Published by admin on 20 Aug 2020 at 10:57 pm
WHAT’S IN YOUR HEART?
It is written in Proverb 21:2, “Every way of a man is right in his own eyes: but the LORD pondereth the hearts.” This is just the nature of mankind, to always think we’re right. We can never admit we’re wrong, can we? Why, I remember recently I thought I was wrong, but thankfully I was mistaken. But the LORD ponders the hearts. And boy, are we full of pride. Well, maybe YOU are, but not me….(and that’s how we make excuses to God). I for one need all the help from God that I can get, because like the Bible says in Genesis 6:5,
And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
It’s no wonder God had to bring a flood upon the earth to destroy almost all of mankind, and start over. But starting over didn’t help, really. We’re all still a mess unto this very day. Why God didn’t completely wipe mankind off the face of the earth and start over, is beyond me. I think He has a very soft heart, always giving us another chance.
The Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 3:10-18,
10 As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:
11 There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.
12 They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.
13 Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips:
14 Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness:
15 Their feet are swift to shed blood:
16 Destruction and misery are in their ways:
17 And the way of peace have they not known:
18 There is no fear of God before their eyes.
That’s a pretty serious assessment of mankind, wouldn’t you say? Not very flattering at all! Let’s face it, we’re a mess. And we want to be in God’s Kingdom? We want to be in God’s Family? My question is, “How can these things BE?” It is written in Matthew 19:16-26,
16 And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?
17 And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.
18 He saith unto him, Which? Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness,
19 Honour thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
20 The young man saith unto him, All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet?
21 Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me.
22 But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions.
23 Then said Jesus unto his disciples, Verily I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven.
24 And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.
25 When his disciples heard it, they were exceedingly amazed, saying, Who then can be saved?
26 But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.
The past couple days I’ve been working on a week’s worth of radio shows about FAMILIES. Satan sure hates families. He hates for ANYONE to be in unity with one another.
The part of “families” that nobody likes to talk about is the fact that we are all different, have different personalities and traits, different skills, different likes and dislikes. And that can lead to disagreements, and broken families. Did you know that God suffered the first broken family? The first “divorce” took place in heaven when God gave Lucifer the boot, and Lucifer, now known as Satan, was cast out of heaven to the earth. We don’t know when, we just know it happened.
Now, at some point, God created Adam, and put him in the Garden of Eden, and Adam was alone, it was just him and the animals.
God saw it was not good for Adam to be alone, so He caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and God removed one of Adam’s ribs and created Eve, the first recorded woman, to be Adam’s helpmate. Thus was born the first earthly family that is mentioned in the Bible. Now remember, the first “divorcee”, Satan, was also on the earth, and he visited Eve in the form of a serpent.
Apparently he was able to speak to her, and went right to work sowing discord between God and man. God had given Adam and Eve dominion over all the earth, and every creature therein, and told them they were free to do anything they wanted to do, EXCEPT, they were to leave the tree of knowledge of good and evil alone, which was in the midst of the Garden.
Well you parents know all about that: you can tell your child they can do this or that, but to stay OUT of the cookie jar. And guess what? As soon as you’re out of sight, they’re in the cookie jar, right? For some reason, it’s just our nature to do that. We can blame Satan for that one. But Adam and Eve weren’t like that “in the beginning”.
Genesis 1:26 says, And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
. Well, remember, Lucifer was the chief among all the angels in heaven, and due to his rebellion, was cast out of heaven, along with a third of the angelic host which followed him. So naturally, Satan assumed HE was the ruler of the earth. But yet God made ADAM and EVE ruler over the earth, so that didn’t make Satan a happy camper, seeing he was not satisfied to be number two in heaven, he would not be satisfied to be number three on earth, after Adam and Eve.
So Satan’s first plan of attack was to drive a wedge between God and mankind, and he did so by deceiving Eve into eating of the forbidden fruit, which she gave Adam also. So the first thing that happened, is that Adam and Eve knew they were naked, and hid from God in the Garden. When God came to fellowship with Adam and Eve as He did every day, they admitted to listening to Satan and disobeying God, causing their intimate fellowship with God to be destroyed. Divorce number two, the first one in heaven, the second one on earth in the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve were run out of the Garden in the same manner as Lucifer and his angels were cast out of heaven.
Adam and Eve later had children after being cast out of the Garden, the first being Cain. We can read about it in Genesis 4:1-15,
1 And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the LORD.
2 And she again bare his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground.
3 And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the LORD.
4 And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering:
5 But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell.
6 And the LORD said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen?
7 If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.
8 And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him.
9 And the LORD said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not: Am I my brother’s keeper?
10 And he said, What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother’s blood crieth unto me from the ground.
11 And now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother’s blood from thy hand;
12 When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength; a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth.
13 And Cain said unto the LORD, My punishment is greater than I can bear.
14 Behold, thou hast driven me out this day from the face of the earth; and from thy face shall I be hid; and I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth; and it shall come to pass, that every one that findeth me shall slay me.
15 And the LORD said unto him, Therefore whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. And the LORD set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill him.
So now we have in one chapter, the first record of children born, the first disagreement, the first murder, and the first breaking up and separation of a family unit. And this same story has played out in so many families ever since. We are pretty quick to blame other people for our sins, and offer up a thousand excuses for the way we behave. But this one thing remains, sin didn’t start with mankind. No, actually sin started in heaven, with LUCIFER, and mankind is now living with the effects of it on earth.
There’s no doubt, mankind has developed many characteristics of Lucifer, or Satan. Even after receiving Christ Jesus of Nazareth, Y’shua Messiah as Lord and Savior, we still have trouble getting along with others. Look at our brothers and sisters going to other churches. Can we be in one accord with them? We can’t even agree on what color carpet the church should have. We can’t all agree on what we believe, or even what day we should worship. There’s far too much of the flesh working in us, and far too little of the Holy Spirit.
If we could learn to listen to the Holy Spirit, and start telling our flesh to sit down and shut up, God could have a whole lot happier family. We could come together as believers, and be an example for the lost and unsaved world, and daily taking on the heart of God, our love for each other would grow. We would spend more time praying for the lost. We would demonstrate the goodness of God more than we do now.
When the devil throws his fiery darts at us, we could all come together as one, covering one another in prayer, and throwing those fiery darts right back at him, and instead of US ducking and running, we could put HIM on the run. God is looking at our hearts, what is He seeing there? Are we building OUR little kingdoms, or are we hungering and thirsting for HIS to come?
The best way for us to change the world for Christ, is for Him to first change US. I mean REALLY change us, just like He did the original twelve disciples, and the 120 who were in the upper room on the day of Pentecost. The Holy Ghost filled them all and gave them the power from on high to “git ‘er done”. We need that power right here today, Amen? I see that as our greatest need.
Please, LORD GOD, we need YOU more than anything else. Fill our hearts right now with YOU. Feed Your lambs, LORD, feed Your sheep. We hunger and thirst for You.