# Pathway to a Fulfilled Heart for the Unmarried INSPIRATIONS FOR YOUTH Language: en Author: by Matt Miller Sugarcreek, Ohio Original issue: The Heartbeat of the Remnant, Winter 2023 Source pages: 11–14 Read article: Original PDF: Winter\-2023\-Remnant\_for\-web\(2\)\.pdf [The Heartbeat of the Remnant, Winter 2023]() Can I have a fulfilled heart if there is a vision, a hope, and or a dream in my life that lies barren and unrealized? Must I go through life carrying a cross of pain and loneliness while God answers the prayers of my friends and gives them the desires of their hearts? Is something wrong with me? Is my faith too weak? Have I not prayed enough, surrendered enough, been obedient enough? What is life all about? Why don’t I have peace and joy? Does God have a plan and a purpose for me? > “Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” \(Psalms 16:11\)\. > “And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper” \(Psalms 1:3\)\. God has a path provided for each of us that will lead to a fulfilled heart\. In God’s presence, there is fullness of joy\! God’s desire is that your heart would be like a riverside tree, filled with life, health, strength, and fruit\. He desires that you experience grace, joy, and peace, in your everyday life\. God wants to fill your heart with his desires and purposes\. He longs for you to seek after his will and plan\. If you walk on his pathway, you will be filled with blessing and grace\. This does not mean that every desire that you may have comes to pass \(I don’t think that will ever happen for anyone in this life\) but rather that your heart is full of the blessings of God\. Your heart does not need to feel like a desert, the Water of Life can fill it\. > “But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life” \(John 4:14\)\. ## Where does Fulfillment Begin? Fulfillment starts in your relationship with God\. Does He feel cold and distant to you, or do you find joy and peace in praying and walking with him? Do you know that your sins are forgiven and that you are accepted as His child? Do you obey God with a willing heart or are there areas in your life where you resist his will as revealed in the Bible? Walking in the love and grace of God is the most important thing you can do in life\. This is the first step on the pathway to a fulfilled heart\. If you are struggling in your relationship with God and are not sure of his love, forgiveness, and acceptance, here are some directions from the Bible for you\. > “But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise, Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? \(that is, to bring Christ down from above:\) 7 Or, Who shall descend into the deep? \(that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead\.\) 8 But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; 9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved\. 10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation” \(Romans 10:6\-10\)\. You should never think that Christ is in some unapproachable place, and unavailable to you\. Christ is made known to you by the Bible, his Holy Spirit, and by his creation\. Unbelief, sin, disobedience, and unforgiveness to others can keep you from experiencing his love and grace\. Opening your heart to Him by faith, believing in your heart, and confessing with your mouth the Lord Jesus, will restore your relationship with God\. He will wash away your sin and receive you as his child\. Christ came to this earth to reconcile us to God\. He paid the price of our sin and guilt\. We can receive his gift of salvation through faith and repentance\. Faith is simply hearing the Word of God and receiving it into our hearts\. As we receive the Word of God into our hearts, it enables us to be obedient to his will\. We choose to believe all that God has spoken to us in the Bible\. We let go of all our doubts and embrace His Word\. Repentance is turning away from our own selfish will and our sinful ways and choosing to obey God and his Word\. In 1 John 1:9 God has said that if we confess our sins, He will forgive us\. Do you truly believe this? Is it hard for you to accept that he will forgive you? It is impossible for God to lie, therefore his Word and promises can always be trusted\. ## Practical ways to walk with God > “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit” \(Romans 8:1\)\. There are spiritual prerequisites needed to walk with God\. If we don’t have a right heart, these practical things won’t actually help us walk with God\. It will only be an empty activity with no real meaning and little benefit\. With our hearts full of faith and love we need to believe everything in the Bible\. We need to believe all its history, everything it says about the man, Jesus, all the prophecies, and all the direction God gives us in the Word\. We also need a surrendered heart and choose to follow and obey God in everything\. There is no area in which we choose to neglect or disobey\. We need to have confessed our sins and be born again by the Spirit of God\. Pray\. For yourself, God’s kingdom, your family, the church, neighbors, widows and widowers, orphans, missionaries, governments, and the sick\. Pray for people who have lost loved ones, hungry people, people in prison, and people who need salvation\. Pray for God to send workers into the vineyard\. Study the Word\. Memorize it and read it to others\. Discuss it\. Sing praises to God\! God has been so merciful to you\. Rejoice in your salvation\! > “And that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy; as it is written, For this cause I will confess to thee among the Gentiles, and sing unto thy name\. 10 And again he saith, Rejoice, ye Gentiles, with his people\. 11 And again, Praise the Lord, all ye Gentiles; and laud him, all ye people” \(Romans 15:9\)\. ## Contentment Another big step in the pathway to a fulfilled heart is contentment\. You can never be fulfilled if you aren’t content in knowing that you are in the will of God\. > “Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee\. 