SETTING YOUR HEART ARIGHT 2
(week 11/17)
OLUBI JOHNSON
In our article last week, we saw that it is crucial to DAILY (Luke 9.23) set your heart aright so as to constantly attract INCREASINGLY greater measures of the God’s mercy and grace.
This week, we will see how to do this in more detail.
To set your heart aright DAILY, there are 3 things you need:
1. The right attitude or willingness to do God’s will (John 7:17): this comes by DAILY self-judgment and repentance from anything that displeases God. —Orientation of your antenna or satellite dish to receive accurately.
2. A renewed mind that has the knowledge of God’s Word (Romans 12: 2): this comes by DAILY Bible reading and meditation. — A functioning TV set.
3. The power of the Holy Spirit released by the life of God through prayer in the Spirit as a DAILY habit gradually increasing from about 15mins (for new Christians) to one and even more hours (Matthew. 26:41, Ephesians 6:18). — A generator that supplies electricity with the right voltage.
We need to do this DAILY because the power of Satan in the air (Ephesians 2.2-3) through our interactions with men and the lusts of the flesh, the lusts of the eyes and the pride of life (1 John 2.15, 16), like natural winds blow satellite dishes out of alignment with the satellites in the sky, blow our wills out of alignment with God’s will and we have to reset them by honest self-judgement and repentance.
So many Christians try to get God’s presence by trying to be willing to do God’s will and getting the knowledge of scripture but still do not experience it because there is either no or insufficient power of the Holy Ghost because they do not pray fervently and effectually in the Spirit daily.
This is like having a satellite dish and excellent TV set but no electricity to power the TV and the satellite dish: of course you will get no response on your TV set.
The power of the Holy Spirit is indispensable, if you desire to enjoy the presence of God daily.
So, we can see Him that is invisible all the time by faith, visualizing His presence in our minds and communing with Him through our thoughts based on the knowledge of His written Word.
Hebrews 11:27 (KJV) By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible.
This enables us to fulfill:
Psalms 16:8 I have set the LORD always before me: because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.
So we set our wills DAILY and fulfill God’s New Testament covenant of life and love by using the blood, the Word and the power of the Holy Spirit fulfilling:
Hebrews 13:20 KJV: Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, (21) Make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
1John 2:5 KJV: But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him.
1John 4:12-13 NKJV: No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us. (13) By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit.
As we practice this, we gradually perfect the love of God in us by watching and praying ALWAYS using the blood, the Word and the Spirit at least once every 6 hours (Deuteronomy 6.7, Mark 13.35, 2 Samuel 6.13) and so at every opportunity and in every temptation with our thoughts and actions.
This will cause us to be steadfast in God’s covenant:
Hebrews 8:10 KJV: For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:
So we will not be like the Israel who were NOT steadfast in the covenant:
Psalms 78:37 KJV: For their heart was not right with him, neither were they steadfast in his covenant.
