Cross My Heart Ministry

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you;
and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem,
and in all Judea and Samaria,
and to the ends of the earth.”
Acts 1:8

As Jesus ascended into heaven, He reminded the disciples gathered around Him of the Great Commission call to make disciples. The gospel message was entrusted to those present.

His imperative, be my witnesses, was also prophetic: you will be my witnesses.

Indeed, you and I know Jesus as Savior today because of their faithfulness. They were witnesses to their generation … and for 21 centuries since, the baton of faith has been faithfully carried to the next generation. Christianity has never disappeared from the planet. And it won’t happen on our watch!

But Jesus didn’t just leave them with an assignment. He also left them with a plan. Like dropping a rock in the water and seeing the concentric circles ripple out, so would the gospel go forth. It would begin right where they were: Jerusalem. From there it would be carried to Judea, Samaria, and the entire world. But they were to begin at home.

When you and I think of missions, we most likely think of missionaries in Africa or a remote village in the 10/40 Window. We pray for them, send money to them, and love hearing stories from them.

But missions isn’t just “out there” – it must begin “right here.” At home. Our Jerusalem may be Arkansas, Alabama, or Alaska. God may call us to go across the street or across town before He calls us to go across the world.

In many ways, it is easier to take a short-term mission trip and share the gospel with strangers than it is to share the gospel at home. It’s riskier, more challenging, and more difficult to talk about Jesus in our Jerusalem – with the people we live and work with, our neighbors and people who know us.

In fact, we might feel it’s not only hard … it’s impossible.

And that’s why Jesus not only gave us a plan, but the power to complete it: the Holy Spirit. He didn’t leave us to our own devices or natural abilities. He gave us a super power! Holy Spirit power!

In Him and through Him, we can do what we could never ever do our own. We can step out in faith rather than fear. We can open our mouth when we feel like keeping it closed. We can stand and share, when we really want to run and hide. We can love. We can love the unlovable. We can release love when anger or hatred is given in return. We can be relentless, and faithful, and hopeful. We can lean into Paul’s words to the Romans:

Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, and faithful in prayer.
Romans 12:12

The first-century believers were a group of “uns” – they were uneducated and unlikely. No one would have thought a few folks in Jerusalem could change the world. And that would have been true if they relied on themselves to bring the change. But the Holy Spirit brought the power they needed to share the gospel message. And the gospel, as we know, changes everything.

Sharing the gospel is both an obligation and a sacred privilege. Each of us should hear the words Jesus spoke to the disciples then as if He were speaking them directly to us today:

• You will be my witness on Oak Street, Overland Road, and Orange Avenue.
• You will be my witnesses in Missouri, Mississippi, and Michigan.
• You will be my witnesses at home first.

When Jesus ascended into heaven, He did not leave us on our own. He sent the Holy Spirit and through Him, the promise of Jesus in Matthew 28:20b is fulfilled:

“I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Are you ready to embrace your Great Commission assignment? Are you ready to rest in the truth you are never alone in that calling? The One who calls you is faithful and ever present with you!

Are you ready to go out? Jerusalem is waiting!

More than half of April still remains and it’s not too late to join this month’s study of the Holy Spirit. Visit the Downloads page to get your copies of the April ‘Write The WORD’ bookmark and S.O.A.P. Bible study pages!

The ladies Bible study in Romans has concluded! If you haven’s yet seen the most recent teaching lecture on YouTube, you can watch it here:

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“And do not forget to do good and to share with others,
for with such sacrifices God is pleased.”
Hebrews 13:16

Doing good and sharing with others.

For those who love Jesus, both sound like a natural way to live. We know this. We agree with this. Doing good and sharing are logical behaviors for believers. When our pastor preaches, “Do good and share,” we nod our heads in agreement.

And yet, God thought we needed the reminder: “…do not forget.” Finding this phrase canonized in Scripture means we need it — that we are indeed prone to forget.

We must each ask ourselves, “Am I doing good? Am I sharing?”

Do and share denote action. James confirms in his book, “Faith without works is dead.” (James 2:17) Real faith is a call to action.

Often our lack of action earns us the “hypocritical” label from those outside the church. (And, by the way, when that h-bomb is hurled, do not bother to refute it. Anger is defused much sooner when you agree rather than argue: “You’re right. I should do a better job of having an active faith. I want to be a woman who lives my faith out loud, but every day I fail. Would you pray for me?” )

Grace can make us lazy. Righteousness by faith means we do not work to earn our salvation, but it does not mean we don’t work after our salvation. My hubby says, “You don’t bark to become a dog; you bark because you are a dog.”  Translation: You can do good works all day long, but those good works will never save you. But if you are saved, you will work.

Perhaps the next question is, How much is enough?

How far do we go with this “do good and share” stuff?

The writer of Hebrews might answer that question with a question: Are you doing and sharing until it hurts?

Hebrews 13:16 refers to our doing and sharing as sacrifices. And by definition, a sacrifice should cost something. Whether time, talent, or treasure, our doing and sharing should be a sacrifice — not what is left over, not so little it is never missed, not second rate or second best.

In the Old Testament times, something had to die for the sacrifice to be completed. In New Testament times, something still has to die: SELF. Paul exhorts in Romans 12:1, “offer your bodies as living sacrifices.” He then calls that dying to self, WORSHIP.

The writer of Hebrews agrees, “God is pleased.”

