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Good evening again ... :D:love:

The Scripture for today is one loved by our woffette and myself and no doubt many many others as it it gives us MUCH COMOFRT ...

1John 3:20 ...

God is greater than our hearts and knows all things.


Watchtower comments ...

''Admittedly, it can be difficult to quell feelings of discouragement if these are deeply ingrained. Yet, Jehovah's spirit can help you progressively to over-turn ''strongly entrenched things......raised up against the knowledge of God.'' (2 Cor. 10:4,5) What is meant by the phrase ''God is greater than our hearts''? At times, our heart may condemn us, especially when we become painfully aware of our imperfections and shortcomings. Or it may be that because of our background, we have an inordinate tendency to think negatively of ourselves, as if nothing we do could be acceptable to Jehovah. The apostle John's words assure us that Jehovah is greater than that! He sees past our mistakes and perceives our real potential. He also knows our motives and intentions. (Ps. 103:14) Yes, Jehovah knows us better than we know ourselves! w 8/1/05 18,19a

My thoughts ... :giverose::thinking:

For whatever reason my brain is saying the familiar saying ... not sure why ... but thought I might as well mention it ... ;):dontknow::P

You can run ... but you can't hide ...

Yes, Jehovah KNOWS EVERYTHING about us ... all the GOOD and all the BAD ...

There is NOTHING that is hidden from him ... and in realizing this doesn't this set us FREE ... doesn't this take off any weight or burden we may be carrying about ourselves ... ? And while this may cause us some embarrassment and some ... toe digging in the dirt with hands behind our back and face to the ground ... imagery ... it should truly let us feel and see the deep, steadfast, understanding and unequivocal love our God has for us ...

Heb. 4:13
...

(ASV) And there is no creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and laid open before the eyes of him with whom we have to do.

(CEV) Nothing is hidden from God! He sees through everything, and we will have to tell him the truth.

(GNB) There is nothing that can be hid from God; everything in all creation is exposed and lies open before his eyes. And it is to him that we must all give an account of ourselves.

Ps. 90:8 ...

(BBE) You have put our evil doings before you, our secret sins in the light of your face.

(CEV) and you know all of our sins, even those we do in secret.

(ESV) You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence.


Heb. 6:10 ...

(BBE) For God is true, and will not put away from him the memory of your work and of your love for his name, in the help which you gave and still give to the saints.

(DRB) For God is not unjust, that he should forget your work and the love which you have shewn in his name, you who have ministered and do minister to the saints.

(CEV) God is always fair. He will remember how you helped his people in the past and how you are still helping them. You belong to God, and he won't forget the love you have shown his people.


So, 'good or bad' ... we have nothing to 'hide' because nothing is 'hid' anyway ... so let us 'spill the beans' to our loving heavenly Father and tell him our woes, fears, anger, concern, joy, doubts sins and so on ...

WHY should we do this ...?

Because of how our God and his Son feel about us ...

Heb. 4:15 ...

(ASV) For we have not a high priest that cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but one that hath been in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.

(CEV) Jesus understands every weakness of ours, because he was tempted in every way that we are. But he did not sin!

(DRB) For we have not a high priest who cannot have compassion on our infirmities: but one tempted in all things like as we are, without sin.


Ps. 103:14 ...

(BBE) For he has knowledge of our feeble frame; he sees that we are only dust.

(GNB) He knows what we are made of; he remembers that we are dust.

(GW) He certainly knows what we are made of. He bears in mind that we are dust.

So, let us RELISH our relationship with God and Christ ... let us feel SAFE and SECURE in their all-encompassing love for us ... let us be OPEN with them ... let us TRUST in them ...

Then we will perhaps begin to feel what it is like to be a 'child of God' ... a child with a loving and understanding Father who understands us and wants the best for us ... now and for all eternity ...:heartbeat::friends:

Well, that about it ... hope this suffices sufficiently ... ;):siskiss::whistle:

Love as always BR :sheepy: :bouncyhearts:

BruisedReed Wrote:
Good evening again ... :D:love:

The Scripture for today is one loved by our woffette and myself and no doubt many many others as it it gives us MUCH COMOFRT ...

