My good friend Jonathan Spainhour wrote something lately that really got me thinking about what my actions reveal:

The reflection of the heart is the action of the body.

It’s challenging because we quite often hear that it’s what’s in the heart that counts, but how can we know what is in the heart? I think that Jonathan nailed it on the head with that quote, we know what is in the heart by looking at what comes out of it, including:

• Our Language
• How we treat others
• How we react in challenging situations
• What we do when no one is looking

So we can tell what is in someone’s heart, including my own, by looking at their actions. What is in our heart comes out in our actions. No matter how good of a “mask” we put on, if people watch our actions and the “fruit” that comes out of our life they will get a reflection of what is in our hearts.

When people look at me and my life what do they see?

• When I get confronted, how do I react?
• When I’m disciplining our kids, what do they see?
• When I have been wronged, what do they see in my response?
• When people look at how I spend my money, do they see what I value?

When people look at your life, what does it reveal about your heart?

Are we reflecting Christ in our actions, or do our actions reveal the lack of Christ’s redeeming power in our lives? How well are we representing Christ here on Earth?

Image supplied by FreeFoto.com

Jon Acuff has an article on his blog Stuff Christians Like entitled “Our $29,000 God. It talks about his project to raise $30,000 to build a kindergarten in Vietnam and his doubt leading up to asking his readers to help raise the money for the project. He was hopeful to be able to raise the $30,000 in about 6-weeks.

It look him 18-hours…

It helps that he is author of the fantastic book Stuff Christians Like (Amazon Affiliate Link), has over 28,000 people following him on Twitter and over 10,000 “friends” on Facebook, but the main reason why he was able to raise the money so quick was because God is big enough and it was something on God’s heart.

Although our story seems smaller, it reminded me that God is big enough.

When we raised the money for the new laptop that I am using for my writing, web-site development and podcast recording I was very nervous about doing so. I didn’t know how well it would go or how quickly it would happen. What I did know was that the new laptop was a tool that I needed to do what God brought me to Canada for.

God was bigger than my doubts and expectations and we raised the money in only a week! (You can read the “thank you” article on our family website)

To put it in perspective, I have 719 friends on Facebook, 472 followers on Twitter and e-mailed out to about 130 people. Both of those first figures are much higher now then they were earlier this year when we raised the money for the laptop. What we did have though was great quality friends, and God working on our behalf…

So what are you facing that God is too small for, or can’t help you with? Stop putting God in a box and trust Him, whatever your problems are, God is Bigger…

photo credit: random cliché

As we can see from the verses below, it is God’s desire to see our needs met. One of the names of God is Jehovah-Jireh, which means “The Lord Will Provide”.

Matthew 6:31-32  "So do not start worrying: ‘Where will my food come from? or my drink? or my clothes?’  (These are the things the pagans are always concerned about.) Your Father in heaven knows that you need all these things.

2 Corinthians 9:8  And God is able to give you more than you need, so that you will always have all you need for yourselves and more than enough for every good cause.

Philippians 4:19  And with all his abundant wealth through Christ Jesus, my God will supply all your needs.

In a similar theme to what I wrote about in my article entitled “Burn Out – The Myth of Philippians 4:13”, God’s provision is dependant on obedience. In this case it is not only dependant on our own personal obedience, but it is also dependant on the obedience of others.

God will provide for all your needs, if you are walking in obedience to His will for your life. God may withhold His provision for your needs if you are not walking in His will for your life. God will also not necessarily provide for all you wants, but there are times that God, like parents, will provide over and above your needs to fulfil some of your wants.

At the same time, God may desire for someone else to provide for your needs. If that is the case then God’s provision is also dependant on the other person’s obedience to His will, as well as your own obedience to see these needs met.

This dependence on other people’s obedience is especially evident to us as volunteer missionaries as we are directly supported and sponsored by individuals, churches and other organisations. If it is God’s will for someone to support or sponsor us, and they do not follow through on God’s will, then we go without because of someone else’s disobedience.

Although we don’t often acknowledge it, people in jobs are also dependent on God in this way. For someone to hire you for the job that God wants you to have, they have to do what God wants of them in the situation. If you are self employed it works the same way, it is up to the potential clients to accept or reject your proposals.

If we continue reading the versus listed above we can read more about what God’s will is, and why and how He desires to provide for us:

Mat 6:33  Instead, be concerned above everything else with the Kingdom of God and with what he requires of you, and he will provide you with all these other things.

2 Corinthians 9:10-13  And God, who supplies seed for the sower and bread to eat, will also supply you with all the seed you need and will make it grow and produce a rich harvest from your generosity.  He will always make you rich enough to be generous at all times, so that many will thank God for your gifts which they receive from us.  For this service you perform not only meets the needs of God’s people, but also produces an outpouring of gratitude to God.  And because of the proof which this service of yours brings, many will give glory to God for your loyalty to the gospel of Christ, which you profess, and for your generosity in sharing with them and everyone else.

God’s desire is that we be concerned with The Kingdom of God, not with the things that the pagans and gentiles are concerned with. We need to stay focused on God, and His desire and plan for our lives. While we concern ourselves with the Kingdom of God and what He requires of us, He will provide the means to meet our needs…