The Condition of the Heart
January 19, 2007
David Wicks
Maayong Buntag! This morning I want to talk to you about the condition of our hearts. I don’t mean our physical hearts, but our spiritual hearts, our motivations, our desires, and what drives us; the longing of our innermost being. But just as important as a healthy physical heart is needed for a healthy physical body, a healthy spiritual heart is necessary for proper spiritual life. But before I begin, I would like to just open in prayer.
PRAYER
What led me to speak on this?
Folks I must speak to you from my heart, something I have learned here in the Philippines while being with you, God has brought me thousands of miles from my home country to teach me something. I
On New Years day, I spent the morning praying, worshipping, and reading my bible. I was seeking an answer from God to a question that had been on my heart; something that had been bothering me for a while. My question to God was basically, why can I not experience you more and what is this barrier to me getting to know you more? Don’t get me wrong, God has been very real in my life and I have experienced his love, grace, and mercy in the past year probably more then I ever have… but I know there is more and as I have tried to press in it’s almost like there is something holding me back from knowing Him more. I read that the fruits of the spirit are love, joy, peace, patience etc…. but I don’t see them growing in my life. I am frustrated by the fact that I continue to do things that I don’t want to do.+
Even the last time that I preached here… I know that it was truth that I had experienced and that God had used to bless me, but when I spoke it out, it seemed flat and empty. It is as if God was not present in my words. I had prayed, I had prepared… but walah! I even had people ask me if I prepared. Why this emptiness? I thought about such things as: have I wronged someone and not sought forgiveness. I mean have I really offended someone somehow? Have I not forgiven someone else? Has someone done something to me and I have remained bitter about it and never really forgiven them. As I prayed and played the guitar, I asked God… what is it!
God spoke to me very clearly in a single word… YOU! I sat there and thought about this for a while.
God was telling me that I am the one who is in the way. It is me. As I thought more about this God began to reveal to me the condition of my heart. I wanted to bring glory to myself. I was selfish. I wanted to speak well and with an anointing so that people would come up to me after and say “Good job!” or “What you had to say really touched me.” I wanted more of God so that n
I began to see that the frustration I was having with ministry decisions and in wanting things to go well was not because I was concerned about God being glorified, but because I was concerned more about how I would look! I was worried that if things went wrong I would look bad.
So I need to apologize to you if by my motives I have hurt the ministry or anyone of you.
There is a story in the bible which is very similar to what I went through and which can help us to understand some of God’s principles in regards to our heart.
Background:
Philip had been forced to go Samaria because Saul had been persecuting the church. He led a large group to Christ and many were baptized. People were freed from demonic possession and healed of sickness.
There was a man there named Simon doing magic and he was amazing everyone. I can imagine him like a street magician doing tricks and such, perhaps on a street corner. People standing in awe! Some translations label him as Simon the Sorcerer. It says in verse 9 that he was “claiming to be someone great.” The people praised Simon and were amazed at his tricks. They even said to him “This man is what is called the Great Power of God.” Simon boasted about his abilities and on top of that people were praising him.
From what you read, it sounds like Simon was a proud man and enjoyed the praise of the people. He liked to look good and liked to hear about it.
But after Simon heard the good news about Jesus he along with everyone else believed in Christ and was baptized. He even traveled with Philip and was amazed by the signs and miracles being performed by the Apostle.
When the other Apostles heard about all those who had been saved in Samaria, they sent Peter and John to help. Peter and John began praying for the new believers that they might receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit. As Peter and John laid their hands on the new believers, they received the Spirit …. Let’s pick up the story in Acts 8:18-24.
READ Acts 8:18-24
Things that I see in this passage:
What Simon was asking for was not necessarily bad in and of it self: Simon wanted the ability to fill people with the Holy Spirit. But because his heart was not right before God he was not allowed to experience this gift. Peter said to him you have no part in this because your heart is not right before God. Wanting the right thing is not necessarily enough.
All the things that I wanted were good. Wanting to deliver truth, wanting things to run well, wanting a deeper relationship with God; but there was a wrong motive in my heart. I was being selfish and thinking of myself. I was concerned about how I would look. I was placing my worth as a person in the success or failure of the things that I did. However, God needs to be the center. If things don’t work out or succeed… it is God’s work. My life is God’s.
There is a level of spiritual growth that we can experience… but at some point to go deeper requires that our hearts are right. Simon was able to enter into a relationship with Christ, he was even baptized, but in order to go deeper he had to get His heart right. Simon experienced a level of spiritual growth (i.e. became a believer), and wanted to also be able to fill people with the HS, but could not until he got his heart right.
Like I said, this past year has been a year of experiencing God more then I ever have before. But I had hit a wall, and could go no further. I think that I would have continued in frustration if God had not revealed to me the selfishness in my heart. But changing this is not easy and is an ongoing process. It does not change over night. We have a saying that states, old habits die hard. I can still sense for example that when a decision needs to be made about such things as finances in HFTN that immediately I am concerned about success or failure… not about God being glorified… I have to make an effort to trust the HS to guide me and that this is God’s work and my life is in God’s hands. Whether things crash or succeed, it is God who will be glorified.
I have seen that as I have released things to God and not worried about how I will look that I am moving closer to Him and that my spiritual life is growing in new ways.
Bondage! When our hearts are not right, we get trapped. Peter said to Simon “you are in… the bondage of iniquity.” I think that one of the signs of our hearts not being right is frustration; especially in our relationship with God.
I was frustrated… in wondering why I could not get closer to God. And with everything I did I was so concerned about the way I would appear, that I was stressed… worrying… and thinking is it going to work out?
However, once I began to forget about myself and release the ministry and the work to God… I had a light heart again… God has began to heal and free me from my pride as I humble myself and say, thy will be done!
Conclusion:
I think we all want a deeper relationship with God and to be used by Him more, but our greatest barrier may be the condition of our heart. Unfortunately seeing the condition of our heart is kind of like trying to lift yourself up by your own bootstraps. This is a work that God has to do. We cannot do it. We have to ask God to look into our hearts and shine his light upon it and reveal to us the condition of it. I think that unless God had revealed to me my selfishness that I would not have seen it and that I would have continued on. I would like to ask Jun or Odie to come and lead us in the song “Change my Heart oh God,” but first let me read…
READ Psalm 139:23-24
Where is the focus of your heart? What is the most important thing to you? Is it something other then God? Do you feel frustrated with your spiritual life? Do you want your ministry to be more effective? You need to get your heart right and the way to start is to ask God to show you the condition of your heart!
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