The LORD's Day February 24, 2008

Motives Are Weighed By The LORD

Proverbs 16.2 (1-9)

So much of what Jesus taught while He was here on the earth had to do with this second verse. What is the driving force behind your actions? What moves you?

He sees our hearts. He knows them. He knows our thoughts, as we shared last week, even before they are formed.

When Jesus came in the first century, there had been a period of silence. God had spoken through the prophets, recorded for us in the last of the Old Testament. Then for over 400 years there was what we have come to call the Inter Testamental Period. The people waited for the Messiah. The Jewish faith became much more organized then before. It was in this time that the Scribes and Pharisees and Sadducees saw their rise. The Pharisees were known for their keeping of the law on the outside, which Jesus saw right through. He pronounced Woes on them, recorded for us in Matthew 23. In the fifth verse Jesus said, “Everything they do is done for men to see.” - that was their motivation. In Matthew 23.25-28 Jesus speaks of what was inside their hearts.

Motives are weighed by the LORD. He is the judge of hearts.


1. What Are Motives?

It is desire. Motive has to do with deep desires within our hearts. One of the reason we called to self examination from time to time is to have the LORD search out the motives of our hearts. Psalm 139.23-24 Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. is a prayer of asking the LORD to reveal our motives.

It is moral character. Job was an upright man. Satan falsely accused Job and it was not in any outward thing because he had correct scales. It was an accusation of impure motives or mixed motives. Job 1.9 Does Job fear God for nothing? Satan replied. 10 Have You not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land. 11 But stretch out Your Hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse You to Your Face. What brashness Satan has How wrong He is He told God that Job’s love for Him was based on the fact he was blessed and had not had any great tragedy in His life. The test of a man’s faith is in His suffering. Job passed the test. He served God out of right motives. His words and actions proved that as time went on.

It is the mind and heart acting together. Motive has to do with what I think and what my heart desires. It has to do with these two coming together and acting. As I grow closer to Jesus and become more like the Master, my motives are going to have to do more and more with God’s glory and other’s good and less about me.

It is intention. Motives are what I aim for. The only worthy motive for the believer is love. Anything short of that misses God’s glory and misses the mark.

2. The Weights God Uses In Measuring Them.

We are told that motives are weighed by the LORD. The idea here is one of scales and balances. This is continuous activity. God is taking what is in our hearts and placing them on His balances.

His Word. Hebrews 4.12 For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. He is not impressed with outward religious activity that is done to be seen by others, rather He finds it repulsive.

Human Conscience and Revealed Truth. God expects us to walk in the light we have been given and to keep our consciences clear. Paul wrote to Timothy, “ (I Timothy 1.5) The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. God looks at our consciences. Our conscience is that ability of the soul to distinguish between good and evil, commending the good and shunning evil. Some have seared their conscience and have lost that ability. They do evil and it does not seem to bother them at all.

He tests us.
God allows His people to go through tests.

Tests show us what is in our hearts. God already knows. It also shows others. When we are tested our motives are shown. C.S. Lewis wrote, “Nothing less will shake a man--or at any rate a man like me--out of his merely verbal thinking and his merely notional beliefs. He has to be knocked silly before he comes to his senses. Only torture will bring out the truth. Only under torture does he discover it himself.”

Suffering does some interesting things in the human heart. We don’t have time to get into it this morning suffice it to say that the tests God allows to come to us, the storms of life, the pain we experience has a way of revealing to us what is important, why we are serving God and how much we depend upon Him and trust Him.


3. He sees Our Hearts

There were three areas Jesus spoke about in Matthew 6 that have to do with worship- our worship of God the Father. He speaks about motives here and how God sees our hearts.

Giving

Fasting

Praying

All of these were to be done in secret, so as not to be seen by men. The hypocrites (play actors) did these things in front of men and even went so far as to announce it with trumpets. They had their reward in full. They got what they were going after- men’s applause.

He saw the hearts of the hypocrites in the first century and He sees our hearts today.
He continually watches and examines the motives of everyone, placing them in His balances.
Psalm 44.21 God knows the secrets of the heart

Our giving ought to be between Him and us. It should be out of our deep love for Him and out of joy because of His goodness to us.

When we fast we should only let those know who absolutely need to know and no one else. Like giving you will be rewarded openly.

