State of the Heart (Jul 26)

So, how are you? How's your heart? Let's talk about that a little bit today.

1 Samuel 16:1-13

1 And the LORD said unto Samuel, How long wilt thou mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? fill thine horn with oil, and go, I will send thee to Jesse the Bethlehemite: for I have provided me a king among his sons. 2 And Samuel said, How can I go? if Saul hear it, he will kill me. And the LORD said, Take an heifer with thee, and say, I am come to sacrifice to the LORD. 3 And call Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will shew thee what thou shalt do: and thou shalt anoint unto me him whom I name unto thee. 4 And Samuel did that which the LORD spake, and came to Bethlehem. And the elders of the town trembled at his coming, and said, Comest thou peaceably? 5 And he said, Peaceably: I am come to sacrifice unto the LORD: sanctify yourselves, and come with me to the sacrifice. And he sanctified Jesse and his sons, and called them to the sacrifice. 6 And it came to pass, when they were come, that he looked on Eliab, and said, Surely the LORD'S anointed is before him. 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 seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart. 8 Then Jesse called Abinadab, and made him pass before Samuel. And he said, Neither hath the LORD chosen this. 9 Then Jesse made Shammah to pass by. And he said, Neither hath the LORD chosen this. 10 Again, Jesse made seven of his sons to pass before Samuel. And Samuel said unto Jesse, The LORD hath not chosen these. 11 And Samuel said unto Jesse, Are here all thy children? And he said, There remaineth yet the youngest, and, behold, he keepeth the sheep. And Samuel said unto Jesse, Send and fetch him: for we will not sit down till he come hither. 12 And he sent, and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, and withal of a beautiful countenance, and goodly to look to. And the LORD said, Arise, anoint him: for this is he. 13 Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brethren: and the Spirit of the LORD came upon David from that day forward. So Samuel rose up, and went to Ramah.

At this point, I read a selection from The One Year Walk With God Devotional: 365 Daily Bible Readings to Transform Your Mind by Chris Tiegreen. When Samuel was selecting a new king, he learned a valuable lesson: God looks at the heart, not the outward, physical appearance. We may have a tendency to look at someone and judge them to be used by the Lord or not used by the Lord based on how they look, how educated they are, or how skilled they are. We may look at ourselves and discount our own ability to be used by God because we don't fit the “profile” of many of the great Christians from today or years past. Well, God looks at the heart. Tiegreen writes, “We can't judge people by the standards we normally use, and we can't be disciples based on the gifts we think He has given us. In both cases, popular opinion is irrelevant. The piercing eye of God is not fooled. The quality of anyone's discipleship, at all times, depends on the condition of the heart.” (Tiegreen, 206) So, before you say that you can't be used by God (or you say that you're a super-duper Christian and powerful tool in His hand), take a look at your heart. Ask God to examine your heart and see if there is any wicked way in you (Ps 139:23,24). Remember, as Jonathan Edwards once said, “The first and great work of a Christian is about his heart.” If your heart is right, God can (and will) use you for great things. As we spoke of last week, He will give you the words to say when witnessing for Him. He will transform you into a vessel that can be used for His work. It may be a great and flashy work, or it may be a quiet, secret work, like intercession. But putting outward appearance aside, God can use you for His work because of the purity and integrity of your heart.

1 Chronicles 29:17a

I know also, my God, that thou triest the heart, and hast pleasure in uprightness.

Something More to Say (Jul 19)

Sometimes we are left seemingly speechless. We may desire to strike up a conversation with someone, but no words are there to come out. Sometimes we have difficulty finding the words to say or making those words come out and sometimes we just have nothing to talk about. There are no thoughts there to even formulate into words! I shared some examples of this last week and now I would like to move on and discuss some things that we should learn.

God wants us to talk to Him. God is waiting to hear from you. He desires for you to break the silence and open your heart to Him. There are so many commands in the scriptures to pray and Jesus even gave His own disciples a framework for prayer (the Lord's Prayer). Don't be shy or fearful to talk to God. Just tell Him what's on your heart, thank Him for what He has done for you, and listen to what He speaks to your heart.

