Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Foreign.
[00:00:06] And welcome back to the weekday podcast. My name is Chuck Allen, and I'm so glad you joined me today. When we talk about when your word takes root, I mean, I. I've been talking the last few days about the power of focus on a word that God might give you to help anchor your soul through the balance of this year. We've talked about what's in your heart, what's. We've talked about finding your one word. But today let's talk about what happens when that word takes root deep inside your heart, inside your Soul. In Matthew 13, Jesus talks about the seed that fell on good soil, the one that produced a harvest. That's what happens when you let the word of God settle deep into your daily rhythm. I mean, Proverbs 3 is abundantly clear. When we remember God's word, we take his teaching, and then we rest in it. What happens is it extends our joy, our peace, our happiness, our life.
[00:01:09] You. You repeat this, this word, God's word, God's direction. You repeat it in your prayers. Lord, would you continue?
[00:01:17] Lord, would you give me? Lord, would you grant me? Lord, would you, in your presence, remind me, whatever that is, you. You speak it over your family, you speak it over your life. You let it guide your choices, literally allow it to guard your peace. And pretty soon that word stops living on your dashboard, on a rock, or sitting by your coffee maker, and it starts living in your decisions. That's when heart work becomes life change.
[00:01:47] Now, I think this is something that's worth stopping to recognize, because Paul writes to the Philippians in chapter one, verse six. I am certain he says, and I love those three words. I am certain. It's like, doggone it, take this to the bank. I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, meaning that when God began this work in you, he began with placing in you a desire to turn from who you naturally are to Jesus, and through Christ, finding hope, peace, forgiveness, joy, salvation, and begin the process of sanctification, becoming more like him. I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue its work until it is finished. Now, notice it doesn't say, the good work in making you pretty, the good work in making you look like you're good.
[00:02:42] It is the good works happening within you. It's just further confirmation that everything Jesus teaches us in the Scriptures talks about what happens within us when our heart is right. That's what, that's what just kind of falls out of us when the world bumps into us. I mean, when life bumps you this week. Remember, whatever fills your heart, that's what's spilling out.
[00:03:07] So if you begun this journey with one word with me this week, stay with it. Let it shape your heart. Even when it seems ridiculously hard or even foolish.
[00:03:19] Remember, life's going to bump us. It's going to punch us in the mouth, is going to give us a difficult season. Because if we didn't have a difficult season, we'd never turn to God. And if we didn't know what it felt like to walk in a valley, we'd have no appreciation for what it's like to walk on a mountaintop. I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, he will continue until it is finished. You say, well, doggone it, how about. How about he just goes and finishes? But the truth is, he's not finished with you all the way through to heaven.
[00:03:51] So from the time we said yes to Jesus until such time as we step onto streets of gold, the truth is, we're still growing. We're just not there yet.
[00:04:04] And when life does bump into us, let what spills out to be grace and kindness and joy. Well, let it be Jesus.
[00:04:13] So fill your whole heart, your life, your soul. So fill it with Jesus.
[00:04:20] And then plant your one word deep in the soil of Jesus and watch how he turns that small seed, that one word into something lasting, into something beautiful and something that he uses to help you go from where you are to where he wants you to be.
[00:04:39] This is a God who loves deeply, who gives generously, who longs for you to experience him in all of his wondrous glory, my friend. That's the beauty of walking with Jesus and finding the power in His Word for your life. God bless you, friend. Thanks for joining me on today's weekday podcast.
