Cross My Heart Ministry

The Ninevites believed God.
They declared a fast, and all off them
from the greatest to the least,
put on sackcloth.
Jonah 3:5

Wouldn’t we all love to see this response when we deliver a message from God?

Clearly, the warning from God to the residents of Nineveh was not only heard, but also acted upon by the recipients. While we might expect the one who delivered the message to be thrilled by that outcome, Jonah was anything but happy when the Ninevites repented and God relented.

When God directed Jonah to deliver a message of coming judgment to the Ninevites, Jonah set off immediately – in the exact opposite direction!

What we often overlook in the story is why he ran. It wasn’t so much the message itself, but rather who he was to deliver it to. Nineveh was the capitol of Assyria. And if you were a Jew in Jonah’s time, Assyria was the arch enemy. Jonah did not want to deliver the message because he was afraid the Ninevites would repent … and knowing God’s character, he knew God would show compassion and mercy to these sworn enemies!

Do you and I hold out on sharing the gospel because in our heart of hearts we really don’t want certain people to receive compassion and mercy? Do we hesitate, somehow convincing ourselves that others are especially deserving of God’s judgment?

When we truly grasp how much we have been forgiven (and how little we deserve God’s mercy), our response to the gospel will be the same as that of the Ninevites: mourning and humility. They received the message, and their response proves they took it to heart.

The gospel is a simple message, but it changes everything.

Awareness of the true depth and depravity of our sin will prompt a self-awareness that leads to profound mourning. That mourning brings us to a place of repentance and readiness to believe.

The message is consistent: repent and believe. It was true for the Ninevites then, and it is true for us now.

In our faith journey, repentance and belief will bring on a desire to share this good news with others so they, too, can repent and believe. We worship – and invite others to worship – our great God of compassion and mercy, who has forgiven our sins even though we deserve condemnation.

Jonah’s reluctant obedience marks him as an immature believer. A selfish believer. And later, a whiny believer. But as we point a finger at him, we must simultaneously examine our own hearts and our own behavior.

Perhaps Jonah’s story can prompt some self-examination:

• Have I acknowledged the depth of my sin?
• Have I mourned my sin?
• Is my faith in God self-centered and shallow?
• Do I see myself as a starving person who has found the bread of life?
• If so, do I delight in pointing others to find that same bread?
• Am I harboring resentment towards any specific person or group?
• Do I intentionally share the gospel?
• Do I celebrate when others repent and come to Him?
• How am I choosing this day to believe God?

In this week’s teaching video, Laura shares Lesson 3 of a 4-part study on John 17. Jesus may be facing an excruciating death on Friday, but His prayer on Thursday is not self-focused. We see His intimacy with God the Father and His concern for His disciples. His prayer for His disciples is for:

• Protection
• Joy
• Sanctification

As He prepares to return to heaven, He sends them out to carry Gospel message forward.

 
To view all teaching in this series, please visit our YouTube channel and look for the Playlist of John 17 teachings.

Abram believed the LORD,
and he credited it to him as righteousness.
Genesis 15:6

The word, credited, carries the meaning of assigning value or putting something into someone else’s account.

Where NIV uses credited (as noted above), other versions translate this Hebrew word:

• Counted (KJV)
• Reckoned (NASB)

My husband, the college professor, has often been asked by his students, “Will you give me credit for this answer?” or “Can I get partial credit?”

In the old days, country doctors (and probably city doctors, too!) accepted milk or eggs in credit for services rendered.

We use the phrase, “I’ll give you credit for trying…”

It all carries the meaning of imputing something—assigning value—in place or for something else.

In this case, Abram’s belief is deemed equal to righteousness. Abram is not righteous (because he is a sinner like every other human being) but instead is declared righteous because of his belief in God.

He gets credit for his belief.

Believing—we might also call it faith—leading to righteousness may look, sound, and feel like a New Testament idea … but here we find it all the way back in the first book of the Bible!

Note that Abram was credited with righteousness by belief:

• Before he was circumcised
• Before the law was given (that would come 400 years later with Moses)
• Before Christ came to earth

God’s beautiful plan to redeem us has always been the same: BELIEVE HIM.

Have you placed your faith in God? Like Abram, have you received credit to your account because of your belief?

When we place our faith in Jesus—believe Him and accept Him—our account gets credited with His righteousness. It was true for Abram then and it’s true for us now. What are you waiting for?

