Friday, May 31, 2013

Heart After God




Life, Adventure or Battle

By William M. Self


The heart controls the flow of life

Your adventures in life are determined by your heart

The heart controls your beliefs and behavior



 Heart After God

Every adventure starts somewhere.

The starting place is the heart.

 Our hearts control our beliefs and our behavior.

The heart is the channel…

It is the mover of blood to the rest of the body.

Without it, life does not flow.
 
 There may be blood in the body, but the
blood must be flowing for there to be life.

The heart determines the direction of life.

The heart must be engaged for there to be life.

Our growth in life will never exceed
the beliefs in our heart.

God said about David…
   
'I have found David son of Jesse a man after my own heart;
 he will do everything I want him to do.' Acts 13:22 NIV

But even David’s heart became
filled with lust and murder.

When his heart was after God, his adventures
led him to great victories and accomplishments.

But when his own evil desires filled his heart,
 it led him on a painful adventure.

God did not judge David by the valleys of failure.

Rather by surveying the whole landscape.

The fact that Jesus acknowledged Himself as the
“Son of David” is a commentary on David’s legacy.

Your heart and mine beat every day,
 every minute, every second.

 

As long as we are alive it beats, supplying
life-giving blood to the whole body.

There are times, a healthy person’s
heart can skip a beat.

Times that take us on an adventure
to the valley of failure.

But thank God for His mercy and grace.

When our hearts pump bad blood
through our bodies, there is hope…

A change of heart, Repentance.

Thank God for the blood of Jesus that renews us.

Like David, if we have a heart after God’s heart,   
God will fill the valleys with mercy and forgiveness…

Because His heart beats love for you.

 
  
Scripture Reading

Acts 13:22 NIV
'I have found David son of Jesse
 a man after my own heart; he will
 do everything I want him to do.'


Psalm 51:1-12 NIV
Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your unfailing love;
according to your great compassion
blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash away all my iniquity
and cleanse me from my sin.

3 For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is always before me.
4 Against you, you only, have I sinned
and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you are proved right when you speak
and justified when you judge.
5 Surely I was sinful at birth,
sinful from the time my mother conceived me.
6 Surely you desire truth in the inner parts;
you teach me wisdom in the inmost place.

7 Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean;
wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
8 Let me hear joy and gladness;
let the bones you have crushed rejoice.
9 Hide your face from my sins
and blot out all my iniquity.

10 Create in me a pure heart, O God,
and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
11 Do not cast me from your presence
or take your Holy Spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation
and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.

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