Trust God in the good times and the bad

In times of trouble where do you put your trust?  In times of plenty where do you put your trust?   We know the old song trust and obey, but sometimes we fail to go that far with God.  FAITH =  Trust and Obey.  Faith is supported by action.  When faith is inactive it is a dead faith.  Where faith is dead, situations are dead.   You will not have an active faith, and dead circumstances.   why?  Because faith always alters circumstances.  Is there a mountain in your way?  Jesus talked about how to deal with mountains.

Matthew 21:21 Jesus answered and said unto them, Verily I say unto you, If you have faith, and doubt not, you shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree, but also if you shall say unto this mountain, Be removed, and be cast into the sea; it shall be done.

Speak to that mountain to get out of your way.  How?  By faith.   When the three Hebrew children refused to bow to the idol that the KING made, they risked their very lives to honor God's commands.  Their hope and trust was fixed completely upon God.  When Daniel opened up the window to pray to God, he was breaking the KINGS command and he risked his very life to obey God's commands.   These men committed all they had to God, so God committed all he had to them. 

In counseling with people, by far what I see is that people disobey God's commands, get themselves in a mess, than they want immediate resolve from God.    I see many more people who get themselves into a mess by disobeying God instead of people who get into a fix because of their obedience to God.  Always the miracle working power of God is working with those who have OBEYED God, not those who have disobeyed.  If you have gotten yourself into a messy situation because you have disobeyed God, don't expect an immediate deliverance.  The laws of reaping what you sow does not go away because we turn to God and ask him to fix our mess of disobedience.    Always when God delivered people who get themselves into a mess because of disobedience repentance was required.  Repentance does not mean, "Sorry I got caught and have circumstances."  Repentance is a brokenness of heart, that is a true shamefulness regarding sin.  When you truly repent of sin, you are determined to serve God if he gets you out of the mess you made or not. 

In the good times, God wants us to trust him.  In the bad times, God wants us to trust him.  When trials come, God wants us to trust him.  When we are prosperous, God wants us to trust him.  Is he just the God of your troubles, or have you made him your trust no matter what the situation or the circumstance. 

Take this old world just give me JESUS

We have been talking about our soul, and where our soul places it trust.  I cannot express to you today how many people I see in the USA that is placing their trust in money and possessions.  For Jesus himself said, "You cannot serve both God and money."  Do we take that seriously?  Half the stuff that we got bills on, we don't even need.  Half the gadgets that we spent our cash on breaks within a few months.  Are we walking in wisdom, or are we walking in lust for possessions?   I heard an evangelist say something to this effect, "If you have a car that is a hand me down, you are making God look bad because of you being poor."  So we think that we have to go out and borrow beyond our means to make ourselves 'LOOK BETTER?'  Jesus said this of the Pharisees of his day. 

Matthew 23:27 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness

Here is the truth that we as Americans like to ignore.  More than 1/3 of the world lives on less than 2.00 a day.  If you have a roof over your head and food on  your table you are in the top 20% of the richest people on the planet.   When the Bible talks about rich people, count yourself in that number America.  You don't believe me that you are rich?  Go live in Mexico, or China.  Work the jobs that they work for the pay that they get and try to live on it for a while.  You will want to be back in the USA very quick.    So, as rich people what do we do?  We spend all we have, then we borrow and spend some more.  Than we declare bankruptcy, play down our debt, and then in a few years borrow and spend some more.  And, God is pretty sick of it all.  There is a whole world of lost, dying, phobic, depressed, clinically sick, addicted, suicidal people out there, and what do most of our preachers want to talk about, money, prosperity, finances, reaping and sewing in money matters, tithing.  Don't get me wrong, all of that is part of the Bible, but when we spend 15 minutes out of a 30 minute program EVERYDAY talking about these things we have brought about our own desires, because we are hungry for more wealth and finances. 

God is interested in  your heart.  God is interested in your mind.  God is interested in your health.  God is interested in your speech...and he isn't interested in those things so that he can do something as insignificant as prosper you. Someone is thinking, "insignificant."  Yes, it is insignificant because it is of this world, which is currently passing away. Hello.  You can't take it with you when you die!   He is interested in you so that he can fellowship with you.  He wants to be more than a banker in the sky regulating your giving and receiving.  He wants to know you intimately.  There are those in the body of Christ that would have you believe that maturity in Christ means you are wealthy and prosperous and abounding in financial gains with no lack.  Jesus is the WEALTH of the gospel.  My treasure is that I have him.  Yes, he has blessed me financially, with abundance, no lack, every need met...but that isn't what I wanted in life.  I wanted to KNOW him and the POWER Of his resurrection and I have chased hard after Jesus all my life.  All the blessings and provisions in my life was just what he gave me of his own design.  I never sought those things, I sought him first, and his kingdom, and he decided to give me provisions, that was his choice, what he did, not what I desired, cause I only desired God...I just want to know him, to know his peace, to have his presence on my life, to walk with him, and to talk with him.  I want HIM,  God is my treasure, he is my abundance, he is my wealth, he is my good fortune.  You can take this old world, Just give me JESUS!

Trust and Obey

We have been studying the heart of man, because there is nothing more important in your life than the condition of your spiritual heart.  If you invite Jesus into your heart he doesn't want to share your heart with anger, jealousies, lust and pride.  The issues of life doesn't come from your circumstances around you, they rise up out of the issues in your heart.   Today we are going to look at our trust.  We love with our heart, but we trust with our soul.  Have you ever heard the comment, "he is a trusting soul."  It is with your soul, the decision of your will that you place your trust in something.  By far the number one reason that people miss God is because their heart is cluttered with things that do not  need to be there.  The second most important factor that I see, is our soul, and where we place our trust. 

Exodus 14

21And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the LORD caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided.

22And the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the dry ground: and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left.

 

Moses and the children of Israel had their backs up against the sea.  When your back is up against the wall, what is your fall back?   Moses only had one fall back, and that was God, and if God didn't come through, they were GONNERS.  The problem with us today is that we have way too many fall backs. 

 

Just imagine the average church today in a no win situation like Moses was in.  The sea in front, the armies of Egypt in behind.  Can you imagine the committee that would be nominated to 'research' the problem.  Can you imagine the dollar amounts that they would bring before the board to resolve the conflicts.  What are some of the typical solutions that you see in churches today.

 

(1)  Lets borrow 100 millions of dollars and build us a bridge across this big red sea. 

(2)  Lets study the possibility of getting equipment to dig under the sea, wouldn't it make a good aquarium for later generations, we could make money on admission, so on and so forth.

(3)  Lets send a committee over to the Egyptians and convince them that our God is the same God as their god.

(4)  Let's have a prayer meeting once a week, and really seek God to do something about this situation.

(5)  Let's just speak a positive confession, quote scriptures over this water, and be the first positive faith church of the Red Sea.

