Participants: Jill Morikone
Series Code: HLFT
Program Code: HLFT000012A
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00:25 Hello, and welcome to Heart Lift.
00:26 I'm Jill Morikone, and I'm so glad that 00:29 you've joined us today. 00:31 We're on a journey toward hope, toward healing, 00:34 toward the transformation that the Lord Jesus wants to work 00:38 in your heart and in mine as women, as daughters of God. 00:43 If you're just joining us, last program we discussed purity; 00:49 purity from a woman's perspective, 00:51 from a woman's point of view. 00:53 I shared some of my own personal battle dealing with purity: 00:57 my addiction to romance novels I had as a teenager, 01:01 and then in my early twenties my addiction to soap operas, 01:05 and how I would spin those romantic fantasies in my mind, 01:10 and how God wanted to break me free, 01:13 how He worked to break me free. 01:16 This program and the next one we're going to discuss keys, 01:20 steps that we can take, that we can walk with to experience 01:26 freedom; freedom from the addiction of sin, 01:29 freedom from that lust. 01:31 So whether you're currently physically acting out, 01:34 or if your battle is only emotional in your heart, 01:37 either way, God wants to bring deliverance. 01:40 Our Scripture is 2 Corinthians 10, 2 Corinthians 10:5. 01:46 Casting down arguments, and every high thing that exalts 01:51 itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity 01:56 every thought to the obedience of Christ. 02:01 Let's pray. Father we come before You right now 02:04 in the name of Jesus. 02:06 We ask for Your deliverance. 02:08 We come as Your daughters, seeking forgiveness, 02:12 seeking cleansing, seeking that the blood of 02:15 Jesus would cover us. 02:16 We thank You for that. 02:18 We ask right now that You would speak from Your Word and that 02:23 we would be able to hear; that You would give us ears to hear. 02:26 And we thank You in the precious, 02:29 and the holy name of Jesus, Amen. 02:31 It was noon, about noon. 02:36 She probably didn't have a clock, but she could tell by the 02:39 sun that it stood right overhead. 02:42 Now was a perfect time to go to the well, because there wouldn't 02:48 be a lot of women there. 02:49 She wouldn't have to battle questions, or concerns, 02:53 or ugly sneers, or remarks, or even the rolling of eyes 02:58 that we can be kind of good at as women. 03:01 She grabbed her water pot and stepped out the door. 03:06 As she approached the well, all of a sudden she realized 03:11 there was a man sitting there. 03:13 She had thought she was going to the well because no one else 03:17 was going to be there. 03:18 She went, and there was a man there. 03:20 Look at his robe; definitely Jewish. 03:24 Some sort of Rabbi or something. 03:27 She approached the well and thought, I just need to get this 03:30 over with, so let me fill up my water pot, 03:33 and get back to my house. 03:36 As she let down her water pot the man spoke, and he said, 03:41 Would you give me a drink of water? 03:43 She was amazed! In their culture, in their time... 03:48 We're talking about Bible times. 03:50 ...they did not, men and women didn't 03:53 interact like we do today. 03:55 He would not have spoken to her, 03:57 and especially she was not Jewish. 04:00 She was a Samaritan. 04:02 So there was a double negative, a double reason for this Rabbi 04:06 not to speak to her. 04:08 But amazingly He did. 04:10 He asked her for a drink of water. 04:12 She dared to lift up her eyes when she went to hand Him 04:17 the drink of water. 04:18 And she was amazed because He didn't look at her with lust 04:22 like all the other men in her life did. 04:25 There was such purity, such peace, such power, 04:31 such kind eyes He had. 04:33 The cup trembled... 04:34 This is my imagination. 04:36 The cup trembled in her hand as she held it out 04:38 to Him, this Rabbi. 04:40 His name, of course, you know the story, is Jesus. 04:44 They discussed different things, a few different topics, 04:48 and then the conversation took an interesting turn. 04:51 Jesus said, Go call your husband. 04:54 And she said, not wanting him to know about her past, 04:58 about her impurity, about her sin, she said, 05:04 I don't have a husband. 05:05 And Jesus said, I know that. 05:08 You're telling the truth. 05:10 You don't have a husband. 