-1 John 2:27

If you make a habit of relying on Him in everything for wisdom and comfort the truth becomes your reality. Grace will abound in your life when you rely on the wisdom from heaven. Delight thyself also in the Lord, and He shall give thee the desires of thine heart (Psalm 37:4). If you want to live in grace to a higher degree then learn about, yield to, and believe in His love and mercy until it becomes your truth.

…Jealousy and selfishness are not God’s kind of wisdom. …but the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure and full of quiet gentleness. Then it is peace loving and courteous. It allows discussion and it is willing to yield to others, it is full of mercy and good deeds. It is wholehearted and straightforward and sincere.
-James 15, 17

Grace gives one the ability not to say something when provoked. Grace is not trying to prove yourself nor trying to prove that someone else is wrong. Grace can give you the ability to enjoy people because you are looking to God for peace.

To experience a seemingly effortless success in all that you are involved the only effort you need to put forth is the belief in truth; yielding to the Spirit of the Lord is what makes all things work together for good.

Grace comes when you are bored with making a point. Grace comes when you accept your lot in life. Acceptance of where God has placed you can aid in your development of mercy. To believe and understand that God is in control of your life, whatever people do or say cannot affect you. Grace comes when you make room for God to do His work His way.

If you abandon and overlook negative thoughts, doubts, and fears, then the grace of God becomes your reality. The key to grace is maintaining a relationship with Christ. But when the Holy Spirit controls our lives He will produce this kind of fruit in us… (Galatians 5:22). He will produce grace in your life if you follow Him and stop asking questions and forming opinions.
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So why do you call me ‘Lord’ when you won’t obey me? But all those who come and listen and obey me are like a man who builds a house on a strong foundation laid upon the underlying rock. When the floodwaters rise and break against the house, it stands firm, for it is strongly built.
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Faith
faith
 noun 1 confident belief in the truth, value, or trustworthiness of a person, an idea, or a thing. 2 belief that does not rest on logical proof or material evidence. 3 loyalty to a person or a thing. 4 mental acceptance of the truth or actuality of something.

What is faith? It is the confident assurance that something we want is going to happen. It is the certainty that what we hope for is waiting for us; even though we cannot see it up ahead…you can never please God without faith, without depending on Him. Anyone who wants to come to God must believe that there is a God and that he rewards those who sincerely look for Him.
-Hebrews 11:1,6

Faith is the wisdom of heaven and the way God is able to move. It is easy to always find something wrong or some reason that things might not work out if you are depending on yourself. A mind set in faith believes and knows that God can and will satisfy your every need and desire. He can give you the spouse that’s just right or the job that’s just right if you yield to His Spirit in you.

Forming a habit of faith in God’s love is how to learn how to be wise. The life led in faith does not ask why this or that happens, but instead asks the Lord to handle it. Faith works so that “why?” does not matter. If you stop trying to figure everything out and understand or ‘grasp’ where someone is coming from, then accepting things on faith in God’s love will store up confidence in Him instead of your own wisdom. …the reverence and fear of God are basic to all wisdom. Knowing God results in every other kind of understanding (Proverbs 9:8-11). A sincere reverence and fear of God can hold you back from acting or speaking hastily, in which there is a lot of harm. Not because lightning bolts are going to come shooting down from heaven at you, but the consequences of disobedience are very close to the same, just not as physically harmful. If you want your life to display the evidence of God’s involvement then believe in the truth of faith in God’s love. If He, who knows and understands everything, cares for us, what is there to fear? If you want a strength of character that has no sensitiveness to pokes and prods and is not quick to take offense then rest in quietness and confidence in the Lord’s character, in who His is, in truth.

Everything you sustain in faith is a step closer to your promise. If you want all things to work together for your good, then love the Lord by setting your mind in faith in Him.
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But those who listen and don’t obey are like a man who builds a house without a foundation. When the floods weep down against that house, it crumbles into a heap of ruins.
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Trust

Because he loves me, I will rescue him; I will make him great because he trusts in my name. (Psalm 91:4, 14-16). If you know and believe His love and character to be a working truth then confidence and strength of character is your truth. An inevitable strength of character builds through reliance on the love of God.

For as you know Him better, He will give you, through His great power, everything you need for living a truly good life: He even shares His own glory and His own goodness with us! And by that same mighty power He has given us all the other rich and wonderful blessing He promised; for instance, the promise to save us from the lust and rottenness all around us, and to give us His own character. But to obtain these gifts you need more than faith.
-2 Peter 1:3-8

In order for your life to reveal God’s involvement, trust is to be added to faith. An adjustment in your attitude of heart and mind is what can enable your success in all aspects of your life. And if you want success then trusting the Lord in faith is what can alter your attitude, if you let it. Focusing on and considering only His character inevitably provides confidence in His abilities and love. If you let Him, He can free you from fear because He is the truth.

Since the Lord always does what He says He will do a firm reliance on Him will make your character unshakable thereby allowing Him to work.

