HOWS YOUR HEART?
About Five years ago I found myself in the Modbury Hospital High dependency ward with a ? heart attack.
I should have been in distress but the whole time I was in peace because I knew my heart was right before the Lord.
The Bible says
Isaiah 26:3 You will keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed on You, Because he trusts in You.
I knew that the Lord had a plan for my life and I knew He would bring it to pass provided I kept my mind on Him.
Last week I spoke on attitude-- Charles R. Swindoll made this statement about Attitude
"This may shock you, but I believe the single most significant decision I can make on a day-to-day basis is my choice of attitude. It is more important than my past, my education, my bankroll, my successes or failures, fame or pain, what other people think of me or say about me, my circumstances, or my position. Attitude is that `single string’ that keeps me going or cripples my progress. It alone fuels my fire or assaults my hope. When my attitudes are right, there’s no barrier too high, no valley too deep, no dream too extreme, no challenge too great for me."
This morning I want to speak to you from 2 Chron. 16:9 and ask you the question
HOWS YOUR HEART?
2 Chron. 16:9 For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him. In this you have done foolishly; therefore from now on you shall have wars."
The NIV says "to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him."
1. THE FIRST THING I SEE IN THIS PASSAGE IS RELATIONSHIP
HOWS YOUR HEART IN RELATIONSHIPS?
We have a loving Father who longs to have a good relationship with us.
In this verse we see that God is longing to have a strong relationship with those whose heart is committed & loyal to Him.
Sadly I speak to many people who do not have a good relationship with an earthly father and so this concept of a father who wants a good relationship with them does not relate to their experience.
It is seems to me that we are living in a world that sadly lacks in Godly relationships.
The concept that we are to Love God and love our neighbour as ourselves is certainly not the way of the world.
The way of the world is, I am number one and I am going to look out for me, everyone else can look out for themselves. As for God and His ways well if it is convenient I will fit Him into my schedule. After all God helps those who help themselves.
Well that’s a false statement because God helps those who can’t help themselves but repent and cry out to Him for help.
Psalm 34:17 The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears, And delivers them out of all their troubles.
We come into right relationship with God when we believe in and trust in Jesus and His finished work on the cross.
Our own works are but filthy rags to the Lord
You see if we go back one verse we see that
Psalm 34:16 The face of the Lord is against those who do evil, To cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.
God longs for that right relationship with us, but we must be prepared to be fully committed to him.
The same goes for our earthly relationships it requires commitment and loyalty for them to work.
How do you shape up are you fully committed to a right relationship with God Father Son and Holy Spirit and are you fully committed to a right relationship with those around you, your neighbours.
You see anything else is rebellion and that leads me to my next point out of our passage of Scripture
2. DO YOU HAVE A HEART OF REBELLION?
Asa had a heart of rebellion he did not want to listen to the Word of God through Hanani the seer (prophet)
2 Chron. 16:9-10 For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him. In this you have done foolishly; therefore from now on you shall have wars." [10] Then Asa was angry with the seer, and put him in prison, for he was enraged at him because of this. And Asa oppressed some of the people at that time.
Asa had defeated the Ethiopians in open battle. But his confidence in God had slipped, and now he sought only a human solution to his problem. When confronted by the prophet Hanani, Asa threw him in prison, revealing the true condition of his heart.
It is not sin to use human means to solve our problems,
But it is sin to trust them more than God,
To think they are better than God’s ways, or to leave God completely out of the problem-solving process.
Instead of seeking God Asa had sought the help of pagan nations to help Him.
Who do you turn to for help
I like Psalm 121 as it leaves little doubt as to where our help should come from
Psalm 121:1-8 A Song of Ascents. I will lift up my eyes to the hills-- From whence comes my help? [2] My help comes from the Lord, Who made heaven and earth. [3] He will not allow your foot to be moved; He who keeps you will not slumber. [4] Behold, He who keeps Israel Shall neither slumber nor sleep. [5] The Lord is your keeper; The Lord is your shade at your right hand. [6] The sun shall not strike you by day, Nor the moon by night. [7] The Lord shall preserve you from all evil; He shall preserve your soul. [8] The Lord shall preserve your going out and your coming in From this time forth, and even forevermore.