05:12 You've had five, and the man you're with now 05:14 is not your husband. 05:17 She looked up into His eyes again thinking now that He knew 05:21 the truth about her; he knew all about her shame, and guilt, 05:25 and condemnation, and the sin she was covered with, 05:28 that now He would say, Uh-uh, I don't want 05:32 anything to do with you. 05:34 But amazingly, His look did not change. 05:38 He still loved her. 05:39 He still saw her as who she could be 05:44 forgiven and cleansed by grace. 05:47 Knowledge of her sin made no difference. 05:52 I don't know where you are today in your journey toward 05:55 purity of heart and life. 05:57 In my own life, my own battle with my romantic thoughts 06:01 and fantasies, I know exactly what it's like to say, 06:05 Lord Jesus take my heart. 06:07 I want to walk in purity. 06:08 And the next instant be bombarded with an impure 06:13 thought from my past. 06:15 For some people, I believe Jesus gives immediately deliverance. 06:20 Instantly they are set free. 06:22 For other people it's a journey. 06:24 It takes time. And for me, that's how it worked for me. 06:29 I want to share with you several steps, several keys. 06:33 We're going to look at three of them today. 06:35 And the next program we'll discuss the rest of them. 06:38 But today we're going to look at three steps, three keys that 06:43 you can use in your own journey toward purity of heart and life. 06:47 1. Seek forgiveness. 06:51 1 John 1:9. I love this verse. 06:54 If we confess our sins Jesus is faithful and just to forgive 06:59 us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 07:04 You don't have to waste time doing penance. 07:07 You don't have to grovel in the dirt and think, 07:10 I'm just covered in mud and slime. 07:12 You come to Jesus, say I'm sorry for the junk in my past. 07:16 I'm sorry for the times I was not pure. 07:19 And do you know what He's going to say? 07:21 Instantly He will forgive you, and cleanse you, and you can be 07:27 the purified, dazzling, princess of the King. Only ask Him. 07:33 First we seek forgiveness. 07:36 Second we surrender our thought life, or our love life to God. 07:43 What if you're single and you say, 07:45 I really want to be married. 07:47 God says, Surrender that desire to Me, and I can pick 07:52 your spouse for you. 07:54 I remember when I was a teenager, I wanted to give 07:58 my life to God, and I really desired to follow Him. 08:01 And I remember I would kneel down by my bed, 08:04 and I would pray, and I would say, Lord I want to follow You. 08:08 And I'm giving You everything but one thing. 08:10 There's one thing in my life that I do not 08:13 want to give to You. 08:15 And do you know what that one thing was? 08:17 That was my love life. 08:19 I thought, I'm not going to give God my love life. 08:23 You know, what if I let God hand pick my husband for me, 08:27 He might pick somebody ugly. 08:29 That seems funny now, and especially, 08:34 my husband is very handsome. 08:35 But at the time I thought, He might pick somebody ugly. 08:40 He might pick somebody that I couldn't get along with, 08:44 somebody that I did not like. 08:47 God says, Surrender that to Me. 08:51 You know the amazing thing is that in James 1:17 the Bible 08:56 says, Every good gift, every perfect gift is from above, 09:00 and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom is no 09:04 variableness, neither shadow of turning. 09:06 And that's the amazing thing. 09:08 Because I was afraid to trust God, and He said, 09:10 Jill, I'll bring you the best gift! 09:13 And that's what He did in my life with my husband Greg. 09:17 Trust God with your future spouse. 09:21 But what if you're dealing with these romantic fantasies? 09:24 What if you were in... 09:26 Maybe you were sleeping with your neighbor, 09:28 and God convicted you that was not a good thing to do. 09:31 And so you broke off that relationship. 09:35 You asked forgiveness from God. 09:37 Instantly you're cleansed. 09:39 But in your heart, in your mind, you still might 09:43 have those feelings. 09:44 They still might be cropping up. 09:46 In my own experience we got rid of those romance novels 09:50 that were such a temptation to me. 09:53 I got rid of that TV that pulled me with the soap operas. 