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Part Three...

The Bible says, "...set your heart and your soul to seek the Lord your God..." (1 Chron. 22:19). In contrast it also warns, "If riches increase, do not set your heart upon them." (Psa. 62:10b). Our problem is with something I call "heart-set."

"Heart-set" involves pre-learned patterns of intent. Heart-set determines—before hand—where we are most likely to turn and try to drink. Your heart-set is much of what determines how you react in those situations where you don’t have time to think.

Behavior and pursuits are determined before hand by the way your heart is set to quench your thirsty desires. Think of "heart-set" as the direction your soul is habitually pointed, in order to find the reassurance, security, and confidence you need. Heart-set has to do with where you intend to "get it" from.

The Bible says, "he did evil because he did not set his heart to seek the Lord" (2 Chron. 12:14b). Repentance and setting your heart on God are directly related.

The Bible asks, "...How long will you love what is worthless and aim at deception..." (Psa. 4:2). It also talks about, "...your eyes and your heart are intent only upon your own dishonest gain...and on practicing oppression..." (Jer. 22:17). The same intensity of pursuit you see in these verses, needs to be redirected and re-applied toward God.

The Bible tells us,

"...If you really set your mind to enter Egypt and go in to reside there, then the sword, which you are afraid of, will overtake you there in the land of Egypt; and the famine, about which you are anxious, will follow closely after you there in Egypt, and you will die there.’" (Jer 42:15b,16)

Troubles are increased by our determination to trust earthly sources as our basis for confidence and security. The more forcefully you demand that earthly sources cooperate and provide something to "drink" the more you will suffer to other earthly bondages that go along with what you have chosen.

Set your heart to quench your thirst with what you receive from the fountain of God—and nothing else.

Heart-set toward earthly things is a forceful self-effort kind of thing—a determination to achieve more and perform better. Setting your heart toward God involves a determination to hear, believe, and rest into receiving the presence of the Lord—by His grace.

A heart-set on earthly things is dependant on the quality of your "works." A heart-set on God is dependant on how well you submit to the truth and rest into believing God’s grace to come and draw near to you. A heart that is set on God is a learned intension to abandon yourself to Him as your one and only refuge, your glory, and your strength.

Set your heart to believe your unhindered access to enter and stand in the throne room of God. Get your heart to believe the intensity of the radiance around Him—and all around you. Set your heart to drink from that continually!

A repentance that changes your heart-set is the goal of heart-training. The bottom line on setting your heart on God is that you determine that you are going to get your heart to hear the truth—you don’t have to fill yourself by earthly means because God offers so much more.

Do you ever feel like you are in a rut? Ruts are hard to let go of sometimes. When your heart is set to "drink" from something a momentum builds that works to both your advantage and to you disadvantage in changing directions. Just like in the physical realm where it is difficult to change direction of a moving object, it is also true in changing the ways you quench your thirst. Even so, the principle of momentum in heart-set is powerful for helping you stay repented and grow in your relationship with God. Once you determine to get your heart to hear, so as to "drink" from God alone, the momentum builds until it isn’t as easy to slip and turn back. Earthly ways just aren’t as attractive any more.

Any change in heart-set creates an eagerness for learning. This is as true with earthly areas of learning as it is with God. Use the increase to help get your heart to hear better.

Set your heart to quench your thirst by "drinking" from the fountain of God—and not by earthly means. I cannot emphasize this principle enough. Be like King David who said, "I have set the Lord continually before me; Because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken" (Psa. 16:8). When you do, a momentum will build and you will find yourself receiving God’s presence at ever increasing levels.

The Bible says, "Train up a child in the way he should go..." (Pro. 22:6). The idea of ‘training up a child’ has behind it a picture of a Hebrew mother touching the back of a babies tongue with solid food. In so doing they helped the baby develop a taste for food and weaned them from the mother’s milk. This principle applies directly to our discussion about redirecting our loves and affections toward God. Train your heart so that you develop a taste for being in His presence.

The "greater glory principle" is that lasting change becomes a possibility, only when we trade sources for something that we believe has more glory in it.

Help yourself to repent by getting your heart to hear and believe you can trade the glory of earthly things for the greater glory of God (Isa. 55:1,2).

Believing the availability and the greatness of God’s greater glory makes it easier on yourself to repent and turn to God; "For indeed what had glory, in this case has no glory because of the glory that surpasses it" (2 Cor. 3:10).

The apostle Paul called it, "...the gospel of the glory of Christ..." (2 Cor. 4:4). Regarding "the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ," he said, "But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves" (2 Cor. 4:6,7). It is the glory of God in the face of Christ that helps you to experience the power of God.

The glory of our God is great—far greater and far surpassing any earthly glory we know. Everything about Him has glory. His power has glory. His love has glory. Glory is what makes Him worthy of our worship. Get your heart to believe it and you will be "ascribing glory to the Lord."

The Bible also says we should, "Ascribe to the Lord, O sons of the mighty, Ascribe to the Lord glory and strength. Ascribe to the Lord the glory due to His name; Worship the Lord in holy array." (Psalm 29:1,2). You are "ascribing glory" to the Lord when you praise the Lord for the purpose of increasing your faith. Ascribing a greater glory to God than the glory you "receive" from earthly sources will greatly increase your capacity for experiencing God’s presence.