Can you say "My help comes from the Lord, Who made heaven and earth."
Anything else is rebelion and God hates rebelious people in fact as we see with King Saul, God speaking through Samuel calls it the spirit of witchcraft.
1 Samuel 15:23 For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, And stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, He also has rejected you from being king."
God is looking for our total trust and obedience He is looking for people with a right heart attitude.
A heart that sees the reality of who God is and what He is able to do for those that love Him
3 DO YOU HAVE A HEART THAT SEES THE REALITY?
God has much in store for those whose heart is right
1 Cor. 2:9 ...."Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him."
Not only that He longs to give us the victory over everything that comes against us, in this life as well look at verse 8 of our passage in 2 Chron. 16.
2 Chron. 16:8 Were the Ethiopians and the Lubim not a huge army with very many chariots and horsemen? Yet, because you relied on the Lord, He delivered them into your hand.
Huge problems seemingly insurmountable things can come up against us but we can still have the victory if only we will keep our heart right and be fully committed, fully loyal to Him.
You see it is not the size of the enemy that comes against us that is the problem it is who or what we are putting our trust in.
I’ve found in my own life, if my walk with God is not carefully maintained, there is that subtle drift to hollowness, and it doesn’t take very long
Christianity can become a heartless habit, often moving into some forms of hypocrisy
Our walk with God is, above and beyond everything else, an inside-out reality
God begins to work in our lives at the level of our hearts
God is not impressed with externals
It’s possible to be religious and devout on the inside, and to be hollow and empty spiritually inside
But I’m also struck by the promises given to us as New Testament believers
Ezekiel and Jeremiah, prophesied the day when a new covenant would be instituted
God would dwell within them and write his laws on our hearts
We would interact with him from the inside out
Ezekiel 36:26-27 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. [27] I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them.
When Jesus met with his disciples in the Upper Room, he lifted the cup and said these significant words: "This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is shed for you"
You and I have been grafted into that new covenant promise of God so that you and I have an edge over Old Testament believers on a heart relationship with God
It does not matter who or what comes against us if our Heart is right before God.
Hows Your Heart?
IN CONCLUSION
Throughout all of Scripture, God speaks so much about our hearts and our heart’s condition
In our text
2 Chron. 16:9 For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him.
Personally, I long for the strengthening work of God in my heart
God knows my frame is dust
I need him
The text says that God is looking for people he can strengthen, but there’s a qualifier
God looking for a particular kind of heart
God is searching this earth for hearts that are fully committed to him
It’s critical that we understand what the heart is according to Scripture
The heart is the place of conscious decision making, the place of spiritual activity
Our hearts are our personality as a whole
It’s where we desire
It’s our passions
It’s our thoughts, our understanding, our will
It is where God meets us
What is the heart?
It’s really what you are and God is searching the condition of our hearts
We live in a world that’s bent on credentials
Everyone is interested in who you are and what you are like: business cards, acclaim, honours we’ve received
I’d like to think that when God begins to probe my life that I can stop him on the outside and talk about my credentials
That would be much more comfortable
I’d like to say, "Lord, wait a minute. I graduated from Bible College. I’m a pastor."
But you know what God says?
God pushes that all aside and says, "I’m not impressed. I want to see your heart"
Successful business people, presidents of companies, come to God and say:
"Wait a minute, Lord. Here’s my business card. What do you think? Look at the tag on my corporate door"
and God says, "I’m not impressed"
God is on a search for a few good hearts
I want to be like David, who could be so transparent that he could put aside all his credentials and say:
Psalm 139:23-24 Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me, and know my anxieties; [24] And see if there is any wicked way in me, And lead me in the way everlasting.
This morning I’d like to do a spiritual Electro Cardio Graph on all of us
I’m asking, what does God look for when he gets past all the external things?
It is my prayer that we learn what it means to be like David of old, that it may be said of us: "They were people after God’s own heart"
HOWS YOUR HEART?