09:57 But still I had those thoughts, those romantic 10:01 fantasies in my mind. 10:03 And every time they would crop up God would say, 10:06 surrender that; surrender that back to Me. 10:11 We surrender, and I'm being honest with you, 10:14 ten seconds later it would come back. 10:16 And I'd say, God I give it to You again. 10:18 Twenty seconds later it would come back. 10:21 God I give it to You again. 10:23 But I'm here to tell you that the battle gets easier. 10:26 Day by day, as you surrender, pretty soon you might go 10:30 an hour, or a day, or a week without those old feelings. 10:36 That's an incredible deliverance that God wants to bring. 10:39 2 Corinthians 10:5. Casting down imaginations and every 10:43 high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, 10:47 and bringing into captivity every thought 10:51 to the obedience of Christ. 10:53 That verse used to terrify me. 10:56 Every thought? Did God truly mean every thought had to be 11:01 brought into subjection to Him? 11:03 Do you know the beautiful thing about what God does? 11:06 He never asks us to do something and says, Well, 11:09 go ahead and do it. 11:11 God knows our hearts. 11:14 God knows of ourselves we can do nothing. 11:18 The Bible says, Can the Ethiopian change his skin, 11:21 or the leopard his spots? 11:22 Of course not! We can't do good. 11:24 We can't of our own. 11:26 All we do is say, God take my heart. 11:28 I can't even give it to You. 11:30 Take my heart. Work in me Your good pleasure. 11:35 When we surrender, when we give God our thoughts 11:39 and those feelings, I think it's important to replace those 11:43 thoughts with something else. 11:44 We might replace it with a Scripture verse. 11:48 One of my favorites is Philippians 4, Philippians 4:8. 11:56 The Bible says, Finally, whatever is true, 11:59 whatever is noble, whatever is just, whatever is pure, 12:05 whatever is lovely, whatever is of good report, 12:09 think on these things. 12:12 I love that verse! 12:15 Whatever is pure, just, honest, noble, think on that, 12:19 think about that, meditate on that. 12:22 Do you know it's physically impossible to think about two 12:25 different things at the same time? 12:26 Now you might say, Jill I'm the queen of multitasking. 12:30 I can multitask quite well, and I don't, 12:33 I can really do that. 12:35 But I would encourage you to try that. 12:37 If I'm thinking a lustful thought about somebody, 12:41 or someone, or I'm thinking some sort of romantic fantasy, 12:45 it's pretty hard to focus on something else. 12:47 But if instead, I focus my mind on the Word of God, 12:51 if I'm reading this verse, if I'm focused on it, 12:55 guess what happens? 12:56 I can't be thinking the other thought. 12:59 Now, I could think about this and my mind jump 13:02 instantly over here. 13:04 And that happens. And if that happens, of course, 13:07 you can jump back to that. 13:08 Sometimes you might experience that in your prayer life. 13:11 I know I do. I'll be having my morning prayer, 13:14 and my time with God in the morning, and all of a sudden 13:17 I think, You didn't buy that at the grocery store. 13:20 Now how does that even intrude into your prayer time with God? 13:25 Well, of course, other thoughts come in. 13:27 But I can say, Well, I'll think about that later. 13:29 Let me go back to focusing on God. 13:31 If we truly think about something, 13:33 we can't focus on something else. 13:36 Another Scripture I like is Philippians 2, Philippians 2:13. 13:41 It says, God works in us both to will and to do 13:46 of His good pleasure. 13:49 Now if you study the Greek... the New Testament was written 13:51 The New Testament was written in Greek. 13:54 ...it says, God works in us both to will... 13:57 In Greek that means wish. 14:00 What's God saying? 14:02 He's going to give us the desire. 14:04 God will give you the desire for purity. 14:07 We can't even conjure up in ourselves the desire for purity. 14:11 God's going to give it to you. 14:13 But if you look at the next verb, 14:15 God will give us the desire. 14:17 He'll work in us to will; that's desire, 14:20 and to do of His good pleasure. 14:24 Do in the Greek is power, or the word would be aid. 14:29 So I think God gives us both the desire to break free from 14:33 those bands of impurity, and in addition He says, 14:39 I can give you the power to do it. 14:42 First focus your mind on a Scripture. 