Making A Divided Heart Whole

Paul Luckett | Brainflurry.com - Making A Divided Heart Whole

My heart’s divided.

My head is all over the place.

This problem. That problem. I’m pulled in a thousand different directions.

It’s hard to concentrate. I constantly jump from one thing to the other.

It’s difficult to stay on task because attacks are coming in from every side and each one feels like an existential threat, all the while I’m looking for THE problem to solve that will solve many, if not all, of the rest.

What’s the thing, if achieved, that will secure me, that will remove the terror of death and give me peace?

Sudden ruin is the anxiety of my heart.

To defeat a demon, you must make it take shape by uncovering its name.

What, exactly, am I afraid of?

I’m afraid of:

Someone dear to me languishing and dying in poverty and my having done nothing to improve their situation.

Losing my job.

Losing my clients.

Not having enough money to pay for our house, our cars, our bills, our streaming services, our debt, to keep the lights on and to have enough left over to enjoy any semblance of life such as eating out and taking an occasional trip for a change of scenery.

The discontent of others.

The disapproval of others.

Being unworthy of respect because I failed to achieve financial success.

Being alone.

I cast the demon out by bringing it into captivity of Christ.

“But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you. Or how can one enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? And then he will plunder his house.”
— Matthew 12:28-29

I accept Christ as King who is stronger than my enemy.

“[…] on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.”
— Matthew 16:18

I then die to this world to be released from being acted upon as its subject and am raised up to sit with Christ who reigns in heavenly places (Ephesians 2:6) and acts upon it—the government of Hell shall not prevail against the government of Heaven.

I accept the loss of all the things of this world and no longer work for them.

You can’t scare a dead man with death.

“Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ”
— Philippians 3:8

And I focus on the Kingdom of God and His righteousness.

I focus exclusively on gaining His character to be a vessel of His work—the blessed Oneness of all things in the Communion of God through Christ. And I trust Him for the rest.

“And do not seek what you should eat or what you should drink, nor have an anxious mind. For all these things the nations of the world seek after, and your Father knows that you need these things. But seek the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added to you.”
— Luke 12:29-31

The irony is, while I’ve been anxious, He’s been doing this all along. Imagine the joy and peace I could have enjoyed if I had trusted Him all this time instead of worrying and fretting?

I confess this sin and repent. Additionally, I die to the world and accept whatever loss comes with that. If in the course of following Christ it dies, it dies. I will not allow it to make me turn back.

“Remember Lot’s wife.”
— Luke 17:32

I will work with a heart committed to fostering Communion and bringing everything in my sphere onto the mat—into the order of God’s government so that they may experience His wonderful kingdom.

So, however small my sphere starts, the question is how does my love for God and what have I learned of Christ about how to govern inform how I use what’s in my hand at this moment to provide for my sphere and bring it into His kingdom order for the purposes of glorifying His wonderful name and drawing all men unto Him in Communion?

“He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much; and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much.

Therefore if you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches?

And if you have not been faithful in what is another man’s, who will give you what is your own?

No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.”
— Luke 16:10-13

I want the true riches.

Practically, the way I provide for my sphere may look the same as any one else earning a living, but the reason and my reaction to the results will be drastically different, leading to drastically different outcomes—even materially, but especially spiritually.

The reason.

This is how I focus—remembering the Treasure I seek: God alone.

“Blessed are the pure in heart, For they shall see God.”
— Matthew 5:8

This is how a divided heart is made whole.

#anxiety #love #perfectourlove #GoodWorks

Stay On The Mat

Paul Luckett | Brainflurry.com - Stay On The Mat

Love (noun – what it is): God’s government.

Love (verb – how it works): Obedience to God’s government that presents a space where the recipient of love experiences God’s kingdom.

I refer to that “space” as “the mat” and my goal is to meet people there.

The mat is love.

While these are not exhaustive lists (I hope to expound on this later), what is on that mat is joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23).