God wants us to talk to other people. First of all, you should, of course, talk to your friends and to fellow members of your local church body. It is, after all, supposed to be a united body. We should support each other, be willing to listen when someone needs to talk about something, and give encouragement and advice as needed and directed by God. We should share testimony with one another. If God shows me something neat, I can tell it to you and then we've both learned something! If God has shown you something neat, please tell me! I like to hear from you and it is vital for the church to share the Word amongst its members. All of these same ideas hold with your friends that may not be in the local church. But what about other people? As much as we've talked about difficulty in breaking the silence and beginning conversation when words fail you, I think the biggest trouble is usually finding something to say to a stranger. Well, God wants you to talk to other people. He wants us to tell them about His Love. There are many people out there that need to hear the Word of God. Some of them you have never met. Some of them are at your school or workplace. You know them, but maybe you don't talk to them much, if at all. Or, maybe you talk to them on a daily basis, but you don't know how to bring up spiritual topics. Well, I can't give you particulars on what exactly to say to each person to be able to tell them about God's love. In fact, I can't really give you particulars on to whom all you need to speak. I can tell you to pray about it. If you seek the Lord earnestly, I believe that He will show you what to say and to whom. I think this is also true, by the way, with your friends and fellow Christians in the church. Yeah, we can easily strike up a conversation because we know them and have some sort of connection or something in common. But are you open to the Lord's leading when He gives you an encouraging word for a specific friend or a testimony that will dramatically touch someones life because of a situation that you don't even know about? This is why we need to seek the Lord earnestly in prayer. If we have His heart, we will have something to say.

Matthew 10:19

19 But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak: for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak. 20 For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you.

Exodus 4:12

Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say.

Malachi 3:16

Then they that feared the LORD spake often one to another: and the LORD hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon his name.

Acts 4:20

For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.

Let's trust God for the words to say: whether we're talking to Him or sharing Him with others. If you know God, you've got something to say. Say it!

Something to Say (Jul 12)

I showed you some lesson notes that were essentially blank. There was no title and just a few words like “blah blah blah.” It's like I sat down to write a lesson and nothing came. There were no words to write—nothing to share. Or maybe I had something to share, but no way to put it into words. Nothing came out. The notes were left blank. Blah.

The other day, I had a strange experience. I sat in a room with two of my friends in silence. One of them was playing with a phone and the other was sleeping. I sat there in silence. It was awkward. I felt like I should strike up a conversation, but there were no words. We hadn't seen each other for a couple of weeks, so it seems like there should have been something to talk about. I guess it was like the lesson notes from earlier. There is so much in God's Word that He wants to share with us, but we sit down with the lesson and there is nothing. Even if I did have something to talk about, no words ever formulated and I sat there, uncomfortably.

Some time ago, I was with someone taking care of some things at a store. The other person had to run outside for something and I was left alone with the salesperson for a few minutes. Every bit of common sense would dictate that we strike up a conversation while we wait, but instead, I mindlessly perused through the things on the shelves while they waited by the counter. Perhaps we've all had those moments where we wanted or needed to say something or discuss something with someone, but words failed us. We open our mouths to speak and the words aren't there. Or we just don't know how to break the silence. It's weird. It's awkward. But we've probably all done it.

God wants us to talk to Him. I have spoken before about our need to spend time with God, speak to Him, and listen to His voice. I have spoken about how we need to spend time with Him, getting to know Him, as we would with a friend. God wants to hear from you. Do you feel uncomfortable praying to God? Is He like a stranger to you and you don't know where to begin? Do you sit down to pray and then after a minute you don't really know what else to say and you wander off to do other things? Just talk to God. Tell Him about your day. Make mention of your friends and family and their needs. Thank Him for blessings that you have experienced. Ask Him for guidance in some situation in your life. It's OK to speak frankly with God. You don't have to use a bunch of Old English words and long, fancy sentences. I'm not advocating disrespecting God, but you can speak to Him as you would someone that is sitting next to you. It's OK to say to God, “I know we haven't spoken much, but I want to get to know you,” and then listen to His Word. Really, it's a good conversation starter. If you are a stranger to prayer or you have just noticed that your prayer life is suffering because you don't really know what to say to God, it might feel like approaching a stranger on the street and striking up a conversation. That can be a very difficult thing to do. I know I'm not cut out for it. But if you think about it, if you just start with a greeting to break the silence, and you listen to the response, you can maybe take it from there. Don't put off prayer because you don't know how to break the ice. Think of some people that you know that are in need and talk to God about it. Then take it from there. Even Jesus gave His disciples a framework for prayer. Also, when you are with God, the Holy Spirit will put some things on your heart to pray about.

Luke 11:2-4

2 And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth. 3 Give us day by day our daily bread. 4 And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil.

Matthew 7:7-8

Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: 8 For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.

Philippians 4:6

Be [anxious] for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.

God wants us to talk to other people. As much as we've talked about difficulty in breaking the silence and beginning conversation when words fail you, I think the biggest trouble is usually finding something to say to a stranger. Well, God wants us to talk to other people. He wants us to tell them about His Love.

Matthew 10:19

19 But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak: for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak. 20 For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you.

Exodus 4:12

Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say.

Let's trust God for the words to say: whether we're talking to Him or sharing Him with others. If you know God, you've got something to say. Say it!

Title (Jul 12)

blah blah blah