(6)  Let's just get rid of this Pastor, who lead us to this difficult place and get a new leader (well, they actually did want to do this but it was the wrong answer.) 

 

Can you see that these are all things that we do in our churches today, and what are they?  They are all 'OPTIONS' that we think we have instead of following God's plan of faith, and trusting in HIS divine power.  And in our own lives, we try to do similar options to our problems and we negate the power of God to do what we think we are able to do, instead of trusting God to do what we are unable to do. 

 

Moses said to them, stand still and see the power of God.  Meanwhile, Moses got serious and began to pray.  God said to Moses, "why are you crying out to me for?  Stretch out your rod over the sea, and tell the people to move forward."    The dependence was upon God's power, and man's faith.  What do you need to move that mountain?  a loan from the bank?  a quotation of scriptures and prayer?   A job?  Transportation?  A new relationship? for people around you to change?    All you need is faith!  Faith comes when we hear God, and the miracle comes when we faithfully obey!  Our trust must be in Christ Alone!

 

 

 

 

 

In all things be content

We are going to continue to talk about the heart today.  The condition of your physical heart is one of the most important things to your body.  The condition of your spiritual heart is one of the most important things to your soul.  The book of proverbs says to guard your heart because out of it comes the issues of life.  You can have two people go through exactly the same thing,  for instance, Job and his wife went through the same trial together.  Job responded in faith, she did not respond with faith.    It is the same way in life today.  Two people can go through the exact same thing as someone else, and it may completely devastate one and not really bother the other at all.  Why is that??  It is because no matter what you are going through it is only as bad as it seems to your heart.  If someone does better than you, it will seem really BAD to your heart if jealousy if alive and well inside of you.  If someone does something you do not like, it will seem really bad to your heart if you are trying to control everything.  If you have to struggle day by day to make ends meet, it will seem really bad to your heart if you desire easy living or the comfort of wealth.   Why is it that two woman can have the exact same dress and one of them is happy to have clothes and the other is embarrassed of it?  It is because one of them has pride in her heart and the other does not.  When you begin to learn that it is not the things that you go through that make you unhappy, you will begin to learn how to live this life with contentment.  When you begin to learn that hard times, or bad circumstances is not what makes you  miserable, but, it is your OWN heart you are beginning to understand.   

Paul said, in Philippians 4 10 I rejoiced greatly in the Lord that at last you renewed your concern for me. Indeed, you were concerned, but you had no opportunity to show it. 11 I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. 12 I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. 13 I can do all this through him who gives me strength.


He said I have LEARNED to be content.  So we see that being satisfied and peaceful does not come from outward circumstance, but from an inward training of the heart to find contentment.  The more jealousy  you have in your heart, the hard it will be for you to walk in contentment.  The more ease of comfort you desire in life, the harder it will be to live in contentment.  The more greed and anger and desire for things you have in your heart, the harder it will be to find contentment.  The more you want to control others, or situations around you, the harder it will be for you to find contentment.  The more you want to be loved and respected, the harder it will be for you to find contentment.  Do you have a heart that WANTS WANTS WANTS?  Than you are going to spend a lot of  miserable days on this earth!    When I live to love God with all my heart, and to love my neighbor as myself, the selfish desires and motives of my heart begin to lose their hold as I repent and yield to the Spirit of God in my life. 

What does that mean for you when you can learn to be content no matter what the circumstances?  IT means that no matter how bad of a situation that you find your self in, you can be content, peaceful, joyful, happy, ready to give and receive love.  It means you are free, free to love as God loves. 

The book of Timothy says:  And having food and clothing let us be with these things content.

The book of Hebrews says:  Let your conduct be without covetousness; and be content with such things as you have: for he has said, I will never leave you, nor forsake you.

When we are looking at our circumstance, our problems, and the people who are around us, and we are demanding that they change so that we can get some peace and contentment we are missing the power of God.  The power of God is that he can give you CONTENTMENT and JOY no matter what you GO THROUGH, just like Paul and Silas thrown in jail.   Then those people that are making your circumstances so bad will see you having  peace and contentment of God, no matter how badly they try to destroy you.  And then they will understand that God is REAL and that he is with YOU.  We keep begging the power of God to change others, first, you must let the power of God change YOU.  It is amazing that when I change, my circumstances don't seem so bad, and others begin to change with me as well. 

Guard your heart

We have been talking about our hearts.  We have studied that Cain thought that his issue was Able, but the real issue was the jealousy that was in his heart.  Yet, Cain was so convinced that Able was the problem that he murdered his brother.   The book of proverb says to guard your heart because out of it comes the issues of life. 



Matthew 6:19-21

19Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust does corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:

20But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust does corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:

21For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

 

When Jesus said, "treasures" this is not necessarily talking about money or material things.  Your treasure according to verse 21 is where your heart is.  What do you treasure in your life?  Whatever  you treasure will have a special place within your heart.  Should we let worldly things make up the treasure in our hearts? 

 

The Bible says that out of the mouth, the heart speaks, so whatever you treasure in your heart is what you talk about to others.  Are most of your conversations about cars?  Then that is the treasure of your heart.  Are most of your conversation about your family?  Than your treasure is your family.  Is most of your conversation about Jesus?  Than  your treasure is Jesus.  Does your heart moan and complain about troubles and problems?  Than you are living for strife and comfort.  Someone may say, "I want to get rid of strife and discomfort."  Yes, If you complain about it and it is on your mind and heart a lot, that is where  your treasure lies.  Just because you are going through strife and discomfort and trials doesn't mean  you have to hold those things in your heart.  No matter what you are going through, if you are willing to honor God above everything, even your own comfort, your heart will be on Jesus. 

 

Jesus is the desire of my heart, and I guard my heart.  If I find that difficulties, and problems and stray worries and strife is occupying my heart and mind I begin to repent, and place my mind and heart onto Jesus.  Only Jesus gives life.  Only Jesus gives joy, peace and the Spirit of God that gives me the strength to persevere.  No matter what I face, my responsibility is to keep Christ Jesus as the center of my affections.  I don't have to manage or fix my problem. 

 

 I place my mind on Christ and let him lead me and guide me through the trials.    My responsibility is to stay my mind and heart on God, his responsibility is to take me through my trial and fix whatever is wrong.  My only battle is to use the armor of God to keep myself IN CHRIST, that he is the center of my thoughts and affection.  Most people battle to get the things they need and want.  That is not your battle it is the LORD's.  Your battle is to guard your heart, you stay your heart and mind on Jesus, and HE WILL win  your battles.  We are fighting to get what we want, but our only battle is to guard our hearts, when our heart is stayed on JESUS, God gives us the desire of our hearts! 

