Keep the Heart

NEW FOR COUPLES: Rough Patches: Temporary Marital Tensions

Teachback Tuesday-Why Did God Let This Happen? Jun 13, 2022

Show notes

“Why did this happen to me?”

Have you ever wondered the same thing? Why did God bring you into such a hard place? Why didn’t He keep the event from happening? If God is all-powerful, why does He allow us to suffer when He could easily stop it? Is God being unfair to us? Why is this happening?

While we can’t answer anything that God hasn’t answered in His Word, we can address and apply what He has given us. The truth is this: there is no simple answer to the “Why-would-God” questions. Instead of asking “Why would God,” we can look at this from another angle:

"What can God do with my suffering?"

It is a reality that life deals some hard blows, and our first reactions are often emotionally driven by the shock and stress of our circumstances. God knows us, and understands that our human nature often reacts as a first response. He also promised that He would never leave us nor forsake us, meaning we are not abandoned. (Heb. 13:5). This Teachback Tuesday episode describes four things that God can do in and through our suffering. Share this with family and friends, but take care with the timing. Everything is better in the right season.

ICU Heart Conditions Bible Application Study--Leader Guide

ICU Heart Conditions Participant Guide

Calm in Christ: Benefits of Daily Bible Study ebook

Beautiful Seaside Treasures Mini Shell Bags

Build Your Bible Habit-Proverbs Chapter 21 Jun 09, 2022

Show notes

BONUS BIBLE SERIES: Welcome to Proverbs chapter 21 on Build Your Bible Habit. This chapter discusses undesirable character traits, giving us something to consider carefully in our behavior with others. Would you want to live with a person who is always ready to argue, looking for things to fuss about? The Bible calls that contentious, and it's mentioned in this chapter. As usual, these topics and others are covered in ways to make us think.

God uses Proverbs to repeatedly fill our hearts and minds with the wisdom needed for this life. When we read these verses and apply them, we experience the good outcomes of following God’s Word, but when we hear the verses and disregard them, it’s easy to mishandle situations and find ourselves in hard places. Everything we do has a motive behind it, and God wants those motives to be biblical and pure. As it says in Proverbs 21:2, "Every way of a man is right in his own eyes: but the LORD pondereth the hearts."

Rough Patches: Temporary Marital Tensions

ICU--In Christ Unconditionally New Testament Leader Guide

ICU--In Christ Unconditionally New Testament Participant Guide

ICU Heart Conditions Bible Application Study--Leader Guide

Are You Overdosing on Bad News? Jun 06, 2022

Show notes

Have you ever watching something that left you feeling anxious, fearful, or distressed? That was the intended reaction. It is easier to influence people when they are fearful. Making people anxious by feeding them constant bad news often enslaves a viewer to stay tuned. Oddly, this is the very kind of habit that can hurt us.

We are seeing pandemic levels of anxiety and fear. Since these are basically inseparable, it’s not surprising to see a rise in both. The question is this: Why has there been such a dramatic increase?

We can’t blame everything on the pandemic, even though it contributed to historic levels of anguish and distress. But sometimes there are additional causes for a constant sense of doom and darkness, inflicted by unlikely suspects. We are the unlikely suspects.

We can’t control what the media is serving, but we can manage how many of their meals we’ll choose to eat. As we continue to be bombarded with a stream of negative news, we need to develop our own systems to balance the input. Are you overdosing on bad news? Let’s look at three common symptoms, and then we’ll consider some suggestions for repairing the damage.

ICU Heart Conditions Participant Guide

Calm in Christ: Benefits of Daily Bible Study ebook

Beautiful Seaside Treasures Mini Shell Bags

"Be Like Jesus is Better Than You Do You" t-shirt

Build Your Bible Habit-Proverbs Chapter 20 Jun 02, 2022

Show notes

BONUS BIBLE SERIES: Welcome to Proverbs chapter 20 on Build Your Bible Habit. This chapter reminds me of going into a superstore and picking up everything you need in one trip. So many topics are covered, from the meddling fool to the person who can’t keep private matters private. Each verse moves to another issue of life. Since so many areas are covered in this chapter, it’s reasonable to say that whatever you’re walking through will probably be addressed.

How many times have you come to a place in your life where you were facing a situation and didn’t know how to handle it? The Proverbs are designed precisely for these situations. God instructs us line by line, leading us into wise and gracious handling of even the most complicated matters. It calms our souls when we’re led by God in what to do next. The anxiety and agitation are replaced with a confidence not in our own wisdom, but in the wisdom from God’s Word.

