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Have You Really Given Your Whole Heart to God?
Peter Tanchi / Sunday, June 29, 2003 |
"For the eyes of the Lord search back and forth across the whole earth, looking for people whose hearts are perfect toward him, so that he can show his great power in helping them…” (2 Chron. 16:9)
God is looking for people He can bless and He looks at the heart in doing this. What kind of a heart does He look for? It is a heart that is completely or wholly His. A person after God’s heart is someone who will do ALL His will (Acts 13:22). God wants total obedience. He wants your whole heart, not half or three-fourth of it. David was such a man whose heart was totally devoted to God. But he also sinned. When he fell and God spoke to Him, he repented. You may fail like David but if your heart is 100% devoted to the Lord, you will respond to Him and His correction. Where you are right now is not as important as the direction of your life. The moment you give your heart to God, your direction will determine if you are going to move close to God. Sadly, some are moving away from God. Are you moving toward God because you have given Him your whole heart? Or are you moving away from God because of painful experiences? If you move away from God, you won’t be able to experience the reality of God’s power in your life.
God owns everything. He does not want your money. He does not want your power or strength. God wants something only you can give – your whole heart, your love for Him. He gave you His whole heart when Jesus, His only Son, died on the cross for you. And for Him to ask you to give back your whole heart to Him is not unreasonable. God gave you His life, why should you not give Him your whole heart?
God Will Bless You!
One good example of how God will bless a person who is fully committed to Him is found in 2 Chronicles 14. Asa, king of Judah, did good and right in the eyes of the Lord as he obeyed Him totally. As God saw that his heart was right, He gave Asa REST; meaning peace and security from wars and without any trouble from neighboring nations. Similarly, God says to you, “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest” (Matt 11:28). A famous cartoonist wrote before he took his own life, “I have very few problems. I have many friends. I have traveled all over the world. But I’m tired of inventing devices to fill the 24 hours of the day.” Famous Elvis Presley tried to drown out his troubled heart by playing his guitar and experiencing all the things that money could buy. He died from drug addiction without ever experiencing the peace that he was looking for. Money, prosperity, people, relationships, will not give you real peace. You won’t find peace or rest in a place or in anything in this world. You may also be burdened with sin and vices. You cannot have peace until your heart is right with God. When your heart is right, God will give you rest.
God will also give you PROSPERITY as He did to Asa (2 Chron. 14:7). God says that when you seek Him, He will supernaturally provide for you (Matt. 6:33). It is His desire to give you an abundant life – meaningful and joyful (John 10:10). Of course, having peace and abundance does not mean the absence of problems. God also wants to give you VICTORY (2 Chron. 14:9-12). And the secret to having God’s support is to give your heart completely to the Lord. And that means becoming prayerful, in whatever circumstances – in and out of problems that are big or small. Your prayer life determines how devoted you are to the Lord. If you are devoted to the Lord, you are dependent upon Him; and therefore, your prayer life is vibrant. You will not be prayerful until you realize there is a big war out there, and Satan is alive and active. He comes up with many strategies to discourage and pull you down (Eph 6:10-12). And the fiercest battle is now being waged in your heart. But it is God who gives the victory! The day that you make the decision to give your whole heart to God is the day that He will set you free.
Obstacles to God’s Blessings
In 2 Chronicles 16, King Asa committed mistakes that can be considered as obstacles to God’s blessings. When he was young, he was faithful to God. But when he became old, something happened to him. God actually tested him and he failed.
Because of his past success, he became PROUD. In reality, the more you walk with the Lord, the more He will bless you. When God blesses you, you become successful. But the danger is to forget that the blessing comes from God and you can become proud of yourself. "Pride goes before destruction and haughtiness before a fall" (Prov. 16:18). When you become proud of yourself, you begin to depend on your own (human) wisdom.
It’s so easy for believers to block God’s blessing once you’ve become proud and begin to listen to human wisdom, instead of listening to God. This is MISPLACED CONFIDENCE. But "there is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death" (Prov. 16:25). "The best-equipped army cannot save a king—for great strength is not enough to save anyone. A war horse is a poor risk for winning victories—it is strong, but it cannot save. But the eyes of the Lord are watching over those who fear him, who rely upon his steady love. He will keep them from death even in times of famine" (Psalm 33:16-18)!
Once you stop trusting God, it would be easy for you to REACT TO CORRECTION. Asa became angry with the person who warned him about his disobedience. He may have started well at a young age because he was devoted to God. But he did not finish well because he was afflicted with disease and died miserably. He became STUBBORN and did according to his own wisdom. In the same way, Christians can become stubborn that no matter what God does to them, they will not listen.
A Heart that Believes
"For it is by believing in his heart that a man becomes right with God; and with his mouth he tells others of his faith, confirming his salvation. For the Scriptures tell us that no one who believes in Christ will ever be disappointed" (Rom. 10:10-11). God says that if you trust Him, you will never be disappointed. You might be facing enormous challenges and problems right now and people may be disappointing you tremendously, but God won’t ever do that to you.
A true Christian is somebody who gives his heart completely to Jesus. He trusts Jesus 100%. Have you given your heart completely to Jesus without any mental reservations? Or do you have a mindset that wants to follow God only when it’s convenient? This is deception. You have to be honest with God. “Lord, I am weak. But Lord, I want to follow You. And no matter what it takes, I will follow You. I surrender my life to You…” This is the heart that is completely His. Think about it. Have you really given your whole heart to Him? |
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