Imagine you go out to eat with someone you love. This is a time to share your thoughts and experiences with each other, to get to know each other more, and to build up your relationship. But what if right in the middle of your conversation, you get out your phone and read your emails? Or you’re distracted by a television in the restaurant? Or you don’t really hear what the other person is saying because something else is occupying your heart? The opportunity to build up a loving relationship is lost. Our relationship with Jesus Christ is like this, too. He wants to have a loving, personal relationship with us, but often, even in our times of fellowship with Him, we’re distracted and preoccupied. In a&nbsp;previous podcast, we saw that our relationship with Jesus is both begun and maintained by our heart. But the problem is that while we want to cultivate our relationship with the Lord, many things in our world vie for our heart’s attention. We need to learn how to care for our heart so we can really get to know the Person who loves us and wants to have the deepest relationship with us possible. In this podcast, we’ll discuss four ways to care for our heart. The first way to care for our heart is to turn our heart to the Lord. Second Corinthians 3:16 says, “But whenever their&nbsp;heart turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.” Being with someone we love requires us to be present not simply in body but in heart, and it’s the same with the Lord. We may carve out the time to spend with Him, but if our heart is somewhere else, it’s as if we’re not really with Him. Our heart can be turned away from Him to things such as&nbsp;our anxieties, worldly distractions, or even just the day to day matters of life. Although we love the Lord Jesus, it’s so easy for our hearts to be turned to any number of things. So we need to build up a healthy habit of turning our heart to Him all the time, every day, even throughout the day. We can begin each morning when we wake up with a simple prayer: “Lord Jesus, this morning I turn my heart to You.” Then, when we have our&nbsp;morning time with the Lord, even before we read the Bible, we can take time to pray again, “Lord Jesus, I love You. I turn my heart to You again.” Since we’re coming to be with a real, living Person and not just punching a time clock, we must draw near to Christ with our heart. When we turn our heart to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Nothing separates us from Him, and we&nbsp;enjoy Him in the Word. Throughout the day, when we sense our heart has drifted away from Christ, we can pray again, “Lord Jesus, I turn away from everything and back to You again. Oh Lord, I love You.”&nbsp;Calling upon the Lord Jesus&nbsp;can help us to turn our heart to Him instantly. And what a wonderful promise His Word gives us—“whenever”! This means at any time, at any place, no matter our condition, we can turn our heart to Him and the veil is taken away. Second, we can care for our heart by exercising our heart to believe. Romans 10:9-10 says, “If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and&nbsp;believe in your heart&nbsp;that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for&nbsp;with the heart there is believing&nbsp;unto righteousness, and with the mouth there is confession unto salvation.” According to these verses, believing is a matter of the heart. To believe, with our heart, in the Lord’s Word and His actions in our life is crucial to maintaining our relationship with Him. For example, let’s say we doubt the words or actions of someone we love. This lack of trust would certainly undermine our relationship. Titus 1:2&nbsp;says plainly that God is one “who cannot lie.” He is the most trustworthy Person in the universe! His word is truth and we can believe it. Doubting His words and actions negatively affects our relationship with Him. Instead of doubting, when we come to God’s Word we should turn our heart to the Lord...

How to Care for Our Heart to Maintain Our Relationship with the Lord

In this podcast we’ll discuss a practice by God’s people seen throughout the entire Bible: the practice of calling on the name of the Lord. Let’s see what it is to call on the name of the Lord and how this practice can benefit us. All Christians have at some point prayed to God. God hears these prayers, whether they’re silent, quiet, or loud. But the practice of calling, which is a form of praying, is definitely audible. In the Bible, the Hebrew word for&nbsp;call&nbsp;means to call out to, to cry unto, and the Greek word means to invoke a person, to call a person by name. For example, when a little boy falls off a swing, he immediately cries out loud, “Mommy!” His mother hears and runs to him, wipes away his tears, and soothes him. Children cry out to their mothers when they’re hungry, tired, or scared. They cry because they’re helpless and they need to be cared for. Similarly, by crying out to the Lord, we’re saying we’re hungry for Him, we need Him, and we can’t make it without Him. When did people begin to practice audibly calling on the name of the Lord? It might surprise you to know that&nbsp;Genesis 4:26&nbsp;tells us the practice of calling on the Lord began long ago—by the third generation of mankind when Adam’s grandson Enosh was born: “And to Seth also a son was born, and he called his name Enosh. At that time men began to&nbsp;call upon the name of Jehovah.” But why did people begin to do this? The meaning of the name&nbsp;Enosh&nbsp;gives us a clue. It means frail, mortal man. Because of mankind’s fall, man was frail and without God, the meaning of his existence. From the time of Enosh, men realized both the emptiness and vanity of life apart from God as well as their own fragility and mortality. So they began to call upon the name of Jehovah, the Hebrew word for Lord. The meaning of the name Jehovah is&nbsp;I am that I am. He is the eternal God, the unique One who&nbsp;is. Everything and everyone else&nbsp;is not. Frail, mortal human beings realized they needed the eternal God. Humanity’s condition is the same today as it was in Enosh’s time. We’re still frail and mortal, and life is often confusing, full of turmoil, and even overwhelming to us. We’re limited physically and psychologically. We need the eternal God. Now let’s look at the benefits we receive when we call on the name of the Lord. First, we’re saved. In the New Testament, the name of the Lord is&nbsp;Jesus.&nbsp;Romans 10:9&nbsp;says, “If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” When we believe and call on the name of the Lord Jesus, confessing Him with our mouth, we’re saved eternally from God’s judgment; we’re forgiven, justified in Christ, and born again with the divine life of God. But that first time we call upon the name of Jesus to receive God’s salvation is just the beginning. After our initial salvation, by calling on Jesus we can continue to enjoy our full salvation in Christ. This includes daily salvation from many negative things, such as anger, depression, impatience, sadness, discouragement, and anxiety, to name a few. How can calling on the Lord save us from these things? When we call, “Oh, Lord Jesus!” we’re not shouting random, meaningless words. That would be akin to yelling out words to relieve stress, as some do during a workout. Yelling unintelligible sounds or even inspiring words might release endorphins and temporarily make us feel better, but it doesn’t get to the root of our problems. By calling on the Lord’s dear name, we contact the Lord who is dwelling in our spirit as the life-giving Spirit. And when we call on Jesus, He saves us by imparting more of His divine life into us. The second benefit of calling on the name of the Lord is that we enjoy the riches of Christ.  Romans 10:12&nbsp;says the Lord of all is “rich&nbsp;to all who&nbsp;call upon Him.” Christ wants...

