Fight for your Heart!
Some time ago I was having a conversation with a good friend about some of the hardships I was going through, and she confronted me in a very loving way saying: “Gaby, you have to fight for your heart, fight to keep it vulnerable, tender an open!”
That same week another good friend told me something super similar, she said: “Gaby, open your heart even when that could mean you might get hurt. You might put walls in your heart because you are protecting yourself, but other good things might not enter it because of it. Your job is not to protect your heart, that’s the Lord’s job. Let Him lead you.”
That’s crazy! Two people talked to me about the same topic the same week. That made me realize how jealous and committed God is for my heart. He really wants pure and tender hearts.
“And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart." Ezequiel 36:26
Pursue a tender heart
You might have heard the phrase that says: “hurt people, hurt people”. That happens because hard and cold hearts can’t love well, but honestly, how difficult it is to keep a tender heart in these times! We are always being attacked by things that can easily harden our hearts and make us bitter.
It is easier to lay back and let the things that hurt us cause resentment. It’s for the courageous ones to continuously fight and deal with the issues of the heart.
Even as believers we could cultivate bitterness and coldness in our hearts because of offenses, traumas, betrayals and attacks. We are not exempt from all these things, but with the grace of the Lord we can overcome them.
In Hosea 10:12 says, "I said, ‘Plant the good seeds of righteousness, and you will harvest a crop of love. Plow up the hard ground of your hearts, for now is the time to seek the Lord, that he may come and shower righteousness upon you.’"
In the previous verse is talking about plowing up the hard ground of our hearts. Plowing is a farm process of loosening and turning over soil with a plow, and it is done for preparing soil for seeds.
The Lord here is comparing our hearts to soil and He’s basically saying: *You need to break open your hearts, tear the bad and ugly things inside you, dig into offenses and betrayals, be weak and vulnerable with yourself and others. Fight for a good heart! So when I come you can receive me with a good heart posture.*
Fighting for your heart is so hard when you realize that means that you have to actively show yourself in a vulnerable way...
Reality is that to love more you have to be more vulnerable. Some might take that for granted, or see you as weak, some might ridicule you for it or try to embarrass you, but do you want to be genuine or just like everybody else?
In our society some might say “fighting for your heart” is to make others respect you, to seem empowered and on top of things. But that’s not the way God sees it. He loves meekness and lowliness.
Yeah I know, people do and say hurtful things, they cheat and lie, they betray us and fail us time and time again, but we have to keep fighting to keep that heart tender!! You don’t know if the next experience you have is going to be the genuine one. Fight to be loving, compassionate, sincere and hopeful! Fight! Because if you don’t fight for your heart, no one will!!
4 ways to fight for your Heart
1. We fight by forgiving other when they have offended us.
“Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you.” Ephesians 4:32
2. We fight by showing love and grace to others even when they don't deserve it.
“But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you!” Matthew 5:44
3. We fight by being vulnerable and showing our weaknesses to ourselves & others, even if that puts us in a disadvantage.
“Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” 2 Corinthians 12:9
4. We fight by being true to our identity in Christ
“We are confident of all this because of our great trust in God through Christ. It is not that we think we are qualified to do anything on our own. Our qualification comes from God.” 2 Corinthians 3:4-5
I want to add that,
we as christian don’t fight for our hearts in our own strength, but by the grace of the Lord.
We don’t need to strive to present ourselves worthy before Him, He has already accepted us; we come before Him as we are, and He takes what we give Him and transform it.
Ask Him to give you the grace to make this steps.
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About me
Hi everyone! my name is Gabriella but you can call me Gaby.
Welcome to my blog!
I created this space with the purpose of sharing what the Lord has put in my heart in a way that is as real and genuine as possible. I want to invite you into my journey of following Jesus and I hope I can inspire you in your journey of following Him too.
