1 Samuel 7:3 (NKJV) 3 Then Samuel spoke to all the house of Israel, saying, “If you return to the Lord with all your hearts, then put away the foreign gods and the Ashtoreths from among you, and prepare your hearts for the Lord, and serve Him only; and He will deliver you from the hand of the Philistines.”
God moves on our behalf when our hearts return to Him. Deliverance will come when we have reached the point of being willing to obey.
How long will it take us to get prepared and for us to be delivered from our enemy? That depends 100% on us.
We always think we are waiting on God. But in realty, many times He is waiting for us.
God is always ready to deliver us. It’s we, His children, who keep Him from being able to do what He would love to do, with, through and for us.
So, how do we prepare our hearts?
The heart that He is looking for is a repentant heart, an obedient heart. A heart that is willing to worship Him with everything in us and mean it.
We don’t just go through the motions. We find our spot where we know that it is meaningful and truthful; not a show for others to see.
Our heart won’t prepare us to worship God. We must prepare our heart. We must put Him above all, and nothing before Him.
Luke 4:8 (NKJV) 8 And Jesus answered and said to him, “Get behind Me, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.’ ”
We can’t worship God and money too. It won’t work. So, if we have issues with money, we’re probably putting it before Him.
The same goes for lust, adultery, fornication, addictions to drugs or any other kind of idols. Our hearts will put these things above God and thus it has what it seeks after.
Our results will be as one that loves his/her sin more than anything and can’t let it go.
It’s sad because we always seem to blame or point the finger at someone else for our condition or the state that we are in.
But usually, we are the ones that put ourselves there. And we are the ones that need to do something about it if we want to be free from it.
It starts with us preparing our heart. It throws out those things it lusts over and lets God fill that very place where that idol once lived.
When He has that place, then He will deliver us from our enemy in every situation.
In the case above, it was the Israelites being delivered from their enemy, the Philistines. But in our case today, the enemy may be someone or something else. Only we and God know our heart.
Prepare our heart.
Return it to Him and He will deliver us.
Pastor Curt & Pastor Ellie
Seven Seas Ministries
P.O. Box 272
Bradford, RI 02808
401-315-0902
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