Maneuvers - No. 13
What Captures
Your Heart?
We were made to love, friend.
To love other people. To love creation. To love the way God made us. And above all, to love God himself.
We were also made to crave. When we crave intimacy with God, his word, his love, his desires, we’re walking in his purposeful design for us.
But we live in a dark and often selfish world, don’t we? All around us, we see that God-given capacity to love and to crave being twisted into something it was never meant to be.
We can fall into that trap, too, can’t we? Each of us has craved something that wasn’t good for us.
It’s not that all our cravings are bad. Sometimes we just fixate on them too much. Or we use those cravings to satisfy a deeper need. (If you’ve ever craved a heaping bowl of chocolate ice cream after getting your heart broken, you know what we’re talking about.)
How many times have we hurt ourselves by letting our hearts be captivated by something that it wasn’t designed for? You’re not alone. We (Jennifer and Justin) have experienced this, too.
The answer isn’t in self-loathing or in punishing ourselves in an attempt to purge those cravings.
If our hearts are open and soft, we’ll find the answer in God’s presence. Today, that’s where we’re going. And we’re inviting you to join us.
01.
The Message
“How much do you crave my word? How much do you want to know me from the deepest place in your heart? Pause here. Consider.
“How much?
“You know the answer. Do not be hesitant to share with me what I already know. Let’s talk about it. Come close.
“No, closer.
“You do not have to fear a right or wrong answer. What you speak from your mouth is a reflection of your heart. But before you even speak, be attentive to your heart. Make sure you are not swaying in different directions, unsure of whether or not you love me. For feigned affection makes the heart suffer. It is better to be honest with yourself about what you love and what you don’t.
“But if you realize your answer is no, you do not love me, your heart does not feel love towards me, then this is true: you do not know me. For you cannot know me and not love me. But because I do not force your affection, you can choose to not know me. The heart wants what it wants. Can you trust it?
“What are you choosing? What is capturing your heart? What is drawing you close? What is occupying your attention? What is it you seek and what is it you find? What do you love more than me?
“I have always known you. I know everything about you—your habits and desires, your ideas and aspirations. I know you, and I love you. And this is what you need to understand: my love is what you need most. And my love is what is always available and what never wavers or fails.
“Whatever you choose to love, ask yourself this first: will it fulfill the deepest places in you, the places that crave love? Does it allow you to know it like you could know me? Does it love you and know you and give you everything—all of itself—so that joy and peace are yours forevermore? Can what you are choosing to love be trusted? Does it stand fast?
“I want to be with you. Today. Tomorrow. And the next day and the next. My affection for you makes you irresistible to me, and I want to be with you in every moment. Be careful about what you serve and what you truly love and know. You can know me. I hold nothing back from you.
“Come closer now. My heart is captivated by you. You can trust in my love. Be with me today. Let me show you as you pursue a deeper relationship with me. My love will not disappoint you. I promise.”
02.
Listen
“My heart is captivated by you. You can trust my love.” How does your heart react when you read those words from Holy Spirit? What prayer rises up in your spirit? Write it down in your journal if you can.
03.
Think
“Jesus said, ‘Love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence.’ This is the most important, the first on any list” (Matthew 22:37-38, MSG).
1. Today, Holy Spirit said, “What is capturing your heart? What is occupying your attention? What do you love more than me?”
These questions weren’t meant to be rhetorical. Let’s take some time right now and answer them as honestly as we can. We encourage you to write down your answers.
2. What need within you has opened the door for your heart to be captivated by the things you just listed?
(To expand on the example we used earlier, we should ask ourselves why we run to chocolate ice cream each time our hearts are broken. What need are we trying to fill with that rush of sugar? What captures your heart may be different, and that’s OK. Just answer as truthfully as possible.)
04.
Trust
We all have (or have had) things in our lives that captivated our hearts more than God. There is no exception among us. (See Psalm 14, Romans 3, and Isaiah 64:6.)
Throughout the centuries, people have tried to fix this problem on their own. They’ve tried being religious enough, restricting themselves enough, praying enough, punishing themselves enough, indulging themselves enough… none of it has worked.
There is only one solution.
Let’s return to the final paragraph in this week’s FLAG Message:
“Come closer now. My heart is captivated by you. You can trust in my love. Be with me today. Let me show you as you pursue a deeper relationship with me. My love will not disappoint you. I promise.”
1 John 1:7 communicates the same idea so beautifully: “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin” (ESV).
And 1 Corinthians 1:8-9 says, “He will also keep you firm to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, who has called you into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.”
The only way to stop being captivated by one thing is to be captivated by something else.
The answer, dear friend, isn’t being good enough. It’s embracing Jesus’ unconditional love as you go deeper in fellowship with him. That friendship, communion, intimacy—whatever word you use to describe it—is what will capture our hearts.
He is here. Can you feel him? He is offering to take you deeper, to tell you how much he loves you, to show you things more beautiful and incredible than you can imagine on your own. Can you hear him?
Let’s pray…
05.
Pray
Jesus, my hands are open to you. (Let’s open our hands as a sign of surrender.) My heart is open to you.
You know everything about me. My dreams and desires. My goals and ambitions. What captures my heart. I can’t hide anything from you, and I don’t want to.
Will you show me just how much you love me? Will you capture my heart with your presence, the glory you show only to those who fear you and love you? I want that, Lord. I want that so much.
These things that have captured my heart for so long… will you take these? Will you root out of me whatever desires and obsessions aren’t good for me, that don’t align with your heart? That’s what I want more than anything… to align with your heart in intimacy and fellowship.
Be glorified in my heart and life, Jesus, in my prayers and my words. I give you everything inside me. It’s all yours. I love you.
Amen.
Waving the banner with you,
