Give Me a Heart Like Yours Lord!
"Search me O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." Psalm 139:23-24 These are verses that I find myself praying quite often...along with "create in me a pure heart, O God." Psalm 51:10 My desire is to be, like David, a man (or woman) after God's own heart. I know that on my own, I am wretched-there is nothing good in me except for Jesus! It is all because of Him that you and me can be free to live. Proverbs tells us that "so a man's heart reflects the man." 27:19 Whatever is in your heart will come out of your mouth and into your life. God created us for Him-for His glory. We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.(Ephesians 2:10) You and me are still here on this earth for a reason. God could have called us home the moment we were saved, but He did not. The life we live is no longer our own, we have been bought with a price; and that price is the precious blood of Christ. If God did not do another thing for you and me, He has already done it all-He has saved us from death-from the grave-from hell. Because of what Jesus did on the cross, we have the hope and assurance that we will one day rise and rule and reign with Christ forever. We no longer carry the guilt and condemnation of our sin. Jesus has set us free! To Him be the praise and the glory forever more! I long to know Him more. I want to grow in Him and please Him. I want to hear Him one day say to me, "Well done, My good and faithful servant!"
God looks at the heart. He looks at our motives behind what we do. He told the Pharisees they need to first clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean. Matthew 23:26 You see, the Pharisees did all sorts of "religious acts." They performed really well. Looking at them on the outside, I am sure many thought, wow, they sure are very spiritual. But they had one big problem, their hearts were far from God. Jesus even told them, "you are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men's bones and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness." Matthew 23:27-28. There are many people just like the Pharisees. I used to be one of them. On the outside, I "looked" like I had it all together. I went to church. I went to Sunday School. If you had asked me then if I was saved, I would have answered most definitely yes. However, my heart was far from God! I praised Him and spoke of Him with my lips, but inside I was full of deceit, hypocrisy and wickedness. Even though I believed Jesus was the One and only way to the Father, and He died on the cross for me, it was all just head knowledge. There was no transformation-no change inside of me.Praise God that He removed the veil that was over my eyes! Once that happened, my eyes were opened and like Job said, "my ears had heard of You, but now my eyes have seen You." Job 42:5 God is the One who opens our eyes. He is the One who cleans our hearts. Once we become His, He begins to change us from the inside out! This is nothing that we do...He changes our desires, He helps us to love like Him, to forgive like Him and to be more like Him. This work that He does in us, will continue until the day Jesus returns for us. "He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." Philippians 1:6
I think to myself some days, boy, does God sure have a lot of work to do in me. But then I remind myself of where I used to be and I thank God, I am not there anymore.I thank Him for reaching down and pulling me up out of the grave. He has given us new life, a life forever in Him. Because of Christ, we are now favored by God and blessed! We are a new creation in Christ! If you feel like God is far from you right now, is there any unconfessed sin in your life? Ask Him to reveal it to you and then repent. What God wants is not religion, it is a relationship! When we sin, we do not lose our salvation, but we lose the close fellowship with our Father. But 1 John 1:9 tells us that "if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness." Don't let anything or anyone stand in the way of your relationship to your Father! Give Him His rightful place in your life-which is Lord...Lord of all! It is so humbling to think that the Creator of the universe and everything in it loved us so much that He sent His One and only Son to die for you and for me! Jesus died while we were still yet sinners. We did by no means deserved this precious gift, but God, who is rich in mercy and love did it because He loves you and me! God is for you! If He is for you, who can be against you? The One who spoke the world into existence holds you in the palm of His hands. Let us praise Him and worship Him, our Abba Father!
God looks at the heart. He looks at our motives behind what we do. He told the Pharisees they need to first clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean. Matthew 23:26 You see, the Pharisees did all sorts of "religious acts." They performed really well. Looking at them on the outside, I am sure many thought, wow, they sure are very spiritual. But they had one big problem, their hearts were far from God. Jesus even told them, "you are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men's bones and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness." Matthew 23:27-28. There are many people just like the Pharisees. I used to be one of them. On the outside, I "looked" like I had it all together. I went to church. I went to Sunday School. If you had asked me then if I was saved, I would have answered most definitely yes. However, my heart was far from God! I praised Him and spoke of Him with my lips, but inside I was full of deceit, hypocrisy and wickedness. Even though I believed Jesus was the One and only way to the Father, and He died on the cross for me, it was all just head knowledge. There was no transformation-no change inside of me.Praise God that He removed the veil that was over my eyes! Once that happened, my eyes were opened and like Job said, "my ears had heard of You, but now my eyes have seen You." Job 42:5 God is the One who opens our eyes. He is the One who cleans our hearts. Once we become His, He begins to change us from the inside out! This is nothing that we do...He changes our desires, He helps us to love like Him, to forgive like Him and to be more like Him. This work that He does in us, will continue until the day Jesus returns for us. "He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." Philippians 1:6
I think to myself some days, boy, does God sure have a lot of work to do in me. But then I remind myself of where I used to be and I thank God, I am not there anymore.I thank Him for reaching down and pulling me up out of the grave. He has given us new life, a life forever in Him. Because of Christ, we are now favored by God and blessed! We are a new creation in Christ! If you feel like God is far from you right now, is there any unconfessed sin in your life? Ask Him to reveal it to you and then repent. What God wants is not religion, it is a relationship! When we sin, we do not lose our salvation, but we lose the close fellowship with our Father. But 1 John 1:9 tells us that "if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness." Don't let anything or anyone stand in the way of your relationship to your Father! Give Him His rightful place in your life-which is Lord...Lord of all! It is so humbling to think that the Creator of the universe and everything in it loved us so much that He sent His One and only Son to die for you and for me! Jesus died while we were still yet sinners. We did by no means deserved this precious gift, but God, who is rich in mercy and love did it because He loves you and me! God is for you! If He is for you, who can be against you? The One who spoke the world into existence holds you in the palm of His hands. Let us praise Him and worship Him, our Abba Father!
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