Wednesday's Word: A Boss Your Heart Message

Many thanks to Mrs. D'Lane Moore for her Boss Your Heart contribution:

Boss Your Heart- Daily

I am not one for making New Year’s Resolutions because when I “resolve” to change something I tend to take God out the equation.  Don’t get me wrong.  My life is not “all together”.  I have things I want to be different- I have weight to lose, money to save, and books to read.  But if I resolved to change all those things, and then went about doing it with checklist and self-help books then I get all the credit.  The truth is, I believe that God has something even greater for me than being thin, having money in the bank, and being well read.  I get excited when I read scripture that says, “I came so they can have real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of.” (John 10:10 Message).  That sounds like more than accomplishing my list of good, but not eternal things.

No, I don’t make resolutions, but I do write down a word for the year-  A word that I feel like God will use in my life to remind me of the changes HE is bringing about in my life.  2 Corinthians 5:17-18 says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! ¹⁸ All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation:” My word for this year is “daily”.  God wants to change things in and around me.  He wants to conform me to the image of his Son.  This is, most likely, not going to happen in one fell swoop.  It is going to happen little by little as I daily boss my heart by doing the things that will allow my heart to be fed by Truth.  I will be conformed into Christ’s image because I daily choose His word over Facebook.  I will be conformed into Christ’s image because I choose prayer over chatting on the telephone.  I will be conformed into Christ’s image because I choose to listen to Him rather than fill up the silence with the TV.  None of these things are necessarily bad, but when I choose them over God, then I am choosing to let the ideas and philosophies of others boss my heart.  I want to, through the power of God’s word, be the one bossing my heart.  I want to DAILY choose Him first over the other fun things in my life.  Matthew 6:11 reminds us to pray, “Give us today our daily bread,” later in Matthew 6:33 the scripture instructs us to, “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”  I will most likely frequent facebook, talk on the phone, and watch TV regularly, but not in place of God’s truth in my life. 

God- teach us to seek you first, daily for everything we need.  Make us into your image that your name may be made famous in every nation.  Help us Boss our hearts with your truth.

Do you have a message to share?

An Opportunity for You to Share:

If you are bossing your heart in 2011 and have a message you'd like to share here on the blog about something you've discovered in Scripture, please let me know.  I'd like to set up Fridays on our blog in 2011 to be available to YOU so you can share something you've learned about bossing your heart.  If you're interested in sharing something you've discovered about bossing your heart, according to God's Word, please write up your message and email it to me at Lorraine@ForgottenSawRanch.com. 

There are a few things you'll need to make sure to include in your message:

• a title for your message
• atleast one scripture reference
• a reference to bossing your heart. (It can be anything related to bossing our hearts...it doesn't have to be adoption related by any means, just something you've discovered through God's Word about bossing your heart.  It can be a testimony, an encouragement, a discovery, really anything that God lays on your heart to share with others who are also trying to boss their hearts!)
• Please include your name and let me know if I have your permission to include your name or if you prefer to share your message anonymously. 

I look forward to seeing what God does with this opportunity!  So proud of all of you who are out there bossing your hearts by reading God's Word daily!

Boss Your Heart Groups:

If you are interested in joining up with one of the Boss Your Heart groups, we have a few options:

• Click HERE to join the Boss Your Heart Facebook group. 
• Click HERE to join the Boss Your Heart group on the YouVersion Bible site.  (Or you can go to youversion.com and click the "community" tab and then click "groups" and then search for the group "Boss Your Heart".)  YouVersion has over 50 reading plans available, and they have downloads for your mobile device.  You can take notes, highlight passages, tag passages, and have your very own eBible online.  This site has been a little hard to figure out, but once you've got it figured out, it's pretty neat!
• Click HERE to join the Boss Your Heart group on the Bible Study Tools site.  (Or you can go to biblestudytools.com and click the "community" tab, then click "groups", then search for the group "Boss Your Heart".)  BibleStudyTools.com has several reading plans to choose from, and they will email you a daily reading assignment.  You can take notes, highlight passages, tag passages, and have your very own eBible online.  This site allows for discussion in the community section, so the Boss Your Heart group here could have discussions about what we're learning.