And what is NOT on the mat is bitterness, evil speaking, malice (Ephesians 4:31), selfishness, envy, unforgiveness, sexual immorality, (Romans 1:29-31) and things that may surprise you like truth that is not spoken in love.

This is deeply helpful to me. It helps me, at any moment, to orient myself spiritually and answer God’s first question to man, “Where are you?” (Genesis 3:9)

Love is obedience to God’s government that presents a space where the recipient of love experiences God’s kingdom.

My goal is “Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” To make it real by presenting a space where others can experience it—the mat of love.

My goal is to stay on the mat.

#perfectourlove #heartwords #love

52 Weeks Of Gratefulness #10 – What We Still Have

Paul Luckett | Brainflurry.com - 52 Weeks Of Gratefulness #10 – What We Still Have

In Week 10 of 52 Weeks Of Gratefulness, I give thanks to God for what we still have.

Earlier this week we received a phone call that makes the heart of every parent drop, “Dad, I’ve been in an accident…”

I thank God that the voice on the other end of the phone was our child. Upon hearing the details of the accident, it easily could have been a different call.

That night could have ended in heartbreak. I can only hope that we could remember God’s goodness in the midst of such unimaginable grief.

Life is a vapor, but God is good all the time.

So, I’m thankful for what we still have.

I intend to make the best of it.

I’m grateful.

#52WoG

52 Weeks Of Gratefulness #9 – Constant

Paul Luckett | Brainflurry.com - 52 Weeks Of Gratefulness #9 - Constant

In Week 9 of 52 Weeks Of Gratefulness, I give thanks to God for my father’s consistency in honor of his birthday.

There are few constants in this world, and my Dad is one of them.

In a life that can be confusing to navigate, his consistency helps me solve for the variability of the rest.

I’ve tried to pass this on to our sons, teaching them:
“Do what you’ve set out to do regardless of how others act or react.”

I have found that I can navigate virtually anything with anyone when there’s something to come back to that does not move.

Thank you for being that for me, Dad.

I hope to honor you by being that for others so that this value I’ve received from you remains

Constant.

Happy Birthday.

I’m grateful.

#52WoG

52 Weeks Of Gratefulness #8 – The Questions

Paul Luckett | Brainflurry.com - 52 Weeks Of Gratefulness #8 - The Questions

In Week 8 of 52 Weeks of Gratefulness, I give thanks to God for the questions.

My pastor, mentor, and spiritual father, Dr. Gregory Wilson Jones, did not just tell us what Scripture said; he constantly asked us what Scripture said.

First, he made sure we were reading, and second, he ensured we were engaged with Scripture by asking questions that made us wrestle with and explain its meaning in our own words.

Dr. Jones did not just lead Bible class, he taught Bible courses! There was literally a syllabus for each series and everyone received a printed outline for each class. He taught hefty theological concepts but in a way anyone could relate to. I remember many nights where children were sincerely engaged, asking wonderful questions during our discussions.

Dr. Jones understood that growth comes from challenges that are indicated by questions rather than from comfort that results from being spoon-fed.

Oh, how I love that man and miss him.

I’m grateful.

#52WoG

52 Weeks Of Gratefulness #7 – My Person

In Week 7 of 52 Weeks of Gratefulness, I give thanks to God for “my person”.

It’s conference season and this week my wife and I had a happy happenstance where we had conferences in the same city on the same day. So, we got to travel and room together.

We also have an upcoming conference where the other gets to tag along. We had a little tiff because there was yet another conference for the very next week but I couldn’t attend. I was like, “Babe, I want to, but I can’t be away from the office that long!” 🤣

I thought about this as we were traveling recently. We weren’t doing anything special this go round, no flights, no fancy restaurants, just a basic road trip. We simply wanted to be around each other. That’s not a small thing and I’m extremely thankful for it.

To have someone I want to be with who wants to be with me (today 🤣) makes me very happy.

I’m grateful.

#52WoG

Why Get Up?

Paul Luckett | Brainflurry.com - Why Get Up?

