Dear Believer,
In my Bible reading for this year, when I got to the books of 1st and 2nd Samuel, 1st and 2nd
Kings and 1st and 2nd Chronicles, I sensed the Spirit of God ministering to me specifically about the hearts of these kings and leaders of Israel and Judah. I found myself just taking these books extra slowly and reading them over and over again. I have found myself literally in the shoes of the kings or leaders and virtually walking through some of their fears, anxiety, pains, fears and also their joys.
These men and women made decisions and took actions that portrayed the posture of their hearts in the given time. When their hearts were trusting and loving God (even in the face of anxiety and fear caused by approaching war or plague), they demonstrated that through their complete dependence on Him. And He was sure to come to their rescue. When their hearts were angry or offended, some heeded to the rebuke of God(usually through the prophets or priests) and repented while others made their anger or offenses get the best part of them.
Underneath these stories I felt the heart of God even more strongly. I saw God forgive kings who had been so wicked in their dealings when they repented. I also saw God forgive those whose hearts sought after Him but erred somehow. What really saddened me was when a leader failed to repent and ask for God’s help.
The overall lesson I learnt was the heartbeat of God. In between the lines of the leaders’ actions were the following lessons I learnt about the nature of God;
- I always saw a God with open arms; ready to embrace whoever would call on His name. All He really desires is indeed a broken spirit and a repentant heart (Psalm 51:17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, A broken and a contrite heart—These, O God, You will not despise.)
- He does not discriminate; Acts 10:34-35 KJV “34 then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons: 35 But in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him.” you can also read Acts 15:9-11,
- A God Who answers the call of His children
“It shall come to pass that before they call, I will answer; and while they are
still speaking, I will hear. Isaiah 65:24
- A God Who does not disqualify even the strayed child. Because He has open arms and is ready to hear and answer us, He will not look away when we genuinely call on Him for help. “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved”. Romans 10:13
We see this example at play when Jehoshaphat followed King Ahab to war and the enemy mistook
him for king Ahab and was going to attack and kill him. He immediately cried
out to God and God saved him.
“So it was, when the captains of the chariots saw
Jehoshaphat, that they said, “It is the king of Israel!” Therefore they surrounded
him to attack; but Jehoshaphat cried out, and the Lord helped him, and God diverted them from him.” 2Chronicles 18:31
4. Overall, God did not do a lot without these leaders acknowledgement
of Him as their God and finding the need to invite Him into their situation. This is not because He could not do so but because He loves us so much and has given us our will to freely choose Him or not. The power of our choice to call on God is being challenged as we navigate through
life daily. It is important for all believers to come to the realization that we have a loving God and Father who has His arms open and ready to receive us and help us and provide for us beyond what we can ever imagine to bring glory to His Name
And my God shall supply all your need
according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. 20 Now to our
God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen. Philippians
4:19
Blog
Hearttitude
“Hearttitude” is a word I made up from Heart and Attitude.
The scripture says that the heart is deceitful (Jeremiah17:9).
“A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh”. Luke 6:45
Matthew 12:34 also says that out of the abundance of
the heart the mouth speaks.
These verses serve as a reminder that we cannot always trust our hearts to make the best choice all the time. As Humans we can make decisions that seem perfect in the moment depending on what we may be experiencing or feeling. On the other hand, if we were to give it some time and perhaps change some elements in the given scenario which prompted our decision, we may decide otherwise.
We need the help of the Holy Spirit, who has been called alongside us to help us daily in this walk of faith.
However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has
come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own
authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to
come John 16:13
We are going to take a few Bible Characters in these books
and study how they navigated through life, focusing on the choices they made,
and the result or consequences of their actions.
Hearttitude can be used as a Devotional or Bible Study piece.
Day 1
King Asa (Please read the whole account of King Asa in 2 Chronicles 14-16.)