 

No matter what I go through, if I fix my heart and mind on Jesus, I will have the peace, love and joy of the Holy Spirit to take me through it by the grace of God in the power of the Holy Spirit.   You can't afford to take your eyes off of Jesus to manage your problems.  If you let down the guard on your heart, anger is going to get in, depression is going to get in, panic is going to get in, strife is going to get in.  Guard your heart and don't let anything take your heart away from Jesus as the center of it all.  In doing so, you will find that God makes a way when there seems to be no way.

 

God's promise, "I will give you rest"

We have been talking about the heart of man.  In the book of Proverbs we are told to guard our hearts, because out of it comes the issues of life.  What issues are you facing today.  When our circumstances get desperate, the issues that are in our OWN hearts begin to rise to the surface.  God does not want us to have a heart that is dominated by worries, anxieties, frustrations, anger or self pity.

1 Peter 5:7  Casting all your care upon him; for he cares for you.

  God wants us to have a heart that is dominated by God's love.  When we have the idea that our circumstances are going to have to change before we can be joyful, we are letting or circumstances dictate to us what life will be for us.   How are we going to have a heart after God's own heart?  By casting all of our cares on him.  Some of us got something in our hands.  We got a hand full of problems.  Moses  had a big problem.   There was a big sea in his way.  There are times that we think that everything would be OK, if we could only get this problem out of our way.  Getting that sea out of the way only lead to ANOTHER problem...a desert without water.  We look at our current problem and think if only I could get this problem to go away...but when it goes away, it just opens us up into another situation, another problem.  This is how some have been living from day to day, year to year.  Fix one problem run into another.  You keep waiting for the problems to go away, so that you can finally have peace and soundness of mind, but they NEVER go away.  Problems just keep coming, and coming, and coming. 

When will the problems go away?  It rains on the righteous and the unrighteous, to some degree there will always be problems, but you have to know what season of life you are currently in.  We see in the story of Moses some of the seasons of our lives.

season one:  In bondage in Egypt.  Are you in bondage to any type of sin that has made you it's slave?  If so you will face the oppression of that slavery until God delivers you from it.  Why would you want to remain in slavery?  Yet, when Moses went in to deliver them, some of them wanted to stay in slavery.  Slavery was all they knew, they weren't confident that they could ever escape their slavery.  It was easier just to stay where they were in bondage.  This is how we are when we are in bondage to the sinful nature.  It takes a lot of attention and effort on our lives to let God purge us, and wash us, and make us without spot or wrinkle.   If you are in bondage to sinful living your problems will continue to come one right after the other.  God keeps us right where we are until we learn to overcome this world.  God wants you to learn that we reap what we sow, so do not sow to the flesh.   You may think that the problem is your lack of money, or lack of relationships, or lack of provision or opportunity.   Nothing is going to bring you to wholeness until you learn to stop living for the sins of the flesh.  'fixing' any of those other things will not bring you any closer to fulfillment.  Serving a desire of your flesh will own you when you are in Egypt.  You will lose everything in your life to serve that sin of the flesh that demands you feed it.  When you learn to put to death the works of the flesh, and to put on the LORD Jesus Christ you will be ready to move into the second season.

season two:  In the wilderness.  When God has you in the wilderness, your life will go in circles until God let's you out of that wilderness.  In the wilderness you are learning to overcome the sins of the soul.  You see when you are in slavery in the world, you are learning to over come the sins of the flesh, but there are also sins of the soul.  Your mind, your mouth, your heart...all of these things can sin, even when all you are doing is sitting still thinking...If we do not learn to overcome the sins of the soul, we will be walking all of our lives walking around in circles never getting anywhere.  When God said, "don't doubt."  He meant it.  When God said, "don't worry."  He meant it.  When God said, "forgive others."  He meant it.   In the wilderness they weren't making any ground whatsoever and they had nothing but problem after problem, after problem...You lack of food and water, clothing, transportation, job, money or whatever is not your problem, the problem is in your own heart and soul.  When God said, "learn to be content in everything" and "give thanks in all things."  He meant it.  In the wilderness you will serve LACK.  All you see is lack.  All you think about is what you don't have, what ain't working, what is NOT there.   When you learn to honor God even above your own lack, you will be ready to go to the third season of life.

In the third season, God brings you out of your own lack in the wilderness, and gets you going a certain direction in life.  It is here in the third season that you become a problem for the enemy.  Instead of being oppressed of the devil, now you are taking out the devils stronghold.  But, there are still problems.  There are walls you must break down, rivers you must cross, enemies that you must expel.  It is in this season that you are walking in faith and obedience to God, and just like Jesus you are going about doing good and healing all those oppressed by the devil.  Instead of the devil being a problem for you, you have become a real problem for the devil.  Everywhere you go the kingdom of God has come close to those that you touch, and many are brought closer to God by your witness.

All of us want to be that person that is strong in the LORD taking down the enemies strongholds.  You won't get there until you complete the first two seasons of your life.  You must first learn to overcome your own flesh and soul before you will be able to take down the enemies strongholds.  We are in bondage to our fleshly desires, griping, fussing, worried, angered...and then declaring the enemies strongholds are going to fall. yada yada yada...All that declaring and confessing is pointless when you are still in bondage in Egypt.  All that declaring and confessing is pointless when you are still going in endless circles in the desert.  You can confess, profess, declare, and tell the devil to beware all that you like, but, if God has not taken you  across the Jordan, you are just shouting at the wind!    The only way across the Jordan is through the red sea where you shed your flesh, and through the wilderness where you learn to quiet your soul upon God!

That brings us to the fourth season of life.  God's rest.  When you have overcome your flesh, overcome your soulful sinful desires, and torn down the enemies strongholds you have entered into your season of prosperity and rest.   Now you have become God's stronghold, prosperous in God and in the power of his might.  Lord God, may we all be given the grace to enter into your rest.  amen.

It is in MY heart

Today we are going to continue to study about the heart of man.  So far we have learned that God wants to give us a new heart that is one heart, stayed on him.  A double hearted person has multiple problems through out life because of the uncertainty of their heart.  Also we have learned that the issues that we have in life do not come from our circumstances.  Our issues spring up out of our hearts.  When your heart has issues, this world can toss you around like a rag doll.  But, when your heart has been kept, and the issues in your heart are healed, you will be able to go through anything and keep the faith.    Today we are going to look at what kind of issues are in the heart of mankind. 

The first issue we will look at is the heart of Cain.  Jealousy was an issue in his heart.   Was it Abel's fault that Cain killed him?  After all Abel was over there being a show off wasn't he, offering up a more better sacrifice.  I'm sure that is the way Cain saw it.  But the LORD said to Cain.

Genesis 4:6-7  And the LORD said to Cain, Why are you wroth? and why is your countenance fallen?   If you do well, shall you not be accepted? and if you do not well, sin lies at the door. And to you shall be his desire, and you shall rule over him.

Cain was unhappy, and he wanted to blame Abel, but the issue was not anything in the physical realm.  The issue was an issue of Cain's heart and had NOTHING to do with Abel.   Cain didn't offer the required offering and jealousy rose up and made an issue in his heart.  

