12TH SEPTEMBER, 2021
PASTOR OLUBI JOHNSON
SETTING OUR HEART ARIGHT 2
Psalm 34:18 NKJV
The LORD is near to those who have a broken heart, And saves such as have a contrite spirit.
This present truth on ‘setting your heart’ is a very important message to which all should give full attention! The important point here is that it was, and still is today, the responsibility of present-day Israelites, the Church, to set their hearts aright! (Psa. 78:8).
When the Scripture refers to the heart, it is talking about the soul, which comprises of the will, mind and emotions, and in particular the human will. It is your responsibility as a Christian to set your will aright, because it has the tendency to stray from the will of God, and this is true for all!
Those people who set their will aright choose to align their will with the will of God. To prove that it was possible to do so, God gave us a witness in Joshua and Caleb.
Like all of Israel, Joshua and Caleb had all the same experience: they were born in Egypt, they suffered the punishment under the Egyptian taskmasters, witnessed the plagues of Egypt; they went through the Red Sea and the wilderness.
But God said this about the two of them, (He said it particularly about Caleb, but it was true of both of them) that they had “a different spirit” (Num.14: 24).
Joshua and Caleb had decided of their freewill to set their hearts aright and that made them different from the approximately three million who perished in the wilderness!
This shows the very severe consequences of not setting one’s heart aright; but we are persuaded of better things of you, that you will set and continue to set your heart aright!
The point is that having a heart that is set aright is not automatic. You have to make up your mind to do it; and there is a way to do this. Many Christians do not do so, and it is part of the dishonesty of the people of God in handling the Word of God that we always try and push the responsibility back to God.
The Scripture says it was not God who set their hearts aright, but it was Joshua and Caleb, of their own freewill, who set their hearts aright!
We may be prompted to ask if God had a part in Joshua and Caleb’s decision? The answer is “Yes!” Men are not robots, and so are allowed to use their free will. However, when you decide of your own free will to set your heart aright and God sees that you have made up your mind to do so, then God’s power will come and back your decision: but the initiative is always with you!
The Bible says in:
Philippians 2:13 KJV
For it is God, which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.
This does not mean that God takes over your will; rather God will strengthen your will when you are willing! The Lord does not take away the freewill He has given to man. It is Satan who tries to do that! Just like men can be demon possessed, we, as Christians, are, or should be, Holy Ghost possessed!
There is a truth that all Christians should be aware of. There are some times that the Holy Spirit helps us to do something, but we are not really sure how it worked out!
Now, the Lord wants us to be aware and to be conscious of the workings of the Holy Spirit in our lives! It is very important of your own freewill to deliberately make positive choices inside your heart. You and God have ‘a meeting’ and you set your heart to do certain things and ask Him for His help.
For more on today’s study visit:
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