What Is Calling on the Name of the Lord?

In previous podcasts we talked about the&nbsp;importance of spending time with Jesus every morning&nbsp;and&nbsp;how to build up such a habit. This wonderful habit is key to our relationship with Christ. Perhaps you see the benefits of this kind of habit and want to build it up, but aren’t sure what to do during that time. How do we spend time with Jesus? What do we do in our mornings with Him? Throughout the centuries, Christians who loved the Lord and sought to know the Lord have discovered many enjoyable, beneficial ways to spend their mornings with Him. We’ll go through some of these discoveries. But first, let’s quickly refresh our view on what this morning time with Jesus is all about. Spending time with the Lord Jesus each morning isn’t to fulfill some kind of religious duty or perform a ritual. If we just “clock in” and “clock out” without our heart being in it or our spirit engaged, we may develop a habit, but it won’t be an enjoyable one nor will it help us know the Lord more or grow in Him. Keeping a lifeless practice is pointless and fruitless. Instead, we should approach our time in the morning as an opportunity to be with the One we love and who loves us, our dear Savior Christ. The Lord Jesus is a wonderful Person who&nbsp;lives in us.&nbsp;The goal of this time is to&nbsp;contact Him in our spirit, be&nbsp;fed by Him in His Word,&nbsp;enjoy Him, receive His speaking, and speak to Him. With this in mind, let’s look at some ways we can spend time with Jesus each morning. First, we can call upon the Lord’s name. Sometimes just&nbsp;calling upon the Lord’s name&nbsp;is the best prayer. In our time with Jesus in the morning we can simply pray, “Oh, Lord Jesus.” Our calling on the Lord can help us begin to open our heart to Him and exercise our spirit to contact Him. As we call, we can pray further, “Lord Jesus, I turn my heart to You again this morning. Lord Jesus, I want to contact You in my spirit to receive Your life.” When we call, we contact the Lord as the life-giving Spirit in us, and we receive His life. In one of her wonderful hymns, M.E. Barber puts this well: “Just to breathe the name of Jesus is to drink of life indeed.” Next, we can tell the Lord we love Him. The Lord Jesus wants our love, and we have a sweet sensation when we greet Him each morning with, “Lord Jesus, I love You.” The more we tell our Lord we love Him, the more our love for Him grows, and the more we enjoy His love for us. Our&nbsp;hearts&nbsp;become soft and open to Him. Third, we can praise and thank the Lord Jesus for what He’s done and for who He is. For example, we can praise Jesus with the wonderful facts we find in God’s Word: “Lord Jesus, I praise You&nbsp;for Your accomplishment and victory on the cross.” “Praise You, Lord,&nbsp;You are the resurrection and the life.” “Praise You, Lord Jesus,&nbsp;You are God, and You are the perfect, sinless man.” “Lord,&nbsp;You are the Lamb of God—praise You!”  Ephesians 5:18 and 20&nbsp;tell us we can be filled with the Lord in our spirit by&nbsp;giving thanks. Besides the many specific things in our lives we can thank the Lord for, we can also thank Him for who He is to us and what He does, as revealed in the Bible. For example, we might pray: “Thank You, Lord Jesus,&nbsp;for Your new compassions to me this morning.” “Thank You, Lord,&nbsp;for being my life.” “Lord Jesus,&nbsp;thank You for loving me and saving me.” “Oh Lord,&nbsp;thank You for living in me and being in me always.” “Thank You, Lord Jesus,&nbsp;for being the bread of life&nbsp;to me.” Fourth, we can also&nbsp;confess our sins&nbsp;to the Lord Jesus each morning as He makes us aware of them&nbsp;through our conscience. This is very important in our fellowship with Him. We’ve all experienced the awkwardness of being with someone we’ve argued with or offended. It’s difficult to even talk together. We may care for one another but a...

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Bibles for America (BfA) is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to give away free copies of the New Testament Recovery Version and Christian books throughout the United States. The goal of our podcast is to help you to understand the Bible and to know God in a deeper way. To order your free copy of the New Testament Recovery Version visit bfa.org.

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