1. His overall hearttitude rating was “Good”.
“And Asa did that which was good and right
in the eyes of the Lord his God:.” 2Chronicles 14:2
This statement at the beginning of each account is phenomenal because no matter how many times that leader may have erred, if he had a repentant heart and sought God with a sincere heart and pursued him genuinely, it was declared that they did what was right in God’s sight.
2. As a leader, he sought God and led Judah to serve the Living God
He did away with the idols and led
the people of Judah to seek God. This pleased God so much he sent a prophet to
encourage him that God would reward the good things he is doing. This
strengthened his heart and made him keep doing what was right in the sight of
God. Among His accomplishments, he was also bold enough to
depose his grandmother who was worshiping idols from being a queen.
Just like any human being, he was not perfect in all
his “right doing” but God found his heart to be perfect. That is what really
matters at the end of the day.
“But the high places were not taken away out of Israel: nevertheless the heart of Asa was perfect all his days.” 2 Chronicles 15:17
We serve a God who knows that we are fallible as humans and so he gives us so much grace to repent no matter how many times we err.
“For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.
Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.” Hebrews 4: 15- 16
3. Called on the LORD with all of Judah in a time of need Asa called on God when a vast army was going to attack them and the LORD delivered Judah and fought their enemies.
4. However, at a different time, when the enemy advanced against him, he sought the help of
Syria without consulting God. This grieved God’s heart.
In the thirty-sixth year of the reign of Asa, Baasha king of Israel came up against
Judah and built Ramah, that he might let none go out or come in to Asa king of
Judah. 2 Then Asa brought silver and gold from the treasuries
of the house of the Lord and of the king’s house, and sent to Ben-Hadad king of Syria, who
dwelt in Damascus, saying, 3 “Let there be a treaty between you and me, as there was between my father and your father. See, I have sent you silver and gold; come, break your treaty with Baasha king of Israel, so that he will withdraw from me.” 2 Chronicles 16:1-3
God looks at the heart that prompts our action and not just the action itself.
For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him. Herein thou hast done foolishly: therefore from henceforth thou shalt have wars. 2 Chronicles16:9
5. He was unrepentant at God’s rebuke
God sent a prophet to let him know what he had done (so that he would perhaps repent and
be forgiven by Him) and Asa was so enraged at the prophet he threw him in prison.
7 And at that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah, and
said to him: “Because you have relied on the king of Syria, and have not relied
on the Lord your
God, therefore the army of the king of Syria has escaped from your hand. 8 Were
the Ethiopians and the Lubim not a huge army with very many chariots and
horsemen? Yet, because you relied on the Lord, He delivered them into your hand.
The Bible says that because God loves His children, He corrects them as a father
corrects his legitimate child. The Word of God may not only encourage us always
but it may also rebuke us unto repentance. We have a choice as to what to do
with God’s rebuke, however it comes. We may choose to repent and receive His
forgiveness or have a hardened heart and not repent.
But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are
illegitimate and not sons. 9 Furthermore, we have had human
fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not
much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live? 10 For
they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them,
but He for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness. 11 Now
no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless,
afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been
trained by it. Hebrews 12:8
6. Asa did not seek God for healing
King Asa got sick and sought all the help he could get from the physicians in the Land
but did not ask God to heal him.
And in the thirty-ninth year of his reign, Asa became diseased in his
feet, and his malady was severe; yet in his disease he did not seek the Lord, but the physicians. 2Chronicles 16:12
The heart of the Father is that His children would ask Him for help because He is
willing to do anything for His children. The Bible says God does not withhold
any good thing from us (Psalm 84:11).
Asa died with that sickness.
In conclusion to the account of king Asa, I learnt the important of praying about my decisions because God cares about my life and wants to help me in whatever situation I find myself in. It pleases Him to help me so I should not hesitate to call on Him for help, even when I am in the
wrong.
God bless you and thank you so much for taking the time to read. Please come back to read the following accounts.
All scripture unless otherwise stated, was taken from the New King James
Version via Bible Gateway.com
Ransomed to reign 