When we pray we should pray secretly. This obviously does not mean that we should not pray publicly like we will tonight at the prayer meeting but even when we do we need to be careful that we remember we are talking to the LORD. Others may listen but it Him that we ought to be the most concerned about.

Our service to the LORD is to be for Him and seen by Him and done out of love for Him. When we do that there is great joy. God loves to have secrets with us. It is joyful to have secrets with Him These things ought to become more and more a part of our walk with Him.


4. He Knows Our Thoughts

Psalm 139.1 O LORD, You have searched me and You know me. 2 You know when I sit and when I rise; You perceive my thoughts from afar.

Our motives as we said before have roots in our thoughts. God knows our thoughts before they are formed Motives are weighed by the LORD. He knows how those thoughts are going form and how they will unite with our heart. We see this early on in human history. He warned Cain in Genesis 4.6-7 God saw his heart and the anger that was in it. He knew what Cain was thinking and warned him about it.

Since God knows our thoughts before they are formed and He knows our hearts, it is always a good idea to listen to Him when He speaks. No one who has taken warnings from God to heart has ever been sorry while those who have taken warnings from Him lightly have always lived to regret it.


5. He is Familiar With All Our Ways Psalm 139.3b

God is intimately acquainted with all our ways. He knows the way we take. He knows our secret sins. He knows everything.

With such amazing knowledge, wonderful and complete knowledge of the past, present and future, the LORD is able to weigh our motives and know exactly what we are about. Even within ourselves our own hearts can deceive us. For instance we might start doing something for Jesus, get commended for it and begin doing it for the commendation. That is why a man is tested by the praise he receives. (Proverbs 27.21) God looks at our motives.

Motives are weighed by the LORD. He sees our hearts, knows our thoughts and is familiar with all our ways. Search me O God, examine my heart, Unite my heart. Give me an undivided heart
that I might fear Your Name and walk in the truth.

The LORD's Day February 17, 2008

Proclaiming the LORD’s Death Until He Comes

I Corinthians 2.1-5

The message of hope and power is Jesus Christ and Him crucified. The message of the New Testament Church was Jesus, God’s Son was born in Bethlehem, grew up in Nazareth, taught and did miracles all over Galilee, died on a cross in Jerusalem, was placed in a tomb, rose again on the third day, promised the Holy Spirit, ascended into heaven leaving promise of His return. The Holy Spirit was poured out, the disciples went out with the good news of salvation, people came in, prayers went up while they waited for Jesus to come back.

Being sick this week and laying low I did a little channel surfing. The stuff I saw troubled me. So much of it had to do with how to improve my life, how to make and reach goals, promotions at work. How utterly different than Paul’s words in the passage we just read.

He was following Jesus. He was speaking under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, when he said, For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. (2.2)


1. Jesus is the Lamb of God, Who Takes away the sin of the world. John 1.29

“Lamb” and “taking away sin” always meant death in Biblical Times.

The Lamb slain from the creation of the world (Revelation 13.8) was Jesus.

At the beginning of Jesus’ ministry John announced these words, “The Lamb of God Who take away the sin of the world. This is the basis of the New Covenant.

The event of the cross, Jesus’ Death on it, was not something that just happened. It was planned at the creation of the world. All human history hinges on this event. It is the focal point and turning point of humanity. It is the center of God’s activity in this world.

The Lamb of God, slain from the creation of the world, Who takes away the sin of the world.

This was the message of the New Testament Church. This is the message of the true followers of Jesus today.

Without this fact, we have no hope. Without its proclamation we have no reason to exist.

Sin is breaking God’s law. God required a sacrifice for sin from the beginning. Lambs were killed every day. Christ, our Passover Lamb has been slain.



2. At Caesarea Philippi Matthew 16.21-28

Jesus concealed His true identity to a degree from the opposition. The hatred of Him was growing and He knew that if His enemies heard Him say Who He was openly that they would have sought to kill Him like they did at Nazareth. His hour had not yet come.

Things changed at Caesarea Philippi. Way up in the northern part of the country is this place. It has great significance.

In Caesarea Philippi there was one of the three sources of water that formed the Jordan River. There was a shrine for the Greek God Pan, believed by the Greeks to be his birthplace. When Jesus and His disciples were there there stood a white marble palace/temple built by Herod the Great, later added on and finished by Philip his son in honor of Caesar, thus the name Caesarea Philippi. It was here Peter made the great confession about Jesus, “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.”

