now let me be honest with you being a follower of Jesus Christ isn't easy being a true Christian isn't easy the Bible tells us on multiple occasions that there will be those who will turn away from the faith there will be those who will profess the name of Jesus but have him far from their hearts it tells us that there will be many who will choose the broad road instead of the narrow way to heaven the Bible is full of teachings that run counterintuitive to the way we naturally think about life the commands of Jesus
can be hard to accept and even harder to obey and perhaps one of the hardest things that Jesus commands us to do is to love our enemies Matthew 5:44 says but I say to you love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you we find it relatively easy to love people who love us our friends our family our church we may even find it in our hearts to forgive them when they have wronged us but what about our enemies what about the people who persecute us and stand in opposition to us the same standard
applies and these words can be so hard to obey at times it can be difficult to love someone who has only ever shown you hate when people lie to us and root against us and plan our downfall our natural reaction is to seek revenge but the Bible tells us to leave Justice to God he alone knows the hearts of people he alone is able to execute Justice with all Holiness and Truth Romans 12: 19 says beloved never avenge yourselves but leave it to the Wrath of God for it is written vengeance is mine I will
repay says the Lord for us to do this we need to shift our Focus from the situation in front of us to a God who is high above us God doesn't need us to write every single wrong here on Earth he is more than capable of doing that himself but in order for us to be effective messengers of the Gospel we must approach the evil of this world not with a hateful vindictive attitude but with Grace and forgiveness the same Grace that Christ himself has shown to us the same Mercy he's shown us as followers
of Jesus we are called to live differently from the rest of the world our conduct and our character will only be completely transformed when we accept Jesus Christ as Lord over our lives that means we can stop seeking Revenge that means we can react to persecution in a Godly way we can love those who hate us we can pray for those who persecute us these are hard things and they certainly don't come naturally to us however Matthew 19: 26 says but Jesus looked at them and said with man this is impossible but With God all
things are possible on our own we couldn't possibly live up to God's holy standard but praise God that his holy spirit dwells in US empowering us each and every day to live righteously he's able to do amazing things through us things that we couldn't possibly accomplish on our own nothing is too hard for him God loves a willing heart but what exactly is a willing heart well a willing heart is a heart that wants to so in a way you could say God loves a heart that wants to chase after him a heart that wants
to seek his presence God loves a heart that wants to serve him and be used for his glory you see if we think about it our hearts can so often be filled with many many many things many passions many desires many goals and plans but how much of what is in your heart can be described as a willingness to seek God too often I've seen people lay the blame for their failures on the devil when in all actuality the root issue was that they never had a willingness to seek God or obey his word and
so that left them exposed to the enemy too many people put the blame on their circumstances or they want to blame it on their past or even on other people but if you really get to the bottom line their issue is a heart issue they have no willingness they have no want to their heart isn't willing to be led by the Good Shepherd their heart's not willing to repent and turn away from sin and let me tell you a heart that's not willing is often a heart that's in Rebellion let me put it this way
I am not a Formula 1 driver because I've never had a willingness to pursue the sport therefore you can never attain what you don't want Matthew 15: 8 and9 say these people draw near to me with their mouth and honor me with their Li lips but their heart is far from me and in vain they worship me teaching as doctrines the Commandments of men now how many of us can be guilty of this we can have lips that say all of these wonderful things to God when we want something we have lips that can say
these elaborate prayers but when it comes down to the contents of our hearts we really aren't willing to know the Lord we are only seeking to benefit from his goodness and His blessings and so when God finds a person who truly has a willing heart he loves that he loves a heart that's full of Faith a heart that's committed and focused to seek his kingdom first Above All Else let's talk about David David is described as a man after God's Own Heart can can you imagine that David is someone who was fully devoted to God
in his heart yes David fell short yes he sinned but boy let me tell you something David had a willing heart and this is one of the reasons that I really love to read the Psalms because so often the heart is mentioned consider the following scriptures psalm 19:14 let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight oh Lord my strength and my redeemer Psalm 26:2 examine me oh Lord and prove me try my mind and my heart Psalm 51 verse1 create in me a clean heart oh God
and renew a Stead F Spirit within me and so dear listener let me ask you how's your heart today what does your heart love who does your heart love what is your heart willing to do for the Lord so with all this in mind with us reflecting on how God loves a willing heart and with us reflecting on what we actually have going on in our hearts at this time let's approach the throne of grace so that we can move fully into the space of having a willing Heart Lord Jesus take a hold of our
hearts God take a hold of our desires give us hearts that seek after you father your word says in Psalm 119 verses 10-2 with my whole heart I have sought you oh let me not Wander from your Commandments your word I have hidden in my heart that I might not sin against you blessed are you oh Lord teach me your statutes we're seeking you Lord and we're asking you God to give us a hunger that will cause us to seek you day in and day out Lord we ask for a hunger to well up in
us as though Our Lives depend on it because they do God our very existence and our Eternal Destiny it depends on you Lord and so King Jesus we ask that you would not let us wand from your Commandments Lord don't let us stray from your word don't let us lose ourselves in this world God keep us from being drowned out by the busyness of life don't let us Wander from your word Lord but instead may your word be hidden in our hearts may your word always be at the Forefront of our minds and etched into
our hearts Philippians 2:13 says for it is God which worketh in you both to Will and to do of his good pleasure another translation says for God is working in you giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him and so Holy Spirit we ask you to give us a willingness to do God's will a willingness to follow God's way and to put God's word into practice in our lives we say yes Lord be the master in our lives we say yes Lord remove every Idol in our lives whether it's money people
or possessions we say yes Lord use us For Your Glory may your will be done on Earth as it is in heaven take away everything God that might hinder our yes Lord take away everything and anything God that may be drawing our affection Isaiah 1: 19 and 20 say if you are willing and obedient you shall eat the good of the land but if you refuse and rebel you shall be devoured by the sword for the mouth of the Lord has spoken so father we ask you now to help us guard our hearts so that
we will never be found in in Rebellion to you God help us to guard our hearts with careful and persistent work careful and persistent effort Lord help us to be diligent when it comes to guarding our hearts help us to be diligent through the standard that's in your word may we scrutinize analyze and assess everything in our lives holy Spirit motivate us Inspire us to search the word of God daily and to Simply soak in your lifegiving truth may we be so filled with your spirit that our goal will always be to abide in your
presence father we thank you right now for your mercy we thank you for the good work that you have begun in us for your word says that you will perform it until the day of Jesus's return father we thank you for hearing this prayer and for cleansing our hearts with the Precious Blood of the Lamb all glory be to Christ forever and ever it's in Jesus name that we pray this prayer amen these people draw near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips but their heart is far from me and in
vain they worship me teaching as doctrines the Commandments of men let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight oh Lord my strength and my redeemer [Music] examine me oh Lord and prove me try my mind and my heart create in me a clean heart oh God and renew a steadfast Spirit within me with my whole heart I have sought you oh let me not wander from your Commandments your word I have hidden in my heart that I might not sin against you blessed are you oh Lord
teach me your statutes if you are willing and obedient you shall eat the good of the land but if you refuse and rebel you shall be devoured by the sword for the mouth of the Lord has spoken for it is God which worketh in you both to Will and to do of his good pleasure [Music]