Proverbs 4:23   Keep thy heart with all diligence; For out of it are the issues of life.

Those issues that you are facing right now, they are not there because of your circumstance, they are there because you have issues in YOUR heart.  Someone wants to argue that they have been wronged, it is the other person that is the issue and not your own heart.  What about Stephen who was stoned.  I know that YOU have been done wrong, but you certainly have never been STONED TO DEATH.  Stephen had his very life taken from him.  Look at his circumstances.  Yet, he was able to pray, "Lord, Lay not this sin to their charge"  Why was he able to do this?  Because he had no issues in his heart.  Cain had an issue, he was jealous, and sin taking opportunity laid upon that jealousy and caused him to hate Abel for doing well.  

You have to understand that just because you have a bad circumstance, does not mean you have to have an 'issue' as well.   A bad circumstance doesn't have to send you into a tail spin of doubt, fear, anger, rebellion and hatred.  If these things rise up in  your heart, it was because those things were in your heart before the circumstance ever even came up.  The circumstance only brought those things up to the surface, they did NOT create those things in  your heart.   The idea that you would be happy if your circumstance changed is false.  Why?  Because  you are not going to be what you should be in God until  you get all of those issues out of your heart.  The circumstance is just the trigger that pulls them up.   While we are so busy blaming others like Cain did, our own heart grows darker and darker.  Until I stop blaming someone else, and I ask God to get my heart to a place where it is WITHOUT SPOT AND WITHOUT WRINKLE, I will continue to perish. 

It is time to stop blaming our circumstances and blaming others for our bad behaviors and bad moods.  If Paul can sing at midnight when he has been arrested, though he had committed no crime, we can be happy where we are in life too.  We just have to get rid of some issues, and those issues are in our own hearts.

The issues of the heart

We are so concerned about the outward things.  God is more concerned about the inward things like our hearts.  When it comes to your health, if your heart is in bad shape, it will limit you to some degree.  If we could only understand that our spiritual heart is also just as important.  When God looks at you, he does not look at your face, or the size of your body, or the bigness of your IQ.  When God looks at you, he looks at  your heart. 

We like to fix our hair, and make our bodies and faces look just as attractive as we can make them.  We do so because we know that man judges us by these things.  We need to keep in mind that God does not look at these external things when he sees us.  God looks at our heart.  The condition of your spiritual heart is the difference between life and death...the difference between light and dark...the difference between faith and doubt.  Everything in your life springs up out of your heart. 
Our lives can get so messed up because our heart is messed up. 

Proverbs 4:23 Keep your heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.

The good and the bad things in our lives make up the issues of our lives.  Those issues in  your life, if they are good, or, if they are bad, sprang up out of YOUR heart.  How many messes are we in because of the bad choices that we made?  Many people spend two or three decades following the desires of our hearts, making one bad choice after another.  Then when they finally turn and give our lives to God, they expect him to bring them out of that mess like RIGHT NOW.    I counseled a young man once who was complaining that God had not done as much for him as he had expected because he still had a lot of problems though he had served God for a couple of years.  As I talked to him, I found out he had spent 20 years getting himself into a deeper and deeper mess, had half way followed God for two years, and wanted to know why God hadn't fixed all his mess yet.   If you are ready to 'give up' on God because he hasn't met your expectations, you were never serving him as God in the first place.  Some people treat their relationship with God like a poker game.  If God is going to help stack their deck, they want all he's got, but, if they get a flat hand they are ready to fold.  God requires a greater faith, and commitment level than this. 

Those issues in your life, they came up out of your heart.  We always want to think that our issues are the result of somebody else that needs to change.  If only our eyes could be opened to realize that it is MY heart that needs to change.   I am reminded of Corry Ten Boom.  She was arrested by the Nazi's and put into a death camp.  She wasn't not treated well at all, yet, she was able to show the love of Jesus and was a witness for God's love inside the camp.  When are we going to learn that, "This JOY that I have, the world didn't give it to me, and the world can't take it away."  That means, no matter what that OTHER person is doing, I can walk in the righteousness, peace, and joy of the HOLY GHOST in spite of their persecution and hurt.  By doing what is good, you can OVER COME evil.  

I am reminded of Paul and Silas, they were thrown into jail at midnight, and not because they had sinned, but because they preached the gospel.  Did it become an issue for them?  NO.  They were in there singing and having a good time, praying, singing, rejoicing in God.  Why wasn't it an issue for them.  Because ISSUES spring up out of your heart, they don't come from your circumstances.  The jails back then were nasty, dirty, infested places.  They didn't have an issue with it, wasn't nobody singing no jail house blues.  Most of us would have had an issue with that, but they didn't, because there was NO ISSUES in their hearts.  When you ain't got no issues in your heart, it don't matter what this old world throws at you.  You are going to be like Paul and Silas, ready to go on serving God in righteousness, peace, and joy of the Holy Ghost. Why?   Because issues don't spring up out of your circumstances, issues spring up out of your heart.   Somebody needs to catch that, and I think someone just did.

Sunday night - Altar Time - Praise Assembly

Lord Fix My Heart

Most people are concerned about their outward things such as their job, their transportation, health, safety, a place to live, material possessions.  We spend a pretty good portion of our lives tending to these things and praying about them.  Our priorities are not always God's priorities.  Now, in the economy that we are living in today what could possibly be more important than your JOB?  When taking prayer request the three things that people request the most is for their finances, their health, and their kids or family members, these are what weigh on our hearts. 

What is God's concern for us?   God does care for those things that we care about, but his priority is your heart.  God wants to fix the condition of our hearts.  What is the condition of man's heart? 

 In Ezekiel 26:36  God says that man has a heart of stone.  One of the problems of this world is that too many people have hard hearts.  How does out heart harden?  Our hearts harden as we go through life and someone steps on our heart.  Over time our hearts become like hardened ground that has been stepped on and pressed down. 

 Ezekiel 26:36  A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh.

Jesus said that in the last days that the love of many would grow cold.  The harder your heart is, the more you are unable to love.  Jesus said this is my commandment that  you love one another.   God wants love to be in the hearts of man, that we would live and walk in love.  What kind of world would this world be if everyone had love as their motive?  How many of our problems that we face in this natural world would be eliminated if everyone walked in love.  God is concerned with our hearts because he knows  a lot of our problems will be solved when we get rid of the stony heart, and walk in the love of God.

A heart of stone is a divided heart.  Ezekiel 11:19  And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within them; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh:

God will give them one heart instead of a heart that is divided our double minded.  The bible says that when we are double-minded we are unstable in all of our ways.  When God gives  you one heart, it is  a heart of love, and a heart of faith, and of purpose.  A double minded heart is a heart of doubts and worries and unclear vision and purpose.  