1John 3:20 ...

God is greater than our hearts and knows all things.



Hello BruisedReed, and thanks for bringing such an upbuilding scripture to the fore.:clap:


I particularly like the context around it:


:read:
18 Little children, let us love, neither in word nor with the tongue, but in deed and truth. 19 By this we shall know that we originate with the truth, and we shall assure our hearts before Him 20 in regard to whatever our hearts may condemn us, because God is greater than our hearts and knows all things.

A wonderful scripture for people who are feeling crushed with guilt, don't you think? People tend to be taught to crush themselves, have you noticed, by those who want to control them. Not so much a "self-control" or "self-criticism" which can be very beneficial, but "self-policing", "self-jailing" as if inspired by some evil shepherd. The bars of undue guilt can be very confining. And this scripture really unlocks the door - in whatever our hearts may condemn us, if we are acting lovingly in deed and truth, then our very spirit can ease our hearts - before Jehovah Himself! - because He can see through the over-enthusiastic criticism of our hearts.

:read:
Jeremiah 17:5-8 shows hearts deliberately going astray, and they can be deceived by others into acting self-oppressively too. But vv9 and 10 shows that Jehovah sees through both of these, just as John is writing here.

So I tend IMHO to see the phrase "God is greater than our hearts and knows all things" not as peeping into our sins, but being a protection for sincere people whose hearts are unduly oppressing them.

Thank you, beloved Jehovah, for inspiring the apostle John to write so encouragingly to us!

Hi there Acts 5v29 ... :hibye:

I just wanted to make an observation to your comment if I may ... :love:

So I tend IMHO to see the phrase "God is greater than our hearts and knows all things" not as peeping into our sins, but being a protection for sincere people whose hearts are unduly oppressing them.

When I was pondering about this Scripture before writing anything I got to thinking of many things ... :thinking: nothing unusual for me once you get to 'know' me ... :funnyface:

And the thing that is truly WONDERFUL and COMFORTING and full of GRACE about this verse is that I thought ...

Jehovah knows ALL about us ... and yet he STILL LOVES US SO!!

I have to agree with you that we tend to be 'hard' on ourselves, and when people outside of yourself ADD to that burden and conception then indeed it is GOOD for us to reflect on how GOD feels about us ... that he is GREATER than all the self recriminations and doubts and low self-esteem and guilt and embarrassment and so on ... :heartbeat:

Now perhaps you will begin to see the reason I mentioned the other Scriptures about Jehovah knowing our 'sins' (bad) as well as our 'effort' (good) ... for we are OPEN and EXPOSED in the eyes of God ... and yet that should be a cause for REJOICING and FREEDOM ... for learning how to be COMFORTABLE with our Creator and Father ... for He tells us that we can be so because he loves us and makes allowances for us and LOOKS for the GOOD in us and dwells and remember that ... and his Son loves and understands us as well ...

How great is that!!:thumbsup::cheer:

Anyway, just wanted to try and clarify a bit my wandering mind ... :giverose::funnyface:

Luv BR :sheepy: :bouncyhearts:
Hi Bruised Reed :hug: I Do LOVE this scripture and love the poetic feel of it. I see in this scripture the love Jah has for us and feel that even tho our hearts push us this way and our hearts push us that way our Great God who knows all things sees past all that and sees the beauty in our heart and sees all the potential we all possess. Once in a great while I even see a bit of potential in me--then the door closes on it and I am left standing on the wrong side of the door But God knows it is there--waiting for me to wake up to it and someday maybe in the life that is real really realize it. And sometimes when I am really sad and wanting to understand something I Love knowing God understands me better than I can ever understand myself--that feels comforting to me--and it feels like Love xxx :heartbeat:
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