1-If we listen to our heart who knows where it will lead us. The heart and our emotions often do not operate based on truth and they can be all over the place. We need to lead our lives based on the firm foundation of God’s Word.

Jeremiah 17:9-10 The heart is deceitful above all things and it is extremely sick; who can understand it fully and know its secret motives? I, the Lord, search and examine the mind, I test the heart, to give to each man according to his ways, according to the results of his deeds.

2-We often lack identity because we have not sought our Creator and asked Him who He created us to be. We can spend a life time seeking self discovery when all we really need to do is go directly to our Creator and ask Him to help us walk in the identity He has given us.

Psalm 139:13-18

For You formed my innermost parts;
You knit me [together] in my mother’s womb.

I will give thanks and praise to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Wonderful are Your works,
And my soul knows it very well.

My frame was not hidden from You,
When I was being formed in secret,
And intricately and skillfully formed [as if embroidered with many colors] in the depths of the earth.

Your eyes have seen my unformed substance;
And in Your book were all written
The days that were appointed for me,
When as yet there was not one of them [even taking shape].

How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!

If I could count them, they would outnumber the sand.
When I awake, I am still with You.

3-Trust the leading of the Holy Spirit.

Romans 8:14 For all who are allowing themselves to be led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.

4-I think we can so easily get so caught up in the push to feel good about ourselves that we can shift focus away from God and put it on ourself. I am not saying we should have low self esteem or self hatred, but I do think it is important to keep the focus on the Creator and not the creation. The good in me comes from Him. I did not create it. My flesh is selfish, lazy, manipulative, full of pity, prideful, and the list goes on and on. It is the Holy Spirit that lives within me that is good. He is the one who, when I yield to Him, makes me more like Jesus. Left to my own devices I would be a hot mess 24/7.

John 1:3 All things were made and came into existence through Him; and without Him not even one thing was made that has come into being.

5-Living a life yielded to God is what matters. Making it to heaven and bringing as many as possible with us is what matters.

Mark 16:15-16 And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. He who has believed [in Me] and has been baptized will be saved [from the penalty of God’s wrath and judgment]; but he who has not believed will be condemned.

6-Being a good person does not get us into heaven. Jesus is the only way to Heaven.

John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the [only] Way [to God] and the [real] Truth and the [real] Life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.

Romans 10:9-10 because if you acknowledge and confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord [recognizing His power, authority, and majesty as God], and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart a person believes [in Christ as Savior] resulting in his justification [that is, being made righteous—being freed of the guilt of sin and made acceptable to God]; and with the mouth he acknowledges and confesses [his faith openly], resulting in and confirming [his] salvation.

Acts 2:38 And Peter said to them, “Repent [change your old way of thinking, turn from your sinful ways, accept and follow Jesus as the Messiah] and be baptized, each of you, in the name of Jesus Christ because of the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Ephesians 2:8-9 For it is by grace [God’s remarkable compassion and favor drawing you to Christ] that you have been saved [actually delivered from judgment and given eternal life] through faith. And this [salvation] is not of yourselves [not through your own effort], but it is the [undeserved, gracious] gift of God; not as a result of [your] works [nor your attempts to keep the Law], so that no one will [be able to] boast or take credit in any way [for his salvation].

John 3:16-18 “For God so [greatly] loved and dearly prized the world, that He [even] gave His [One and] only begotten Son, so that whoever believes and trusts in Him [as Savior] shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge and condemn the world [that is, to initiate the final judgment of the world], but that the world might be saved through Him. Whoever believes and has decided to trust in Him [as personal Savior and Lord] is not judged [for this one, there is no judgment, no rejection, no condemnation]; but the one who does not believe [and has decided to reject Him as personal Savior and Lord] is judged already [that one has been convicted and sentenced], because he has not believed and trusted in the name of the [One and] only begotten Son of God [the One who is truly unique, the only One of His kind, the One who alone can save him].

Blessings,

Nichole Henson

Fullness of Joy Ministry