In John 17:1-5, we get to listen in as Jesus the Son prays to God the Father. You can learn a lot about a person by listening to him or her pray. In this week’s teaching lecture, Laura asks several key questions about Jesus and endeavors answer those questions from the text of His prayer.

 
This is Lesson 2 of a 4-part series on John 17. To view all teaching in this series, please visit our YouTube channel.

Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life,
but whoever rejects the Son will not see life,
for God’s wrath remains on him.
John 3:36

 Everyone human being falls into one of two camps:

1. Believer
2. Non-believer

Some might say, “I haven’t rejected Jesus – I just don’t believe in Him.” But by default, refusing to accept is equivalent to rejecting Him. There is no middle ground.

Choosing not to choose is a choice in itself. And, like everything in life, choices bring consequences.

Age has a way of humbling us and providing wisdom that can only come from experience. I remember hearing a story once about a young manager in an organization seeking counsel from an older, successful manager. “What is the secret to success?” he asked. The wise older man responded, “Good decisions.” The young man nodded agreement. Then, furrowing his brow, he asked, “How do I learn to make good decisions?” The older man then answered, “Poor decisions.”

If you’ve lived more than a handful of minutes on this planet, you’ve learned that poor decisions indeed bring consequences. And, if you have a teachable spirit, those consequences prompt better decisions in the future.

But of all the decisions we make (education, career, housing, spouse, and a myriad of others), none carries a greater impact than our decision to believe Jesus. This decision alone impacts us for eternity.

Do you believe Jesus? Are you sure you believe Jesus? If there is any doubt, make that decision NOW. Do not wait!

The choice is simple, but profound. It takes but a moment, but changes eternity. Use your own words or use this prayer as a guide:

God Almighty, if you are there, if you are listening, if you are care,
I am finally ready to cry “uncle.”
I am ready to yield my life to You.
I am a mess. I have made a mess.
All my striving has come to nothing.
My motivations are rooted in pride.
I have rebelled against You.
But today is my line in the sand.
Enough.
I’m tired of trying and weary of running.
I believe you exist.
I believe You are the Son of God!
I believe the unbelievable
 – that you love me and actually died for me.
You paid my bill, the debt I owe for my sin and rebellion.
Because you died for me, I want to begin now to live for you.
Help me live for you.
I’m sliding over to the passenger seat now and letting you take the wheel of my life.
Please drive.
It’s simultaneously frightening and freeing
to take this step of faith and let you be in charge.
I love you, Jesus.
Today is the day.
Thank you for keeping me alive to reach this day.
Thank you for every hard thing that you have allowed into my life.
Looking back, I see now that nothing was wasted.
You used every bit of it to bring me down so I could look up to You.
Thank you for loving me.
Thank you for giving me hope and a future.
Amen. 

We’ve completed our time in the Old Testament book of Nehemiah and this week’s teaching video marks the beginning of a new 4-week study in the 17th chapter of John. Before examining the last words of Jesus recorded in His prayer in John 17, we back up a few chapters this week and review a summary of His last words in John 13-16.

A lot happened on that Thursday before the Friday crucifixion of our Lord.

Last words are powerful and impactful. Let’s consider those released by Jesus in His last few hours on this planet. We invite you to listen to Laura’s Intro Teaching Lecture for John 17. Free copies of the study guide are available for download here.

But these are written that
you may believe
that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God,
and that by believing you may have life in his name.
John 20:31

The reason John wrote his gospel is the same reason many of us talk to our children and grandchildren about Jesus: we want them to have eternal life!

On a Sunday morning not long ago, I watched as a little girl in our church was baptized. The children’s pastor commented that when he asked her about coming to know Jesus she responded, “My family talks to me about Jesus all the time!”

Let’s pray that our children, grands, and great-grands will grow up saying the same thing about us!

When our children are at home, we teach and train them. We go to their soccer and baseball games. We chase their bent by investing in music lessons, sports camps, and science kits. We love them. We take them on vacation, teach them to cook, and caution them about stranger danger. We teach them about money, relationships, forgiveness, generosity, and how to change a flat tire.

But as followers of Christ, what we want most is for them to come to know our Jesus!

God has no grandchildren. Our faith is not inherited by our children, but it is seen and heard by them.

Other than our living testimony, they also get to know Jesus through His Word.