Monday's Meditation: A Boss Your Heart Message

Many thanks to Mr. Kirsten Walkup for his wise contribution, a message to help us boss our hearts:

Dealing With a Discouraged Heart

2010 was a difficult year for me. There’s not a single event that I can point to that made it so, rather a confluence of many unrelated events that made me feel that no matter what sort of effort I may put forth, it was not going to be good enough to succeed at whatever it was I was trying to accomplish. I won’t bore you with needless details, I’ll simply say that there were several different things that almost happened but that didn’t quite turn out the way I had planned. Some of these things required a lot of hard work only to see them explode at the last critical juncture and some of them were just doomed from the start. There were times when it seemed as if nothing I did was going to work.

This line of thought was, of course, completely ridiculous. There were plenty of positive moments that 2010 held and plenty of things that went according to plan. Human nature being what it is, however, it’s much easier to accentuate the negative than the positive.

Have you ever felt as though no matter how hard you strived, you just could do no right? Have you ever been so mired in a rut so deep that it seems as if God himself has completely forgotten about you? Believe me, I know the feeling.

Discouragement is a funny thing. Typically it’s caused when we do thing “A” to accomplish thing “B”. The problem is that often, despite our best efforts, “B” doesn’t materialize and we get angry, frustrated, and upset. Often, we come to a place where we’re stuck in a rut that’s further deepened by the fact that we feel sorry for ourselves and wallow in self-pity. It’s times like these when we need to remember that our hearts must be directed, not simply yielded to.

In Jeremiah 17:9, the prophet Jeremiah describes the heart as “deceitful above all things and beyond cure.” Left unchecked, the heart of man is a wicked and unruly thing that is controlled only by passions and desires. It does not care who it harms or what is destroyed, as long as it can lay hold of whatever the moment’s desire demands. This is why Proverbs 4:23 states, “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.”

Discouragement and frustration are a part of life. How one deals with discouragement and defeat are what defines the character of the individual. When you’re tempted to feel sorry for yourself or allow your heart to feel as though God has abandoned you, it’s time to get bossy with it. Remember that it is you who must lead your heart, not your heart who leads you. The phrase “follow your heart” might sound nice, but it is utterly backwards. It is our will that must lead and our heart that must follow.

How exactly does someone lead their heart ? In Luke 12:34, Jesus said, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” While Jesus was speaking of the material possession of a rich man in this particular passage of scripture, there is a key bit of spiritual insight that is applicable to all areas of life. That principle is that your heart will dwell with the things you delight in and cherish the most.

Therein lies the secret to leading (or bossing) your heart. Take pleasure in the things of God, not of this world. Discouragement and frustration are parts of life, but they are not to be dwelled upon. Lessons should be learned of them and they should be firmly placed in the rear-view mirror, not latched onto and harbored. Instead of dwelling on past failure and discouragement, meditate on and delight yourself in God’s word and His holy nature. Look forward to being a part of the things that God has in store for you.

Proverbs 3:5-6 states,” Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.” Daily lead your heart to trust in the Lord and place your treasure in the ways and nature of God rather than the temporal things of this world, and you’ll find that discouragement will yield to comfort and sorrow will fade to joy.

J3:30,

K

kswalkup@gmail.com

Remember to boss your heart!

Boss Your Heart Messages in 2011

As we welcome the new year with a Boss Your Heart approach, I have a surprise for you!  We'll be having regular weekly messages/inspiration/devos/Scripture here on the blog!   I'm so anxious to see what God does with this!  Right now, we're aiming to have a new Boss Your Heart message posted on Mondays and Wednesdays and possibly something to ponder on Fridays as well.

