Maneuvers - No. 33
To Open
Your Heart
Do you ever feel crushed by busyness, friend? Pulled in too many directions?
We live in a world that’s constantly screaming for our attention. There are so many things we’re told we have to do, goals to achieve, tasks to cram into our already-overflowing schedules.
It’s easy to feel like a slave to the world’s fast pace. So we rush as quickly as we can, try to get as much done as possible, and by the end of the day, we’re exhausted.
It’s not that those things on our to-do lists aren’t important. Many of them truly are. They are important.
But so is your heart, friend.
And the problem is, when we give ourselves fully to this fast-paced schedule handed to us by the world, we lose sight of our own hearts. We push past the tiredness, ignoring the ache within, and we go numb.
We forget to pause and listen—to our own hearts, yes, but also to our heavenly Father, the one who made our hearts. When we silence our inner selves, we make it harder to hear Jesus’ voice. Because he designed our hearts to hear him.
That numbness you feel? It’s not “just the way things are.” That weariness, that craving for God’s presence? It’s not just a feeling. It’s an invitation.
Today, Holy Spirit is welcoming us to rest with him and enjoy him. How will we respond?
01.
The Message
“I know you’re tired. It’s okay. How about you pause here, let yourself feel the tiredness rather than ignoring it and pushing on? I know there are so many things to do—so many things you feel you must do. But how about you take a deep breath now? How about you pause and consider what it is your heart really needs? What it is you are aching for? What it is you fear? What it is you desire, in this moment, more than anything else?
“Do you know?
“It can be a challenge, sometimes, to trust what it is your heart is craving. The noise of the world can numb the heart, make it conditioned to being quieted, ignored. There is a rhythm it is used to—due to how you are used to treating it. Your heart is either accustomed to attention….my attention...and your attention….or not.
“What if, instead of silencing your heart, you stay here with me for a bit and we sit with it? For right now, how I am speaking to you is made possible through your open heart.
“With this open heart, you are designed to connect with me. With this open heart, you are built to listen to my voice. With this open heart, you are made to stay here, just like this, and let your heart be restored through connection with me. With this open heart, my love for you covers you, fills you, flows through you, fortifies you.
“It is how you are made to be, with me.
“As we sit here, let me show you how to practice slowing, being attentive to the subtle messages your heart is sending you. For I don’t want you to miss any whisper, any nudge, any caress, any gentle push and pull from my Spirit.
“I adore you. I have so much love to give you. I want you to experience a life with a heart wide awake, a heart fully healed, a heart receptive and soft and conditioned to being with me. Stay here with me now. Let me show you how to feel, feel, feel your heart.”
02.
Listen
Wide awake. Fully healed. Receptive. Soft. Are those the words you wish described your heart, friend? If so, let’s take some time to write out a prayer to the Lord in response to this week’s message.
03.
Think
“And [Jesus] said to them, ‘Come away by yourselves to a secluded place and rest a little while’” (Mark 6:31, AMP).
1. What activities or worries are overtaking your schedule? How are they affecting your heart and the attention you pay to what you feel?
2. Why is it difficult sometimes to understand what you feel and what you long for? What life experiences have taught you to ignore those things?
3. Take a moment to simply be still. Breathe in deeply, slowly, deliberately. Now ponder these questions… What do you feel? What do you crave? What are you hurting or worried about? Now, let’s take a moment to be vulnerable and share those feelings with Holy Spirit. What is he saying to you?
04.
Trust
Some of us have grown up thinking that our feelings don’t matter. So we’ve learned to close our hearts, limit what we feel, and keep what we really feel down deep. That’s how we’ve learned to keep going when life gets hard.
Some people might see our perseverance and applaud us. After all, we’re pressing on despite the tiredness, despite the pain.
But the truth is, we aren’t more spiritual when we ignore our feelings. It doesn’t make us holier to numb our hearts and pretend we’re not tired.
Following Jesus isn’t about shutting out the pain or the discomfort. In fact, Jesus promised us that when we follow him closely, there will be pain—but he also promised to be with us through it all.
The apostle Paul experienced this truth. He went through some incredibly hard things during his missionary journeys, but not alone. Let’s pause a moment to read 2 Corinthians 1:1-11.
While we’re reading this passage, let’s take our time and answer these questions:
1. What words does Paul use to describe the discouragement he felt in Asia? What does that tell us about what he was going through internally?
2. What does Paul do with these discouraging feelings? How does he respond?
3. What happens as a result of his response? How does it impact his ministry and even his own heart?
4. Imagine with us for a moment. If Paul had tried to ignore his feelings and simply push through the weariness in his own strength, how could that have affected his ministry? His relationship with Jesus? His relationship with the people he was serving?
5. What could change in our lives if we opened and softened our hearts?
How do you feel after answering those questions, friend? Let’s pull out our journals again and write down what Holy Spirit showed us through this passage. And now… let’s respond to him in prayer.
05.
Pray
Father, I confess to you where I’ve numbed my heart, even toward you. I don’t want to be numb. I want to be awake—wide awake, ready to receive everything you have to share with me.
Help me quiet my heart and listen to what I’m feeling, even during the busiest days. And help me to invite you into those moments so you can carry that burden with me.
You’re so faithful, Jesus. You’ve never abandoned me, and I know you never will. Fill me with your light and your love. Expose any lies I’ve been believing about myself, my emotions, or even about you. Fill me with truth—your truth. I love you, Lord.
In Jesus’ name, amen.
Waving the banner with you,