The beginning of a new month brings the next installment of our Write the WORD series. The selected verses for this month highlight the word believe.  

If you are a mother or grandmother, you may be anticipating spring and starting to plan for  sports, vacations, and other activities for your family. But whatever your plans, be sure you also talk to them about Jesus. I hope and pray that the verses on this bookmark will fuel some great conversations with the young ones in your life, as well as with our Lord as you pray for them.

My prayer is that as you write each verse, you renew your belief in Jesus and your faith is strengthened by His Word.

Do you believe in my Jesus? Have you placed your faith in Him? It’s simple, but changes everything:

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16

If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.  Romans 10:9

If you are ready to commit your life to Jesus, here’s a simple prayer prompt:

God, I’ve made a mess and I am a mess. I am a sinner. I cannot fix or change myself. I need You. This day I give my life to You, Jesus. Thank you for taking the punishment on the Cross that I deserved. Come into my life. Take over. Take charge. From this day forward, I will follow You. You are my Savior and my Lord. Amen. 

Whether you prayed that prayer or something like it (and whether you prayed it today or many years ago), your life in Christ will be transformed by His Word. Why not commit to writing God’s Word daily – and then pray it, speak it, and live it.

We’ve just started a new month, which means it’s time to start another Write the WORD topic. In March, each verse for each day includes the word, BELIEVE. Please listen to this week’s teaching video, as Laura explains what this word means spiritually and its implications for eternity, as she reflects on Jesus’ words from Mark 1:15, “Repent and believe the good news.”

Our free monthly Write The WORD bookmark is a tool to encourage you to abide in His Word. Our newest bookmark (highlighting the word, believe) can be found on the Downloads page.

Search me, O God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.
Psalm 139:23-24

Here in Psalm 139, we witness David making himself completely vulnerable before God. His prayer reflects a heart eager to know God and to be refined by Him.

Do you and I wear masks when we pray? Do we offer up platitudes, posturing before God as we suppress our real thoughts, motivations, and struggles?

Of course, we’re not hiding anything from our omniscient heavenly Father … He knows it all anyway!

Yet we play that game.

Sometimes we avoid God altogether until we “get our act together.” Shame keeps us in hiding — not unlike Adam and Eve hiding out in the Garden! The same enemy wants us deceive us. Satan would have us believe we need to clean ourselves up before coming before our holy God.

But we miss the whole point of the Gospel when we try to fix what is broken on our own. We need Him to do it for us. We cannot orchestrate our salvation and we are equally helpless when it comes to our sanctification.

Are you ready to pray a gutsy prayer? To give up on being “polite” before God? Are you ready to cease the safe, surface-only, stale, boring, cold, rehearsed prayers?

Let’s get gritty! Let’s get real!

Let’s decide to be open, honest, and vulnerable as we lay out our proverbial dirty laundry before God. Those sorts of prayers will reflect a heart longing for God to do a mighty work — a heart willing to have God search and test and examine, and then lead us “in the way everlasting.”

O Lord, forgive me for floundering on my own when your help is near. Search me today. Search me now. Show me where I need a course correction. Draw me to Yourself. Refine me. Conform my thoughts to Your thoughts, my ways to Your ways. Make me more like You. I echo David’s prayer from way back then for my life now: Search me, test me, and lead me!

Our Write the WORD verses this month all include the word, HEART.

In Friday’s teaching video, Laura unpacks one of these verses for us. In Psalm 27:14, David spurs us on to “Wait on the Lord.” In fact, he begins and ends this short verse with this phrase, and in the middle, he gives two helps for doing. We invite you to watch and listen as Laura brings a brief devotional on the challenge to wait well!

Visit our Downloads page today for your copy of the HEART bookmark and finish the month by reading, writing, and studying God’s Word with us!

In his heart a man plans his course,
but the LORD determines his steps.
Proverbs 16:9

It is good to make a plan. We’ve all heard the old adage, Failing to plan is planning to fail — and often in life, it proves true.

This girl loves To-Do lists and schedules. I get so excited when it’s time to buy a new planner! Some of us check off the tasks as completed, while others cross off, and some do both! And the super-task-oriented amongst us take delight in adding something already completed to the list, just for the sheer pleasure of checking (or crossing) it off!

