Our hearts are God’s home on earth!

 

Jesus told his disciples before he left the earth, “Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you” (John 20:21).

We know that we don’t have the power—the “dunamis”-- that Jesus had. (Dunamis originates from a Greek word from which we get the word “dynamite.”)

We are empowered in numerous ways. Most notable are our hands and feet waiting to be used. It is our arms that hold a weeping one . . . our eyes and our lips that show love and acceptance with a smile.

You don’t have to be a chaplain or a minister to do the work of God day-by-day. We have the goodness of God in our hearts; we are His “earth-angels” within our daily walk here on earth. Our hearts know when to “make a move”—meaning to reach out to someone He prompts us to think about. A call or visit may reveal some life force that can lift another’s spirit igniting a spark of hope.  Maybe, as you listen, you simply feel led to read a Psalm, offer prayer or a hug.

Sometimes great help can come from writing a caring note. Or, perhaps, making a call . . . staying on the phone long enough to truly listen as the person hears your words. Whatever you say will be heard as, “I share your pain.”

This is the ground God wants us on. It is He who gives the “dunamis” to be a listening, loving presence. Turn talk off and listen which encourages others to know they are being joined and truly heard. This is “miracle” stuff.

We, of our own selves do not have the power to do God’s work; it is His Holy Spirit within us that carries out what needs to be done. Our job is to learn how to make room for God to work through us. Even eye contact with a smile can lighten another’s day at the grocery store.

There is a lot of loneliness felt in our current world. It is a darkness in hearts that comes when we are “too busy” to be God’s ears, God’s feet, or God’s hands. This is a power we can easily neglect. Yet, each of us can be “light” in another’s dark world. To do that, we must be lit ourselves.

Are we walking close to the Savior . . . close enough to hear His prompts?

God—in us—can mop a floor, do dishes, wash clothes, or make a bed for that one who is unable to do those chores . . . when they are piling up. We can “make time” for these things. It is called extending a helping hand. And, while there, have some sips of tea with them.

Jesus said, in John 14:12, “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father.”  I have wondered what He meant. Then I realized that it was His dunamis that empowered me to stay by the bedside of a person in pain, and with another who is “dying to be heard,” waiting for someone who cares enough “to come, be by my side.” Jesus did miraculous things, like raising people up out of their sick beds—healed--even sometimes raising them up after they had died.

He showed me that there are “miracles” of a different sort . . . being with people within their pain. Holding still, staying with a person when you feel like “running. The Lord has shown me in my heart that coming alongside another while listening and loving, can be a powerful thing. He showed me this in a dream where I saw myself in a hospital, staying with a frightened or hurting patient. I can return to the patient’s room repeatedly when needed.  Jesus had multitudes to teach and heal. The dream was telling me I could serve people in a modern hospital where families are emotionally involved, often at the bedside, needing ministry as well . . . and there I am--working without Christ’s infinite power. I can care for them, but I could not tell them, “Pick up your bed and walk.”  Maybe the fact that a human being can pull this off, extending God’s love, can be considered the “greater thing” Jesus said we would do.

Although, truth be known, we hold that “miraculous touch” as well. Miracles we cannot see or name take place when we take time to be with others long enough to hear what their hearts are wanting to say. Here’s a powerful question to ask after hearing a difficult conversation, sometimes laced with tears, “Is there something your heart is wanting to say?” Or “What’s the hardest part for you?”

Job, who was troubled multiple times in horrendous ways, cried out his pain and his questions as to “why” all this suffering?”  Job finally heard as God spoke to him “out of the whirlwind” (Job 38:1). Job had a lot of questions. He did not know what to expect from God. Scripture shows God accepted Job during all his questioning. God cared about Job’s losses and in fact restored to him twice as much as he had lost “when he prayed for his friends.” Those were people who had been judgmental of Job and all he had lost. Later, Job describes a deeper encounter with God in Job 42:5.

Sometimes it takes patience before we are ready to understand what God wants to speak into our lives. We cannot know the “how and when” of hearing God. The best thing we can do is to “forever be listening,” expecting God to lead us. For me, prayerful journaling and paying attention to my dreams help.

What is for sure is that once a loving person comes alongside and hears “the storm” of another’s heart, the fervor and the pain often subside. Now, that person is more able to regain hope, to trust, even to be able to believe “there is a God.”

 They become empowered to get on the other side of what is hurting them so badly.

God is love, Scripture says so! So, when we exhibit the love He has put in our hearts for another—by being there for them when they are hurting—God’s presence is seen in us. We, then, will undoubtedly make a difference!

“Making time” is a miracle, and Jesus wants us to do miracles.