Learning the sonship skills of heart opened living makes life “alive”.
Learning to Discern Your heart is key to staying grounded and connected.
The Closed-Heart
Often, we don’t even realize when our heart has closed.
Closed hearts mean that:
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The Father’s love connection toward others is broken.
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There’s a lost sense of emotional comfort in the Father’s love.
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You no longer are feeling emotionally grounded and restful in the Father’s love.
Compassion and empathy toward another person is always the litmus test for heart-opened living.
The Judas Defense
Judas had to have rationalized that his actions were appropriate in betraying Jesus. For example, he was likely angry about how Jesus handled finances. (Jn.12:1-8)
Justifications
We all justify our feeling and actions at some level. Every time I make a judgment in my heart about another person, it reveals that I have a wall up and I’m rationalizing.
Maybe I call it “discernment.” Maybe I feel they deserve it. Maybe I convince myself I’m talking about that person’s bad actions and motives because I want to find a way to release my hurt feelings toward him.
Why is judgment wrong?
Judgment is wrong because it’s based in arrogance and it damages love.
Ouch! Painful, but true. How do you know you are judging another?
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You assign wrong motives to them; that they are acting out of pure malice rather than a struggle they’re facing.
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You feel anger toward them.
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You think about their defects repeatedly.
1 John 4:20 is basically saying – you don’t love Jesus anymore than you love your least favorite person. Another ouch!
No Condemnation
Learning the skills of heart-opened living involves recognizing our judgments are not about self-condemnation. It’s about freedom.
If you can recognize your judgment walls, you can see what’s blocking your freedom. Then you can see what’s really going on in your heart.
You may feel hurt by the other person, rejected or ignored. You may in some way feel threatened by them or jealous or left out. So what do you do instead of judging them?
The Key
When you stop and take the time to get past your defenses and deal with the reality of what’s happening in your heart, you find the true root to all the hurt. Once that is found it becomes easy to lift that up to God.
Having God speak into those wounded areas causes instant freedom and release, which brings you back to a place of “aliveness” and open-hearted living again.
Integration
Learning the skills of heart-opened living means you move these truths from intellectual knowledge to heart integration. It happens as you apply them to your heart at the exact point of the struggle you’re facing. This, my friend, is the key.
If you are struggling with being hurt by others and would like some help with this, contact me today. I would be happy to assist you learning this valuable skill.
We would love to hear from you. Was this post helpful? Are there topics you’d like to hear more about? Any questions?
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- Fathers Love
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Please Leave A Comment and Let Us Know Your Thoughts.
Bill Shields says
Wow good stuff. And ouch is right! How quick I am to judge others! Robin and I were just talking about this over the weekend. Thanks Robert for breaking this down with such clear language. Another timely message.
don says
great message.i knew something had shifted in me,but just took it as life is alittle tight this month.without even praying about it. Father opened my eyes to this is what has been going on with me.closed heart toward Him.did not even know it. the wonderful saving,keeping,love of Dad!
Robert Hartzell says
Thanks Bill, Pam, and Don for the comments.