~Open in prayer~
Icebreaker
• What emotion best describes how you felt when you woke up today?
• What has been the proudest moment in your life?
• What is your go to scripture?
Message Review
The biggest challenges in life, if you are honest, are not external, but they are internal. If you have chaos around you, it is because you have chaos in you. If you have drama around you, it is because you have drama in you. If you have disorder around you, it is because you have disorder in you. We live in a generation that blames everybody for everything. The thing about blaming is, as long as your problems is someone else’s fault you are powerless to change them. You have to own everything because you then have power to change it. God gives you power to change a thing yourself. Everything is not your fault, but it is your responsibility to change it. Your biggest battle is overcoming the stuff inside of you. If you can win it inside you can win it outside. Let God fix your heart, then you can fix other things, and then you will see other things get better.
Let’s Talk About It!
Matthew 5:8 says, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”
The blessed at heart will constantly see God work in their heart. For you to see God work, you have to have your heart right. You have to learn how to deal with things and keep your heart right. You have to go through what you go through, but keep your heart right. Keep your heart right and see the things that God does for you.
What are examples of the things of God you will see if you remain pure at heart?
Matthew 15:1-20
The real enemy is the stuff in you. You have to watch the stuff that sabotages you. You have to watch heart issues, those things that are not around you, but in you. When the things that you walk with get in you, and when the things that were supposed to be a short run become a season, that is not God’s desire for you. Will you walk through it or allow it to rule you? You have to learn to walk through things in its season, not build a house in it! You have to learn to walk through dark places. Walk through things that you thought would kill you. Walk through things that are dramatic but keep walking.
Who would like to share a dramatic experience where the devil tried to take you out, but he was defeated?
If you let God into your heart, and allow God to guard it, it will keep you. It is your heart that causes the issues of life that you’re dealing with. The devil does not create your issues, your heart does. Your heart is your garden, it is your soil for seed. In your heart, whatever you allow into it is pushed to the surface and it becomes your issue.
What are ways that God has kept your heart posture towards Him?
You have to guard your heart by your mouth, what you speak to lives and what you speak against dies. Stop keeping that thing alive! You have to watch what you say! Whoever has your ear has your future. You have to guard your heart by three gates: 1. Mouth Gate, 2. Ear Gate and 3. Eye Gate. You have to pay attention to what you look at. When you go through all sorts of failures, keep your heart pure. Did you go through what you went through or did the difficulty get in you and affected you? You have to watch it getting in you to where it can affect you. You cannot be a storm carrier. The condition of your heart is up to you, not anyone else or even the devil. You have to protect your heart no matter what you have gone through. You control your heart. You have to recognize whether the issues in your life have affected you or affected your heart. You have to allow God to create in you a clean heart. You have to ask God not to fit it, but fit your heart.
How does issues of the heart affect your ability to be a good witness toward others for God?
Prayer Focus and Requests
Ask your members if they have any prayer requests or praise reports. Encourage one another to stir up your faith and pray BIG prayers this week and expect God to blow your mind with His answers.