FIX YOUR HEART ON THE LORD

Psalms 57:7 states:

“My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed:  I will sing and give praise.”

That, my friends, is the perfect instruction for us today.  Welcome everyone to your 24/7, week long, online church service.  No one is excluded from this place.  This Psalm is giving us as believers the perfect recipe for success on the earth.  There are a lot of things going on all around us everyday we live.  It is easy to be distracted and drawn away from the love of God and his son, Jesus Christ, isn’t it?

Sometimes without even realizing it, we find ourselves giving into temptation or agreeing with the ways of the world, even though many of those ways are in opposition to and against the Word of God.  Well, isn’t what I am saying the truth?  What the above scripture is saying is – catch yourself.  Remember who created you.  Remember who loved you so much he died for you so you could spend eternal life with him (Jesus) and our heavenly Father, the God above all gods.  Fix your heart on God.  Fix your heart on Jesus Christ. 

Stop whatever you are doing and thinking and sing and give praises to your heavenly Father who loves and cares for you.  You know folks, sometimes preachers (including myself) preach and teach doctrines of the Bible but neglect the love and kindness of God toward us.  So today, we are going to think upon these things.  Love, kindness, mercy and grace. 

You know, if you talk with most folks they believe the harder you try to be good or succeed in life, the closer you are to God.  In other words, they are trying to get to heaven by good works.  However, being human, as we are, we know deep within ourselves we just can’t do that.  No matter how hard we try our failures plague us and discourage us, don’t they?  Well my friends, that is where God’s love and kindness takes over.  You see, God loves us so much he will save us in spite of ourselves, flaws and all.  Please, turn with me to Titus 3:4-7.  The picture will become more clear to you.  This scripture says:

“But after that the kindness and love of God our savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost; which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our savior; that being justified by his grace we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”

Oh my friends, can you not now see why we must on purpose always fix our hearts on God and sing and give him praise.  Do you now see how worthy God is of your love and praises?   Through God’s kindness and love for us, he has taken us just as we are and issued an invitation to come to him.  He gave us just one way to come to him, and that is through his son, Jesus Christ. 

But, what I want you to see is this – this scripture states clearly it is not by our righteousness or good works that saves us.  It is by God’s mercy that he shed upon us in abundance through Christ Jesus who is savior to all who trust and believe in him.  You know what folks?  I am preaching myself happy here.  What a wonderful God we serve.

I think back to how my mother used to tell me how much God loves us.  She always said that God was gentle and kind in his love toward us – not always in those exact words.  But, now I get her point.  Parents, do yourself and your children a favor.  Always tell your children about God’s goodness and his love for them.  In other words, fix your heart on the Lord and teach your children to do the same. 

Let’s explore God’s love, mercy and grace a bit more.  Sound good to you?  Actually, we are going to get to the heart of things now.  We’re going to look at the book of Ephesians for some clarification here.  We are really going to explore God’s love, mercy and grace and how it all pertains to you.  Ephesians 2:4-7 is a good place to begin this journey into knowledge of God and his love for us.  This is what Ephesians 2:4-7 states:

“But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:  That in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace and his kindness towards us through Christ Jesus.”

Do you get this, my friends?  This scripture not only talks about God’s love for us, it talks about God’s great love, mercy and kindness toward us.  These scriptures point out clearly that God isn’t waiting for us humans to work our way to perfection before he saves us.  No, just the opposite.  Even when we were flat out dead in sins, as many still are today, God sent his son Jesus to this earth to die for us.  A full payment for our sins so that we could be saved, not by our own works, but by his grace.  Now, if we continue on to Ephesians 2:8-9 it becomes even clearer to us.

“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God:  Not of works, lest any man should boast.”

There it is, my friends.  God’s mercy, love and grace explained to you in a very simple fashion.  Because of God’s love for you, if you put your faith in Jesus Christ, wait – let me explain this.  This is for both nonbelievers and believers.  You will be saved by God’s grace not because of your being good, but because of God’s love for you.  So, where’s your faith today?  Let me say this to you – if you are not a believer, if you are not putting your faith in Jesus, why not?  What are you waiting on?  Today is the day of salvation.  Why?  Because you are not promised another day of life.  Remember the invitation we talked about earlier?  God’s invitation to you? 

If you desire to come to God by receiving Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, now is the time to accept the invitation.  Just cry out  - Lord save me.  I am a sinner.  I believe in my heart that God raised Jesus from the dead and I confess Jesus as Lord of my life.  Jesus cleanse me from all my sin.  I receive you now into my heart and life and I know by faith that I am saved.  If you said these words and meant them, you have accepted the invitation and you are saved.  I will be waiting for your e-mail to reach  me at BrotherBob@TheSpiritofWisdom.org.  I am excited for you and I want to hear from you.

Now, as for you believers out there, I pray I have stirred something up in you.  It’s time for all of us to return to our first and foremost love.  God and his son Jesus.  This invitation is for all.  And all includes us.  Let me conclude in the same manner in which we started.  We will fix our heart on you, O Lord, we will fix our heart on you.  We will sing and praise you forever.

God Bless You,
Bro. Bob