Developing a heart for God

THREE CHARACTERISTICS OF THOSE THAT HAVE A HEART FOR GOD

At the start let me say, I'm not a big lists kinda guy, but I'm going to give you one anyway. Take the time to reflect and meditate on these three powerful qualities that King David exhibited in his own personal life.

Note: David was a sinful man, his personal sins were many--- But we can find encouragement when we look at David--- we can be reminded that as frail as we are we too can have the kind of  heart that David had--- David was not perfect, but his heart was pointed towards God, even to the end of his days.

Consider some of his last words even after some of his greatest sins:

1 Chronicles 29:10-13

David praised the Lord in the presence of the whole assembly, saying, "Praise be to you, O Lord, God of our father Israel, from everlasting to everlasting. Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is yours. Yours, O Lord, is the kingdom; you are exalted as head over all. Wealth and honor come from you; you are the ruler of all things. In your hands are strength and power to exalt and give strength to all. Now, our God, we give you thanks, and praise your glorious name. 




The first quality that David possessed was spirituality---The word spirituality can sound esoteric and ethereal to some, it can come across as new-age y, but let me give you some down to earth kinda of spirituality.

When we are living our lives in harmony with the Lord---when the things that are important to God are important to us, when what burdens God's heart, burdens our heart, when God says, "go this way."  and we go that way, then we are exhibiting true Biblical spirituality---in other words, spirituality is being sensitive to the things of God.


The second quality that David possessed was humility--- Think about David's humility from this angle---David was faithful in keeping his father's sheep; he demonstrated his humility by his faithfulness to his job.

If we have a truly humble heart we will do as we are told, we will not rebel, we will follow the orders, we can be trusted and counted on.

The third quality that David possessed was integrity---Integrity has been defined as: "what you do when nobody's looking." I love this next description of integrity, "bone-deep honesty"--- Integrity will cause you to pay careful attention so that your belief system lines-up with your actions.

Christian brother and sister---theses qualities do not happen overnight, but take a life time of discipline to cultivate. God always focuses on the inward qualities---he is not like man who looks on the outward appearance.