Sharing Christ

Part IV. What kind of heart would God like me to have?

A. We have been thinking about David, a man after God’s own heart. So let’s look first at the longings of David’s heart.

What characterized David’s heart, and what did he long for?

• Precepts of God (Ps 119:10-11)
• Purpose of God (Ps 40:8)
• Panting for God (Ps 42:1-2)
• Power & Glory of God (Ps 63:1-2)
• Praise of God (Ps 150)
• Pondering God (Ps 63:6)
• Preeminence of God (Ps 115:1)
• Prayer to God (Ps 5:2-3)
• Promises of God (2 Sam 7:28-29)
• Peace of God (Ps 4:7-8)
• Purity, Holiness of God (Ps 51:10)
• People of God (Ps 28:9)
• Place, House of God (Ps 27:4, 84:2-4,10)
• Preference for God & Restoration to God (Ps 137:6)
• Pain of God felt (2 Sam 18:33)
• Isaiah 1:2  Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: for the LORD hath spoken, I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me. 

• Loving heart: Deut. 6:5  And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.
• God is the greatest lover.
• Patient heart: Psa 27:14  Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD.
• Patient, trusting expectation
• God’s way is worth seeking for, and God’s will is worth waiting for. (v11, 14)
• Trusting heart: Prov. 3:5  Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.
• Psalm 62:8  Trust in him at all times; ye people, pour out your heart before him: God is a refuge for us. Selah. 
• God’s word is worth trusting
• He is the most trustworthy
• Willing heart: 2Cor. 9:7  Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.
• Christ was the most submissive to God’s will
• Thankful heart: Col. 3:15 And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful.
• Serving heart: Eph. 6:6  Not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart;
• Service should not be dependent on the praise of men
• Christ was the greatest servant
• “Pleased not Himself” (Rom. 15:3)
• He took the reproach of men for the sake of the Father
• “Not My will, but Thine be done” (Luke 22:42)
• Peaceful heart Php. 4:6-7  …And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
• Our peace is not dependent on our circumstances
• Comforted heart: 2Th. 2:16-17  Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God, even our Father, which hath loved us, and hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace, Comfort your hearts, and stablish you in every good word and work.
• Joyful heart: Psa 4:7  Thou hast put gladness in my heart
• Worshipful heart:  Psa 9:1 I will praise thee, O LORD, with my whole heart; I will shew forth all thy marvellous works.  
• Reverential heart: Psalm 86:11 Teach me thy way, O LORD; I will walk in thy truth: unite my heart to fear thy name. 
• Directed heart: 2Th. 3:3-5  And the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God, and into the patient waiting for Christ.
• Teachable heart: Psalm 51:6  Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom. 
• True heart: Heb. 10:19-22  Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.
• “Blessed are the pure in heart” Matt. 5:8
• “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts” Psalm 139:23
• Beautiful heart of humility: 1Pet. 3:4  But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.
• Prov. 18:12  Before destruction the heart of man is haughty, and before honour is humility.
• Soft heart: Mar 6:52  For they considered not the miracle of the loaves: for their heart was hardened.  (submitted by reader)
• What is my reaction when the Lord works in my life?
• Mark 3:5 – A hard heart grieves the Lord
• God would not have us to be soft when it comes to the world’s mold (Romans 12:2), but He desires a soft heart that conforms to the mold of likeness to His Son (Romans 8:29).

In considering these things, the writer feels his failure and shortcomings.

Concluding thoughts

Our spiritual life began with God working in our heart. We need to guard our heart from the evil without and have it cleansed from the defilement and deadness within. Our heart is the secret to spiritual blessing and honor before God. It is the determiner of our habits. Where it goes, our lives will follow.

A trusting heart is God’s delight.

“Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. ” (Prov. 3:5-6)

An offered heart is what God deserves.

“My son, give me thine heart, and let thine eyes observe my ways.” (Prov. 23:26)

A heart given to God is a heart God fills and satisfies. God will fill my heart in the measure that I give it to Him.

With a whole heart like David then, let us praise Him (Psalm 9:1), seek Him (Psalm 119:2), serve Him (Psalm 119:34), and pray to Him (Psalm 119:58,145). Let us with a whole heart return unto Him in repentence (Jer. 24:7) and love Him with our whole being (Deut. 6:5) until that day when we see Him face to face.

Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in Thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer.  (Psalm 19:14)

“Change my heart, Oh God”

Part III. Life’s ending: the heart’s role in Reward

Reward depends upon the heart

The state of our heart is the secret to our usefulness for God, and it will determine the honor God places upon us in the future. “Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, 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” (1 Cor. 4:5).

After God’s own heart

I am reminded of the man that is, after Christ, perhaps the most honored in the Scriptures. His name is David (found over 1100 times in the KJV). David is in the first verse of the New Testament and six verses from the end of the New Testament.

What is the secret to David’s honor? I would like to suggest that it was his heart.

God said of him, “I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfil all my will” (Acts 13:22).

What a heart David had for God!  David’s heart was like God’s heart, and he loved to spend time with God. He longed to please God, and lived humbly, trustingly, thankfully before Him. One has only to hear his songs to feel the beat of his heart, a heart full of desire and devotion to his God. What a love he showed for communication from his God in Psalm 119! How he appreciated God’s care in Psalm 23! How he longed after God in Psalm 42! We could go on and on.

