A Heart Toward God

A Heart Toward God

by Patricia Dailey
Senior Pastor, Bethel Revival Center
43 Norwood St.
Everett, MA 02149

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Psalm 103:1-5
Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless His holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits: who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases; who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies; who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle's.

Here we see David's heart toward God. When we look at his psalms, we can feel the heart of David. I get so thrilled when I read about David and feel that deep love in his heart for God. I believe, as God's children, that we too should have a very deep, sincere love for God.

Psalm 63:1,2
O God, Thou art my God; early will I seek Thee: my soul thirsteth for Thee, my flesh longeth for Thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is; to see Thy power and Thy glory, so as I have seen Thee in the sanctuary.

Thou art MY God — David had a personal God. He served the true and living God in a very personal way.

Those who have been saved know that they have been brought into a personal relationship with God. Some people, even though they may have repented of their sins and received Christ as their Saviour, don't seem to have an understanding of just how personal God really is to them.

Jeremiah 31:3
The Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.

Hebrews 13:5b
He hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.

I Peter 5:7
Casting all your care upon Him; for He careth for you.

Psalm 27:1
The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?

He will never leave us nor forsake us! He cares for us! He is our strength!

Truly, He is all these things to me. And if you are saved today, you too can testify that He is all these things to you. We have seen from these Scriptures just how personal God really is to those who have been saved. And there is so much more in the Scriptures to show us just how personal He is.

II Chronicles 16:9a
For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward Him.

David praised God. He worshiped God. He magnified God. He gave thanks to God. He honored God. Yes, he blessed God from way down deep within. Yes, he blessed the Lord with his entire being, from the depths of his soul.

This is the way you and I should really worship God. This is the way we should praise Him. We should bless Him from the very depths of our soul, with all that is within us.

I cannot fathom how this man had such a rich, deep experience with God. I do not believe that God's people have come into such a great depth of loving God as David had.

God's love is great. It is a blessing to feel His love within our soul. We can feel it as we read His Word: as He expresses His love for us, as He instructs us in the ways of righteousness, as He corrects us when we need to be corrected and reproves us when we need reproved.

Free From Ill Feelings

Many times, in our Christian walk, we need His correction because of the error of our way; we need to be reproved when we neglect to do the right thing — such as if we hurt someone intentionally, hurt them because we're upset with them. God will reprove us for that.

We don't ever want to be in the place where we hurt anyone. We want to love others at all times. If they do something to get us upset, we need to nip it right in the bud and forgive them. We should never give it a chance to enter in and cause us to be upset, or become bitter and resentful.

Right in the beginning we should ask the Lord to forgive them and not let our heart have any wrong feelings against them. That's the spiritual way of doing things, and it works! Preventing the thing they did from entering into our heart.

Down through the years I've had to do that very thing over and over. And it has kept my heart from turning against those who have done things against me. They may have meant it to hurt me, but I have prayed: Father, forgive them. And I have found my heart has been kept free from any of these evil, wicked works, such as anger, bitterness, and resentment.

If we're not careful, this can take such a hold of our heart, where bitterness gets so deeply rooted, that it may take prayer and fasting to root it out completely.

Forget Not All of God's Benefits

Let's look further at the heart of David. I just love to read about him. I just love these Scriptures that speak about how he really loved the Lord, how He desired the Lord with all that was within him.

Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits. David was speaking to his soul. And this is something we all should do: bless the Lord with our soul and not forget all His blessings (or benefits, as David calls them).

Hebrews 6:12
That ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises.

Hebrews 10:36
For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.

We don't want to forget what the Lord has done for us. We should never forget what Jesus did on that cruel Cross, how He suffered and died for our sins, personally. We should ever keep this in our remembrance.

Isaiah 53:5
Surely He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed.

Yes, Jesus did so much for us! Yet, people go day after day never thinking of thanking Him. We should thank Him for all He has done: for the shed blood that washes away our sins, for the stripes that He bore on His back for our healing.

A benefit is something that promotes our well-being, something that we gain from. Let us not forget these good blessings, these benefits. Healing is one of His benefits. It's a benefit from the Lord, and we don't want to forget that.

Salvation is another benefit we are going to gain by receiving Christ as our Lord and Saviour, when we repent of our sins. We receive the benefit of eternal life, if . . .

Hebrews 3:12-14
Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end

IF we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end, we will see Christ and go home to live with Him throughout eternity.

Daily Benefits

Psalm 68:19
Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation. Selah

Every day God is faithful to load us with benefits. We should thank Him for His mercies and His great faithfulness. What a benefit these are to us, such a blessing. Yes, great is His faithfulness.

Lamentations 3:22,23
It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is Thy faithfulness.

Thank God for these Scriptures.

God's Faithfulness

II Peter 3:9
The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness; but is long-suffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

God is not slack concerning any of His promises. What He has said He would do, He will do. Many might not believe He will do it, but that's their prerogative — whether to believe God or not to believe God.

Numbers 23:19
God is not a man, that He should lie; neither the son of man, that He should repent: hath He said, and shall He not do it? or hath He spoken, and shall He not make it good?

What He has said, He will do; and what He has spoken, He will bring it to pass. Every day the faithfulness of God is shown toward us. But are we faithful to Him? Every day? Man may not always be faithful, but you can rest assured that God is always faithful. Every day these benefits are there for you and me.

