From the Heart by B.Demaere

  My wife and I went to church last Sunday to a wonderful service.  The worship was great! The preaching was on Hebrews 11 one of my favorite chapters in the Bible.  On the exploits of men and women of Faith. After the service I talked with someone and became increasingly depressed.  I could not understand why. I had compared my life to those heroes and felt lousy.  What was wrong with me?  Why did I not measure up to them? 1)     The whole picture: I should have known better.  There was a blind spot and I felt like prey in the enemy's hands.  I had not gone into the details of these heroes' lives.  Some look very humans and like Elijah I was depressed when I did not get God’s perspective on the subject. I had looked at their victories, but I missed the part where it said that some did not receive what was promised   In fact, I remember when the pastor expressed jokingly his displeasure at the word “But” in verse 35 when it says “But others were tortured, refusing to turn

  Thought Infestation (Jeremiah 4:14) Are we taking God seriously?   Could there be any bad or evil thoughts in us even though we are saved?   Are we immune?   Are we clean?   We need forgiveness, oh but we are forgiven.   What about confession and repentance?   Could God be looking at us and see maybe even a little bit of fault in us?   Are we too proud to admit that we need his help? When I read this verse out of the Amplified version of the English Bible, it is very close to the French translation that I read. “O Jerusalem, wash your heart From wickedness, That you may be saved. How long will your wicked and Immoral thoughts Lodge within you?   I know some of you like me are saved, but why do we let evil thoughts lodge within us (Ouch!)   In fact, in the first part of the verse in French, it says: “Jerusalem, if you want to be delivered wash or clean your heart of its wickedness. How long will you be indwelled by evil thoughts?” And verse 15, does not leave