03.30.09
Heart Tugs …
On my journey of faith, God continues to reveal more and more each day. It’s amazing all we see and hear once we believe in Him. The scales are removed from our eyes and the fluid removed from our ears so we can clearly see the world thru “His” eyes and clearly hear His voice with nothing clouding or muffling His Word. He is pushing us to a new way of understanding, a new way of thinking! He encourages us to seek Him and love Him with all our hearts and souls.
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.” Deuteronomy 6:5
Once we do, it is amazing what He can do in our lives! He is teaching us how to stand on solid ground – the real rock! Once we have this understanding, our entire life will begin to change. It will cause us to go back and re-read our Bible. It did me – the more He shows me the more I read and re-read!
It started with Him reminding me of my journey. While I faced all that I did throughout my illness I kept receiving miracle after miracle. I didn’t realize until later the specific message that God would be sending thru me. Well until God took my hand and walked me back to those times and asked me these questions:
“Sandi, did you have a church?”
“No, Lord,” I replied.
“Sandi, did you have a religion?”
I replied, “No Lord, I wasn’t practicing one.”
“Sandi, did you read your Bible?
I replied shamefully, “No, Lord I did not.”
“What did you have?”
“I had complete love in my heart for you Lord,” I replied.
“What else?”
“I had unfaltering faith in You,” I replied.
“And what else?”
“I had prayer,” I replied as tears filled my eyes, chills came over me and a smile formed across my lips.
For so long I was shameful because I wasn’t going to church, practicing a religion or reading the Bible but God kept blessing my life. So my story is a different one – one that isn’t talked about often. It’s a story about a person who had complete love in her heart for God and for others, unfaltering faith, and prayer!!! I was not guided in life by religious rules but by what I have always called “heart tugs”. I was not taught the Word of God by the Bible, by any man, by any church or specific religion but by God Himself. This was a realization that I could not wrap my head around for many months because it required a renewal of my mind … a completely different way of thinking. A thinking that is very different than what the world has taught us.
After He pulled me out of impossible situation after impossible situation He led me to a church where week after week I would sit in awe seeing scriptures on the screen matching the very things on my heart that guided me all of those years. But God how is that possible? NO ONE HAS TAUGHT ME! He then told me, “Child, I have taught you and will continue to teach you but you have to listen to my voice.” I still didn’t understand but kept trusting Him and praying He would bring me clarity so I could share His secret of blessings with the whole world. The more I hungered and thirsted for His Word, the more clarity He brought me. He continued to bless my life more and more and also convicted me when I didn’t listen to that heart tug. I learned real fast that when I listened to His voice (those tugs on my heart) and did things “His” way, that He poured blessings into my life – talk about amazing GRACE!
He showed me that His laws are written right on my heart and mind so they are within me. They follow me everywhere I go instructing me (and convicting me!) every single step in life. It doesn’t matter if I live in a country where I can’t practice religion or have a Bible in my hands because He, the greatest teacher, will teach each of His children His laws when we believe in Him and love Him with our whole heart and soul! The Word of God is written right there within us so no man nor anything from this world can ever take it away from us. He then led me to scripture to back up what He was teaching me. Here are a few:
“I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts.” Jeremiah 31:33
“He who belongs to God hears what God says.” John 8:47
“Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach. It is not up in heaven, so that you have to ask, “Who will ascend into heaven to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?” Nor is it beyond the sea, so that you have to ask, “Who will cross the sea to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?” No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it.” Deuteronomy 30:11-14
Again He continues to awe me at how wonderful He is and all He does for us once we believe in Him. He continues to show me how critical it is that we learn to listen to His voice and that His Word has been here all along but no one recognized Him. So He then came to walk the earth in the flesh of Jesus (God being the spirit Christ within the flesh of Jesus) to show us how to Love, to show us how to live so we would recognize the spirit of truth.
I think every religion recognizes and agrees that Jesus Christ was the greatest teacher but since Christianity has become a religion, many look the other way because it doesn’t sit right on their hearts that people claiming to be Christians are showing everything but unconditional love. Instead many are condemning others (including Christians towards Christians), pointing fingers, and judging. Many also say that they aren’t Christian because it doesn’t sit right on their hearts that a loving God could send someone to hell who has never heard about Jesus Christ. So what’s important to understand is that God came here to teach us how to do things “His” way and that is Love. Jesus was not liked by the Pharisees because He listened to God to deliver Love and compassion even if it meant breaking their laws like healing on the Sabbath. He came here to teach us and to give us the most precious gift of salvation (freedom from the law of sin) leaving us with the Holy Spirit for all who believe in Him. That Holy Spirit, the spirit of truth, is the law on our hearts and minds, the mighty Counselor – His law (His voice, the heart tug) dwelling within us reminding us of what Jesus taught. The word “truth” in the original Hebrew context (Hebrew being the language the first scripture was written in) means “divine instructor” – that is powerful!
“And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be [fn] in you.” John 14:17
“Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment.” John 16:7-8
This Counselor allows all who hear and believe to have eternal life.
God’s voice (Word) – those heart tugs that will guide us, is the true rock for which God is building His church on that Hades will not overcome. Jesus told us this when He asked His disciples who they thought the Son of Man was and Peter replied correctly with knowledge only God Himself could have taught him. He heard God’s voice.
“When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.” Matthew 16:13-18
When we go to the Bible without a relationship with God first, it becomes a religious book that Satan uses to turn us away from God and each other (i.e. religious denominations, all of the wars on religion, division between His children) but when we seek Him first with our whole heart and soul, when we listen to His voice (His Word within us – the real “rock”) the Bible comes to life and teaches us more than the words written on the page alone could ever teach because we are able to see and understand the “truth” thru Christ’s eyes … a true blessing to all who read it.
I am not telling you to throw out your Bible or go live a life filled with sin, what I am encouraging you to do is to love God with your whole heart and soul – believe in Him so you can hear His voice clearly and PRAY ABOUT IT asking Him for wisdom. He will bring you understanding and guide your every step. I know first-hand that the spirit of truth will convict you of any wrong doing but it will also bless you more than you can ever imagine when you listen to His voice – the Word of God right within you … those “heart tugs”.
God bless you – love to you all!
Sandi Rauwolf
Author, Blessings Too Good
