"CREATE IN ME A CLEAN HEART, O GOD"

Greetings All,

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.

Create in me a clean heart, O God.
This was David's cry to the Lord when he discovered that his heart was imperfect toward Him. His response is what I want to look into on this post.

My subject matter today concerns a part of us that God is especially interested in above all else, the heart of believers. Not much is heard today from the pulpits on this very important aspect of our relationship with God. There is much the word of God has to say to us about the inner heart, so today I will share with you a few things that I see in the word concerning the heart.

When we speak of the heart of course we are not speaking about that muscle that pumps the blood through our physical bodies. In the physical the heart is the chief organ of physical life ("for the life of the flesh is in the blood," Lev. 17:11). The heart is used figuratively for the hidden springs of the personal life (Proverbs 4:23) Keep thy heart with all diligence; FOR OUT OF IT ARE THE ISSUES OF LIFE. This type of heart is indeed hidden, but not from God.

I believe when God looks at us, it is inside here where he looks the most. He sees our thoughts, motives, and anything else that stirs within us before we do. I mean after all He is God and there is nothing we can hide from him (Acts 1:24) because he knows the heart of all men.

As believers we spend a lot of time being "busy" in many areas pertaining to God and that's good, but do we inwardly ask ourselves am I spending quality time with God in matters concerning my heart. Let us look at two individuals in (Luke 10:38 - 42)
Now it came to pass, as they went, that he entered into a certain village: and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house.

And she had a sister called Mary, which SAT AT JESUS FEET, and HEARD HIS WORD.
But Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to him, and said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? bid her therefore that she help me.
And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things:
But ONE THING IS NEEDFUL: and Mary hath CHOSEN that GOOD PART, which shall NOT BE TAKEN AWAY FROM HER.

There is a good lesson here for us to consider. We see that Martha did receive Jesus in to her house, she had no problem letting Jesus use her home for ministry. However, the word said that she was cumbered about much serving and cumbered meaning to be weigh down; burdened. One of the problems Martha faced was she allowed herself to be overly burdened with the natural element of ministry to Jesus. She got so overwhelmed with the natural cares of ministry that she forgot to truly minister to Jesus in the spiritual aspect of ministry of worshiping and receiving His word, which is a higher dimension of service. She even went as far as doubting Jesus cared and desired him to compel Mary to help her and that her sister abandoned her to serve alone.

I submit to you here that Martha did not clearly understand what ministering to Jesus was about. Jesus responded to her by saying that she was careful and troubled about many things. She was so distracted with all the preparations that she lost herself from receiving Jesus in a more intimate way. She did the first thing right and that was to open her home to the Savior, but after that she lost him in her own house.

There are some today in ministry that are just like Martha who are so tied up in the natural aspect of ministry that they no longer know how to worship and hear God's word for their lives. They turn around and look at you like there is something wrong with the ones that are reaching out to Jesus in love, worship, praise and intimacy with him, as if this is unimportant, Jesus said ONE THING IS NEEDFUL.

Now Mary had Jesus as her target and with her inner desire for him she wasted no time moving in his direction as the spirit of God drew her to him. The word says that she sat at his feet and heard his word, this was her priority and she served Jesus in this manner and had no interest in serving tables. If you recall the Apostles made a similar decision in (Acts 6: 2) Then the twelve called the multitude of the disciples unto them, and said, it is not reason that we should leave the word of God, and serve tables.

I want to add here that if someone is in ministry and God truly placed someone in whatever capacity, there is nothing wrong with this at all. The problem surfaces though when we make ministry or whatever else more important than Jesus himself. Jesus deserves all our adoration and attention when we are privileged to be in His presence, this can be done most of the time because of the Holy Ghost which dwells within us we have the capacity to worship anytime and anywhere. What a blessing!

Now Jesus told Martha that one thing is needful and Mary chose that good part, which shall not be taken away from her. After all the preparations, and ministry services are said and done did our hearts touch Jesus that day. If we "go" to church and get caught up on everything else, but Jesus, do we really think we served him. God is looking for our hearts to be focused on him in worship and his word.

David got a hold of this and said in (Psalm 27:4, 8) ONE THING have I desired of the Lord, THAT WILL I SEEK AFTER; that I MAY DWELL in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the BEAUTY of the LORD, and to INQUIRE IN HIS TEMPLE. When thou saidst, Seek ye my face; MY HEART said unto thee, THY FACE, LORD, will I seek.