It’s a struggle to get out of bed many mornings, to push past the darkness.

So, why do it?

Hope.

I have good reason to expect the day when the darkness will cease because the Son has come.

So, with eager expectation I move; walking by faith that allows me to maintain the fight even though my feelings suggest that I’m failing.

I’m fueled by the pleasure of seeing God’s kingdom order come to everything—both the process and the product—to this day and the day it will be fully consummated.

I do it because I believe the love He has for us (1 John 4:16), because I love Him, and I can’t wait for everyone to experience that when He’s King of all.

So, I make Him king of everything I can today.

“And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”
— 1 Corinthians 13:13

#thriveday #goodworks #perfectourlove

52 Weeks Of Gratefulness #6 – A New Generation

Paul Luckett | Brainflurry.com - 52 Weeks Of Gratefulness #6 – A New Generation

In Week 6 of 52 Weeks of Gratefulness, I give thanks to God for a new generation.

My nephew and I were out one Saturday and happened upon a car broken down in the middle of traffic. There’s a young man driving with several other young men in the car.

You could see in their faces they weren’t sure what to do. So, my nephew and I stopped to see if we could at least help to push them out of traffic. As it turns out, their car, a 2013 Ford Escort, has a shift lock mechanism that prevents the car from being put into neutral if it doesn’t crank (darn new-fangled doohickeys).

As we’re figuring out how to disengage the shift lock and get the car in neutral, the driver, a young man by the name of Jeremiah (who is no more than 16) introduces himself to my nephew. He engages in conversation, sharing that he and the young men that were with him were on the way to a baby shower. He asks my nephew, “Are you a new student at State? What are you studying?”

Then Jeremiah says (as we’re all standing closely around a car in the middle of traffic), “Man, it’s great to meet you. I really appreciate your help today. If you don’t have a church home, I invite you to come hang with me at Peter’s Rock.”

I could have swallowed my head I was grinning so wide at this young black man’s poise, confidence, boldness and willingness in his witness.

Though this young man didn’t know what to do about the car, he fully understood the ultimate assignment.

In the words of KB,
“They say [young people] are leaving God.
I just smiled, like, ‘You really need to see the squad.'”
-From the song, “We right here”

God is doing something
in every generation.
(1 John 2:13-14)

I’m grateful.

#52WoG

How Work for Him Establishes Our Plans

Paul Luckett | Brainflurry.com - How Work for Him Establishes Our Plans

Proverbs 16:3,

“Commit to the Lord whatever you do,
and He will establish your plans.”

What a curious turn of phrase.

I find it interesting that the verse does not say “give your plans to Lord that He may establish them”.

Because that’s typically how we approach things, right? We plan; we set priorities and goals, then we do the work to establish those plans.

But, I find the Word of God to be true and observe something amazing.

When I do what I do for God —even when I don’t know where I’m going, He establishes my plans —He gives me what I didn’t know I wanted or needed. He gives me the truest, deepest desires of my heart —which is always some expression of Himself in various forms.

I didn’t put having a warrior of a wife, loving sons, in-laws that are blood to me, a host of delightfully different people made dear family to me through Jesus Christ, fullness, wholeness, satisfaction, joy, peace or many of the indescribably wonderful things I currently enjoy on my vision board.

But, God.

God gave them to me in the course of my trying, and often failing to follow Him, even when I didn’t know what I was really doing or where I was going.

Jesus said don’t seek after what everyone else in the world seeks after, because your Father knows what you have need of even before you ask (Matthew 6:8). And, He also knows what you want most deeply even before you do.

What I see, is that to obey with a heart committed to the Lord is to experience the kingdom. And, His Kingdom is what I want most deeply. This is my plan, though largely unknown to me, that He establishes.

“Eye has not seen, nor ear heard,
Nor have entered into the heart of man
The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.”
— 1 Corinthians 2:9

It’s true.

So, my strategy is simple: love God, do what I do for Him and I cannot fail.

#thriveday