14:44 When you work, once you surrender to God, 14:46 then replace those thoughts with something else. 14:48 First focus your mind on Scripture. 14:51 Second, it could be a song. 14:53 I remember a woman called me once, and we were talking 14:56 and praying on the phone. 14:58 And she said, Jill I'm really battling. 15:01 I'm really struggling. 15:03 I just can't break free from this issue which binds me. 15:06 And I encouraged her, once she surrendered, 15:12 to claim Scripture, to sing, something like that. 15:17 She called me back and she said the song she chose is, 15:20 I Surrender All, All to Jesus I surrender. 15:24 All to Him I freely give. 15:27 I will ever love and trust Him. 15:30 In His presence daily live. 15:33 I surrender all. I surrender all. 15:37 All to thee my precious Savior, I surrender all. 15:43 And for her, she said she would surrender to God, 15:46 and then she said, I did my duties. 15:49 I went about the house, and as I did that 15:52 I sang this song, and I focused on the words. 15:56 That's simply a way to replace those thoughts 15:59 with something else. 16:00 Our girls in jail, when we go Monday night to minister to 16:04 them, they especially like the song, I Need Thee Every Hour. 16:08 I need Thee, Oh, I need Thee. 16:10 Every hour I need Thee. 16:13 Oh bless me now my Savior, I come to Thee. 16:16 Whatever it is, once you surrender, choose to replace 16:19 that thought with a Scripture, or you can replace that thought 16:23 with a song, or you can replace that thought with prayer. 16:28 You can choose to pray for the person. 16:31 Pray for the person that you're struggling with. 16:34 You could choose to pray for someone else who's in the midst 16:37 of a battle right now. 16:39 Whatever it is, choose to pray for them. 16:42 1. We seek forgiveness from the Lord Jesus Christ. 16:47 2. We surrender those thoughts to Jesus. 16:53 3. We behold Jesus. 16:57 Jump with me to Matthew 12. 16:59 Matthew 12, turn my page here, Matthew 12:43-45. 17:12 We don't want to empty the heart, 17:15 and then just sweep it clean and do nothing else. 17:18 We talked about replacing it with something, 17:20 and that is vitally important. 17:22 43, Jesus is talking. 17:24 This is actually part of one of His dissertations here. 17:28 And He says, When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, 17:32 he goes through dry places, seeking rest, and he finds none. 17:37 Now He's talking about an unclean spirit, or a devil. 17:39 Then it says, Then he says, I'm going to come back. 17:42 I'm going to return. 17:44 And when he finds the house it's empty, swept, 17:49 and put in order. 17:50 Then he comes and he takes with him seven other spirits 17:56 who are more wicked than himself. 17:59 And they enter that man's dwelling, and they dwell there. 18:03 And the last state of this man is even worse than the first. 18:08 What is Jesus saying? 18:09 He's saying, We could surrender. 18:11 We could say, God sweep my heart. 18:14 Clean it out. And then we don't fill it with anything, 18:17 and guess what happens. 18:18 Satan comes in with a million other temptations, 18:22 with a million other lustful thoughts, 18:25 with a million other issues, and brings them back in. 18:29 So it's important as we surrender to replace those 18:33 thoughts with something else. 18:35 It's also important to look to Jesus, behold Him, 18:39 see Him in His purity. 18:41 Study Jesus' life. 18:43 I want to encourage you to open up your Bible. 18:45 If you're not, if you don't read the Bible a lot 18:48 start with the Gospels. 18:50 You're going to get a picture of who God is, 18:52 of His love for you. 18:55 Check out Matthew, Mark, Luke, John. 18:59 One of my favorites is the Gospel of John. 19:01 I think it just gives us a beautiful picture of who God is. 19:06 Whatever it is, that's okay. 19:08 Open up, study the Bible, study, find out who Jesus really is. 19:16 Spend time in His Word. 19:17 Spend time with other people who are seeking Him, 19:19 other people who want to follow Him, 19:22 who want to get to know Him. 19:24 Behold Him as you walk, as you drive in the car, as you talk, 19:29 and your life will be transformed into His image. 19:34 Turn with me to Romans, Romans 12. 19:38 We're going to look at verse 1 and 2. 19:42 Romans 12 is one of my favorite Scriptures of all in the Bible. 