This is what Mary was doing seeking after Jesus and by sitting at Jesus feet she wanted to dwell there at his presence in humility and take in his word which would give her the life she desired. The beauty of the Lord is his holiness and purity and she was beholding this and inquiring in his temple. Martha was missing out on all these spiritual blessings, because of physical preparations. Just as David's heart said, Mary's heart said the same thing - His face will I seek.Jesus said this can never be taken away from her.

Our choosing Him is the good part or better part of ministry and by this we are storing up treasure in heaven where no thieves can come in and steal the treasure of our relationship with Christ.

Ministries today are too concerned with money and other forms of ministries than Jesus himself as if money can build the spiritual kingdom of God. It's not biblical. Money is needed for things, bills, upkeep, maintenance etc. but money can't build the kingdom of God. Many are erring from the faith due to this preoccupation. We really have to guard our hearts and introspect where our hearts are in relation to God. It's our hearts God is after above all else he owns everything on this earth anyway, and can transfer wealth to any ministry for His glory at any given time.

Now the first mention of the heart is in Genesis 6:5 - 6 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. And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his HEART.

Looking at these passages we witness that man's thoughts at this time was evil continually and this produced much corrupt fruit on the earth. The imagination of his thoughts emanated from his heart. It was these thoughts and the resulting actions that got a hold of God's attention, this vexed his heart so much so that He decided that it was time to destroy the evil and the source of this wickedness. Before man had his heart issues there was Lucifer and his heart.

(Isaiah 14:12 - 13) How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning ! How art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For THOU HAST SAID IN THINE HEART, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:

Where did this blatant pride and self exaltation come from, his heart. This was a wicked imagination that overcame him and it sprung out to his fall and those that followed him. It started with unbelief in God's supremacy laced with selfishness, pride, out right rebellion and anarchy against God. I say unbelief because if you look closer all transgression has it's root in not believing God's word.

Saints we have to really guard our hearts from all the madness that this world is under or we too can fall. (Proverbs 4:23) KEEP THY HEART with ALL DILIGENCE; for OUT OF IT are the ISSUES OF LIFE.

(Matthew 12:35) Jesus says here, A good man out of the GOOD TREASURE of the HEART bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the treasure bringeth forth evil things. Jesus said in (Matt.6: 21) For where your treasure is, there will your HEART BE ALSO. The treasure of an evil man's heart can be seen in (Matt.15: 19 - 20) For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornication, thefts, false witness, blasphemies: These are the things which defile a man: . . .
As we see these things they all start as thoughts within an individual and if these thoughts are not overcome by the Holy spirit's thoughts , (God's truth) then it will hatch forth into a wicked reality for that person. There is much need for meditation on God's Holy word. Adam and Eve also failed in guarding their hearts from the lies of Satan and became casualties themselves. It is the heart of people that God is after and so is Satan. The heart is where everything starts, it is the central battle ground.

If we look at Deuteronomy we will learn that God established very early the principle of the heart , worship and love. (Deuteronomy 6:5) And thou shalt LOVE the Lord thy God WITH ALL THY HEART, and with all thy SOUL, and with all thy MIGHT. (Deuteronomy 10:12) And now, Israel, what doth the LORD thy God require of thee, but to fear the Lord thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to LOVE him, and to serve the LORD thy God with all THY HEART and with all thy SOUL,

Now God will be the one to empower us to do this. He promised in (Deuteronomy 30:6) And the LORD THY GOD WILL CIRCUMCISE THINE HEART, and the HEART OF THY SEED (us through Abraham's seed of faith) to love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that THOU MAYEST LIVE.

Looking at these verses God loves us and he desires for us to love him. To get to this place of loving God with our hearts he will have to circumcise it and change it first. I will share more on this at a later post.

In God's holy scriptures we see king David's desire for a heart conformed to God rather than his own will. I believe his response is the type of response we should have toward Jesus. We are all imperfect and God knows this full well but we have to know it also and then ask God to work on our hearts in our fellowship with him. In Psalm (139:23) David says Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know MY THOUGHTS: (Psalm 141:4) Incline not MY HEART to any evil thing, to practice wicked works with men that work iniquity: . . . . to be continued


By
Bro. Pete Mojica










Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.