We are told that in v.21 From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that He must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.

From that time on...! We often fail to see how Jesus’ death and resurrection dominated His teaching, particularly among those who were closest to Him. He had come to die on the cross fro our sins. Paul’s words, “I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.” It is tragic that in so many quarters that is no longer the case.


3. On the way toward Jerusalem Luke 9.51

This is an interesting verse. It appears that Jesus set out immediately for Jerusalem. Actually a careful reading of Luke’s gospel from this point indicates that this is no so. But His face was set towards it. He had His death and suffering in mind as He went through Galilee ministering. The subject was brought up and over and over again to the twelve.

At one point during this time Jesus lamented, But I have a baptism to undergo, and how distressed I am until it is completed! (Luke 12.50)

Jesus knew that the work in Galilee was all building up to Jerusalem and that final week, resulting in His death on the cross. God’s Son submitted to be put to death at the hands of sinners and then ended up praying for them as He was dying for the sins of the whole world- yours and mine.

We are to remember His suffering. We are to proclaim the LORD’s death until He comes. That and only that is what purchased our salvation.


4. On Palm Sunday

Prior to Palm Sunday Jesus did not look for the public to proclaim Him Messiah. God’s plan was for Him to come to Jerusalem and die on the cross during the Jewish Passover Feast. He was fulfilling the Old Covenant. The Passover was celebrated to remind the people of how God brought them out of slavery through the plagues, the last one being the death of the first born. The people were to kill a lamb, take some blood and put it on the doorposts of the house and the death angel would pass over when he saw the blood. The preparation for this celebration was taking place as Jesus came into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. It was national day as well as a spiritual day.

The crowds that came with Jesus to Jerusalem were on their way to celebrate the Passover there. They had heard Jesus speak and watched Him do some miracles along the way. Now they were proclaiming Him Messiah.

Jesus allowed it. This would set off the events leading up to His arrest. He was submitted to the Father’s will and plan. He spoke about. If I be lifted up... just a Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness so must the Son of Man be lifted up.


5. Holy Week John 2.19
Destroy this temple... Jesus was proclaiming His Own death! He spoke of His death during that final week in parables.

The crowds thought He come to restore the kingdom to Israel. He had come to die on the cross outside the city gate. He had come to die for the sins of the whole world.


6. Good Friday
The night before - The LORD’s Supper Luke 22.19 And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, "This is My Body given for you; do this in remembrance of Me."
20 In the same way, after the supper He took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in My Blood, which is poured out for you.

I Corinthians 11.26 For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes.



7. The Early Church and on

The death of Jesus Christ on the cross was an event that was not to be laid to rest in history and read about once in a while. On the contrary we are to remember it often. We are to proclaim His death until He comes. It is by His death and resurrection that people come into new life.

Peter’s Pentecost Message: Acts 2.22-36

Buried with Him in baptism... Romans 6.1-14

This all works out from the cornerstone of our faith to practical living for Jesus today. He died, we show by baptism we have died to the old way of life. He rose. We rise to newness of life.

We live this life unto the LORD. We offer ourselves to Him as instruments of righteousness.

God help us understand these truths of Jesus’s Great love for us.
God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son
That whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.

The LORD's Day, February 10, 2008

The Eyes of the LORD Are Everywhere

Proverbs 15.1-3

The eyes of the LORD are everywhere,
keeping watch on the wicked and the good.

We need to be reminded of this truth from time to time.

Life has a way of opposing this truth in our thinking. This answers the foolish question that is being asked today, “Where was God?” The LORD’s eyes are everywhere and He does see everything.

Sometimes we forget He is watching us. We grow discouraged without this knowledge. We need to be reminded. I believe one of the age old tactics of the enemy, one of his most vicious lies is to tell God’s people in one form or another that God is not going to see when they are tempted or when they are down that God does not see their situation.

There are other times we forget that His eyes are on the wicked and that He knows every move they make. We can become disillusioned with remembering this. We need to be reminded.