Have you searched your heart today.  If your heart is hard, or double minded it will cause multiple problems in your life and your relationships.  Maybe the problem isn't outward as  much as it is inward.  God wants to restore and renew your heart.  Take your heart and surrender it to God and ask him to wash it clean of every attitude and desire that would make it corrupt by the blood of Jesus. 

 

God sees your heart

We are told in the Scriptures to give thanks to God.  It is hard to disagree with giving thanks.  We all know we should do this, but many are given over to a corrupt mind.   Often we think a corrupt mind is one that is filled with sinful thoughts and images, but a corrupt mind is one that does not function as God intended.  

In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.  1 Thessalonians 5:18 

Giving thanks is more than just words of thankfulness.  Giving thanks is an attitude of the mind.  We should have an attitude of thankfulness.  What is your attitude today?

Some people have pouty attitude.  Some people have a angry attitude.  Some people have a grumpy attitude.  Our attitude often sets our moods.  Have you ever had to tell someone, "you have a bad attitude."  Attitudes are what we often use to control people around us.  We use our attitude like and intimidator to maneuver what we want out of life from others.  What would it mean to have a thankful attitude?  Have you ever seen a rebellious person that carried a thankful attitude?  No.  They usually have an attitude that is the OPPOSITE of thankful.  Have you ever seen a bitter or angry person with a thankful attitude?  Not usually, most of the time their attitudes are cynical.  An attitude is a reflection of your heart.  A hateful attitude springs from rebellion.  A cynical attitude comes from those who are bitter.  A thankful attitude comes from those who are humble and leads to joy.

We can take a few moments each day to thank God for various things in our lives, but true thankful ness is an attitude of the mind that you carry  with  you throughout the day.    God listens to our hearts, and our hearts are seldom silent.  Even when our mind shuts down, our hearts are still speaking.  Whatever attitude you have in  your heart is the sound that God hears when you heart speaks.  You can say things with  your heart that you never said with your mouth, and to God it is the same as if you spoke it.  When the angel said that Sarah would have a son, she thought it impossible in her heart, and she laughed.  God heard the attitude of her heart though she spoke on words at all.  

I cannot express to you enough that God hears the meditations of your heart.  Does he hear a pouting, upset angry noise?  Does he hear rebellion, hatred and envy?  Does he hear selfishness and pride?  What does God hear when you heart speaks?

Put on a attitude of thankfulness that comes up out of a heart of praise.  When God hears the sounds in my heart, I want my heart to be singing a  melody of his praise.  I sure don't want my heart griping, fussing, moping, and complaining.  Lord give me a thankful heart!

1 Samuel 16:7 But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the LORD sees not as man sees; for man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.

Knowing the Will of God

 People ask me all the time, "How can I know the will of God?" So, Let's study the will of God.  I have found in my experience that the will of God is not hard to find.  Now, I am going to say something here, and it if you are not careful you are going to miss the gravity of what I about to say.  So, get ready, are you ready to receive this?  Ok, here it is:

The more that you walk in disobedience to God, the HARDER it is to find God's direction for your LIFE. 

Some people are in confusion, fear, anger and strife, because they chose a path of 'justifying' their sin, instead of repenting of it.  When we know to do good, and chose to do what is wrong, we will have a hard time finding God's perfect path for our lives.  If you want  him to lead you, then obey his Word.  Why is that so Important to finding God's will for my life? 

Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.  Psalms 119:105

The Word of God is a lamp and a light.  Why do we need a lamp and a light?  Hey, it is a cold, dark world out there.  People lose the path for their life because the world is dark.  In the darkness is confusion.  In the darkness is fear.  In the darkness is lack of vision.  Without vision, God's people perish.  We stumble along and lose our way in the dark.  TURN THE LIGHT ON!  Read the Word of God and illuminate the path.  I can give you a 'word of knowledge', 'word of prophecy', word of encouragement, but if that is what you are using to light your path, you are walking in dim light.   We know in part, we prophecy in part...but when Jesus comes....Glory......remember that the Word of God is Jesus and Jesus is the Word of God.  When the Word of God comes it illuminates your path.  Are you spending time in the Word?  If not, WHY NOT?  Is anything so important that you neglect the Word of God?

God wants us to know and find his will.  We are lighting up our path when we read God's word.  It does not matter how much money you have, if your spiritual path is dark, your money will get you lost in the dark pretty quick.  It does not matter how many friends you have.  If your spiritual path is dark your friends will lead you astray pretty quick.  It does not matter how much talent you have.  Your talent will open up doors where your anemic spirituality cannot sustain you, and you will lose the path pretty quick.

What are you waiting on.  Chose to light your path reading the Word of God!

A Word from God is all YOU need.

Matthew 28: 16-17  Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them.  And when they saw him, they worshiped him: but some doubted. 

That is the same that we are seeing in  the church today and in the world.  Some are believing, and some are doubting.  Someone reading this may not realize that their doubt is sin, but, the Bible calls it sin.  We tend to look at a drunkard or a rapist and think, "now that is sin."  God looks upon doubting with the same measure of contempt. 

James 1:6-8

But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavers is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord.

A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways.

 

We make excuses for our doubts, but until you get an understanding that you are sinning against God  you will continue to walk in doubt.  In James we see some of the qualities of a doubtful person.

 

A doubtful person wavers.  They are torn between two opinions.  I have counseled many young people that we making plans for their lives.  Tossed back and forth are many of them unsure of what they are going to do with their life.  I have had many of them ask me, "What is God's will for my life?"  I tell them to stop being afraid and worried, live you life one day at a time and God shapes your destiny as he opens the right doors.  Sometimes we get so worried because we get a certain age and God hasn't done anything yet.  Maybe 18 isn't God's time for you to be out of your home...Maybe 50 isn't God's time for your calling to manifest.  Maybe age 30 isn't the year that God intended  you to buy a home.  

 

When we get worried about what others will think if we delay, and we move ahead without clear direction from God we are going to always doubt and waver.  Without a vision for your life, you will perish along the way, and your dreams will grow dim.  Following God's leadership is more important than living up to man's expectations.  That was a word for someone.  There is someone reading this that is feeling pressure to move into something that you haven't heard God on the matter.  You better stand still until you hear God! 

 

If God is SILENT...the answer for that moment is NO.

Someone needs to hear this.  I have been following the leadership of the Holy Ghost for nearly three decades.  If you ask God should I do this, or can I go there, or should I move here, and he doesn't say yes or no, the answer is NO.  The answer is ALWAYS no unless the Word of God says YES to your question, or the Spirit of God speaks to your Spirit and says yes.

 

I saw a man once who asked God if he should marry a certain woman.  He got NO answer from God.  Heaven was silent.  So, after a while of seeking God, he looked into his plate of spaghetti one day and the noodles were intersected in what looked like  a Y to him.  He thinks, Y, for the word yes, and on a plate of spaghetti he decided that he knew the will of God.  God was saying YES marry the woman.  How many reading this know that God hadn't spoke yes to him.  He SAW, what he WANTED to see.  

