The Importance Of Things Unseen 1 Samuel 16:7 1 Samuel 2:3 Psalms 44:20-21 Jeremiah 17:7-10 Matthew 6:1-6 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 08.10.15

THE IMPORTANCE OF THINGS UNSEEN

BREAD

7 But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”  1 Samuel 16:7 (NIV)

3 “Do not keep talking so proudly or let your mouth speak such arrogance, for the Lord is a God who knows, and by him deeds are weighed.”   1 Samuel 2:3 (NIV)

20 If we had forgotten the name of our God or spread out our hands to a foreign god, 21 would not God have discovered it, since he knows the secrets of the heart?   Psalms 44:20-21 (NIV)

7 “But blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. 8 He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.” 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 17:7-10 (NIV)

1 “Be careful not to do your ‘acts of righteousness’ before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. 2 So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. 3 But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.”   5 “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. 6 But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.”   Matthew 6:1-6 (NIV)

16 Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 17 For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 18 So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.    2 Corinthians 4:16-18 (NIV)

BUTTER

“It is the unseen and the spiritual in people, that determines the outward and the actual.”  Oswald Chambers

“In truth, the ideas and images in men’s minds are the invisible powers that constantly govern them.”   Jonathan Edwards

“When the heart is at rest in Jesus — unseen, unheard by the world — the Spirit comes, and softly fills the believing soul, quickening all, renewing all within.”   Robert Murray McCheyne

“Sometimes doing the most important thing eternally – doesn’t look like you are doing anything noticeably.”  Ann Voskamp

“The heart of the problem is the problem of the heart.  External measures are incapable of altering internal hearts.”   Henry Brandt 

“Watch, therefore, over this unsteady heart of mine, O Thou Keeper of Israel; that as soon as it begins to wander from Thee, I may be alarmed to flee from sin as from a serpent.  Give me grace to look upon every hour as my last; so that being ever wisely upon my guard I may meet Thee with joy when my time is run out, whenever it shall please Thee to call me hence.”   K. H. Von Bogatzky

“Greatness is not made through one trial or one victory.  It is hammered out over and over on the anvil of daily demands.  Most often this work is done alone – in complete obscurity.  But God sees every word, every choice, and every action.  Devoted hearts are never wasted.  He frequently uses the obscure, the broken, or the outcast for some of His greatest work.”  Charles R. Swindoll 

“When Naomi arrived in Bethlehem after her sorrowful sojourn in Moab, she could not see a harvest from her tears. It all looked like a tragedy; like ‘vanity and striving after wind’ (Ecclesiastes 1:14).  That’s how it looked. That’s how it felt. But that’s not how it was.  In reality, all of the ups and downs in Naomi’s life—the famine, the move to Moab, the deaths of Elimelech, Mahlon, and Chilion, Ruth’s loyalty, Naomi’s return at barley harvest, Boaz, and the kinsman who chose not to redeem Ruth—all of these events played parts in God’s plan to redeem millions and weave a Moabite into the royal, Messianic bloodline.  The bigger story of redemption was far bigger than they imagined. Even though they were in the middle of the story, none of them could see it from their vantage point.  We must remember this perspective in our times of desolation, grief and loss.  How things appear to us, and how they actually are, are rarely the same.  Sometimes it looks and feels like the Almighty is dealing “very bitterly” with us, when all the while He is doing us and many others more good than we could have imagined.  God’s purposes in the lives of His children are always gracious. Always.  If they don’t look like it, don’t trust your perceptions.  Trust God’s promises.  He is always fulfilling His promises.”   Jon Bloom

“As a weak limb grows stronger by exercise, so will your faith be strengthened by the very efforts you make in stretching it out toward things unseen.”   James Aughey


“The prayers we weave into the matching of the socks, the working of our hands, the toiling of the hours, they survive fire. It’s the things unseen that survive fire. Love. Relationship. Worship. Prayer. Communion. All Things Unseen — and centered in Christ.  It doesn’t matter so much what we leave unaccomplished — but that our priority was things unseen.  Again, today, that’s always the call: Slay the idol of the seen. Slay the idol of focusing on only what can be seen, lauded, noticed. Today, a thousand times again today, I will preach His truth to this soul prone to wander, that wants nothing more than the gracious smile of our Father: ‘Unseen. Things Unseen. Invest in Things Unseen. The Unexpected Priority is always Things Unseen.’”   Ann Voskamp

HEART SAVOR

·       God knows the unseen things of my heart.  It is God Who can change my heart aligning it with His good and pleasing and perfect will.

·       The unseen things in my heart will reflect in my actions.

·       God works in the unseen as well.  Oftentimes I do not understand what He is up to but I know that I can trust Him as His purposes for me are always gracious.