Welcome to Week 2 of our Heart Transformation! I am thrilled you are here. I was so excited to read how God spoke to each of you last week. I know He is going to be doing amazing things this week in our hearts as well!
If this is your first week, welcome! I am so glad you are here. Please take a few minutes to read last week’s post. But if you don’t have time, no worries. Just jump right in.
This week we will be talking about a heart that delights in the Lord.
Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart. – Psalm 37:4
Do you know Jesus? Are you head over heals in love with Him? Do you have a living, breathing relationship with Him?
Do you “delight yourself in the Lord?”
God has an overflowing, inexpressible love for you, sweet sister. He longs for this relationship with you.
You don’t have do, do, do…just be.
No matter who you are, no matter what you have done, no matter what others call you–even if you are named Pain. This week in your study guide you will read about a man whose name was Pain. Jabez’s mother intentionally named him Pain! Can you imagine? But Jabez turned and prayed to God, and God blessed him. God “enlarged his territory and His Hand was by Jabez’s side” (1 Chronicles 4:10). Whenever we turn to God in our pain, declaring we can’t do it alone, He reaches and pours His blessing upon us. The key is turning to Him. The key is seeking God through our pain. I can’t wait for you to read all about Jabez this week.
I would like to share with you another story, one that happens all too often in the pew at our churches. You may be familiar with Karen’s story. You may know Karen. You may be Karen. Karen is 57 years old and for most of her adult life she has been in church. She never misses a Sunday. She serves on various committees. She helps on many mission teams. She reads her Bible. She prays every day. She is on the prayer team.
But something is missing. Karen suspected it but never explored this feeling of emptiness. One day, God spoke to her heart. God told Karen that she needed to have a heart transplant. He needed to take her heart of stone and replace it with a heart of love. Karen had never had a loving relationship with her father. Her father had never told her “I love you.” Although he was a good father, providing for his family in every way, he never expressed his love. His children knew their father loved them. He had made sacrifices for them. He had worked long and hard hours providing for each one. But the love and tenderness was not there. The warm hugs. The playful frolicking. The sweet words so desperately needed: “I love you.”
Karen built walls around her heart. Walls to keep her safe. Walls so that she would not be hurt–even by God.
God said He wanted to remove those walls. He wanted to take out that heart and breathe new life into it. He wanted to pour out His love on her, which He so freely gives. He wanted to heal her heart. He asked if she was willing. Would she allow Him to transform her heart?
She knew something was missing from her life. She knew there was something more. Taking a deep breath, Karen hesitantly said yes. And so the transformation begins.
Sweet sister, are you ready for the transformation to begin? Are you longing to have an authentic, real, living, breathing relationship with the Lord? Maybe you are a believer. Jesus is your Lord. But you have no idea about this relationship thing. This intimacy that I talk about seems foreign to you. But you want it! You have the desire to have a living, breathing, personal relationship with the Lord. Maybe you have been going to church for a long time. Maybe you have been serving Him like Martha, but have yet to sit at His feet like Mary. Maybe you have been playing at church. You’ve been going through the motions and you want more–you want it all! You want to experience this relationship with the Lord!
Share with us today:
Do you find yourself like Karen – a woman with a “religion,” but not a “relationship” with Jesus? What does “a relationship” mean to you, and how do you think a heart “delights” in the Lord?
How have you struggled with the lie that “you have to perfect to be loved by God?”
Let’s pray.
Jesus, I want a relationship with You. I want to fall head over heels in love with You. I want more of You, God. Lord, show me what it is like to experience this relationship with you. I ask You by the power of Your Holy Spirit to do this work in my heart! Draw me close to You. Give me a revelation of Your love. In Jesus Name we pray, amen.
I can’t wait to read your comments this week. Download this week’s study guide below and don’t forget to tell your friends about our study. Grab the button on the sidebar and invite everyone to participate in the Makeover of the Heart!
Transformation of the Heart – Week 2 Study Guide
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Tracy, last week you asked us to read Ezekiel 36:25~28. Yesterday aftenoon in my quiet time I reflected on those Scriptures. Then I followed the referenced Scriptures in my Bible. I was so consumed with the Words.
I went from Ezekiel to Isaiah, Hebrews, Jeremiah, 1 John, Deuteronomy, then finally to Zechariah 7:12. Jesus is speaking…..Yea, they made their hearts as an adamant (hard) stone, lest they should hear the law, and the words which the LORD of hosts hath sent in His Spirit by the former prophets: therefore came a great wrath (anger) from the LORD of hosts.