Exalt the Lord with your praise. But listen and believe what you are praising Him about! Declare the greatness of all His attributes close to you.

That we should "worship the Lord in holy array" is more than having Christ living inside you. It is about what you are wearing. Paul said we should "put on" the armor of light—he also said to put on the Lord Jesus Christ (Rom. 13:12, 14). You can worship the Lord in "holy array" because of God’s abundant grace to radiate His presence onto You any time you confidently trust you are near.

All the principles about how to get your heart to hear are important. But the "greater glory principle" may be more important than other single principle I have given you so far.

Getting your heart to believe the greater glory of God—and the availability of His presence—will help to develop a delight toward God that will greatly increase your freedom to draw near and stay in His presence: "for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also" (Matt. 6:21).

Not all boasting is wrong. Praise and boasting in the Lord will help your heart to hear.

It is humility to boast in the Lord and not other things. King David said, "My soul will make its boast in the Lord; The humble will hear it and rejoice" (Psalm 34:2). The problem is that most of our boasting builds faith in ourselves and decreases faith in God.

This principle is powerful when properly directed toward God. Even though boasting is often misused, it is an important way of getting your heart to hear and of increasing your faith toward God.

On a human level, we "hear" the praise and boasting we direct toward ourselves even though it is based on lies that fill us with pride. When we boast in ourselves, the element of delight is present. We are also "impressing" what we believe is truth onto our heart. The assertive nature of boasting together with the thrill delight helps our heart to hear and be more confident in ourselves.

The Bible tells us that "Some boast in chariots and some in horses, But we will boast in the name of the Lord, our God" (Psa. 20:7). It is right that we have confidence. It is right that we feel strong. God opposes the ways we pride ourselves apart from His being our God. But reassure your heart by boasting in the Lord and not in yourself, "...Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord" (1 Cor. 1:31).

But be careful because it is easy to misapply this important principle.

The difficulty is that it is common for us to cope with life by quietly directing subtle forms of praise back toward ourselves.

When you do something right or you are kind to someone, it is common for us to quietly exalt ourselves for this kind of thing. Don’t make the assumption that you are pure in this area. The likelihood is that you are not—take that by faith. And don’t try to correct yourself by condemnation. That will only hide the truth even more. Even though your boasting may be outwardly directed to God, you need to be sure that it is building confidence in God and not in yourself.

Humanly speaking, we derive great amounts of emotional and physical energy from these subtle forms of self-directed praise. We need the energy. But we don’t need the self-directed praise. Hear me in this: you can derive even greater emotional and physical energy from directing that praise toward God.

If you look at the radiance of God upon you without praising Him for His attributes the result will be that you will transform the beauty of His presence into pride (Ezek. 7:20). So be careful.

Acting as an observer who looks at the shine of God’s presence around you, will result in great spiritual pride and in a sudden decreased resistance to sin. Don’t be like a fruit tree that turns from it’s source and tries to feed itself on the fruit! Instead, keep your focus directed out from the inside of you toward the Lord. It is right that you direct praise toward His attributes—and not yours.

Let me say it again. If you look at the radiance of God upon you and you fail to keep the praise going toward each of His attributes, the praise will eventually work it’s way around and come back toward you. Your self-centered pride will get stronger and you will get weaker toward sin.

Excitement and boasting about God being your God is a good thing. But be careful. There is a very fine line between being excited about God and boasting in yourself. If you don’t develop a habit of praising each of His attributes—and of keeping the inner flow of praise continually going toward Him, it will be very easy to begin well, but end up with the praise coming back toward you.

You have to train your heart to reverse the direction that the inner praise flows. Then you have to keep it going outward and toward God. Doing that is something that takes practice. But it is not as difficult as it may seem.

Redirect the inner praise toward God by placing heavy emphasis on words like, the "Lord," "You," and "God" in your personal times of praise toward God. For example: The LORD is worthy of my praise; Lord, YOU are my refuge; GOD is my courage. As you do this, look at the Lord and praise each of His attributes shining upon you. Thank the Lord with great delight by saying something like, "Lord, I love the closeness of YOUR kindness—I love YOUR power being radiated upon me." A few days of applying this principle intensely several times during the day will reverse the direction of praise so that it becomes more natural for the praise to keep flowing toward God. Applying these principles will help you to boast in a way that reminds you that He is God and not you.

Remember that our need is for all of God—and everything about who He is. Normally, we feed ourselves by self-directed praise in areas related to what we know about God. So be sure to do the same toward God. Use your eyes of faith to look at Him as He shines His presence onto you—but be sure you are trusting that you are looking at each one of His attributes—not just the shine.

If you look at the shine of God upon you and not at each one of His attributes the result will be spiritual pride. The praise will come back toward you and you may not even realize it is happening. Don’t make the mistake of using His presence to pride yourself. See the radiance around God and close to you as being each one of the—living and active—attributes of God.

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I am praying for the Lord's abundant blessing on your efforts to direct your heart toward Him.

Barry.

How to Repent — Continued...

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(C) Barry Hall 1999

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