Psalm
57:7 “My heart, O God, is
steadfast, my heart is steadfast; I will sing and make music.”
This
last Sunday, Pastor Chrizle preached on the heart of the matter in Christianity
today. The 1828 Webster’s dictionary defines the word “heart” as: the seat of the affections and passions, as
of love, joy, grief, enmity, courage, pleasure, et cetera. We read of an honest
and good heart, and an evil heart of unbelief, a willing heart, a heavy heart,
sorrow of heart, a hard heart, a proud heart, a pure heart. The heart faints in
adversity, or under discouragement, that is, courage fails; the heart is
deceived, enlarged, reproved, lifted up, fixed, established, and moved. It is the
seat of the understanding; as an understanding heart. It is the seat of the
will; hence, secret purposes, intentions or designs. There are many devices in
a man's heart. The Lord tries and searches the heart.
John
10:10 “The thief (Satan) comes
only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have
life, and have it to the full.”
Chrizle
noted how music calms the heart and music prepares soldiers for war. We are in
a spiritual battle today for the hearts of men and women made in the image of
God. But, God is doing something big in His church today also. The devil comes
to steal, kill and destroy, but Christ’s church prepares and equips the saints
for battle with the “full armor of God”. Ephesians 6:11 tells us; “Put on the
full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s
schemes.” Prepare the heart is part of what your local community church does in
their worship and praise music. Make no mistake, worship is not the words and
music, but the meaning of the words and taking them to heart in living for the
Lord with praise and adoration. Worship includes living out our faith, using
our spiritual gifts. Worship is a matter of the heart.
Ephesians
2:10 “For we are his
workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God
prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”
Understand
what God is doing in your life. Know and recognize God’s nature. Do not fail to
see it. Every tool is available for us to develop our gifts towards our calling
by God. But, also, when we begin to see people the way God sees people (through
His holy Word), we get to know a piece of God’s heart. We have to see the
greatness in others and learn to recognize the people that God has put in our
lives to help us, and us them. The Lord God Almighty puts longings for His
purposes on our hearts and produces Divine appointments for those around us,
within our “sphere of influence” of our daily lives, to show us who we are in
Christ, assist us to follow Him and live out our faith. It takes commitment to
stand and work together with patience because we are all unique individuals.
It’s easy to see and point out things that are missing or out of place and
ignore the things that are there and belong ... we are trained that way. See
the greatness! This not only speaks to the other person, but speaks of our
knowing God’s nature and speaks about ourselves.
Let’s
continue Pastor Chrizle’s message on the heart in the next post.
In
Christ, Brian
No comments:
Post a Comment