1. The Eyes of the LORD are Everywhere.

Jesus spoke about this with His disciples. Luke 12.6-7 Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God. Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows. The LORD notices the sparrows that fall to the ground (Matthew 10.29). He has the hairs of our head numbered. He sees everything. He knows every detail of our lives before it happens. He is in our future. He knows what it will be! Psalm 139.14-16

It is interesting to hear people talk about discoveries as if man was coming up with something new or something No One knows about. All the archeological “discoveries” that will be made in Israel until Jesus comes back are presently seen by God. He knows them all.

The places and things man continues to uncover in the world are all under the watchful eyes of the LORD. When a new species of an animal or plant is found, the LORD knew it was there all the time He created it

And He created us

Where can I go from Your Spirit? Psalm 139.7-12 We cannot hide from God He is always watching me (and us )

We need to remember that the LORD never sleeps or slumbers. He is always watching. He sees everything. He knows everything. He is everywhere.




2. He has His Eyes on the Wicked.

I have a little pet peeve. When I am on Southern State Parkway and I am trying to keep up with the traffic and this guy comes by doing 20 mph over the speed limit and cuts me off and then goes on to cut others off, I ask, “Where are the police when we need them?” Now I need to realize that the police are people like me and cannot be everywhere. But I also need to remember the LORD is seeing

This is not only true on Southern State Parkway. It is true on the highway of life and even on the path that leads to heaven.

The theologians call this the problem of evil. A rabbi wrote a best seller years ago entitled, Why Do Bad Things Happen To Good People? Any our feeble attempts to explain this do more damage than good! I really believe this is one the messages of the Book of Job. Look at the mess that was caused when his friends tried to explain his suffering. It was horrible! If you have ever suffered deep agony, if you have shared in the fellowship of the sufferings of Christ, then you know that the only true comfort is from God but even that always does not come immediately- in fact seldom does it! Jesus’s question to the Father is a haunting one, “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken me?” I wonder how Jesus asked that. Where was the emphasis placed?
*He was still “His” God
*There was no answer that came.
*He felt forsaken by God, the Father.
*He was (and is) the sinless Son of God

The problem of evil will be resolved when death is swallowed up in victory! Any attempt for us to resolve it here on earth... well just look at Psalm 73

It is easy to become disheartened when we see all the evil and wickedness in the world if we do not remember this truth. He has His eyes on the wicked.

*He sees what they are doing.
*He limits them.
*He will judge them.

There are many who think that they are getting away with things just because they have not gotten caught by someone. Those who break laws and seemingly escape punishment, those who think they are free from any scrutiny are warned in God’s Word.
Isaiah 29.15 Woe to those who go to great depths to hide their plans from the LORD, who do their work in darkness and think, Who sees us? Who will know?

The LORD knows what the wicked are planning. This is one of the reasons He tells us: Psalm 37.1-2 Do not fret because of evil men or be envious of those who do wrong; for like the grass they will soon wither, like green plants they will soon die away.

Stop fretting over the evil men. It will not be long until they are done away with and often there evil dies with them. Trust in God.





3. The Eyes of the LORD keep watch on His people.

Sometimes we forget He is keeping watch on us.

When I have to run some mail over to the Post Office and that is all I have to do, rather than take the car, I walk. It saves gas. It gives me exercise and I pray as I walk. It is a win win win situation. The other day as I was walking I was thanking the LORD I live close enough to the Post Office to do this. A few days later on Wednesday this week I ran into Target to pick up a few things. Elaine, the manager of the Photo Center, Whom I have known for years- long before Target opened came up to me and said, “Were you on Manatuck Boulevard the other day walking?” I said, “Yes I was.” She said, “I saw you.” I said, “Elaine, you just gave me a great illustration for Sunday’s message You saw me but I did not know it ” Sometimes we forget that the LORD is keeping watch over us but then He reminds us. His eye is on us even if we forget.

This word for keeping watch can mean “to spy”. It is not that God is sneaking up on us. But He is watching us even if we forget that He is. He is watching us from heaven. He looks down and sees all. A large branch fell from the aging maple tree by the garage this week. Thankfully no one was hurt. I remember pulling the car up a little. Sometimes I park under the tree. Had I done that my car would have been severely damaged. Our lives are like that car. God has in spots and move us to shelter us from harm.

It means He is looking out for us.

Some things we see coming. Some things catch us by surprise. But they are not a surprise to God. He knit us together in our mother’s womb and His eyes saw our unformed body.

