May 15 – Heart Check: Living Beyond Appearances

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Welcome to Bible Chat, where we
have devotional conversations

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rooted in Scripture and relevant
for today.

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May 15th heart Check.
Living beyond appearances Here’s

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a question worth sitting with
for a moment.

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How often do you perform for an
audience that isn’t there?

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You craft a post just right.
You choose your words carefully

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in a group so you come across a
certain way.

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You tell yourself you’re doing
OK because from the outside

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things look fine.
We spend so much energy managing

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how we appear to others and
sometimes even to ourselves,

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that we forget someone sees past
all of it completely.

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Proverbs chapter 16 verse 2 says
all the ways of a man are pure

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in his own eyes, but the Lord
weighs the spirit.

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That’s a sobering verse because
it’s describing something we all

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do.
Convince ourselves we’re fine,

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Justify our choices, see
ourselves through the most

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flattering possible lens.
And the verse doesn’t say that

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to shame us.
It says it to wake us up.

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Because God doesn’t see the
polished version we present.

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He sees the actual condition of
our hearts, and that matters

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infinitely more.
But here’s the grace in that

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truth.
God seeing your heart fully

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isn’t a reason to panic.
It’s actually a reason to run to

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Him because He already knows
everything and still invites you

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close.
Psalm 54, verse one is that kind

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of prayer.
Raw, unfiltered, desperate.

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Save me, oh God by your name,
and vindicate me by your might.

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There’s no pretending here, no
dressing it up.

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Just a person who knows they
need God and isn’t too proud to

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say so.
That kind of honesty before God

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is actually a sign of strength,
not weakness.

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It’s choosing reality over
performance, and it’s exactly

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the kind of prayer God responds
to.

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Then Second Corinthians chapter
3, verse 6 add something

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powerful.
But our sufficiency is from God,

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who has made us competent to be
ministers of a new covenant.

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Your adequacy doesn’t come from
how well you manage your image.

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It doesn’t come from keeping up
appearances, getting the right

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grades, saying the right things,
or being liked by the right

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people.
It comes from God.

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He has made you competent.
He has equipped you for what

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He’s called you to, not because
you’ve got it all together, but

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because He does.
This matters so much, especially

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for young people navigating a
world that is constantly

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evaluating and ranking
everything.

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The pressure to measure up is
relentless.

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And when you tie your sense of
worth to how others perceive

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you, you’ll be on a roller
coaster that never stops because

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people’s opinions shift
constantly.

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But God’s view of you doesn’t
fluctuate.

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He sees you truly, loves you
completely, and equips you

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specifically for the life He’s
designed for you.

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So what would it look like to
care more about what God sees in

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your heart than what others see
on the surface?

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What would change if you brought
your real self to God every day?

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The struggling parts, the
uncertain parts, the parts you

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usually hide, and trusted Him to
work with all of it.

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That’s not an invitation to give
up on doing well or being your

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best.
It’s an invitation to be honest,

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to stop performing and start
living from a place of genuine

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relationship with God, where His
strength fills in every gap your

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own ability can’t cover.
Let’s pray.

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Heavenly Father, thank you for
seeing me fully and loving me

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completely.
Help me to stop hiding behind

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appearances and start coming to
You with honesty about what’s

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really going on in my heart,
where I’ve been relying on my

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own perspective or chasing
approval from others.

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Redirect me to You.
I want to live from a place of

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genuine trust in your strength,
not a performance of my own.

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Make me the person you’ve called
me to be from the inside out, in

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Jesus name, Amen.
What if the battles hitting your

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family are not random and your
home can become a place where

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darkness loses every right to
stay?

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The Secured Home is a powerful
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in Jesus Christ.

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Book 1, Guarded Thresholds,
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confronts oppression, torment,
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Book 5, Consecrated Walls,
dedicates every space and rhythm

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of the home to God.
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to maintain spiritual order,
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Now I invite you to spend time

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with God in today’s three-year
Bible reading plan.

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Proverbs Chapter 16 Verse 2
World English Bible All the ways

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of a man are clean in his own
eyes, but Yahweh weighs the

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motives.
Psalm Chapter 54 World English

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Bible Save me God, by your name
vindicate me in your might.

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Hear my prayer, God, listen to
the words of my mouth, for

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strangers have risen up against
me.

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Violent men have sought after my
soul.

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They haven’t set God before
them.

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Behold, God is my helper.
The Lord is the one who sustains

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my soul.
He will repay the evil to my

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enemies.
Destroy them in your truth with

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a free will offering I will
sacrifice to you.

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I will give thanks to your name
Yahweh, for it is good, for He

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has delivered me out of all
trouble.

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My eye has seen triumph over my
enemies.

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Second Corinthians Chapter 3
World English Bible Are we

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beginning again to commend
ourselves, or do we need as do

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some letters of commendation to
you or from you?

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You are our letter, written in
our hearts, known and read by

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all men, being revealed that you
are a letter of Christ served by

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us, written not with ink, but
with the Spirit of the living

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God, not in tablets of stone,
but in tablets that are hearts

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of flesh.
Such confidence we have through

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Christ toward God, not that we
are sufficient of ourselves to

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account anything as from
ourselves, but our sufficiency

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is from God, who also made us
sufficient as servants of a new

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covenant, not of the letter, but
of the Spirit.

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For the letter kills, but the
Spirit gives life.

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But if the service of death
written, engraved on stones,

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came with glory, so that the
children of Israel could not

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look steadfastly on the face of
Moses for the glory of his face,

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which was passing away, won’t
service of the Spirit be with

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much more glory?
For if the service of

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condemnation has glory, the
service of righteousness exceeds

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much more in glory.
For most certainly that which

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has been made glorious has not
been made glorious in this

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respect by reason of the glory
that surpasses.

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For if that which passes away
was with glory, much more that

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which remains is in glory.
Having therefore such a hope, we

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use great boldness of speech,
and not as Moses who put a veil

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on his face, that the children
of Israel wouldn’t look

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steadfastly on the end of that
which was passing away, but

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their minds were hardened.
For until this very day, at the

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reading of the old covenant, the
same veil remains, because in

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Christ it passes away.
But to this day, when Moses is

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red, a veil lies on their heart.
But whenever someone turns to

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the Lord, the veil is taken
away.

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Now the Lord is the Spirit, and
where the Spirit of the Lord is,

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there is liberty.
But we all with unveiled face,

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seeing the glory of the Lord as
in a mirror, are transformed

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into the same image from glory
to glory, even as from the Lord

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the Spirit.
Thanks for joining us on Bible

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Chat, where Scripture meets
everyday life.

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If today’s devotional encouraged
you, share it with a friend and

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conversation.
Until next time, stay rooted in

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truth, anchored in hope, and
walking daily with.

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Jesus.