God’s choice of David for the one who would guide His people as a type of Christ was due to David’s heart. “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” (1Sam. 16:7).

David endured the ridicule of men, but he didn’t let others’ assessment of his heart affect his life for God. His own brother cut him down when David sought to refresh him (1Sam. 17:28). And then the trusting heart of David, one that desired God’s honor, went out to meet the giant, and the giant came down.

David endured the betrayal of men, but even this did not change his dedication to God. Instead, that heart that wept so often was made more true to his God as a result. His own son stole the hearts of those he loved and shepherded as king. His heart was pierced with grief. When Absalom’s heart was pierced through in death, reaping what he sowed, David mourned over him.

You can hardly find a man of God that failed more than David did. But it would be hard to find a man who loved God more than David did.

Part II: Life’s continuing: the heart’s role in Revival

A Guarded Heart

Our spiritual health as a Christian is intimately connected with the state of our heart. Thus, the wise man writes, “Watch over your heart with all diligence, For from it flow the springs of life” (Prov. 4:23 NASB). Keil & Delitzsch say it this way: “Guard it as the most precious of possessions committed to thy trust.” Unfortunately, in the end of his life, Solomon failed in this, and his wives turned away his heart to follow after other gods (1 Kings 11:3-4). How easy it can be for something or someone in our lives to be placed ahead of God in our affections.

• “Guard Your Heart”

A Heart that Left

When the Lord writes to the assembly in Ephesus, He mentions all of the good things they were occupied with. They were an assembly that had been given rich truth (Ephesians) and had been blessed abundantly. They did not have the doctrinal error of Pergamos or the immorality of Thyatira. But it is to Ephesus that the Lord warns of the possibility of the removal of the lampstand of testimony. And why? They had left their first love, their chief-love for Christ– Christ was no longer first in their hearts.

A Heart to Return

If the state of our heart is the reason for our departure, it is what must be affected in order to bring about our return.

What will rekindle my heart to “chief-love” for the Lord? I would like to make a few suggestions.

1. An Attitude of Repentance and Prayer

The message to Ephesus was “Remember! Repent! Renew!” It was a call to remember their former love for Christ. It was a plea for a change of mind and heart. It was a desire to see labors done with the right motive again.

I am reminded of this principle illustrated in Old Testament passages:

• The humble can be restored to intimacy with God: (Isaiah 57:15)  For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.
• Those who have been taken captive by their failures can be returned to the land of blessing through seeking the LORD in repentence: (Deut. 4:29)  But if from thence thou shalt seek the LORD thy God, thou shalt find Him, if thou seek Him with all thy heart and with all thy soul.
• A prayerful return in heart to the house of the LORD brings forgiveness and restoration: (1Kings 8:38-39) What prayer and supplication soever be made by any man, or by all thy people Israel, which shall know every man the plague of his own heart, and spread forth his hands toward this house: Then hear Thou in heaven Thy dwelling place, and forgive, and do, and give to every man according to his ways, whose heart thou knowest; (for thou, even thou only, knowest the hearts of all the children of men;)

2. An Ear for the Scriptures and the Shepherd’s voice

John 15 reminds us of the importance of abiding in Christ. We need to take our strength and sustenance from the living Vine, and have a life connected with His.

The two walking to Emmaus in Luke 24:32 said, “Did not our heart burn within us, while He talked with us by the way, and while He opened to us the scriptures?” The risen Lord had opened their understanding to the Holy Scriptures, and had revived their faith. They were reminded of the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that was prophesied to follow those sufferings. Just as Jacob’s spirit was revived when he finally took in that Joseph was alive (Gen. 45:27), these two were restored to a heart full of joy in a living, glorified Savior. We as well can have our faith and joy renewed as we think upon the love that brought our Savior from above to die for us, and as we view Him seated in glory. It is a fresh appreciation of the sufferings of Christ that warms our hearts and draws out our affections anew. It is the sight of a living Christ that revives and strengthens our spirits.

3. An Eye fixed on Eternity

As I consider a risen Christ, I am reminded that that same Jesus will come again. When my eye is fixed on heavenly things, when I remember that it is only those things that will last for eternity, it will help bring my heart back to the proper state. In Luke 12:34, the Lord Jesus said, “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” If I am building for time, putting all my energy into my house, my car, my job, my toys… then my heart will tend to be drawn away from the Savior. But if my life is devoted to the things of God, to building for eternity, to seeking the blessing of God’s people and living with His coming in view, then I will be laying up treasure in heaven, and my heart will be drawn away from things of this earth to heavenly things.  The toys of time will never satisfy, nor bring lasting joy and benefit to others. Let us “keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God” (Col. 3:1 NASB).

In conclusion,

To bring back chief-love for Christ, what I need is not necessarily to listen to messages on revival, though that may be helpful. Centering on our faults and failures will not bring us back to true devotion and commitment. What I need is a heart set on fire by a living Christ. I must have a life connected with His life. A sight for eternity. A fresh look back at the Christ of Calvary, and an earnest look onward and upward to the coming King and my heavenly Bridegroom.