Giving Thanks

Colossians 1:12
Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light

Thank God that we have been made partakers of this inheritance. Thank Him that He has made us meet to be partakers.

Colossians 3:15
And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful.

When we go to prayer, it shouldn't be just, Give me, give me, give me, Lord. Bless me and mine. No, prayer should be a time to come before His presence with thanksgiving and praise.

Psalm 100:4
Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise: be thankful unto Him, and bless His name.

When we go to prayer, we should give thanks unto God — that is, if we are thankful — telling Him how much we love Him, if we really do love Him. He knows whether we're sincere or not. He knows whether we mean it from the depths of our soul or not.

I am very grateful, very thankful that I am still serving the Lord since I received Him into my heart over fifty-five years ago. Yes, I'm grateful. I know there are many who serve the Lord for years only to turn from Him and backslide.

If you've been serving the Lord with all of your heart, soul, and mind, thank Him. Let Him know that you really appreciate the fact that you're still going on.

But for the grace of God we could still be living in sin with no mind for God: back out in the world, living in sin and shame. Thank God for His grace. Don't take it for granted.

Romans 6:15,16
What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid. Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, His servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?

Thank God when you go to the house of the Lord that you are still loving and serving Him. You could be far from Him and could have lost all your blessings. You could be destitute with no desire for the Lord.

Psalm 107:22
And let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving, and declare His works with rejoicing.

We should be offering the sacrifices of thanksgiving unto the Lord daily, declaring with rejoicing His works to those we might come in contact with.

Usually, if the Lord has done something for us, we get so happy that we want to tell everybody about what He has done. When we go to church and it is time for testimonies, there is our opportunity to declare His works with rejoicing.

Psalm 107:1
O give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good: for His mercy endureth for ever.

I thank God for what He has done in my life; just the very fact that He's kept me all these years. I did not keep myself. It is God who has kept me, who has given me the mind to go on with Him. When things are rough, He gives me the grace to go on with Him. It's the grace of God in my life.

And it's the grace of God in your life when you continue on with the Lord.

Watch Out for the Enemy

Psalm 107:2
Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom He hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy

This passage speaks of when the children of Israel crossed over the Red Sea on dry ground, how God redeemed them from the hand of the enemy. But it can also apply to us. We also have an enemy; he is the enemy of our soul, and Jesus Christ redeemed us from his hand.

IPeter 5:8
Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour

The devil is the enemy of our soul. As a roaring lion, he is out seeking to devour you and me. He would like to destroy us. This is why we have to watch and pray, why we have to guard our hearts, lest we give way to the adversary by allowing sinful things to enter our hearts.

Praise the Lord

Psalm 107:8,15,21,31
Oh that men would praise the Lord for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men.

This is repeated four times in this psalm. It's like there's a real desire to hear God's people praising the Lord for His goodness and for His wonderful works to the children of men.

You and I have experienced His goodness and His wonderful works, and we need to praise God for it. It's His goodness to forgive us of all our iniquities. It's by His grace that we are saved from sin.

Ephesians 2:8,9
For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast.

Salvation — a Free Gift

Yes, salvation is a free gift of God: a blessing, a benefit from Him.

Ephesians 1:7
In whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace

Many believe it is through their good works that they'll get into the kingdom of God. Absolutely not! Not of works, lest they should boast how their works saved them.

Ephesians 2:10
For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

After salvation, our life should be filled with good works. Works will not save us. Nothing of ourselves that we can do will save us — other than believing in Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour, repenting of our sins and saying the sinner's prayer. And we can't even do that without the Lord drawing us unto Himself.

But after we are saved and born again, our lives should be filled with good works, because faith and good works go together.

James 2:17,18
Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: show me thy faith without thy works, and I will show thee my faith by my works.

There's no room for boasting. There's nothing we can do to save our soul.

Healing — Another Benefit

Now, David doesn't just say that forgiveness of sin is a benefit from God. He also says that healing is a benefit:

Psalm 103:2.3
Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits: who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases

In Exodus 15:26, the Lord says, I am the Lord that healeth thee. And in Exodus 23:25, He says He will take sickness from the midst of us, sickness being removed from us. Glory to God!

Jeremiah 30:17
For I will restore health unto thee, and I will heal thee of thy wounds, saith the Lord; because they called thee an Outcast, saying, This is Zion, whom no man seeketh after.

Jesus taught us to have faith in God and faith in God's Word. When we come to the Great Physician for healing, we don't have to sit in His office for hours, waiting and waiting and waiting for Him to see us. Just a sincere faith in Him, seeking Him in prayer, standing on His Word, can bring the answer and heal our bodies.

Some believe that the day of miracles is past, done away with after the apostles. What a lie. We read right here in Psalm 103 that He not only forgives all our sins but also heals all our diseases.

Why did God place the gifts of the Holy Spirit in the church, including the gifts of healings and miracles? He wants these gifts in operation to His glory, that all manner of sickness and disease could be healed.

Man is limited as to what he can do, but God is not limited. There are no limitations with God. Many times the doctors have to say, I'm sorry, but there is nothing more we can do for you. We never hear those words from Jesus. We find no place in the Word where God said this to anyone.

Jeremiah 32:17
Ah Lord God! behold, Thou hast made the heaven and the earth by Thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for Thee

Let's not forget all His benefits. God wants to give them, but we have to desire them.