We know some things He has kept us from. There are many more we do not know about. I am thankful that in rough times in my life the LORD has surrounded me with very wise counselors. I shutter to think what might have happened or where I could be if I had listened to the foolishness of some people who wanted to tell me what to do. God looks out for us and helps us in times of trouble.

It means He is watching us closely.

In the 29th verse this morning we read The LORD is far from the wicked. He looks upon them but He is not close to them. But the Promise for us who walk with Jesus is that
He would be in our midst
He would walk with us.
He will never leave nor forsake us.

He is a God of details- amazing details. He has details worked out in our lives. How I have seen Him work out things in my life to my awe and amazement. He has done wonderful things and has good planned for all who walk with Him.

He is watching over you today. He has the wicked in view. He sees everything. All we need to do is to trust Him and obey Him.

The LORD's Day, February 3, 2008

A Heart At Peace

Proverbs 14.30, I Timothy 6.3-10

A heart at peace gives life to the body,
but envy rots the bones.

We have seen in the Proverbs, as we have been going through them these past few months, the idea of contentment brought up again and again.

Paul wrote to Timothy that godliness with contentment is great gain. Look closer at that passage in I Timothy 6.3-10 because it has to do with what this Proverb is about.

Sound Teaching shows us that godliness is for God’s Glory- pure motive.
False Teaching tells us that godliness is a means to financial gain. If you are godly you will be rich. That is a lie.

We brought nothing into the world and we are taking nothing out. We should be content is we have food and clothing- life’s necessities. If you are godly and content you are “richer” by far then the person who is wealthy in this world’s goods and money but does not Christ..

Those who want to get rich:
1-Fall into temptation, a trap, and many foolish and harmful and destructive desires.
2-Some have wandered from the faith out of this desire.
3-Some, while they still believe, have pierced themselves with many griefs trying to get rich.

On the one side we have soundness of heart- a heart at peace, on the other a heart full of envy.
With the heart at peace it has a healing effect- it brings soundness and health to the body.
Envy rots the bones.

Let’s follow Paul’s pattern in his writing to Timothy. Let’s start with the negative or the antithesis. This is common in the Proverbs to state a truth and then give the opposite of it, or the other side of the coin if you will.

1. Envy is a horrible thing. v.30b

It is sin. It misses the mark. God created us to be content. We first see envy with Cain and Abel and God’s acceptance of Abel’s sacrifices and rejection of Cain’s.

It is self destructive.
People who envy do not always realize that chemicals are being released into the blood that are not good. It tears at the body’s natural functions of sleep and digestion as well as other things. Envy causes the body to go under stress. Envy robs the body of peace that is a life giving source. Job 5.3 Envy slays the simple.

It is has no end.
The end of envy is either frustration or it finally gets what it wants only to find the green eyed monster wanting more or something else. Power and money and this world’s treasures do not bring satisfaction to the soul.

Envy makes life miserable.

You never get to enjoy what the LORD has given you.
I Timothy 6.17 Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.

You think about what others have and forget what you have. Envy takes us away inwardly from the LORD’s blessings and has us desire another person’s blessings. The things the LORD has given you go largely unnoticed.

You wish your life away. The idea of chasing fantasies is a bad thing. The person who does that (12.11, 28.19) lacks judgment and will have his fill of poverty. One of the blessings that come from hard work is the cumulative effect. We work diligently and we see the result of that labor. I think this is one of the many reasons I enjoy gardening, why others enjoy working with wood or metal, or paints. We find enjoyment in working and accomplishing things. The envious person finds frustration and anger and upset.

Envy is a work of the flesh, an act of the sinful nature. It never operates alone. James tells us,
“For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.” (James 3.16) Just like money is the root of all kinds of evil, so with envy you have disorder and every evil practice. It pollutes everything around it. Envy creates instability. I believe this has something to do in part with Americans moving every five years on an average. The great unrest we see in people’s souls today is this disorder- this confusion from envy.

2. The Desire for Riches is the Lust of the Eyes.

The glitter of gold. Gold glitters but it does satisfy the longing of your soul.

Gold and precious metals, money and a large stock portfolio are tantalizing to the eyes but they do not satisfy the deepest desires of the heart. The heart longs for peace. Our hearts were created for peace with God and there can be no real satisfaction without Him in our hearts and governing our lives.