I halfway read through this Scripture and all of a sudden I felt the Holy Spirit stirring. I cried. My heart hurt. My sorrow was so grievous. For those that have stubbornly refused to hearken, to obey God. When judgment comes it is going to be too late to repent. It grieves me so because I know that what God expects from His people has not changed from the O.T. to the N.T.
We must draw near to Him with a new heart, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. By drawing near God through Christ, one will find cleansing. There shall be a fountain open to the house of David. The fountain pictures the cleansing from sin brought about by Christ’s death on the cross. All believers will be cleansed from sin if we walk in the light and if we confess our sins. He will give us a heart to know Him, that He is the LORD. He will circumcise the foreskins of our hearts and we will be no more stiffnecked. And He will give us one heart, and He will put a new spirit within us and He will take the stony heart out of our flesh and will give us a heart of flesh, and He will be our God. And we shall live.
God please give me a new heart. This is my plea. I praise You Jesus and I thank You Father God and Holy Spirit.
Our, my sweet sister…Amen and amen! One of my favorite songs is “Give us clean hands” by Mark Schultz. The refrain is “Give us clean hands, give us pure hearts, O God of Jacob. Let us not lift our souls to another…O God, let us be a GENERATION that seeks, seeks Your face, O God of Jacob.”
I stand with you, hands lifted high, crying out, “God give me a new heart. This is my plea. I praise You Jesus and I thank You Father God and Holy Spirit.”
Blessing, dear Sister and THANK YOU Jesus, Father and Holy Spirit for opening our hearts and minds to Your Truth. Praise God!
I can’t get the second video to play all the way through. Maybe it’s my computer?
Heather, here is a direct link to the video. Does that help??
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7GMfVz1gSc&feature=player_embedded
Hey, Heather! It’s not YOU- it was me!
I am still “perfecting” my media skills. I accidentally cut off the last word: LOVE. God is filled with LOVE for us.
Blessings, Heather!
Lovely! Maybe I can view the video later on! Beautiful words,Tracy. Thank you for leading us in the things God had been showing you and wants for us!
[...] At The Well today, Tracy is continuing the six week study on Make Over of the Heart. Today she is having us take a closer look at our relationship with Christ. The question is posed: What does “a relationship” mean to you? [...]
Tracy,
Wow sister. This one made my brain hurt. In a good way though! Thank you for letting the Father speak through you!
Love you, girl! Know what you mean about that hurtin’ brain (in a good way!). I came home so FILLED from my weekend and so MUCH going through my heart and mind. God spoke so much to my heart…I felt like I needed a 2 day nap just to absorb everything!!!!!
God is doing something HUGE in our day. What a privilege it is to witness….thank You, Lord!
Just waking up to my emails (Granny is a night owl!) I received the weekly Bible study email. I read it and cried. I have to get ready to go to a doctor check up but when I get home I will visit the site and go over it fully.
Last week we were asked what our hearts desires were? I am Karen in my own way! Since my divorce 10 years ago the only relationship I want in my life is one with God.
I feel this is going to be a wonderful week and I am so very blessed to have run into you Tracy, on this big Internet. I am doubly blessed that so many are joining in and I am loving all of the sweeties I am meeting!
God be with you till we meet again!
Love, Grandma Patty Ann
Grandma Patty Ann, I love you! I am so blessed to “meet you” here At the Well. What a sweet blessing you are to so many. God is amazing and I love how he has taken what Satan means for evil (the Internet) and uses it for GOOD. I have seen Him literally SAVE lives through it. God is good!
I look forward to “hearing” what God shares with you this week, Grandma!
Tracy you are just so sweet! I got my study started after my appointment and I will continue to ad too it all week. It is a great study!
I love you and the girls! Grandma Patty Ann
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Tracy, thank you for another wonderful lesson. As I mentioned on my post, Karen’s story could be my story, which is why I am doing this Bible story. I want that intimate relationship with God, and I thnk we are so blessed to have you lead us down that journey! Angie
Tracy, I’m so glad that I joined you in this study. As a reformed people pleaser, I struggle with knowing the desires of my heart. And yet, I truly want God’s desires for me to be my desires for me. I realize they may be different from what the world would expect. But that’s OK. I want to be smack dab in the middle of His will, no matter what it is.
Thank you for the wonderful study guides and the videos. You are such a beautiful woman, inside and out. May the Lord bless you for your obedience.
Blessings and love,
Debbie
Well, being the type A personality I am, I must admit I fight being a Martha all of the time. The Lord has had to “deal” lovingly with me on that. It has taken me many years to be one that is not always doing, but sitting and listening are 2 qualities the Lord has told me repeatedly…”Be STILL and know that I am God.”
