A Matter of Profound Spiritual Importance...

your heart.

Jesus leans in and places His forehead to yours. He whispers, “Your heart is pursuing what you value as your treasure. Be still. I am pursuing your heart because it is My treasure.”

Each one of these letters I write, I give to you as an offering. A small plate of strength for your journey. They come from time spent with the Holy Spirit. They are simple recipe lists for a life that cultivates the “good soil” of your heart spoken of in the anointed teaching of our Savior in the parable called The Sower Sows the Word:

The seed that fell on the beaten path represents the heart of the one who hears the message of the kingdom realm but doesn’t understand it. The Adversary then comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart…

The seed sown among the weeds represents the person who receives the message, but all of life’s busy distractions, his divided heart, and his ambition for wealth result in suffocating the kingdom message and prevent him from spiritual fruit. 

As for the seed that fell upon good, rich soil, it represents the hearts of people who hear and fully embrace the message of heaven’s kingdom realm. Their lives bear good fruit. (Matthew 13:19,22-23)

Believer, the good soil is found in your heart. It is cultivated by the love of God. Jesus said in John 15:9, “Let My love continually nourish your hearts.” Nourishing Love. His voice is close. Take a deep breath. He has every answer.

The promises of God and the principles of the new kingdom, you are now a citizen of, bring life into the soil of your inner man; turning it and softening it. God says to us from scriptures, “Listen to Jesus, My Son.” Every time we listen and believe God’s Word, seeds are dropped in and manifest into deeply rooted beliefs that no earthly thing can rip out.

He has given you a gift of His own holiness. He has placed you on holy ground. Holy Ground is a consuming light that produces a holy heart, set apart for God, resulting in a peaceful life, a good life.

Here are some possible questions that bring the state of our heart into focus: What does your heart recognize as treasure? What do you hold tightly as valuable? What do you protect? What are you pursuing to own? What achievement will hand you the great and grand prize? Where do your opinions sit inside your heart? Are they in front of all you see? Are you convinced it is the answer to all the lack? Have any of these values produced a peaceful life?

Jesus knew how to cut away human solutions; solutions that would serve his need, but not fulfill the Father’s will. When He was in the desert, alone and weak from hunger, the devil pursued Him with the temptation to provide for Himself bread from the rocks. He refused…the enemy of God was not going to direct His life. A short while later the angels fed Him. Then weeks later it was the crowds that hungered and Jesus looked to the Father and the miracle of His bread fed thousands. It brought great pleasure to the Father.

Looking away from what we “deserve” and turning the eyes of our heart to God means we are followers of Jesus. Jesus valued the voice of His Father. He saw everything on earth through the lens of the Father’s will. Every movement glorified God. He invites us to do the same because, through a life joined to His, you can.

When Jesus shared with His friends that He would be given up to be crucified but three days later He would be raised to life, Peter said, “God forbid! Save Yourself!” Jesus turned to Peter and said, “Get out of My way, you Satan! You are an offense to Me, because your thoughts are only filled with man’s viewpoints and not with the ways of God.” His voice softened and said, “To follow Me you will need to disown your own life…If you choose self-sacrifice and lose your lives for My glory, you will continually discover new life. But if you choose to keep your lives for yourselves, you will forfeit what you try to keep. For even if you gained all the wealth and power of this world with everything it could offer you-at the cost of your own life-what good would that be? And what could be more valuable to you than your own heart and soul? (Matthew 16: 22-26)

“Disown your life…don’t keep your lives for yourselves.” These are big “asks”! Does He mean to pursue being a martyr? No, he is addressing our heart: “what is more valuable than your heart?” Your heart is valuable to Him.

Your heart state today is a result of what you are pursuing.

He teaches us to separate and surrender. We don’t turn away from God to spare ourselves or protect what we own, we turn our heart to Him and surrender.

While meditating on this, I realized that I have held tightly to strong earthly opinions on how others should fulfill their roles: from political leaders to family members. This has opened the door to all sorts of turmoil. I realized at times I have held my opinions higher than love. When I repented and turned my heart to God in prayer, I felt a huge load had lifted off of me…it was a new exciting freedom. This is the new life He is guiding us into, a rest unknown to the ones who do not know Him. Judging others is a heavy burden.

Jesus knew how to cut away the natural and focus on the supernatural place of God’s Love. He even did it on the cross. We can too. I haven’t met a believer yet who has mastered this but our choice to turn our heart to Him even when the day gives us opportunities to look away, is precious to God. It is the position of our hearts that He wants.

When you turn your heart to Him, He is filled with joy! What if you gave your entire life to clean and feed the poor? What if you preached to billions the good message of the gospel? What if you had 50,000 likes on your Substack letter(lol)? What if you wrote a worship song and every church sang it? These would not make your Father in Heaven more pleased than when you simply turn the eyes of your heart to Him and say “Papa, I want to do your will.”

Your amazing plans don’t get Yahweh’s attention. When you turn your heart to Him, He takes notice.

God is Spirit. We worship Him in spirit and in truth. We experience Him intimately. His desire is that we learn more about Him and stay close. The Kingdom of Heaven is made of little children who come to Jesus with wide-eyed wonder and crawl into His lap. 

When you turn your heart to Him and say, “I’m angry”, “I’m tired”, “I’m afraid”, “I’m in pain” He responds, “Come into my arms, beloved, and I will hold you”. Stay there.

His left hand cradles my head, while His right hand holds me close. I am at rest in this love. Song of Songs 2:6

“He won’t see your lack of wisdom as an opportunity to scold you over your failures, but He will overwhelm your failures with His generous grace. James 1:5

“Come to Me {Look at Me} and I will give you rest. Matthew 11:28-30

Your heart is the place on which your life centers. Out of it flows every decision. The position and gaze of your heart determines what you desire. Look to Him. Keep looking. Desires will shift to heavenly realities and the things of earth will “grow strangely dim”.

Your hearts can soar with joyful gratitude when you think of how God made you worthy to receive the glorious inheritance freely given to us by living in the light. He has rescued us completely from the tyrannical rule of darkness and translated us into the kingdom realm of His beloved Son. Colossians 1:12-13 TPT

I asked my husband, from a man’s perspective, how would you describe intimacy with God? He said, “It is Into Me He Sees.” So well put. When we look to Him we are known and we know Him.

Let’s pray together. Father, I turn my heart to You. You are the Maker of Heaven and Earth. You made me. Before I was born you formed me in my mother’s womb. You gave me strengths and talents…you also put within me a need for You. You are the One who reveals mysteries…even the mysteries of why I do the things I do. I repent of trying to do it all in my own strength and reasoning. I turn to You. Unfold within me the plans you have for me. Give me eyes to see the heavenly perspective. Thank you for healing my heart and guiding me on every path. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Until next time,

Teresa L. Hoffman

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