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WELCOME TO GOD FOCUS THIS MORNING

The title of today’s episode is: SEARCHING THE HEART

King David’s writing is my go-to for encouragement. The Psalms are full of his humanity and humility. He was not perfect; he made a lot of mistakes like we all do. But what he lacked in making good decisions he made up for in heart. He had a heart of worship.

Some believe your works will save you and they go about doing good. They work in soup kitchens and raise money for homeless shelters. It is nice to do all sorts of things like this, some are called to that work by God. Others are called to work in nursing homes to take care of our elders. But no good deed will save you.

We have access to God’s spirit and rebirth only through and by the blood of Jesus. But that doesn’t mean that once we are born again that we can sit down and do nothing until Jesus comes. He will lead us to our calling. We are created for a purpose; we must walk in our purpose. We are all supposed to go out and lead the lost to Christ.

Psalms 139:23-24 Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: 24 And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

David asked God to search his heart. This is something we need to do from time to time. Because things happen over time that we hang on to and don’t even realize it. We can develop envy, jealousy, hurt feelings or offense and bitterness. Often, we do not even realize that we are holding onto offense.

All of these things can get in the way of us being fully effective in our callings. It is good to take inventory from time to time and ask God to search our hearts. Tell him to expose any root of bitterness, hate, jealousy. The Proverbs are full of what happens when we are not wise in our faith walk.

Heb 12:15 Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled;

One example of the root of bitterness is the story of Cain and Abel. If Cain had not let bitterness take root in him. Then it would not have festered and turned into hate and then to murder of his own brother.

Cain had several opportunities to turn from his bitterness. God wanted Cain to surrender to him. Cain believed that God loved Abel more, because he accepted his offering. God loved Cain as much as he did Abel. He blessed Abel for his faithfulness. He would have blessed Cain too if he had surrendered to God. But instead, he held onto offense until it became bitterness. Many carry things for a long time until they don’t even realize they are jealous, envious, bitter or are carrying hate. Sometimes we carry the heaviness so long it becomes a part of us.

This is why we have to look diligently and search our lives to make sure we are not carrying things we were not designed to carry. Think of it this way. The maximum capacity of weight you can carry is one hundred pounds. If you are carrying forty pounds of bitterness and thirty pounds of jealousy you only have thirty pounds of capacity left to carry everything else, joy, responsibilities of everyday life, your family obligations and last but not least your calling of God. If we can get rid of the bitterness and jealousy, that leaves more room to carry the good things.

There are things that God wishes to give us, but our hands are not open to receive. Our hands are full of all these things we need to release. Many need to release man’s religion to make room for God’s plan and relationship. We need to ask God to empty our lives of anything that is not pleasing to Him. So he can fill us up to capacity with his love and light.

Sickness can be caused by lots of things. Sometimes, however, it is caused by the physical manifestation of what is inside; our pain and bitterness. These emotions can be powerful and will make us sick if we cannot learn to let go.

Bitterness ties us to a situation like being unforgiving keeps us chained to a situation. Being bitter and angry can have long term effects on our health. When God tells us to put away bitterness, anger and unforgiveness, it is for our good.

This is where we have to ask God to give us the strength and power to lay down what is potentially harming us. I often pray “Empty me of me and fill me with more of you.” As we walk in the fruit of the spirit and not in our flesh we will find true freedom. If we can learn to search our hearts.

Until next time,

BE BOLD, BE BRAVE AND KEEP YOUR GOD FOCUS

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