TESTED
HEART
BREAD
17 I
know, my God, that you test the heart and are pleased with integrity. All these
things have I given willingly and with honest intent. And now I have seen with
joy how willingly your people who are here have given to you. 1 Chronicles 29:17 (NIV)
11 Death
and Destruction lie open before the LORD-how much more the hearts of men!
Proverbs 15:11 (NIV)
3 The
crucible for silver and the furnace for gold, but the LORD tests the heart.
Proverbs 17:3 (NIV)
20 The
LORD detests men of perverse heart but he delights in those whose ways are
blameless. Proverbs 11:20 (NIV)
20 But, O LORD Almighty, you who judge righteously and test the
heart and mind, let me see your vengeance upon them, for to you I have
committed my cause. Jeremiah 11:20 (NIV)
9 The
heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? 10 “I the LORD search the heart and examine the mind, to
reward a man according to his conduct, according to what his deeds
deserve.” Jeremiah 17:9-10 (NIV)
9 “And
you, my son Solomon, acknowledge the God of your father, and serve him with
wholehearted devotion and with a willing mind, for the LORD searches every
heart and understands every motive behind the thoughts. If you seek him, he
will be found by you; but if you forsake him, he will reject you forever.” 1 Chronicles 28:9 (NIV)
8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.” Matthew 5:8 (NIV)
45 “The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in
his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his
heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks.” Luke
6:45 (NIV)
23 Now
while he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many people saw the miraculous
signs he was doing and believed in his name. 24 But
Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all men. 25 He
did not need man’s testimony about man, for he knew what was in a man. John 2:23-25 (NIV)
18 “O
LORD, God of our fathers Abraham, Isaac and Israel, keep this desire in the
hearts of your people forever, and keep their hearts loyal to you. 19 And
give my son Solomon the wholehearted devotion to keep your commands,
requirements and decrees and to do everything to build the palatial structure
for which I have provided.” 1 Chronicles
29:18-19 (NIV)
23 Search
me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. 24 See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me
in the way everlasting. Psalms 139:23-24
(NIV)
BUTTER
“It
is not enough to tell believers, ‘You are accepted through your faith in
Christ’. We must tell them also, ‘You
are delivered from the bondages of sin through the power of the indwelling
Christ.’ For our consciences are also
deeply deluded with respect to the possibility of overcoming the flesh once its
dimensions are known. Even if we are
assured that our sin is covered, we do not want to face the despair of having
to live in conscious helpless awareness of its tyranny, abusing the grace and
forgiveness of Christ. If we have to go
on running further and further into spiritual debt we would rather do this in
the dark without realizing what is happening.” Martin
Luther
“Shallow thoughts of sin lead to shallow thoughts of God and
salvation. Ignorance to the depths of our sin leads to ignorance to the depths
of the beauty of Jesus Christ. All sons
and daughters of Adam are by nature children
of wrath, sons of disobedience, and willing slaves of the one to whom our
father fell: Satan (Ephesians 2:1-3). In
our father Adam, ‘None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one
seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no
one does good, not even one.’ (Romans 3:10-12). Our hearts are deceitful above
all things and desperately sick (Jeremiah 17:9). We are born in sin (Psalms
51:4).’ The tree of our race is poisoned at the root. Greg Morse
“Each day we are
to approach God in humble repentance in prayer, asking Him to cleanse us from
all unrighteousness – washing us with the precious blood of His Son. We are to search our hearts and ask the Holy
Spirit to search our hearts as well, pointing out to us things that do not
please our Savior. The heart is
deceitful above all things and only God searches and knows each heart fully –
we can delude ourselves but never Him.
Confess what He brings to light and seek to turn from it. Oftentimes, this is done throughout the day
because we can get awfully dirty. Be
broken over sin – especially repetitive - and seek to stay out of the pigpen
and the muck and mire – for our own good and always for His glory.” BHY
“A faith that cannot be tested is a faith that cannot be trusted. If your
faith cannot survive adversity, then your faith isn't real. It is through
adversity that real faith grows stronger.” Greg Laurie
“Many times I will allow trials and tribulation in your life to draw
you closer to Me and prepare you for battle. Just as I was with Daniel in the
lion’s den, I am with you in every trial. You are being prepared for greatness,
My beloved. I prepared my king David while he was running for his life and
hiding in caves. I blinded My apostle Paul until he was ready to see Me as his
source of sight. Your trials will lead you to an abundant life of effective and
everlasting ministry if you will allow me to carve in your character a true
reflection of me while you're in the fire where your faith is being
tested.” Sheri Rose Shepherd
“Untested faith may be true faith, but it is
sure to be small faith, and it is likely to remain little as long as it is
without trials. Faith never prospers so well as when all things are against
her: Tempests are her trainers, and bolts of lightning are her illuminators. When a calm reigns on the sea, spread the
sails as you will, the ship does not move to its harbor; for on a slumbering
ocean the keel sleeps too. Let the winds
rush and howl, and let the waters lift themselves, though the vessel may rock
and her deck may be washed with waves and her mast may creak under the pressure
of the full and swelling sail, it is then that she makes headway toward her
desired haven. No flowers are as lovely
a blue as those that grow at the foot of the frozen glacier; no stars gleam as
brightly as those that glisten in the midnight sky; no water tastes as sweet as
that which springs up in the desert sand; and no faith is so precious as that
which lives and triumphs in adversity. Tested
faith brings experience. You could not have believed your own weakness if you
had not been compelled to pass through the rivers; and you would never have
known God's strength if you had not been supported in the flood. Faith increases in quality, assurance, and
intensity the more it is exercised with tribulation. Faith is precious, and
its trial is precious too.” C. H. Spurgeon revised by Alistair Begg
“The word translated ‘commit’ in Psalm 37:5 quite literally means “to
roll (in blood); be dyed red; figuratively meaning to take your ways to the
foot of the cross. The blood of Jesus
cleanses all our plans and our sins, purifying them. Enabling us through His power to walk in a
manner worthy of the Lord, pleasing Him in all things. The heart is deceitful beyond all cure. It is God alone Who can cleanse and direct us
in the path which we should go – redeeming our time for His glory, for our
good.” BHY
HEART SAVOR
·
The heart
of man is deceitful – we can so easily delude ourselves and miss God’s best for
our lives.
·
All sin
carries with it a death sentence – there will be a death to something be it trust,
relationship, peace, etc. – it will cost you and you don’t want to go
there. God always has our best interest
at heart and it is not in our wallowing in the pig pen of life. The most gracious thing He can do is point
out to us the darkness within our own hearts (and He kindly does this one at a
time not to overwhelm us with own depravity) enabling us, through His power, to
get rid of it. He is desirous, faithful and
able to carry out this endeavor.
·
The pure in
heart see God.