19:46 I think I have written in the margin of my Bible, 19:49 It just shows us how to live. 19:51 It's practical tips, practical steps; 19:56 And Romans 12:1, 2 says, I beseech you therefore, 19:59 brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your body 20:03 a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, 20:08 which is your reasonable service. 20:10 And we want to especially look at verse 2. 20:13 The Bible says, Don't be conformed to this world: 20:17 but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, 20:20 that you may prove what is that good and acceptable, 20:24 and perfect, will of God. 20:27 Now if you look in the Greek at those words, 20:30 we're going to look at the word transformed. 20:32 What does the word transformed mean? 20:35 Literally, in the Greek it means metamorphosed, or a metamorphous. 20:41 So what's God saying? 20:42 He's going to actually transform us kind of like 20:45 the caterpillar to the butterfly. 20:47 He's going to transform us by the renewing of our mind. 20:51 In Greek the word for renewing is renovating. 20:55 Renovating! God's going to transform us, 20:59 and renovate our minds. 21:01 One morning, this was probably a couple of years ago, 21:05 Greg came up to me and he said, Jilly, come outside! 21:09 You've got to see this! 21:10 And so I ran out on the porch and I looked. 21:13 And you know what I saw? 21:14 There was a caterpillar just forming a cocoon. 21:18 Maybe you have seen that, or experienced it. 21:22 But that was my first time to experience that. 21:25 And we saw there was his little chrysalis. 21:28 And every day we would go out and check his status. 21:32 Now he was hanging... 21:34 We have our front porch, and we have the railing there. 21:36 He was underneath the railing. 21:38 He hung underneath the railing. 21:40 And you could go and peek down and there it is, 21:44 a little green cocoon, a little green chrysalis. 21:47 Every day we watched. 21:49 What's going to happen? 21:50 Now remember, he started as one of those old, ugly, 21:53 creepy crawly caterpillars. 21:55 Now he's in his chrysalis. 21:57 And then one morning, and it happened to be a Sabbath, 22:02 and I think that's a beautiful thing. 22:04 Because transformation occurs on the Sabbath as well. 22:07 We walked out on the front porch and Greg said, Jilly, 22:10 you've got to see this. 22:12 So I stepped out. We sat in the front chairs on the porch, 22:16 and we looked. And the butterfly was beginning to break out. 22:21 He was beginning to emerge. 22:24 And we could see pop, pop, pop. 22:27 He's starting to bring a wing out, and then another one. 22:30 And, you know, when they come out they look super fragile; 22:33 like they're really having a tough time. 22:35 But you can't break it open, because they 22:38 need that extra work. 22:40 It came out. It was a beautiful butterfly. 22:45 I'm not good with my butterflies. 22:48 I couldn't tell you what type it was. 22:50 But it was beautiful. 22:51 And we watched. It sat on a little leaf. 22:54 I think it was just stretching its wings, 22:56 and getting itself together. 22:58 And then it lifted off and it was gone. 23:00 That's what God says He wants to do with you and I. 23:07 You might feel like I'm a caterpillar. 23:09 I'm crawling on the dirt on my belly. 23:11 I'm in a bunch of junk and sin, a cauldron of impurity. 23:15 And God says, I have a beautiful plan for your life. 23:20 You're going to be a princess. 23:23 You might be wallowing in the mud right now, 23:26 but I want to transform you into a dazzling woman, 23:30 radiant with My glory, and My purity. 23:35 That's what Jesus can do. 23:38 Just behold Him. Romans 12. 23:42 Be transformed, be metamorphosed, 23:45 like the caterpillar, from the caterpillar into the butterfly. 23:49 Be changed. God wants to do that in your heart. 23:54 God wants to do that in my heart. Praise His name! 23:58 The three steps, the three keys that we discussed today: 24:02 1. Go to God and seek forgiveness. 24:05 2. Surrender those romantic fantasies, those emotions, 24:11 those issues to God. 24:12 And you might surrender and then have to re-surrender again. 24:16 And 3. Behold Jesus. 24:20 See Him in His purity. 24:22 And you will be transformed into His likeness. 24:26 We're going to take a break, and we'll be right back with our 24:29 application for this week. |
Revised 2016-04-20