Think Like Elisabeth -- My Tribute to Elisabeth Elliot

This morning I was reading articles by Josh Harris and John Piper, both about the life and legacy of Elisabeth Elliot. I have admired Elisabeth since the age of 17 when I first read Quest for Love: True stories of Passion and Purity. I admire her frank, blunt, no-nonsense faith. It's trustworthy. I've never had to take her words with a grain of salt, as I usually do with most Christian writers. Today, I find few authors who embrace the Word wholeheartedly. Few are willing to be that "radical," I suppose. But Elisabeth's stance on, well, everything was just biblical. No frills. She loved the Word because it was from God and she had determined at young age to abandon all sense of self to God. It made me strive to do the same. 

I started journaling about something unrelated this afternoon. I was thinking about the so-called controversial idea of following our hearts. In the Christian world those words are taboo because the Bible tells us how deceitful the heart can be, which is why we must guard it. But, in the last year I have heard three different grown Christians specifically instruct me to follow my heart, one of whom was my dad, of all people. 

Needless to say, I've been thinking about the concept in a different light. 

I started journaling about it today, then. As I wrote, something overtook me and the words I wrote were no longer my own. They were something like Elisabeth's. 

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Follow The Heart of God—Yours

It is a safe thing to follow a heart whose compass points toward Heaven. Whose path has already been paved and beaten down by the weary feet of Jesus. The owner of such a heart has surrendered body, soul, and mind to Jesus such that even their heart no longer technically belongs to them. Their path is no longer their own. In choosing, then, to follow their heart, they find their heart is assured and at peace. Jesus, who has thus taken full ownership of their heart, has nudged them forward; he has turned both their heart and feet, and whispered, “Come. Follow me.”

I suppose the next decision would be to determine if you are the owner of such a heart. “How can I be certain I’m following Jesus when I’m following my heart?” It is a good, reasonable question to ask. It is frighteningly too easy to hear the devil’s voice and feel the devil’s “peace.” It might very well be easier to hear from the Enemy than it is to hear from the Advocate until your heart has been completely surrendered to Jesus. This “Devil’s peace” speaks to your flesh, putting it at ease whilst ignoring the prickling discomfort in your spirit. When discerning the “peace” of either the flesh or the spirit, speak aloud whatever the voice you hear is saying. Repeat the whisper. Does your family or trusted advisor sense a spiritual prickle? More so, do you sense a spiritual prickle? That creepy crawl up your conscience posing the opposite question—Is this truly God? That prick along your spiritual spine is a symptom. If you want to scratch at it, pay careful attention to it. It should not be there.

The only place on your being which should ever prickle with discomfort is your flesh. It shouldn’t be at rest with the act of laying down your life, choosing to follow God. Not at first, anyway. Your flesh wants only to serve itself. But the heart owned by God will move toward the narrow gate to Heaven. Even if your flesh burns with fiery hatred for the peace of your heart, keep moving. Think nothing of how you feel. Think of what the Word demands and stop at nothing to meet those demands. The heart owned by the Lord will agree with the spirit and not the flesh. Of course, the spirit will be at peace knowing the heart has been set on the way of Jesus.

If you can focus your energy on the peace of the spirit, perhaps you’ll find it overpowers the prickling discomfort of the flesh. That “perhaps” is large; if you find it, it will be a long while before.

Unfortunately, it seems we have to suffer the devil’s taunts and lies to learn the difference between his voice and God’s. Even the torment of lies, then, cannot separate the heart which continues to unrelentingly pursue God, from God Himself. Pursue Him no matter what you suffer at the taunting of the Enemy. God will make the way clear if you trust Him.

There are certainly times we seek Him and meet a mirage of His promises—those things for which we have prayed and have only seen mere glimpses. Take comfort, then, in Psalm 27:14. Wait. One way or another, the mirage will fade. An answer will come. But do not be stupid. Your spirit knows when you believe a lie – a “no” is not a “wait.” When you don’t know if you can follow your heart, follow your spirit. One day your heart’s first inclination will be the faithful inclination, but until then do the obvious right thing. Follow the spirit. The guidance of the Holy Spirit is the hard truth. These are truths you know and wouldn’t deny. God is love. God is merciful. God is on your side. Wait on those truths, meditating on what He would have you do. If your spirit is pricked, stop.

Listen.

Never move forward with a prickly spirit or you will learn exactly why you shouldn’t. You probably have already learned why. You know that going against God results in alienation from God. Acting against God can happen in small ways, though, and the mistaken Christian will easily see their mistake. Then, even if it is begrudgingly, they will get themselves back on the path of peace and follow God.

Those small mistakes are good; do not beat yourself up about them. They give you confidence to discern exactly who owns your heart. If God owns your heart and you follow the sound of His voice, there won’t be a mistake. There will be peace. Mistakes lead you into places you immediately want to leave. Your spirit cannot stand those places.

God, the owner of your heart, will lead you to places where your spirit bursts with expectancy for what God will do in that place. Your flesh may hate the situation and long for simpler comforts. Your spirit will keep the flesh quiet.

There is nothing more powerful within you than the expectant spirit waiting with faithful anticipation for the mirage to clear. The “illusory” promises of God become slightly more defined, stirring your spirits and drawing your heart ever closer to the outside of yourself, farther away from the flesh and nearer to the hand of God. When your heart beats with the shared anticipation of the spirit, you know you are free to trust God instantly the moment He whispers, “Follow me.”

When the process of discerning His voice is complete, trust Him. Follow the heart inside you. Follow the heart which is blind to the flesh and alive to the spirit. Your heart may not reach a place of fleshly death, as you are but human. Choose, then, to blind your heart’s eye to the selfish desires of the flesh, and look only to the spirit. Let the spirit take hold of your heart and it will lead you Home.