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“then hear in heaven Your dwelling place, and forgive and act and render to each according to all his ways, whose heart You know, for You alone know the hearts of all the sons of men”

I Kings 8:39

 

In the above verse, Solomon prays and proclaims the eternal truth that only the Lord God Himself really knows the inner secrets of the heart in all humans. There are now around 8 billion people populating the planet Earth, and God alone knows all that is going on in the heart and mind of each one. How can He do this? Well, He is God who made all that exists and He can control virtually everything. I cannot explain or comprehend all of who He is and what He can do, but the Bible is clear that He is all-knowing and all-powerful and I am 100% certain that that is true and accurate. So what does that have to do with how we live our lives? The point many people miss is that we are supposed to relate to God in our everyday decisions and circumstances, and when we die, which we all will, we will be held accountable for how we related to our Creator. Since the Living God knows all we are doing, thinking and feeling, it is of the utmost importance that we interact with Him in an honest and open way since He already knows it and deals with us accordingly. We are the ones who need to respond in faith to Him by speaking and praying honestly.

 

I have preached many times in my 20 years here at Golf Road that the hardest work we can do in our walk with God is to keep our heart right with Him. Jeremiah 17:9 reveals that the human heart is naturally deceitful and wicked until we let God remake us by His Holy Spirit. Our natural tendency is to deny things we don’t like and to hide our evil thoughts and feelings from God and people lest we get exposed and our pride bruised. People around the world in every culture rationalize their ways and blame others for their own sinful choices. The problem is in the heart of mankind. God sees all of this and He desires to heal us from this malady and bring relief and health to each us so we can live authentically and openly as a people of faith and love. It is hard work to get to what is really inside each of us. We need to be still and quiet before the Lord and let His Word, the Bible, be a searchlight used by the Holy Spirit to bring the truth out. We live is a very busy and distracted world that does all it can to captivate us and keep us from this difficult soul/heart work that is needed. Once we do get alone with God, we will likely find out that hidden in our heart can be some anger, bitterness, jealousy, envy, covetousness, fear, sorrow, doubts and discontent. If we have these things hidden in our innermost being, they are like poison or cancer to our soul that bring ruin on us. God in His love for us, wants to remove these contaminants so we can enjoy the “abundant life” spoken of in John 10:10. There is only one way to get this done, to let Jesus Christ be your Lord and Savior and then let God’s Spirit and His Word have authority to remove them. When God exposes our sinful heart, thinking and actions, our job is to agree with Him, confess it  and repent/turn from them. Jesus died on the cross 2,000 years ago to set us free and “he who the Son sets free is free indeed” (John 8:36). If you are a Christian, you are on a fellowship journey with God through your faith in Jesus and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. This can be a joyous and enriching journey through life with ever greater freedom and peace, or it can be a difficult and confusing journey as you fight and frustrate God’s purposes for intimacy with you. We each must choose to humble ourselves, agree with God and let Him work in and through us. It is attainable for anyone who will call upon the Lord for salvation. Be sure it is true for you and you are experiencing this great relationship with the Almighty One. Blessings!

 

Love in Christ,

Pastor Gary Houdek