Season 3 Episode 28 - The Rediscovered Treasure (Part 1)
Podcast Highlights:
The focus of this episode is a recording of a retreat that Chip did in Texas in 1993. The retreat content was edited and put on CDs. The CDs were included with the first edition copies of The Voice of the Heart published in 2001.
The CD intro song is “Capshaw.” The banjo is played by John Balch. It is available on iTunes and Spotify. John’s website is hidebanjoheads.com.
Living With Heart Podcast “Becoming a Portable Sanctuary” Episode 26
The message on the CD is just as true today as it was in 1993 when Chip did the retreat.
Our God absolutely looks toward us, moves into our world, and changes our lives, not a little, but a lot, not as an event, but as a journey.
Our God is not a god of an event; He is the God of the journey and the God of relationship. God is also our destiny.
“Then the Lord God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?” Genesis 3:9 (NASB)
“…Let the one who is thirsty come; and let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life.” Revelation 22:17 (NIV)
God is in pursuit of our hearts; He is in pursuit of what He created.
“For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.” Psalm 139:13
When we came into this world, we were stamped with the image of God. God made us in His image.
You and I were created to live fully. We were created as emotional and spiritual creatures, created to live fully in relationship with myself, with others, and with God.
We are made to live fully in 3D.
• We’re made to feel it.
• We’re made to seek it.
• We’re made to hurt over it.
• We’re made to laugh about it.
• We’re made to take joy in it.
• We’re made to hunger, seek, and ask.
• We’re made for play, and work, and creation, and sharing.
We are made in the image of God!
Everything about life is about relationship.
The 18” journey from our heads to our hearts is the longest journey that we will ever take. It is a journey of wholeness. The journey never ends. If we don’t make that 18” journey, we will be a failure. We will fail within the walls of our own home and we will never be of maximum service.
“Watch over your heart with all diligence, for from it flow the springs of life.” Proverbs 4:23 (NASB)
Guard your heart…treasure it, watch over it, keep it secure, take care of it, for it is the wellspring of life.
We are asked to surrender our hearts to God, hearts that we often deny. We are asked to surrender our hearts to God, Who we often don’t really trust. If we really did trust God, He would already have our hearts.
So, God asks us to surrender our hearts to Him. It is what God longs for. It is what God aches for.
It’s what Jesus came for, so that we would take a risk and surrender our hearts.
We struggle to trust God. We struggle to believe that He is going to do what He said He would do. We struggle to believe that God is good. When difficulties come our way, we want to know where He is.
We really, truly do not find the love of God except through pain. Our pain takes us to asking for help and ends up developing into a relationship.
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16 (NIV)
God is after our hearts. Our spouses and children are after our hearts. Our hearts will not tolerate our attempt to compensate or get rid of it. Our hearts will be addressed. The image of God will not go away, and it craves getting back to its completion.
Our hearts crave moving from being a son of Adam to a son of God, going from its origin to its destiny. We are all destined, stamped by the image of God to return to Him.
The world is an enemy of the heart. Everything in the world is telling us to shut up, sit down, react, be violent, take control, and have command. Everything about the world is telling us that admission of need and surrender to the One Who made us to be in need and needing others is weakness, when actually it’s the doorway to incredible strength.
“The Glory of God is a Human Being Fully Alive.” St. Irenaeus
Passion means a willingness to be in pain for something that matters more than the pain.
Dr. Chip Dodd
Voice of the Heart Center