Does God know your heart?

The word “heart” appears in the NIV Bible 743 times. So it would seem to be important to God.

In Genesis 6 it is how he recognizes the wickedness and evil of man…

Gen 6:5 The LORD saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time.

This Wickedness and evil has made our hearts disobedient to God…

Eph 2:1-3 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath.

In Acts he see that God knows the heart, and purifies it by our faith…

Acts 15:8-9 God, who knows the heart, showed that he accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as he did to us. 9 He made no distinction between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith.

But for God to see our hearts filled with the spirit we have to believe in the word of truth.

Eph 1:13 And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit,

Once we choose to receive the spirit we become known and become members of the house of God.

Eph 2: 19 Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household,

But if we remain in our wicked ways, and do not prepare our selves God will not know our hearts, because they are not prepared, and we will be left on the outside.

Mathew 26:10-12 "But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut. 11 Later the others also came. 'Sir! Sir!' they said. 'Open the door for us!' 12 "But he replied, 'I tell you the truth, I don't know you.'

Do not think like the unprepared virgins, that you can only give part of your life to God, and that be enough for Him to know your heart. Do not say, I will do these things here which are pleasing to God, and leave other things unattended. God knows the heart and only he knows when a believer has fully committed every aspect of his life to Christ.

You must let God see your heart, by shining your light, and then God will know you as one of His own. That light is lit by the Oil and Fire of the Holy Spirit.

More... Later....

God one in three...

To me God has made himself into 3 persona . Father, Son, and Holy Spirit , that together form the GODHEAD. Each persona has a different roll in a persons faith. But they all come from God and are God.

God the Father created all things. His Son came to earth with the full power of his Father to spread the word of his Fathers salvation and be the ultimate sacrifice. The Spirit is the full power of God that was given to the Disciples to heal, and spread the word The Spirit is given to followers today for comfort and help them spread the gospel.

They have all been there from the beginning....In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. Then in Genesis we hear about the Breath of God (the Spirit) going out over the waters... And then in John we hear that Christ was there when the earth was created: In the beginning was the word, and the word became flesh.

Can he be Omniscient?... Father yes... Omnipresent?.. Jesus...Yes Omnipotent?... Spirit...Yes

I will add this from C.S Lewis...

"His Omnipotence means power to do all that is intrinsically possible, not to do the intrinsically impossible. You may attribute miracles to Him, but not nonsense. This is no limit to His power. If you choose to say 'God can give a creature free will and at the same time withhold free will from it,' you have not succeeded in saying anything about God: meaningless combinations of words do not suddenly acquire meaning simply because we prefix to them the two other words 'God can.'... It is no more possible for God than for the weakest of His creatures to carry out both of two mutually exclusive alternatives; not because His power meets an obstacle, but because nonsense remains nonsense even when we talk it about God."
– C.S. Lewis

"If the whole universe has no meaning, we should never have found out that it has no meaning: just as, if there were no light in the universe and therefore no creatures with eyes, we should never know it was dark. Dark would be without meaning."
- C.S. Lewis

"Can a mortal ask questions which God finds unanswerable? Quite easily, I should think. All nonsense questions are unanswerable."
-C. S. Lewis

Testimony

I can’t think of a time that I didn’t know who Christ was. I was raised in a Catholic family and went through 12 years of Catholic schools. Although I stopped going to church after high school, if I was asked about my faith I always said I believed in Christ. However, I did not have a relationship with God and did not act like I believed.

Pride consumed me, being the center of attention meant everything, I was selfish, I was not very confident, and often doubted if I would accomplish anything.

That all started to change about 6 years ago with my in-Laws. They were never pushy about their faith, and we always went to Church with them when we would visit Louisville. I often said I would be willing to attend their church if we ever moved to there.

Well, do to layoffs at my work, my employer asked me to move to Louisville. Once we got settled my wife and I started attending church with my in-laws. I loved the worship music and sermons. I even started attending Saturday morning bible studies. My wife and I worked in the nursery, and church became part of our lives. We were baptized shortly after. I was hooked. Or was I? That seems to be the problem; I had still not really let God into my heart.