 

The doubting man always wavers.  He doubted that he should marry, and he kept wavering back and forth.  Faith comes by what?  By hearing.  And hearing by what?  The Word of God.  Hey, you don't make any major decisions in life unless you get a WORD from God spoken directly to  your Spirit.  When you hear God say, "yes, marry this woman."  Your doubting days are over.  Faith springs up because you HEARD GOD.l

 

A doubter is driven with the wind, tossed back and forth.   Faith leads  you, but doubt will drive you.   Faith anchors you, but doubt tosses you back and forth.   I cannot express how much you need to hear God speak to you.  Everything depends on that!  God spoke to Abraham...and  by faith Abraham did what God spoke.  God spoke to Moses...and by faith Moses did what God spoke.  God spoke to Joshua...and by faith Joshua did what God spoke.  Faith comes by hearing.  You need to hear from God! 

 

If you are driven by doubt and tossed around, your prayers are ALL in VAIN!  The Scripture plainly says, "Let not that man think he will receive anything from God!"  Wow.  What removes doubt?  We need to hear from God, that is what brings faith and anchors us so that we are not driven and tossed about by doubt.  

 

Last a double-minded man is unstable.  When a table is unstable, it is not reliable.  How many of us does God look at us and he KNOWS that he CANNOT count on us because we are unstable.  Lord, I don't want to be unstable, but, if I don't hear the voice of God, I have nothing to anchor me when the storms of adversity comes my way.

 

We were ministering one time and God gave me a promise that he was going to do a work.  I heard his voice, he spoke it plainly to me.  This place had a lot of problems and strongholds.  For God to do a work, it would have to be God, that is for sure.  Difficult times came from time to time, and it would seem discouraging.  But, in those times I took those problems to the Lord, and I said this to God...All though this looks impossible, I STILL BELIEVE the Word you spoke to my heart.  I chose to believe even when it doesn't feel like it could ever come to pass.  And God has honored his Word. 

 

What do you do in your darkest moments?  You need to hear a promise from God to be your anchor to hold you during the storms.  Without it you are like a ship, lost out at sea.

 

Delays, Delays, Delays!

We have been talking about David who had a heart after God's own heart.  David's desires matched God's desires, and God favored him.  God chose him as King, because he looked upon his heart and saw that he had the  like and desires and values of God.  David didn't just wake up one day and have a heart that was fashioned out like God's heart.  He wasn't born with a heart after God's own heart either.  David said in the book of Psalms: 

Your word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against you.  Psalms 119:11

If  you long for a heart after God's own heart, you will have to hide God's Word in  your heart.  That means to do more than just read it.  To hide it in your  heart means to bury it there like a treasure, something precious, something you keep, something you meditate on often.

What are the desires of God's heart?

Hosea 6:6  6For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings. 

 

Psalms 51: 5-7  5Behold, I was shaped in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me. 6Behold, you desire truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part you shall make me to know wisdom. 7Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow

God desires mercy and knowledge, not sacrifice and offerings.  God desires us to live truthfully in our hidden parts, those times when we are all alone, we should be living the truth and not a lie. 

Tonight we will be talking about God's desire for man to give thanks in all things.

1 Thess. 5:18  In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.

What does God desire?  He desires for us to give thanks in all things.  When bad things happen and we are uncomfortable or suffering we should continue to believe that God is working out all things for our good.  Why is it so hard for us to believe that?  Why is it so hard for us to understand that God is moving on our behalf even when we cannot see it.

We have a daughter that is mentally handicapped and autistic.  Sometimes when she wants to go to McDonald's she pulls my mouth to her ear.  She is waiting for me to give her a promise, because she is non-verbal, so, she wants me to guess what she is wanting.  When I say, "You want to go to McDonald's, she flaps her hands and pulls away to indicate that I had guessed right."   She won't leave my side until I promise her we will go to McDonald's.  Once I promise her, she is contented.   If I have to take a detour to an ATM machine, she acts like her life is over.  She is SO CERTAIN that we are going completely the wrong way.  She is so upset that we are not going to McDonalds.  Well, I know that I have to go the opposite way first to withdraw some money, but, she has NO FAITH that this delay is for her best interest.  Luckily for my daughter, now McDonalds takes debit cards!  But the delays in our lives, sometimes they are necessary.

Moses had a delay,  Joseph had a delay, Abraham had a delay, The disciples had a delay when they were told to go to the upper room and wait upon God's promise.  After all, they had just witnessed Jesus BACK from the grave!  Who could sit still on that kind of news and sit in an upper room and pray?  Delays. Delays. Delays!  God has a reason for your delay.  Give him thanks in all things.  You know that he is working for your good!

 

Jesus IS the LIFE

The past two days we have been talking about John 14:6 where Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth and the life.  All though Jesus is the way, often our break through doesn't come until we spend time in consecrated prayer.  We forfeit our victory because we don't take enough time for prayer.  Jesus is the truth.  If we want to do things our way, instead of God's way, we have rejected the truth.  When we obey the Word of God we are tearing down the devil's strongholds.  When we disobey the Word of God we are allowing the devil to build his stronghold in our life. 

Today we will be talking on Jesus is the life.  A few years ago, a common phrase was 'get a life'  meaning your life is boring or meaningless and you need to find a better life.  Jesus does offer us a better life.  But, when Jesus said, "I am the life."  He was talking about more than saving us from boredom or adding purpose to our existence.   When we are born into the world we are born dead, and spiritual apart from God.   This verse isn't  just referring to having more life than you already have in this life.  This verse is referring to the fact that God said to Adam, 

Genesis 2:17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat of it: for in the day that you eat thereof you shall surely die.

We are dead in our trespasses and sins.  Without Jesus we simply do not have life, we are dead.  There are people that are serving God, but they have never passed from death  unto life.  Christianity is more than just deciding to be a better person.  Christianity is having a spiritual birth.  When you have this spiritual birth you have passed from death unto life.  If you are trying to come to God, by being good, so that you are a better person that is commendable, but, to be part of the family of God you have to pass from death unto life.

What happens when we are born again.  When you are born again you begin to crave milk, God's Word is milk.  Maybe the Bible is just words to you, after you are born again the Word of God will satisfy you.  You will hunger for it just like a new born calf hungers for milk.  Also, when you are born again, you receive a measure of the Spirit of God and you want to commune with him. 

 You have to  understand that something happens to you in the Spirit realm when you come to God.  It is more than just trying to be a good person, you actually have a rebirth in your spirit man that launches you into a spiritual journey with God.  You will suddenly become so God conscience through the day that you tend to forget about other things that are important to you.  It is like going from death unto life .  If you have not had a spiritual rebirth, seek God until you are converted by the Spirit of God.  Then you have passed from death unto life.