6 So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me” \(Hebrews 13:5\)\. What is covetousness? My definition of covetousness is having a strong desire for something that is outside of God’s will for me right now\. Normally, covetousness will drive you to violate scripture and God’s will, to try to obtain the thing you have a desire for\. For instance, if you are covetous of money, you will tend to do unethical things or neglect to follow the direction in the Bible in your pursuit of money\. You may cheat, steal, scam, overcharge, or become a workaholic and neglect God, family, church, or the needy\. God has given us desires, and it is a good thing to pursue them if our heart is surrendered, seeking God’s will and pursuing it according to the direction given in the Bible\. Seek to move forward, but never force your own will\. Be open to the people that God has put in your life for direction\. You may be at the age when your friends are getting married\. You also desire to get married, but all the doors slam shut in your face\. It seems like God reveals his will to others but not you\. Know that an unanswered prayer is an answer for you right here, right now\. God reveals his will to you day by day and moment by moment\. Married people don’t know the long\-term will of God for their lives any more than unmarried people\. The reality is that my family could be taken away from me in an instant\. No one is promised anything earthly for tomorrow\. God promises us spiritual blessings but not physical or earthly ones\. Be careful with your expectations\. You can create many hardships for yourself if you are very strong in your expectations\. As an example, Matthew 20 has the story of the householder who promised his workers a penny for a day’s work\. Later in the day, he hired other workers\. In the evening, he was paying his workers, starting with the ones hired last, and gave them each a penny\. Because of his generosity, the first workers expected more than he had promised them\. Since they expected him to give them more than a penny, they murmured against him\. Never have strong expectations for things that God hasn’t promised in the Bible, even if you feel like God has revealed it to you by his Spirit\. It is far better to have a humble, open heart to God, family, and the brotherhood\. ## Fellowship Fellowship with God’s people is another important step in the pathway to fulfillment\. Don’t isolate yourself, but rather make yourself a part of God’s people\. > “Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls\. 42 And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers” \(Acts 2:41\)\. It can be easy to fall into the trap of feeling like you are different from everyone else and don’t fit in\. Remember that everyone is unique, and together we make up the body of Christ\. You are an important member and have gifts and abilities that are needed in your local fellowship\. Spend time with people and find ways to be a blessing and help others\. ![A woman in a red dress walking away along a snowy wooded path]() ## Identity Embrace your identity\. You may wonder, who am I? Where do I fit in? This can be especially difficult if you have a strong desire to be married but are not\. You might see others as becoming something that you desire to be but are not\. You might wonder, what is wrong with me that I am not married? This is wrong thinking\. The reality is that there are many married people who are in a worse place than you\. Be open when those around you have thoughts about changes you can and should make in your life, but don’t condemn yourself as not good enough and that others do not accept you\. Ephesians chapter 1 says that you are chosen by God to be washed of your sins through the blood of Jesus and to be adopted as His child\. You are accepted by God, and you are to be “to the praise of his glory\!” ## Purpose The last step I am writing about is about purpose\. What is one thing that you really enjoy doing that is a blessing to the church or Kingdom? God has a purpose for you to fulfill\. You are a part of His kingdom that you can put time and energy into\. God has called each one of us to be a servant, to follow in the footsteps of our Lord Jesus\. It can be as simple as giving a glass of cold water in the name of Jesus\. No task is too small or mundane to be a part of His kingdom\. Be available\. Have the heart of a servant\. When you see a need, offer a helping hand or a listening ear\. ![A tree with snow\-covered reddish\-brown leaves]() “Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others\. 5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: 7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:” \(Philippians 2:4\)My wife and I recently celebrated our third anniversary\. I was 38 and Jena 29 when we got married\. This past spring we were blessed with a sweet little girl, Gianna\. I wish I could say that we always lived out the things that I wrote in this article, but we are human and did come short at times\. But we can both say from experience that the things I wrote are real and true\. There is a pathway to joy and fulfillment as an unmarried person\. Jena pursued midwifery and sacrificed a lot to serve mothers and babies\. Always ready to drop whatever she was doing or jump out of bed in the middle of the night to go serve\. I did a lot of Bible studies and also trips to the Middle East to study the Bible in a different measure\. God has graciously given me the privilege to visit places where few people have been\. I’ve been able to see where many of the people in the Bible lived and walked, including Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, David, and, best of all, Jesus\. These people left behind a witness of faith and obedience\. Let us follow them\! > “Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, 2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God\. 3 For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds \. \. \. \(Hebrews 12:1\-3\)\. > “Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees; 13 And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed\. 14 Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord: 15 Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled \. \. \. \(Hebrews 12:12\-15\) > “Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear” \(Hebrews 12;28\)\. ## Magazine citation - [A woman in a red dress walking away along a snowy wooded path](): Brimming Focus Photography - [A tree with snow\-covered reddish\-brown leaves](): Brimming Focus Photography