It perishes. I will pass away or be passed on. Gold , as precious as it, will wear down and disappear... any ring over 20 years old will show you this truth.

We used to sing as kids, “Be careful little eyes what you see...” Today nearly the whole advertising industry is based on this sinful part of man- appealing to the eyes. They really work the envy angle. They play off this evil desire and I believe get people to buy things and spend money that without the commercials or ads they never would have gotten. A current example of that is the Mazda commercial where the neighbor has a new Toyota. The Mazda is red and shiny, the Toyota is gray. There was even a commercial years ago: “You’ll be the envy of all your friends.” I don’t have friends that are easily given to envy- I have many who rejoice with me over blessings and pray God will bless. I have had some people over the years who had a problem with envy and it not a pleasant thing. I would not want to be the envy of my friends. As we said previously envy is a horrible thing.

3. A Heart at peace is a wonderful thing

It is scarce.
I do not find a great deal of contentment these days. I find people with more than they have ever had but I find them wanting more.

We can learn from the children- watch how easily they can be satisfied. It doesn’t take much. We buy huge presents and they are happy to play with the box they came in

It is opposition to the world.
The world and its desires. The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life. Its desires. Things by their very nature that make me demand more. Contentment is being thankful and at peace with what the LORD has given.

Peace in you heart is found by being content. That is under attack today. People label it complacency. But godliness with contentment is great gain.

4. A Heart at peace gives life to the body. v.30b


Life= living, alive

We have talked about this word “life” recently. It is more than simple biological life although it is that too. It is:.

*Green (of vegetation)- a source of health for the body. Fresh green vegetables- home grown- nothing like them. They are loaded with all kinds of nutrients and minerals and vitamins that build up the body. Go out and cut fresh greens in the spring. A heart at peace is like that. It strengthens the whole body. It gives the body a tonic. Do you feel your heart strengthening you or is your heart heavy and laden down?

If there is envy in your heart then it will be heavy- heavy over things that you want and do not have. It will be heavy and full of warring against your soul. Ah but if you have peace your heart will be light, you will be grateful for all the LORD has given you and you will be free to rejoice over the things He has given and is doing in others.

*Flowing, fresh (of water). There is nothing like a cold glass of water on a hot day. Better yet is a cool stream. I remember climbing into the Rocky Mountains and coming to a stream and kneeling down and drinking. What refreshing I felt invigorated. A heart a peace will do that It will invigorate the whole body.

A heart at peace will invigorate others. We know people like that. Their very presence brings a calming effect. Their homes are places of refuge where the hearts of the saints are refreshed. We love to be around them.

*Lively, active - A heart at peace doesn’t mean sitting around doing nothing. A heart at peace is led by the Spirit into the works God has prepared in advance for us to do Are you finding joy in serving Jesus? Are you finding contentment in what you are doing. A heart at peace is joyfully serving the LORD and finding purpose and meaning in the most menial tasks.

5. A Heart at peace gives soundness to the mind

A Heart at peace will revive (like of the springtime) the person. If you hide God’s Word in your heart, His Spirit will bring those promises when things are difficult. What a blessing to have God’s Word coming to my mind when trouble comes. What a comfort to have His Spirit bring to my mind the things Jesus taught us

If we look at the treasure in God’s Word and we treasure up these things in our heart then they will be ours to make withdraws from when we need them The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks. Luke 6.45

I worked on my calendar through June the other day. I worked right through the spring and into the beginning of summer. As I got into the end of March my mind began to fill with all the flowers and things that will begin to make their appearance. April brought the thoughts of the tulips and the daffodils, May and June the irises and lilies.

That is much like the heart a peace. It has new life year round like that of the springtime. New things are bursting forth because the LORD lives within. Things are developing- good things, pleasant things.

Envy stirs up the heart in a bad way. A heart at peace gives a stability and soundness to the mind and soul.

A heart at peace is worth more than all the more than all the money in the world and all the money in the world can’t buy peace for the heart. That can only come through fully surrendering to Jesus Christ. His peace surpasses all understanding and it guards our hearts and minds in Him. He keeps us in perfect peace if our mind is steadfast because it is we trust in Him.

If your heart is at war against your soul this morning and you don’t have peace, you can stop the war by surrendering to Jesus Christ. Only Jesus can satisfy your soul