I have asked two people to write weekly devos for the blog.  One is a woman (D'Lane Moore) and another is a man (Kirsten Walkup).   Both people have an intimate relationship with Christ, and God laid these two people on my heart specifically when He put this idea in my head.  When God gave me the idea for the Boss Your Heart Bible Challenge 2011, I felt like God was impressing upon my heart to share with all of you (and serve as a reminder to myself!) how He asks us to shepherd our hearts according to His Word.  Back when Chrissie had her "Boss Your Heart" day in the hospital, the day I thought she'd be going to live with Jesus, I had such heavy reservations about sharing the story of how God coached me as I coached Chrissie using the "boss your heart" phrase.  I didn't want anyone to be misled into thinking I had anything to do with Chrissie's outcome; it was all God.  I had no idea what God had in store that day, and I had no idea that He'd have me tell Chrissie to "boss her heart", and I had absolutely NO IDEA what God would do with that phrase afterward! 

In hindsight, I'm so glad I shared those words on the blog, even when I had such reservation about misleading people into thinking that I had any power on that day.  God orchestrated the miraculous events of that day, and it was Him who coined that phrase, "Boss Your Heart".  I now know a little more about why He ordered those events, and I am realizing how critical it is that we boss our hearts daily.  However, I'm also realizing how we could boss our hearts in the wrong direction if we do not know His Word.  In order to truly boss our hearts, according to His will, it is imperative that we hide God's Word in our hearts, that we study His Word daily, so that we do not allow our hearts to deceive us.  Our hearts must be submissive to God's ways, and if we do not know His Word, we will not be able to effectively boss our hearts into submission with His will.

We must spend time studying God's Word, meditating on His messages, feeding on His daily bread in order to boss our hearts the way He wants us to.  I pray that you will be blessed by the messages that will be shared here throughout 2011!  I'm looking forward to seeing what God does in our lives as He teaches us to boss our hearts!  Thanks for joining us on this journey!  Happy 2011!  And remember, boss your heart!

And the winners are...

Mattie cutting apart the entries.  Whew, that was a lot of work!

The first pick!

Oh my goodness, Mattie was so anxious!

Duh-duh-duh-DONE!

And the winner of the Boss Your Heart Necklace is:

Congratulations "Suzy", the same Suzy who left this comment on the blog:

Suzy Yesterday 10:15 PM

OK. Don't know if what I did worked or not. :-)
I did share the blogpost on FB.
I joined the FB Group.
I signed up on YouVersion to read the bible through in 1 yr chronologically.
Love you and your kiddos!

Suzy, please contact me at Lorraine@ForgottenSawRanch.com.  (I know a few Suzy's, so I'm curious to see which Suzy this is!!!)  I will need your mailing address to get your  necklace to you!  (Actually, Rachael, who made and donated the necklace, will be mailing it to you.)

We musn't forget the winner of the second giveaway...the Boss Your Heart book!

The pressure's off, Mattie, it's big brother's turn to draw the winner!

And who might the winner be?!?

Congratulations, Pam Vickers Hays (from Facebook), you're the winner of the Boss Your Heart book!

I need both winners to contact me within the next 48 hours to claim their prizes (or we'll do another draw in 48 hours in the event that I don't hear from each winner).  I will need the mailing address of each winner so your prizes can be shipped directly to you!

WooHoo!  So excited to see so many of you bossing your hearts in 2011!  There were 341 entries in the drawing!  Keep spreading the word and ask your friends/family to join us in bossing our hearts by reading God's Word daily in 2011!  It's never too late to start bossing your heart!

Chrissie, Mommy is so proud of you, girlfriend!  Because of you, there are hundreds of people bossing their hearts in 2011!  And, guess what?!?  I'm sure you already know this, but your buddy Rowan bossed his heart right out of having surgery!!!  He followed your bossing technique while his momma prayed, and just before surgery, his heart fixed and Rowan cried, saying he bossed his heart like you, Chrissie!  Sweetheart, we love you and miss you so much, and we can't wait to sit at the feet of Jesus alongside you to worship our Savior face to face!  We'll keep bossing our hearts till we get there!

Winners Will Be Announced...

sometime today after church!

It's Day 2 of Boss Your Heart 2011.  Have you read from God's Word today?

Praying all who are taking the challenge will be filled by His goodness as you soak in His Word and His love on this second day of the Boss Your Heart challenge.