Then in Oct. 2002 my Dad was diagnosed with cancer. He underwent surgery in May 2003, and almost died on the table. My world went into a tailspin for the next few years.

I never stopped believing in God during this time, but I had failed to let him into my heart. I had numerous failed attempts to read my bible on a regular basis. Worship music that I loved became noise in the background. I was asking every time I remembered to pray, “God just move me, help me, feed me something....” My dad died July 9^th 2004.

So a little over 2 years ago I wrote these words, “You see, God gave us all plenty of time, and it is how we choose to use the time that can make a difference in our lives and the lives of others.”

It was the day after my Dad died. I knew I wanted to speak at his funeral, and that was the first sentence that I typed. As I sat there and thought about my Wise, Unselfish, Caring, Protecting, and Loving Dad, I wrote about how he valued the time he had on this earth, and used his time to be who he was, Dad. I also wrote this that same day, “Thank you Dad for taking the time. Thank you God for giving us a Dad who took the time.”

I was struggling with the thoughts of having lost my Dad, and I was slipping back into an old pattern of self doubt. I didn't think I had what it took to make a difference.

One night last spring God broke through. As I lay in bed, tears in my eyes, my wife trying to comfort me, the words hit me... It is OK.... What? What do you mean ok? It is OK.... What? To sit here and blubber like an idiot? It is OK... What? To lose sleep night after night trying to figure out if I will ever..... Ever what? IT IS OK.... To be mad that you can't turn to your Dad, it is OK to be sad that he won't be there when you walk into the house... It is OK to be happy... Happy what do you mean happy? It is OK to live your life. It is OK to stretch your limits, and be the man God wants you to be.... God was telling me IT IS OK....

I now have a different perspective on time.

Now I can say: Thank you God for giving me the time. God gave me time to heal.

God changed my heart, and this was the start of my personal relationship with God.

I feel a fire burning that fills me, guides me and tells me every morning, IT IS OK, I am with you...

Now how I lead my family and look at other people can only come from having Christ in my heart. I find myself doing things for others that I would have never done before, because I have also taken the focus off me and put it on Christ. What I know now is that Dad, even while dying of cancer was being Jesus to others, because he too had a relationship with Jesus.

Now I spend time with God every morning. As I walk through my house in the darkness of morning the knowledge I have of the house guides me so I don’t stub my toe. As I walk through this world of darkness God's word guides me so I do not fall. Sometimes though, as I walk through this world I will stub my toe.

God allows and knows I will fail, but he sacrificed His Son for all of us, so that we can get back up looking for Him to help us. He also gives us the power of the Spirit to enable us to succeed in overcoming our sin nature. When we succeed He celebrates with us, and is proud of us. I am now privileged to have a relationship that allows me to walk in the Light of the Word, confident in the salvation of Jesus Christ.

What Isaiah knew before we did....HAVE A BLESSED EASTER

Isaiah53 2b-12 The easter story told some 700 years before the life of Jesus....

He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.

3 He was despised and rejected by men,
a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering.
Like one from whom men hide their faces
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

4 Surely he took up our infirmities
and carried our sorrows,
yet we considered him stricken by God,
smitten by him, and afflicted.

5 But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,
and by his wounds we are healed.

6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to his own way;
and the LORD has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.

7 He was oppressed and afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
and as a sheep before her shearers is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.

8 By oppression ^[a] and judgment he was taken away.
And who can speak of his descendants?
For he was cut off from the land of the living;
for the transgression of my people he was stricken. ^[b]

9 He was assigned a grave with the wicked,
and with the rich in his death,
though he had done no violence,
nor was any deceit in his mouth.

10 Yet it was the LORD's will to crush him and cause him to suffer,
and though the LORD makes ^[c] his life a guilt offering,
he will see his offspring and prolong his days,
and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand.

11 After the suffering of his soul,
he will see the light of life ^[d] and be satisfied ^[e] ;
by his knowledge ^[f] my righteous servant will justify many,
and he will bear their iniquities.

12 Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, ^[g]
and he will divide the spoils with the strong, ^[h]
because he poured out his life unto death,
and was numbered with the transgressors.
For he bore the sin of many,
and made intercession for the transgressors.