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What's In Your Heart

 
 
Last night I had the pleasure of tuning into an awesome empowerment conference call by a dynamic new ministry called Saved in the City. It was an awesome message from God given by speaker Lauren Ward. The message was centered around love. As Lauren spoke, the Holy Spirit begin to show me things in my heart that kept me from loving the way God intended for us all to love and living the way that pleases Him. I realized that different things such as unforgiveness, jealousy and more begin to surface and even though unseen, they still lingered in my heart from past relationships and situations. The message given by Lauren prompted me to want to continue to identify what was in my heart so that I could let God correct it.

I begin studying the story of David. Even through all the mistakes David made the Bible still says that he was a man after God's own heart. II Samuel 6 talks about how David brings the Ark of God to the city of David. As the Ark of God is being brought into the city, David dances before the Lord with all his might. David was worshipping God for all He had done for him. The Bible says that David's wife Michal looked down from her window and saw David leaping and dancing before the Lord. Michal was filled with contempt for him. After David had finished sacrificing and blessing the people in the name of the Lord he returned home. "When David returned home to bless his own family, Michal, the daughter of Saul, came out to meet him. She said in disgust, “How distinguished the king of Israel looked today, shamelessly exposing himself to the servant girls like any vulgar person might do!” David retorted to Michal, “I was dancing before the Lord, who chose me above your father and all his family! He appointed me as the leader of Israel, the people of the Lord, so I celebrate before the Lord. Yes, and I am willing to look even more foolish than this, even to be humiliated in my own eyes! But those servant girls you mentioned will indeed think I am distinguished!” So Michal, the daughter of Saul, remained childless throughout her entire life (II Samuel 6:20-23).

I read this thinking why was Michal filled with so much contempt for David. God showed me that
I had to know a little something about Michal to understand the root of where it all came from.
Michal was the daughter of King Saul who hated David even though David had never wronged him. Saul saw that Michal had fallen in love with David and the Bible says that Saul delighted in this because it gave him another chance to kill David. Michal eventually becomes David's wife. She loved David so much that she was willing to protect him by helping him flee from her father's attempt to murder him even if it meant lying to her father. In the midst of David fleeing from Saul, Michal is given up by Saul to marry another man named Palti. Time goes by and Saul dies, leaving David  to become King. David is given the opportunity to negotiate to bring Michal back to him. I can only imagine how this may have made Michal feel. She's being tossed to and from one person back to the next all while having to deal with the deaths of her father and brothers within this time period. I'm sure Michal had a few emotions going on. Even though a king's kid she still dealt with thoughts of loneliness, unhappiness, disappointments and more. All of these things consumed her heart and led her to be filled with contempt.

So what's your point Devin? I said all of this to say that its so important for us to be aware of the things that enters our hearts. The Bible says, "Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life (Proverbs 4:23). What enters your heart can either make or break you. In Michal's case, it broke her because the Bible says she remained childless throughout her entire life. Because Michal never allowed God to deal with the contempt she felt, God was unable to bless her. So I ask you, what's in your heart that keeps God from really moving in your life? God's examines our heart, so if your heart is filled with unforgiveness, hate, pain and so much more how can God bless you? For the LORD God is our sun and our shield. He gives us grace and glory. The LORD will withhold no good thing from those who do what is right (Psalm 84:11). God doesn't want to withhold blessings from us but He asks us to do something important and that's to love. Let go of the hurt, let go of the pain, let go of the bitterness and love. No, you don't have to call that ex or old friend and tell them that you forgive them for what they may have done but you must pray to God to let go of anything in your heart that keeps you from pleasing him and receiving all that He has for you. Remember God loves you and He wants the best for you. So let God create in you a clean heart today!



 

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