When talking about God’s desires for me, I learned a tough lesson when our eldest daughter, Meghan, went through a terrible bought of anxiety. When I say terrible, it was like nothing I had ever seen in all of my years of teaching. It was-I hate to admit it- embarrassing to me and I questioned why!! Let me tell you, it is nothing I would wish on anyone, nor would Meghan, but oh, how we grew together as a family in the Lord. There was no one else that could help us, but HIM!!! When you are rock bottom, you cry out to the Lord and He hears you, walking along beside you. When you rant, rave, and question Him, he continues to hold you, nurture you, and quietly lead you!! What I have learned from that experience both as a mom, teacher, and person is something I would NEVER have gleaned had the Lord not lead me to it and through it!!! Our Meghan is now a stronger, put-together young lady that is truly a Sister of Christ!!Praise God for his infinite wisdom and loving us even if we are “hard to love.” “Oh how He loves you and me.”
I am a Karen.I want to feel closer to God.I want to hear Him speak His will for me.
Maybe I am a lazy personality, but to me it comes easy to sit and be with the LORD. To sit in HIS quietness and feel HIS calm wash over me. To experience being in HIS presence is addictive. To be changed to be more like HIM no matter the difficulties to get there and at times one receive in becoming that.
With a definition or picture of speech “frolicking and head over heels in love” I have been wrestling. I do not have this in my frame of experience. I’ll leave it for the LORD to put it there or not. After all we are busy with the desires of my heart.
Physical blessings at times I feel the LORD only bestow on deservedness.
Thank you Tracy for the time you put in for us to come here and build on your labour for ourselves. The videos I believe is even more work but makes it feel as if we really are together. As well as the study, I’m off to go do those questions.
Hi Everyone!
Well..this Martha & Mary struggle is on going for me. I am trying to balance the two and right now I feel Jesus is telling me to be a Mary so I am trying to sit at HIs feet and be patient! I am realizing that I feel like I have to do,do, do! I have stopped the busyness and I am spending more time in prayer. That’s really where I want to be anyway!
I think for me, I need to remember to be quiet & still, allow joy to rise in me,and know strength is in my relationship with God. I seem to forget and get carried into worldly things instead of the Godly things. I need to stay focus on God by controlling my choices.
I am, blessed by God everyday I look at my life. I have come along way since I have become a Christian. Tracey, thank you for Zephaniah 3:17. It reminds me that I am never alone no matter what my circumstances are and that Our God is faithful!
Hi Everyone!
Well..this Martha & Mary struggle is on going for me. I am trying to balance the two and right now I feel Jesus is telling me to be a Mary so I am trying to sit at HIs feet and be patient! I am realizing that I feel like I have to do,do, do! I have stopped the busyness and I am spending more time in prayer. That’s really where I want to be anyway!
I think for me, I need to remember to be quiet & still, allow joy to rise in me,and know strength is in my relationship with God. I seem to forget and get carried into worldly things instead of the Godly things. I need to stay focus on God by controlling my choices.
I am, blessed by God everyday I look at my life. I have come along way since I have become a Christian. Tracey, thank you for Zephaniah 3:17. It reminds me that I am never alone no matter what my circumstances are and that Our God is faithful!
I want to be head over heels in love with Jesus!
Thank you Tracy for this study. I had tears reading about the tablecloth answer to prayer you shared. He cares so deeply about us. I was set free from so much by Hosea 2:14, it remains one of my favorites.
Love this study!
I’m having trouble with the comment posting, here it goes…
Thank you, Tracy, for this. I was so touched by reading the tablecloth answer to prayer. He so deeply cares about us and I so easily forget that. Hosea 2:14 is a verse God used to set me free from people pleasing and it remains a favorite.
Thank you!
All I can say is WOW!! I finished the lesson today and had some revelations. I cannot wait till the next lesson. Was it a good lesson? Lets just say I felt the earth move in Wisconsin this morning. Because I was shaking! Praise God and thank you!
Loving everyone! Grandma Patty Ann
I just read both of these studies! I am so thankful that you have them for us to download and read at our own time and when my 3 year old will allow! lol
Week 2 just had me crying as I was reading! Thank you so much for sharing this with us! I am hoping and praying that I can makeover my heart!
I’m getting to the study a little late this week… but I need it!
Someone recently labeled me as “resposible”. She meant it as a compliment (so she says), but that word has been hanging around my neck like an albatross ever since.
It makes me think right away that, not only am I Martha, but others see me that way, too.
I DO feel like her–always doing the work, even if no one helps or appreciates it… responsible. I think that’s contributed to the hardening of my heart.
I guess I’m trying to work way to accomplish–what, I really don’t know.
I really need a heart transplant!
Thanks for sharing this study!