If you have never had a spiritual experience with God this is something that you must experience. 

John 3:3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. 

With a spiritual rebirth comes new life,  purpose, meaning, a hunger for spiritual things.   If you have had this new birth experience but your hunger for the spiritual things has died out, ask God for renewal of the Spirit of God upon your life.  Seek him with  your whole heart, and you will find him. 

God Desires Truth the Hidden Parts of our Lives

Yesterday we talked about David being a man after God's own heart.   To be a man after God's own heart means more than a love and devotion for God.  It means you are like God, you have his same desires.  Just like a son that takes after his dad own heart is a son that thinks an acts like his Father.    He shares the same desires as his Father.  
Yesterday we discussed one of the desires of God.

 Hosea 6:6  6For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings. 

If we want to have a heart after God's own heart, we are going to have to know what God desires and ask God to change our hearts to be after his own heart and desires.

Today we are going to look at another desire that God has:

Psalms 51: 5-7  5Behold, I was shaped in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me. 6Behold, you desire truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part you shall make me to know wisdom. 7Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow

David being a man after God's own heart understood and knew the heart and desire of his Father God.  David realizes that he has been a sinner since the day God formed him within his mother's womb.  And he then acknowledges that God desires truth in the inward parts:  What are the hidden parts of your life?  When you are all alone.  When no one else is there.  Do you follow the truth then, or do you sin privately and hide it publically?  God desires TRUTH in the hidden parts of your life.

1 Cor. 4:5  Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord comes, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God.

There is no good deed that you have done in private that will remain hidden.  Likewise their  is no evil deed that we do in private that will remain hidden.  Have you ever heard, "what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas."  You can run here there and yonder, but those things that we hide from others will be exposed on the day of judgment as each of our works are judge.

God desires truth in the hidden parts.  If you want a to be a person with a heart after God's own heart,  you must desire truth in the hidden areas of your life.  You need to turn that filth off you are watching.  That crooked thing you are doing, and that way you slack when the boss isn't looking has to be brought to the light and repented of before God.  Ask God to change you to love truth in the hidden parts of your life.   What is David doing in the hidden times of his life?  He is spending time with God and allowing God to put his wisdom in his life.   You got extra time?  Why spend it cleaving to, hang on to and hiding sinful behaviors?  Spend your private times with God and let him teach you his wisdom.

Finally David says, purge me, cleanse me and I shall be clean.

Your efforts is not going to clean up the hidden parts of your life.  Only as God purges you and cleanses  you is your life going to change.  Pray that prayer that David prayed today.


7Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow

Whatever it IS! Remember, JESUS is the WAY!

John 14:6   Jesus answered him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one goes to the Father except through me.

Jesus describes  himself three ways here in the Book of John.  Today people are looking for the way, the truth and the life.   Whatever you are facing today, Jesus is the way.  You may say, "I don't know what I'm going to do, I don't know how we are going to make it."  Jesus is saying "I am the way!"  When you got too much month and not enough pay check rest assured that Jesus is the way.  When you go to the doctor and you get a bad report, Jesus is the way.  When your child is messing up, and they are driving you nuts, Jesus IS the way.  We lose focus on the fact that Jesus is a way maker.  I have found that if you go from house to house and offer prayer there are many people who are NEEDY that will turn down prayer.  We act as if prayer no longer has much meaning anymore, as if it is not necessary for us to pray for one another.  There are few churches where the altars are  open for people to seek God.  In many churches you will be called down or discouraged if you go to the altar to pray too many times.  I have even heard people say, "Why don't these pray at home, why do they need to come to the church altar and pray all the time?"  We are living in a cold, heartless, faithless generation.  What did Jesus say?

Matthew 21:13 And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but you have made it a den of thieves.

We shouldn't be rebuking those who want to pray in the House of God, we should be rebuking those that don't come to the house of God to pray.  I know there are a lot of ministers that are using the pulpit for financial gain at the expense of spiritual gain in the hearer, but there is more than one way to rob God.  Jesus said his house would be a house of prayer, but often people come to church thinking it is there house, not God's house.  When people come up and pray, they get mad because the service is taking too long.  They are eager to get out of the house of God and get back to their worldliness.  They have robbed the house of God of it's glory by refusing to honor God in his own house.  They want it there way, not God's way.  They don't want the house of God to be a house of prayer.  They want to get over with it so they can go back to their sinful living.

People should pray at home, but the house of God has always been a house of personal  and individual prayer, not just corporate prayers.  Jesus gave this parable:

Luke 18

9 To some who were confident of their own righteousness  and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: 10“Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. 12I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’

13“But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’

14“I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

 

These men went to the house of God to pray and seek God's face.  If you didn't come to church to pray and seek God's face why did you bother to show up at all?  It's not about us and our quaint little sermons, and nice packaged music. It is about God and his glory!   Both of these men were in God's house PRAYING, personal prayers...now  I want to take you to our generation and this century,  to see another man sitting down, who is NOT praying at all.  Imagine a third man is this parable looking at the other two that are standing and praying.  Imagine them having the mind set of many church goers today.  Here is what many church goers today would have said about these two men praying in God's house:
 

I wish these people would pray at home.  They get up and say the same prayers for the same ole things all the time.    I pray at home so I don't need to pray at church all the time...They are pitiful just crying and carrying on about their problems all the time.  It's pathetic.  I'm going to see the Pastor puts a stop to this, it is so wrong.  What is our visitors going to think about all this?    Our church won't grow until we get a bit more professional.  This is so pathetic, there they go at it again.  They  ought to be embarrassed.    Did this man go away justified before God?  

 

Our generation has strayed away from God, and we go to church and say that we serve him, but we get offended if people want to take time to seek his face.  If you didn't come to church to seek God, why did you come?  If you aren't going to seek God in his house,  why not just stay home in the first place?   Or, at least let other seek him... 

 

Matthew 15:8 These people draw near unto me with their mouth, and honor me with their lips; but their heart is far from me.

 

Has someone persecuted you because you sought God at church?  Just keep on seeking him, remember JESUS is the WAY. 

 

 

 

 

 

Having The Heart of God

The Bible says that King David was a man after God's own heart.  What does that mean?  When we are talking about our kids and we say, "That boy right there is a boy after my own heart," this means more than that boy loves his daddy.  It means that he likes the things his daddy likes.  He tends to think like his daddy, favor his daddy's likes and wishes.   There are times when you can have a child and they are nothing like you.  I knew a man that was a red neck but his son liked to wear dress clothes.  His son liked to dress up since he was just a little boy.  He loved his son, but to say that he is a son after his own heart would just be wishful thinking.  When God said, "David is a man after my own heart,"  he was saying that David tend to think, act, like and desire the same things as God did. 