Proverbs 20:18 is a great reminder verse for those times when we may need extra guidance in our lives. It says this: "Every purpose is established by counsel: and with good advice make war." (Proverbs 20:18) It’s never a shame to need counsel. If you’re facing something right now and you don’t know what to do, ask a trusted counselor for some good advice. It’s wise and it’s biblical.

ICU--In Christ Unconditionally New Testament Leader Guide

ICU--In Christ Unconditionally New Testament Participant Guide

Lead a Bible study with ICU Heart Conditions Leader Guide

Teachback Tuesday--Don’t Follow Your Heart May 30, 2022

Show notes

Welcome to Teachback Tuesday, where we air the most popular episodes from the previous season. This week, we’re replaying an episode that created a lot of chatter. The popular phrase, “Follow your heart” is contrary advice, but it's thrown around like an old family recipe. If you’ve ever followed your heart and gotten burned, you know firsthand that this is inaccurate advice.

God is our guide, but when we ignore His clear principles and go with the demands of our desires, we end up in situations that cause anxiety, pain, and even despair. What is your true life purpose? Are you just here to feel good and jump from experience to experience until you’re old and worn out from a life that has left you emotionally and physically bankrupt?

This Teachback Tuesday episode will provide four reasons why following our hearts is misguided. Share this episode with loved ones, especially those who look like they're heading for a cliff with their eyes wide open.

ICU--In Christ Unconditionally Heart Conditions Participant Guide

Vitamins for the Soul: A Study on Maintaining Spiritual Health

"Be Like Jesus is Better Than You Do You" T-shirt

Podcast Supporters Click Here!

Build Your Bible Habit-Proverbs Chapter 19 May 26, 2022

Show notes

BONUS BIBLE SERIES: Welcome to Proverbs chapter 19 on Build Your Bible Habit. The theme of upright living is woven throughout this chapter, giving us principles to put into practice right away. If you haven’t started doing so, I suggest that you pray before listening to these Proverbs. Ask the Lord to show you what to work on from the chapter, and then watch for pop quizzes throughout your day. Remember, sometimes people are the "tests" in life.

You will find yourself applying the Bible more to your everyday living as you continue to build your Bible habit. Verses will pop up on the screen of your mind, prompting you to pause and edit yourself, putting you in a position to have better outcomes in your relationships.

Proverbs 19:11 is a perfect example of this, as it reminds us of this key relationship principle: "The discretion of a man deferreth his anger; and it is his glory to pass over a transgression." The next time someone does or says something that provokes you and you’re tempted to have a short fuse, pause and P.O.A.T.: Pass over a transgression. We love it when people do that for us.

ICU--In Christ Unconditionally New Testament Leader Guide

ICU--In Christ Unconditionally New Testament Participant Guide

NEW! Encouragement for Motherhood: A 30-Day Devotional

Is It Toxic or Is It Us? May 23, 2022

Show notes

We live in the age of label-slapping. It’s common and very public, since we can now call people out on social media to let the whole world know how we feel. Things that are common are not always correct. Is it right to get the branding iron out to mark someone else when we hate having that done to us? Just because the culture loves creating and applying negative labels to people with whom they disagree doesn’t mean that this is a good practice. Are we becoming toxic ourselves?

By definition, something that is “toxic” means it’s “poisonous,” and was previously used only when referring to hazardous substances and dangerous chemicals. I get it that we’re trying to say that certain people and situations can be hazardous, but are we liberally using an overused word just because it’s the latest slang term for “someone or someplace that we don’t like”?

Is it possible that we’re confusing the word toxic with something else? This is just a brief examination, which I hope will cause us to carefully consider if we’re becoming too label-slap-happy.

ICU--In Christ Unconditionally New Testament Leader Guide

ICU--In Christ Unconditionally New Testament Participant Guide

Build Your Bible Habit~Proverbs Chapter 18 May 19, 2022

Show notes

BONUS BIBLE SERIES: Welcome to Proverbs chapter 18 on Build Your Bible Habit. Chapter 18 takes us deeper into the issues of life, with an extra emphasis on behaviors of what the Bible calls “the fool,” along with instructions about how we use our words. The book of Proverbs is written on a level where we can take the learning to applying.”

By the time you get to the end of chapter 18, you’ve received a month’s worth of instructions for daily living in under five minutes. It’s not enough for us to simply read or listen to the Proverbs. Bible knowledge without Bible application is treating the Bible like an academic subject rather than the Words of life. God really wants to help us know how to live, but we need to read AND follow His directions.

Here’s our reminder verse for the day from Proverbs 18:12: "Before destruction the heart of man is haughty, and before honour is humility." There’s always more to learn, and that makes us permanent students of the Bible.

ICU--In Christ Unconditionally New Testament Leader Guide

ICU--In Christ Unconditionally New Testament Participant Guide