The Psalmist prays, “Teach us to number our days…” (Psalm 90:12) and Paul challenges, “…make the most of every opportunity.” (Colossians 4:5). It is good to be faithful stewards of the time we have. Time is valuable and too priceless to squander — and more precious with each passing year.

But even as we exercise diligence in our planning, we receive a caution here in Proverbs: hold those plans loosely. We make our plans, but ultimately God is sovereign over our lives.

God will always have His way. He works through events and circumstances to move us, shape us, and refine us according to His plan. He determines our steps.

I am unable to ascertain where our free will ends and where God’s sovereign will begins … and, frankly, am a little concerned by those who could definitively answer that question (unless there is clear sin involved)!

But here’s the thing: as I make plans in my heart and plot a course to fulfill those plans, I pray that my plans and my will are so yielded to God’s will and so tuned to His best for me that “Laura’s will” completely melts into God’s will.

I pray my love for God means that my will is not straining at the bit to run from His will or exercising super-human strength to reign myself in to yield to His will.

My prayer is that in child-like faith, I love Him and trust Him and that I want what He wants — what He determines for me.

I pray that each new direction becomes an opportunity to lean hard into how He might use this new or unexpected course for His glory … and even my good.

It is simultaneously sobering and encouraging to note that my Savior prayed in the Garden, on the night before His crucifixion, “Not my will but thine be done.” In His humanity, Jesus asked, Is there another way? And I may ask the same: Lord, is there another way? Would you fix this, change this circumstance?

If my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ would choose to humble Himself and bend His human will to the divine will of the Father, then who am I — a mere, sinful woman — to think I should or can hold out for my way over His?

Lord, conform my will to Your will. Give me strength to do the work of planning, but to hold my plans loosely and be ready to pivot to a different path as you direct. You know me best and yet still love me most. You are worthy of my complete trust. I have trusted You with my destiny for eternity … how can I not trust you with my now? Be glorified in my life. Amen.

In this week’s teaching video, Laura wraps up the ladies’ Bible study of the amazing book of Nehemiah. The group has studied the work of rebuilding the walls and rebuilding the lives of the people. In this most recent teaching, we turn our attention to the man God used to do it and what we can learn from his example. Please listen to Laura’s teaching lecture, then prayerfully consider how God is calling you to live as a thermostat in your corner of the world.

Delight yourself in the LORD and
he will give you the desires of your heart.
Psalm 37:4

The name-it-and-claim-it crowd would immediately gravitate to the second part of the verse: “…he will give you the desires of your heart.”

“Yes, please! Give me the ‘desires of my heart,’ Lord!” followed quickly by, “I’ll even tithe 20% when I win the lottery!”

Hyperbole aside, do we unconsciously adopt a transactional approach to following God? Do we somehow think that if we obey Him and try to live a good life, He owes us? Is our first response when trouble comes, “Why me?” rather than, “Why not me?”

The key to receiving our hearts’ desires is found in the first part of this verse: “Delight yourself in the LORD…”

As we commit ourselves to delighting in God — to keeping HIM on the throne, to following HIS will and living life HIS way, to making it our chief aim to bring HIM glory — blessing upon blessing will roll right back upon us. We find ourselves joyful, even when circumstances are unhappy. We realize we are peaceful, even amid chaos. More and more, we see love lead out in our actions, attitudes, words, and behaviors.

This is the blessing of abiding in Christ.

As we make that daily choice to delight in Him, we will one day realize that, to our surprise and amazement, He has given us the desires of our heart. But He did something a little sneaky: He did by changing our hearts! What a joy to see our hearts transformed and brought into alignment with God’s will and His desires for us.

We are often quick to see the connection of emotions with our heart, but as women of God committed to transformation and maturity, it is our will that must be engaged. The emotions can catch up later!

One mark of maturity is doing what you are supposed to do, what you are called and commanded to do, what is the right thing to do — even when you don’t feel like doing it. As have-to becomes want-to, then gives way to delight-to, you will have the desires of your heart!

In this week’s teaching video, Laura shares insight on Nehemiah 13, verses  1 – 14. We pick up as Nehemiah returns from Persia and finds a sad state of affairs in Jerusalem — and in the Temple. And so, Nehemiah sets to work cleaning house! We invite you to watch now as Laura challenges each of us to get our spiritual house in order by standing on the truth of God’s Word.

Find your copy of this month’s Write the WORD bookmark and optional S.O.A.P. study pages, as well as other free resources, on our Downloads page.