by David Brenneman
"Delight yourself in the Lord; And He will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord, Trust also in Him, and He will do it. He will bring forth your righteousness as the light And your judgment as the noonday. Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him; Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, Because of the man who carries out wicked schemes. Cease from anger and forsake wrath; Do not fret; it leads only to evildoing." Psalms 37:4-8.
"Commit your works to the Lord And your plans will be established." Proverbs 16:3
"The mind of man plans his way, But the Lord directs his steps." Proverbs 16:9.
What is the desire of your heart? Is it things, or people or perhaps experiences? What do you spend your time with thinking or doing?
What do you spend your money on?
These will give clues as to what your heart is preoccupied with.
How much of your time do you spend desiring to obey God?
How much of your time do you spend that has nothing to do with obeying God?
You're going to be intentional about one or the other.
These thoughts come on the heels of reading in Deuteronomy this morning. Moses was instructed in what to write for the current and future generations of the children of Israel. He was also told, and they heard in hearing it themselves, that not soon after they would enter into the Promised land that they would be enticed to turn away from the Lord and would indeed fall away from God. The desires of their hearts would be for anything and everything that was before their eyes. Various gods of the nations they were sent to destroy would become the desire of their hearts.
In our world idols and false gods are everywhere. Christians are not immune to the siren songs of these.
This is particularly why Paul, Peter, James, the writer of Hebrews, all point people to being steadfast in the Lord. Standing firm in the Lord.
Living a life of diligence, perseverance, in the Lord.
Moses entreated the children of Israel to not do what was foretold they would do. What we also see in those closing chapters of Deuteronomy were what the prophet Daniel saw of how and what to pray after the days of the 70 years were completed.
You, my Dear Reader, have before you both life and death. Living what the Bible teaches as a true life in Christ and that of living for self.
You, my Dear Reader, will give an account of your life before Jesus.
Of how you either lived for Him or lived for you.
Nothing in that account will be sugar coated. There will be no grading on a curve. There will be nothing but the truth of what our hearts were desiring while in our bodies.
We will see how we were deceived and how we deceived ourselves. In that moment we will see everything from the light of His truth.
There will be nothing hidden anymore.
We only think we get away with the lies we tell ourselves and tell others. We only think that there's no consequences.
Examine your desires. Examine your heart. Ask the Spirit of God to reveal the truth that we aren't telling ourselves.
Yes it keeps coming back to that. Our lying to ourselves.
“The heart is more deceitful than all else And is desperately sick; Who can understand it? I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, Even to give to each man according to his ways, According to the results of his deeds." Jeremiah 17:9-10.
"He who trusts in his own heart is a fool, But he who walks wisely will be delivered." Proverbs 28:26.
Pray for:
"Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me." Psalms 51:10.
At the end of the day we cannot trust ourselves but we can trust Him with whom we have to do.
Our lives are to reflect Christ to the world. If we're so wrapped up in fulfilling our desires for us the world will never see Jesus.
Think about that.
“Pray, then, in this way: ‘Our Father who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.’" Matthew 6:9-13.
"Lord, empty me of me, and fill me with more of you."
All NASB Scripture Excerpts used by permission.
New American Standard Bible
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