Tending to the Gardens of Our Hearts
Things to Steward in 2024:
Our Relationship with Christ:
His voice
His presence
Secret Place
What He gives us:
Relationships
Marriage
Friendships
Children/Family
Physical Temple
Finances
Proverbs 4:23:
Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life. (NLT)
Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it springs the issues of life. (NKJV)
This means that we are to guard, keep, tend to our hearts because what is in it will spring forth. What is in our heart will determine the course of our lives.
If we want to please the Lord with our life and steward what He gives us with excellence and purity, we must begin with tending the garden of the heart.
HEALTH | Trickle Down
We’re healthy when our thoughts, feelings, and desires reflect God’s. When we care for ourselves spiritually, physically, and emotionally we can influence our communities for the better. Health spreads from the top down and from the inside out.
-If we don’t assess our heart health regularly, it is very likely that we will begin to influence our community for the worse (because things get in there and often unintentionally!)
-David understood this! This is why David prayed:
Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting! Psalm 139:23-24
David asked the Lord to assess His heart!
“Know my heart!”
To perceive and see, find out and discern
Yada: to know
(often used when a man knew a woman intimately)
Let me stand exposed before you; naked
Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit. Psalm 51:10-12
David asked for his heart to be cleaned!
Clean=Pure
Not mixed
Mixed motivations
There are mixed motivations in me, purge me of them. Make me clean=pure.
Why did David write this Psalm?
2 Samuel 11&12
What was in his heart directly impacted the course of his life!
What was in David’s heart?
What was he mixed with?
Laziness? Pride? Selfishness?
As a result of what was in his heart, he put off his assignment (where he should have been) and was found where he should not have been.
What was in his heart sprung forth in his life.
What is in our heart matters because it will directly impact the course of our lives.
What was David’s response to what was exposed in his/course of his life?
Psalm 51
David’s cry was for purity! That he would not be mixed with anything other motivation, but God.
Purged me with hyssop
Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. (Psalm 51:7)
Hyssop was used to purge people of impurities
It was often used try to purify people with leprosy
Hyssop was used dipped in blood to mark the entryway of the Israelites during passover.
David’s cry is synonymous with “Let your blood wash over me!”
David’s cry was a foreshadow of what Jesus would do for all of us! He would wash us in His blood! Purifying us, purging away all sin/anything we are mixed with and making us WHITE AS SNOW! PURE!
But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.1 John 1:7
God desires the heart to be pure. So that when we pour, what we pour out would be pure. Not because we are perfect, but because we have been washed and covered by His blood. So that people don’t see just our good works, but they see HIS work, the blood of Jesus operating in us.
David’s cry should be our cry!
Search my heart God! Know it!
Create in me a pure heart!
Our hearts should be exposed regularly before the Lord, so that we can maintain purity before the Lord!
God cares about what is in our hearts. It matters to Him.
1. Jesus wants a pure heart!
Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God. Matt 5:8
God is looking for hearts that are not mixed with other motivations
One motivation=Jesus
Clean before the Lord
All other motivations are broken. A contrite heart. A heart that has been broken from its own will and only wants the Father’s will.
One thing I ask from the LORD, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple. Psalm 27:4
38 Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. 39 And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to his teaching. 40 But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.” 41 But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, 42 but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.” Luke 10:38-42
Ministry Moment:
Ask the Lord to expose what you are mixed with.
Ask Him to search you
Ask the Lord to create a clean heart within you
To purge you of impurities
Invite Jesus to be the ONE thing
That you would choose the one thing that is necessary
He would be the only ONE you seek
