The "Living with Heart" Podcast is brought to you by Chip Dodd Resources (www.chipdodd.com) and The Voice of the Heart Center (vothcenter.com). To consult or setup a session with Bryan, you can e-mail bryan@vothcenter.com.
Episode Highlights
“Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ.” I Corinthians 11:1 (NASB)
If we’re going to imitate Christ, the number one strength that kept Jesus from ever needing to repent was His neediness.
We need to start with dependency and neediness as the triumph over the world.
Jesus never separated Himself from needing and depending on His Father.
“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 (NIV)
Jesus’ ultimate dependency was expressed in the Garden of Gethsemane where He poured out His humanity. He poured out His fear, sadness, hurt, loneliness, anger.… (Matthew 26:36-45)
Neediness is the key that brings us strength. If we will face our needs and hand them over to God and others to be met properly and legitimately, we will literally, through dependency, become independent.
We are created as emotional and spiritual creatures who are created to do one thing in life and that is to live fully through relationship; facing how you’re made; taking how you’re made to others (who are made the same way) and to God Who made you.
Needs of the Heart by Chip Dodd
The Three Movements - Feel your feelings; tell the truth about what is going on inside you; and hand it to God.
“Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach. It is not up in heaven, so that you have to ask, ‘Who will ascend into heaven to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?’ Nor is it beyond the sea, so that you have to ask, ‘Who will cross the sea to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?’ No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it.” Deuteronomy 30:11-14 (NIV)
The Process – Bringing how we are created to God, and letting Him be in control. God’s way of handling life, for us, is better than we can do! But giving it to the process (giving it to God) requires that we bring how we are created to God. That means, we bring our emotional experiences and spiritual search to the One who seeks our hearts.
Our hearts are in conflict when we trust the process. This conflict is ultimately between the reality of where we live and the truth of how God made us. The truth of how we are made requires that we remain vulnerable to relationship with others and God, in a reality that “punishes” vulnerability—rejects sadness, mocks fear, humiliates hurt, anaesthetizes loneliness, etc.
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