This week in our study, Living in God’s Presence, our lesson was called Stirred Hearts. You see, we all need to have hearts that are constantly stirred – we need to take action.

We looked at the story in Ezra 1. In this Scripture, we see the spiritual principles of a stirred heart. In this story, the King Cyrus allows the people to come back and build their temple.  Hidden in the text of Ezra we see how God stirs hearts. God stirs our hearts and he uses this stirring for:

• Purpose
• Participation
• Power

He doesn’t just stir your heart – he also anoints you. Where he appoints you, he anoints you. God does the stirring and He does the filling.

Those of you who have been following us in this study know that we’ve been journeying along with the story of Moses. This week we looked at Exodus 35. In this story, we see the effects of a stirred heart and can apply to our own lives. When our hearts are stirred, we have/are: 

• Attitude of gratitude
• Willing
• Generous givers
• Filled with God’s Spirit to accomplish a task.

And when God stirs your heart, the next step is a generous heart. In 2 Corinthians 9:6 we see kingdom principles on giving.I especially like the amplified version of this text.

Here are the kingdom principles on giving: 

• You cannot out give God.
• The more you give the more you receive.
• God stirs our hearts and when we respond he changes our nature and desires
• He changes us to the point that we produce the very thing we give away

For example, if we give away mercy, he gives us more and more of a merciful heart – it’s like fishes and loaves.  We have to allow the Lord to fill us and full us because the world allows us to leak. Do you need to be filled today? I encourage you to make space for Him and allow him to fill your heart.