Does God ask us to have a heart after his own heart?  Well, he at least expects us to have a heart that is not FAR FROM HIM.  What  would be a heart that is far from God?  It would be a heart that likes the things that God hates.  It would be a heart that has desires that God despises.  It would mean that your heart does not go after the same things that God desires.

Matthew 15:8-9 

8These people draw near unto me with their mouth, and honor me with their lips; but their heart is far from me.

9But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.

 

What does God desire?  We can't look at EVERYTHING that God desires in this one blog, but we will look at ONE thing that God desires of us. 

 

Hosea 6:6  6For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.

 

God is not willing that anyone should perish.  Jesus said in John 3:17   

17For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.  If Jesus didn't come to condemn, why are we so quick to condemn.  God wants us to  be merciful and teach the knowledge of God, but we are so quick to demand sacrifice and offerings.  What are you giving and taking from others?   Are you a giver?  Do you give mercy and knowledge, or do you require sacrifice and offerings from other.  God says we come to him and speak his name, but our hearts are far from him because we are takers instead of givers.  God is a giver, he is not a taker.  If our heart is a heart after God's own heart, we will be givers and not takers. 

 

If you have despitefully used your parents, your spouse, your friend, or anyone else and been a taker instead of a giver realize that God is watching what you do.  Maybe they let you behave like this, but God is watching you being a taker on the earth instead of a giver. 

 

Of course you can give a sacrifice or an offering to offering, but God would prefer mercy and knowledge.   We spend a lot of time sacrificing for our kids and buying them things and walking away, when it would be better to sit down and share our knowledge with them and show them the mercy of God.  Of course we are to bring things to God, but, what we give, even for the least person here on earth, we have done for Jesus.   If  you have been a taker instead of a giver, ask God to change your heart, to  make your heart a heart after his own heart.

 

 

When we fail to give mercy to others and we refuse to walk in knowledge, and we offer up sacrifices of praise to God and offering of gifts to  both God and people because we are abusive, and we are trying to 'make up for our bad behavior'...we have a mouth that draws near to God, but our heart is far from him.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Getting Rid of that Pressure!

Pressure.  It is something that few people like, but always necessary to succeed.  There is someone reading this post right now, and you do not realize that the pressure you are undergoing is a necessary part of your life that will eventually help you succeed.  We have all heard the story about the grain of sand that was just ordinary.  A grain of sand that looked just like all the other million grains of sand on the beach.  A mollusk   came by and swallowed the grain of sand one day.  Could it get any worst.  In this dark place surrounded by yukky mollusk  juice, trapped inside a shell of circumstance.  That is where some of you are today.  Trapped inside a shell of circumstances.  Eventually the sand grew to be a beautiful pearl.  Without the mollusk , it could not transform into it's most beautiful form.  And that is where some of you are today.  You are trapped inside your circumstances, and God is transforming you into your most beautiful form.  Go ahead and say to yourself, "I am not going crazy, I am being transformed!"

I could insert the story of Joseph right here.  But we already know about Joseph.  I could insert the story of Moses right here.  But we already know about Moses.  I could insert the story of Samson right here, and all his trials and pressures.  But we already know about Samson.  These serve as a witness and a testimony to us that these trials that we face are only temporary.  Every test has a start, and an end...it's the middle part that gets to us sometimes.  Moses started in the bull rushes, and ended up looking across the Jordan...it was the middle part that was hard to take.  Joseph started out with a pretty coat, and ended up second only to Pharaoh.  It's that middle part that was hard to swallow.  Some of you are struggling because right now you are going through that middle part!   It's like your struggling to get  over on the other side, where your victory is just in sight.  It can seem like you are stuck in the mud, going no where, stuck in that middle part where everything that can go wrong will go wrong. 

When you are going through those trials, and you haven't yet reached that place of peace and prosperity that God has for you, it can seem like the pressure is unbearable.  What do some people do during that middle part  'THEY RUN FOR THE HILLS'   Look at the story of Jonah.  He had a good start in obeying God's call, and eventually he returned back to that call and a revival broke out in Nineveh.  But, that middle part, with the whale...wow.   He ran from his pressures and he ended up in the belly of a whale. 

We start out so in love, then the trials come, and the pressures increase.  We find our marriage in that middle part where we haven't found our happiness and our blessing, and we are miserably unhappy, and we RUN.  I'm getting OUT OUT OUT.   We start out so excited about our new job...then we find our self in that middle place where we can't seem to get the kind of work we want.  We get discontent and upset and the next thing you know we are singing that song, "Take this job and shove it!"  And we RUN RUN RUN to another job.   A new marriage, a new job, a new house, a new church, a new promise...Some of us never get to the end of our trials,  where the blessings are because we are always RUNNING from the pressures and starting ALL over again.

HELLO.  While new beginnings is usually exciting, new beginnings generally ALWAYS lead to that UNPLEASANT middle part that EVERYONE has to learn to overcome!   Starting all over doesn't eliminate your problems, it only relieves pressure for a moment.  After you start over, and the problems starts up again,  you are going to have the same pressures. 

You say, "what do I do when the pressure is on, how do I stay  and make my way through to the other side where I got my blessings coming."

Isaiah has your answer:

Isaiah 37:31  And the remnant that have escaped of the house of Judah shall again take root downward, and bear fruit upward:

You take this Word of God and you begin to tell yourself to take root downward.  You don't have time to waste running away from this pressure.  When the pressure cooker gets real hot it's time to take root downward!  You let your roots go down into Christ where there is cool life giving water.   Running away won't get you through to the other side, it will just put you back at the starting point.  You won't be closer to the answer, you will be farther away.  Your answer is to take root downward.  How about saying, "Devil!  I'm here to stay.  I've taken my root downward into Christ Jesus and I am built on the rock.  I ain't afraid of your tornados, hurricanes, or rainy Mondays...I'm taking root downward and then I will bear fruit upward.

Someone is thinking, now this place I am in right now, I don't want to take root downward here.  No.  This isn't all I want.  I want something better, something more, something nicer.  Look at Joseph.  Tossed in jail for a crime he didn't commit.  What did he do?  He took root downward RIGHT there.  He started working, and using his gifts, and worked his way up to foreman of the jail...and then GOD delivered  him into a new position as second in the entire Kingdom.  Look at Moses.  He found himself on the backside of the dessert with nomads.  He took roots downward.  He married one of the farm girls, raised the sheep, helped his father-in-law.  Is this what he envisioned for his life. NO. He knew he was supposed to deliver his people out of bondage, and here he is tending sheep on the backside of the desert.  He took root downward and bore fruit upward right where he was on the backside of that desert.  And God come in a burning bush and got him out of that place, and put him right back on path and destiny for his life.  No matter where you are in life, take root downward and bare fruit upward and depend on God to promote  you to a better position!

What circumstance do you find yourself in today.  You need to root downward, and bare fruit upward, and when you have made your way through that 'middle part'  God will elevate you to where he wants you to be  in life.