On ANZAC day this year we had afternoon tea with Ken's parents at a local park. Something very special happened that afternoon. As we were chatting with Ken's dad, John, he started talking about a hymn he had written. I asked him if he would sing it for us. He generously let me video him and gave his permission for me to put the video on my blog.
As John sang his lovingly created song, tears came as I felt God reminding me that He always looks at the heart.
But the LORD said to Samuel, "Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the LORD does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart." 1 Samuel 16:7 NKJV
John's life has not been easy, and he is currently not in the best of health, yet his heart is so tender towards Jesus. Even now as I listen to him sing this song, there are tears. He knows that he is loved by God.
So a couple of questions for us to consider, firstly what does God see when he looks into our heart?
If we are honest, this is a very sobering question - no one has a pure heart. We all have some motives in our heart that don't align with God's heart for us.
For me, over the past month I feel that once again God has been challenging me about what is in my heart - that strong desire I have to get all the tasks done, to have all the boxes ticked and everything neatly ordered!
He has been gently asking me these questions, will you put people first Wendy? Will you lay down your agenda for the day and take time to connect with those I want you to connect with? Do you trust that I, your Heavenly Father, will make a way for everything I want done to get done?
Yes, very good questions for me! Reading 2 Peter 1:5-8 earlier this week was another way God reminded me of His priorities.
So devote yourselves to lavishly supplementing your faith with goodness, and to goodness add understanding, and to understanding add the strength of self-control, and to self-control add patient endurance, and to patient endurance add godliness, and to godliness add mercy toward your brothers and sisters, and to mercy toward others add unending love. Since these virtues are already planted deep within, and you possess them in abundant supply, they will keep you from being inactive or fruitless in your pursuit of knowing Jesus Christ more intimately. 2 Peter 1:5-8 The Passion Translation
The spiritual state of heart is central to getting us to the place where God can do what He wants to do in us and through us. There is a great need for us to be continually praying Psalm 139:23-24. Here it is from The Passion Translation.
God, I invite your searching gaze into my heart. Examine me through and through; find out everything that may be hidden within me. Put me to the test and sift through all my anxious cares. See if there is any path of pain I'm walking on, and lead me back to your glorious, everlasting ways - the path that brings me back to you.
The second question to consider is, do we really know that we are loved by God? Despite the pain and disappointment that we have experienced in our lives, do we know that there is a God in Heaven who loves us and has carried us through those times? A God who has a plan for you and me and desires to spend eternity with us in Heaven?
Jesus said,
"For this is how much God loved the world - he gave his one and only, unique Son as a gift. So now everyone who believes in him will never perish but experience everlasting life. God did not send his Son into the world to judge and condemn the world, but to be its Saviour and to rescue it." John 3:16-17 The Passion Translation
A final question, if you wrote a song about God, what would you write? What love and truth from your heart would be revealed? Why not have a go? You may just find that your song touches other people's hearts, drawing people closer to God, just like John's song did for me.
As John sang his lovingly created song, tears came as I felt God reminding me that He always looks at the heart.
But the LORD said to Samuel, "Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the LORD does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart." 1 Samuel 16:7 NKJV
John's life has not been easy, and he is currently not in the best of health, yet his heart is so tender towards Jesus. Even now as I listen to him sing this song, there are tears. He knows that he is loved by God.
So a couple of questions for us to consider, firstly what does God see when he looks into our heart?
If we are honest, this is a very sobering question - no one has a pure heart. We all have some motives in our heart that don't align with God's heart for us.
For me, over the past month I feel that once again God has been challenging me about what is in my heart - that strong desire I have to get all the tasks done, to have all the boxes ticked and everything neatly ordered!
He has been gently asking me these questions, will you put people first Wendy? Will you lay down your agenda for the day and take time to connect with those I want you to connect with? Do you trust that I, your Heavenly Father, will make a way for everything I want done to get done?
Yes, very good questions for me! Reading 2 Peter 1:5-8 earlier this week was another way God reminded me of His priorities.
So devote yourselves to lavishly supplementing your faith with goodness, and to goodness add understanding, and to understanding add the strength of self-control, and to self-control add patient endurance, and to patient endurance add godliness, and to godliness add mercy toward your brothers and sisters, and to mercy toward others add unending love. Since these virtues are already planted deep within, and you possess them in abundant supply, they will keep you from being inactive or fruitless in your pursuit of knowing Jesus Christ more intimately. 2 Peter 1:5-8 The Passion Translation
The spiritual state of heart is central to getting us to the place where God can do what He wants to do in us and through us. There is a great need for us to be continually praying Psalm 139:23-24. Here it is from The Passion Translation.
God, I invite your searching gaze into my heart. Examine me through and through; find out everything that may be hidden within me. Put me to the test and sift through all my anxious cares. See if there is any path of pain I'm walking on, and lead me back to your glorious, everlasting ways - the path that brings me back to you.
The second question to consider is, do we really know that we are loved by God? Despite the pain and disappointment that we have experienced in our lives, do we know that there is a God in Heaven who loves us and has carried us through those times? A God who has a plan for you and me and desires to spend eternity with us in Heaven?
Jesus said,
"For this is how much God loved the world - he gave his one and only, unique Son as a gift. So now everyone who believes in him will never perish but experience everlasting life. God did not send his Son into the world to judge and condemn the world, but to be its Saviour and to rescue it." John 3:16-17 The Passion Translation
A final question, if you wrote a song about God, what would you write? What love and truth from your heart would be revealed? Why not have a go? You may just find that your song touches other people's hearts, drawing people closer to God, just like John's song did for me.
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