My heart longs to be with Jesus. That’s where this journey I’ve been on these past few weeks has brought me. The more I understand God’s grace towards me, the more my heart thirsts for His presence. The more I am challenged to love God unconditionally, the more my heart yearns to be with Him. Though I have never seen Jesus, my heart knows Him well.
- My heart knows His kindness
~ When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd (Matthew 9:36).
~ Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “I have compassion for these people; they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat. I do not want to send them away hungry, or they may collapse on the way” (Matthew 15:32).
- My heart knows His gentle touch
~ Jesus had compassion on them and touched their eyes. Immediately they received their sight and followed him (Matthew 20:34).
~ Filled with compassion, Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” (Mark 1:41).
- My heart knows His gracious words
~ “I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life” (John 5:24).
~ “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30).
- My heart knows His patient presence
~ “O unbelieving generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy to me” (Mark 9:19).
~ “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing” (Matthew 23:37).
- My heart knows His faithful love
~ “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep” (John 10:11).
~ It was just before the Passover Feast. Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love (John 13:1).
~ Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last (Luke 23:46).
- My heart knows His joyful devotion
~ Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed (Mark 1:35).
~ At that time Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit, said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure” (Luke 10:21).
~ “Father…I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do” (John 17:4).
- My heart knows His peaceful Spirit
~ “But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid” (John 14:26, 27).
- My heart knows His loving justice
~ “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” (Luke 4:18, 19).
~ “Here is my servant whom I have chosen, the one I love, in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him, and he will proclaim justice to the nations. He will not quarrel or cry out; no one will hear his voice in the streets. A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out, till he leads justice to victory” (Matthew 12:18-20).
- My heart knows His firm guidance
~ “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” (Mark 12:29-31).
~ Then he said to them all: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it” (Luke 9:23, 24).
~ “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another” (John 13:34).
- My heart knows His steadfast will
~ “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost” (Luke 19:10).
~ Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).
~ Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:19, 20).
- My heart knows His goodness
~ “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10).
~ When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12).
~ “I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand” (John 10:28).
- My heart knows His servanthood
~ Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people (Matthew 4:23).
~ Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him (John 13:3-5).
- My heart knows His steady gaze
~ Now when he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, and he began to teach them saying… (Matthew 5:1).
~ When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick (Matthew 14:14).
~ When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things (Mark 6:34).
~ When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?” (John 6:5).
- My heart knows His passion
~ Jesus entered the temple area and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves. “It is written,” he said to them, ” ‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you are making it a ‘den of robbers'” (Matthew 21:12, 13).
~ Going a little farther, he fell to the ground and prayed that if possible the hour might pass from him. “Abba, Father,” he said, “everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will” (Mark 14:35, 36).
Does your heart know Jesus in these way?
If not, meditate on these passages. Take the time to look up each passage in the Bible and read the whole narrative that each passage sits in. I promise, you will not regret it. “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:1, 2). Open your heart to Jesus and know Him.
This is my prayer: that our Father in Heaven would reach through the pages of the Bible and grab your heart, that Jesus would come alive to you in a new and fresh way and that the Holy Spirit would anoint your life with more love and power. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.