You see, we were created for worship — to bring glory to God. We were created for His pleasure. And one of the ways we do that is by doing good and sharing sacrificially.

Only the mature in Christ among us will do good and share sacrificially for the chief aim of pleasing God.  With the Holy Spirit’s help, let’s make this our goal!

Lord, what is the good you want me to do today?
Who is the one you are calling me to share with?
Enable me to do good and share sacrificially …
and may my motivation be to please You!

“Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices
as much as in obeying the Lord?
To obey is better than sacrifice,
and to heed is better than the fat of rams.”
I Samuel 15:22

These convicting words from Samuel to King Saul should pierce our hearts today, just as they did God’s people then. Clearly, our heavenly Father does not define obedience as checking off the boxes and merely going through the motions on the outside.

In God’s economy, motivation matters.

Even in the Old Testament, God’s expectation was not only about keeping the law. Then — and now — God wants our hearts.

The truth above shared by Samuel is confirmed by the writer of Proverbs:

“To do what is right and just
is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice.”
Proverbs 21:3

“The LORD detests the sacrifice of the wicked,
but the prayer of the upright pleases him.”
Proverbs 15:8

We take on an “older-brother” mindset when we foolishly believe our outward behavior earns us points with God. This attitude quickly spirals downward to an attitude of entitlement: “God, you owe me.” Older brother (and older sister!) types becomes frustrated, resentful, and even angry when hard things come … because they feel like God did not keep His end of the bargain!

The true follower of God obeys Him from a heart of love, not a transactional (“If I do this, then God, you will do that!”) motivation. We must be on our guard to ensure this mindset does not creep in.

Having the right attitude today is no guarantee that our motives are pure tomorrow. We protect ourselves by staying close to God, abiding in Him and in His Word.

And we can always ask, “God, give me pure motives! Show me where I need a course correction or a motivation adjustment. I pray my acts of obedience are motivated by love and gratefulness. I pray that all I do to obey You is a response to what You have already done for me.”

Let’s stop focusing on sacrificing for God, and choose instead to lovingly obey Him.

Did you miss the most recent teaching video from our Romans Bible study? Be sure to check it out!

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Moses said to Aaron,
“Come to the altar and sacrifice your sin offering
and your burnt offering and make atonement
for yourself and the people;
sacrifice the offering that is for the people
and make atonement for them,
as the Lord has commanded.”
Leviticus 9:7

If the category is Books of the Bible, and the clue is Legalism, every student of the Scripture would answer: Leviticus. It is a book of rules and requirements.

The theme of Leviticus is holiness. Sin required sacrifice for atonement and cleansing, in order to be declared holy. And Leviticus provides all the details: definition of sin, circumstances of sin, sacrifice required, type of animal, method of sacrifice, etc.

The journey through Leviticus is a bloody, exhausting, and sometimes tedious one.

But for us to truly appreciate the once-for-all sacrifice of Jesus in the New Testament, we must wade through the sacrificial requirements presented in the Old Testament.

At least five types of sacrifices are listed in Leviticus:

• Burnt Offering
• Grain Offering
• Fellowship Offering
• Sin Offering
• Guilt Offering

Sometimes more than one offering was required. The sin or guilt offering would always come first. Before the worshiper could be free to commit to God, the matter of sin had to be resolved. Sins of omission and commission, intentional and unintentional sin … all required a sacrifice. The requirements of the law must be met before righteousness was achieved.

For that same day, perhaps just for that moment, righteousness by sacrifice brought holiness. Freedom from guilt. Cleanliness before God. The burden of sin lifted momentarily, but it did not last. Sin the next day or week or month meant another sacrifice. And another. And another.

The law could not save God’s people. The repeated sacrifices could not keep them holy. All of it was intended to point to their need for a Savior — to stir their hearts with longing for the promised Messiah, who would rescue them forever from the bondage of sin.

How blessed we are to live this side of the Cross! What freedom to be defined not by what we have done, but by what our Savior has done for us. What JOY to know we are declared holy for this day and for every day.

As we approach the celebration of Easter, may we be sobered by the truth we find in Leviticus: something — Someone — had to die to make us holy. And may that reality prompt grateful praise to Jesus … our Passover Lamb, our once-for-all sacrifice, our hope for eternity.

Hallelujah!

It’s not too late to join us as we explore verses about SACRIFICE in this month’s Write The WORD study. CLICK HERE for the Downloads page, where you can find printable bookmarks and S.O.A.P. study pages for to guide you through the March Bible study.

 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!

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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.

Today’s blog is dedicated to my sweetheart of 36 years! When God redirected our steps and moved us to Arkansas 27 years ago, Proverbs 16:9 was the verse that encouraged me. When I realized it sort of combines our birthdates (mine is on the 16th and Kevin’s on 9th), it made me smile — and still does!

Happy Valentine’s Day from all of us at Cross My Heart Ministry! If making a special treat for your sweeties was on your list this week but you just didn’t get around to it, it’s not too late! Check out last week’s Martha Monday video and watch Laura make these super easy (and yummy) Cake Mix Cookies. With only three ingredients, you can whip these up this afternoon in no time! Enjoy!

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. Let the emotions catch up later!

The 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!

Have you seen last week’s teaching lecture from our Bible study in Romans? If not, I invite you to watch watch today as we follow up last week’s discussion of God’s sovereignty with an examination of our responsibility to share the good news, so that everyone will hear and respond with believing faith!