Who can advise the Spirit of the Lord or be His teacher or give Him counsel? Has He ever needed anyone’s advice? Did He need instruction as to what is right and best…don’t you yet understand? Don’t you know by now that the everlasting God, the Creator of the farthest parts of the earth, never grows faint or weary? No one can fathom the depths of His understanding.
-Isaiah 40:13-14, 28

We tend to object to the people He places in our lives. We tend to object to our circumstances in which have been engineered for us. If you realize and understand that your circumstances and the people around you do not determine how reliable or faithful He is then nothing anyone can say or do will move you from trusting Him.

He listens in love, love for us and all those involved with us. He is fair in all His instruction; unbiased. He is tender and firm when He must. He knows and understands everything we fear. If you live in peace in trust in the Lord then you can be at peace with everyone as well. Trust enables the Lord to help through the wise instruction of mercy, grace, and faith, which saves us from evil snares that we can easily fall into in the midst of trouble (e.g. gossip and the feeling that everyone else is wrong instead of those in your own little group). If you trust Him entirely you can stop yourself from accidents that will damage your dreams and hopes, His promises. If you trust Him then He will show you that you can trust Him. He can be trusted, if only you will.
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Be Still
How do we avoid becoming our worst nightmare? Becoming worst nightmare is easy in the midst of problems or even times of peace. In order for a problem to be fixed, we must look to God, which takes patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. However tempting it is to regard the problem head on, the only way to eliminate any problem is to turn to God, and that means giving Him your problems and not thinking about them or trying to control them. Development of your character to tolerate any annoyance is done by allowing yourself to be close to God and developing your relationship with Him through mercy, grace, faith, and trust.

So much time is spent on trying to be patient, trying to be kind, good, faithful, gentle, and full of self-control when the solution for what we need is a relationship with the Lord. We behave as though it is up to us to decide which one we need most and at which time when they inevitably develop together when we maintain daily a close relationship with God in mercy, grace, faith, and trust. The fruits of the Spirit are the result of walking with and abiding in Christ, not the way to abide in Him.

I know I am rotten through and through so far as my old sinful nature is concerned. No matter which way I turn I can’t make myself do right. I want to but I can’t. When I want to do good, I don’t; and when I try not to do wrong, I do it any way.
-Romans 7:18-19

Since He waits for you to come to Him, once you surrender everything to Him - even your doubts, your fears, and concerns - He will always act on your behalf no matter how long it takes.

Realizing and believing in His character will inevitably give you the same kind of character because of confidence in Him. If you maintain confidence in Him then you can work with Him instead of against Him through your doubts, fears, and concerns.

I am radiant with joy because of your mercy, for you have listened to my troubles and have seen the crisis in my soul. You have not handed me over to my enemy, but have given me open ground in which to maneuver.
-Psalm 31:7-8

And if you walk in mercy, grace, faith and trust by allowing only God to judge your quarrels then the fruits of the Holy Spirit become more and more prevalent in your life; your character grows and becomes strong. If you abandon all judgment, then the Lord is able to reveal the truth about your circumstances. What we think or what others think about your circumstances is irrelevant and only gets in the way of the Lord because He cannot do anything. When we stop trying to control everything around us, which is generally why we give our opinion as if it has some real value, God’s mercy, grace, faith, and trust will reveal itself to you giving you the capacity to truly live in wisdom. Once you have the capacity, it is up to you to use it and take the Lord up on what He offers.

Now the most important thing about a servant is that he does just what his master tells him to. What about me? Have I been a good servant? Well, I don’t worry over what you think about this, or what anyone else thinks. I don’t even trust my own judgment on this point. My conscience is clear, but even that isn’t final proof. It is the Lord himself who must examine me and decide. So be careful not to jump to conclusions before the Lord returns as to whether someone is a good servant or not. When the Lord comes, He will turn on the light so that everyone can see exactly what each one of us is really like, deep down in our hearts.
-1 Corinthians 4:2-5

Do you believe in an uncaring God who does not take you into consideration? When it is said, “No one can fathom the depths of His understanding,” is it not meant that He merely understands and passively watches? Your desires, wants, and needs are all taken into account as He engineers your circumstances. The point is not your opinion on a certain matter because your opinions are limited only to what you can see and to your abilities.

Not I, but Christ is what we should be thinking in regards to His character and almightiness. He gives us the capacity for understanding and the revelation itself – that is not an accomplishment. Are you going to believe Him though?

Our job is to live in faith. Faith in His goodness, in His love, in Him – Jesus! It is not works that matter or whether or not we are good people. It is Him that matters. Certain thoughts have to be overlooked; most possibility must be ignored when considering Him. Our hope must be in Him alone to be unmovable.

Would you like to not be threatened by mere instance or circumstance? He tells us to be still and know that He is God. Not to panic when we are troubled or unsure, and not to suspect everything and everyone around us. We are to be still, in unshakable confidence in Him.

Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything; tell God your needs and don’t forget to thank Him for His answers. If you do this you will experience God’s peace, which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand. His peace will keep your thoughts and your hearts quiet and at rest as you trust in Christ Jesus.
-Philippians 4:6-7

He has a plan for every one of our lives and He will ensure that His plans will work out when you rely on Him. These are His plans so there is no doubt that He will do what He says when you yield to Him in mercy, grace, faith, and trust.