Faith

by Debbie Wallis

“You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart,” Jeremiah 29:13.

When God scans the earth for potential leaders, He’s not looking for perfect people because there are none He’s looking for people who share the same qualities He found in David God is looking for men and women “after His own heart” (1 Samuel 13:14). Being a person after God’s own heart means your life is in peace with the Lord What is important to Him is important to you What burdens God burdens you When He says, “Go to the right,” you go to the right When He says, “Stop that in your life,” you stop it When He says, “This is wrong and I want you to change,” you come to terms with it because you have a heart for God. That’s true Christianity When you are a man or woman after God’s heart, you are deeply sensitive to the voice of God

“The Lord is constantly watching everyone, and He gives strength to those who faithfully obey Him,” 2 Chronicles 16:9. Do you want to be the one He’s looking for? God is looking for hearts that are completely His If you say that you love the Lord with all your heart there can be no locked closets It means you love an unseen God more than anything or anyone you can see It means you have faith in Him Hebrews 11:6, “And without faith it is impossible to please God…” Loving God with all your heart means you trust God with everything, you’re not trying to fool Him and nothing’s been swept under the rug When you do wrong, you admit it and come to terms with it because you are motivated to be the one He is looking for Loving God with all your heart means you long to please Him in your actions and you care deeply about your motivations. God is looking for deeply spiritual, genuinely humble, honest-to-the-core servants who have integrity Integrity is described as complete, whole, innocent, having the simplicity of life, wholesome, sound, and unimpaired It’s what you are when nobody’s looking We live in a world of “good impressions but you can’t fake it with the Jesus. He’s not impressed with externals. He always focuses on the character of the heart

How could God call David “a man after His own heart” when David was such a terrible a sinner? He committed adultery and murdered to cover it up David’s life was a portrait of success and failure, and it highlights the fact that he was far from perfect. BUT, David’s heart was pointed toward God. David had absolute faith in God David was a boy when he fearlessly slew the Philistine, Goliath "The LORD who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine ’ And Saul said to David, ‘Go, and the Lord be with you," 1 Samuel 37. David demonstrated his faith on a daily basis which pleased the Lord Throughout his life his faith would be tested, much like yours and mine God had a plan and the enemy of David’s soul was against it David loved God’s law and he sought to follow it as best he could He spent days meditating on it and trying to apply it to his own life. He knew that God’s law had the power to change lives if it was followed to the letter David was also very thankful for his life During his life he had all sorts of trouble, but David thanked God every day no matter the circumstances David was truly repentant In Genesis we learn of the first murder Cain’s heart was far from repentance when he killed his brother Abel. He lied, and covered up sin. He argued with God. God gave him an opportunity to repent but he refused it Cain’s story is far from David’s story

David worshipped the Lord with his entire heart; his mind, his will and his emotions David worshiped the Lord unashamed and in 2 Samuel 6: 22 he tells his wife that he was willing to be undignified. It was not a performance and he didn’t care what others thought He didn’t care about pride or position King David laid aside his royal robes and humbled himself, just as our Lord laid aside His royal robes and humbled Himself for you and me. David refused to allow any class distinctions when it came to worship The gospel equalizes all people We all are sinners saved by grace. We are all saved apart from our own merits or works, solely on the basis of Christ's sacrifice on the cross of Calvary How then could David do anything but humble himself in worshipping God? How then can we not do the same if we want to be the one Jesus is looking for? David recognized how much he had been forgiven and he never took that for granted. David was indeed a man after God’s own heart.

“His master said to him, ‘Well done, you good and faithful servant You have been faithful over a few things I will make you ruler over many things Enter the joy of your master’ Matthew 25:21 h r

If you don’t have a Bible please contact me at sfadebie@yahoo.com and I will provide you one.