Stay tuned for the big announcement of the winners!

GIVEAWAYS & Boss Your Heart: It's Designed for God to Fill

Happy New Year!

Make it a Boss Your Heart New Year
and a Boss Your Heart New You!

Join the Boss Your Heart Bible Challenge 2011 in memory of Princess Chrissie!  Click HERE!

Let's see if we can get 1,111 people to join the Facebook Boss Your Heart Bible Challenge 2011 Group on 1.1.11...TODAY!  Click HERE!

We now have TWO GIVEAWAYS!!!
1.  A sterling silver Boss Your Heart necklace hand-made and donated by Rachael Scott of The Vintage Lane.

2.  A limited edition Boss Your Heart book signed by Lorraine.

If you want to be entered in the GIVEAWAYS (a copy of the limited edition Boss Your Heart book), be sure to do one (or more) of the following things by midnight TONIGHT, 1.1.11:

On January 1 at 11:59PM, one person will win a Boss Your Heart book (the limited edition) and one person will win the Boss Your Heart necklace donated by Rachael.  You'll get one entry in each giveway for doing any of the following things (one entry for each "share" you make):

• Leave a comment here (go to the linked post and leave a comment there) to let me know you're joining the Boss Your Heart Bible Challenge 2011!
• Join the Facebook Boss Your Heart Bible Challenge 2011 group.  Click HERE.
• Share, SHARE, SHaRe!!!  Encourage others to join the Boss Your Heart Bible reading challenge by sharing this on your blog/facebook/twitter/email, etc.  You'll get 1 entry for each method you share!  (Tell me how many times you shared it by leaving a comment on this post.)  Let's work together to invite people around the world to "Boss Their Hearts" in 2011!!!
• Place the Boss Your Heart button/badge on your blog!  (You'll find the button and codes by clicking HERE.)
  

Remember, the first day of Bible reading begins TODAY, but it's never too late to Boss Your Heart! 
 Join up anytime, but you only have until tonight at 11:59PM to be eligible for the drawings to win a necklace or book!

I took this entry from Daily Hope Devotionals by Pastor Rick Warren, author of Purpose Driven Life.  I hope this devo will encourage you to make a commitment to boss your heart in 2011 by committing to reading God's Word daily.

Your Heart is Designed for God to Fill


Whoever does not have the Spirit cannot receive the gifts that come from God's Spirit. Such a person really does not understand them, and they seem to be nonsense, because their value can be judged only on a spiritual basis. 1 Corinthians 2:14 (TEV)
"You can be serving God and working for God and still miss God."


The Bible tells us that there is a God-shaped vacuum in our hearts. There is a hole in our hearts that only God can fill. We were made to be connected to our Creator. We were made to know Him and to be plugged into His power.


Your heart is designed to contain God. God wants to live inside of you but when your life is filled with other things, there's no room in your heart for God. This means you're not plugged into God's power and that's why you're tired all the time. And that's why you're stressed out all the time and that's why you worry all the time.


And that's why the Bible says the unspiritual person has no room for the gifts that come from God's Spirit. It's not that God doesn't want to give them to you; it's that you can't handle the gifts because your heart is filled with so many other things.


It's like this: How many people do you know who cannot park a car in their garage? Garages are made for cars. That's how they are designed. That's what gives the garage its purpose. But we fill them up with all kinds of other stuff that they were never designed to hold.


The same thing is true in our hearts. Your heart was made to contain God, but when you fill it with worry and stress and guilt, you have no room for God.


Your heart may be crowded with good things, work or sports or hobbies, but they were never designed to take first place in your heart. In fact, you can be serving God and working for God and still miss God. Even good things do not have the power to hold your life together when the heat is on. And that's why your life starts falling apart.


As we enter this New Year, now is the time to de-clutter your life. What things have a greater priority than God in your life? Let me help you get started - What do you think about the most? The answer to that reveals who or what has first place in your heart.

Remember to make 2011 a Boss Your Heart New Year and a Boss Your Heart New You by reading God's Word daily in memory of Princess Chrissie!