GOD DOES KNOW YOUR HEART
By Tara Chapman (April 2008)
Scriptures from KJV
"God knows my heart." "It's the heart that matters." "God looks
on the heart." "It's about where our heart is."
These are the various responses I've received over the last few
years from professing Christians when I've explained to them that
they were not worshipping God in the way He desires and commands.
When I've shared the truth concerning how mainstream professing
Christians are sinning by keeping Sunday as their weekly worship
day and by keeping pagan holidays such as Christmas and Easter
(as well as breaking other commandments), I commonly get one of
these defensive replies concerning their hearts. They don't argue
the fact that the holidays they use to worship Him are heathen in
origin. They know they are. But, they claim that they believe God
thinks it's okay for them to do it their way and that He is
pleased with their wrong worship of Him, because they believe God
sees that their heart is in the right place. I disagree.
Let's get to the "heart" of the matter and see what the Bible -
God's authoritative Word - has to say about the subject. The
Bible warns us twice that, "There is a way which seemeth right
unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death" (Proverbs
14:12; 16:25), and "Every way of a man is right in his own eyes:
but YHWH pondereth the hearts" (Proverbs 21:2, see also Prov.
22:12). We see here that God does search the hearts of persons.
We also see that there are things men do that they think are
right, but the truth is that those things lead to death - the
second death in the lake of fire. Jeremiah 17:10 says, "I YHWH
search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man
according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings."
(See also Rev. 2:23) The previous verse - verse 9 - says, "The
heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who
can know it?" This should come as a great warning - an alarm
bell, if you will - that we cannot always trust our hearts. We
cannot base our way of living on merely feelings and how we feel
in the heart.
The reason why everyone is so deceived and that there are so many
different brands of Christianity is that people base their
beliefs on feelings rather than truth. What is truth? Psalm
119:142 says, "Thy righteousness is an everlasting righteousness,
and thy law is the truth." Jesus said, "God is a Spirit: and they
that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth." We
must base our worship of God on His law - His commandments, not
on our feelings and what we see as "right in our own eyes." The
Bible says that, "all [of God's] commandments are righteousness"
(Psalm 119:172). So, the commandments of God's law are both
righteousness and truth. The opposite of righteousness is
wickedness. While keeping God's law is equated with righteousness
and truth, breaking or forsaking God's law is equated with
wickedness and lying. Psalm 119:53 says, "Horror hath taken hold
upon me because of the wicked that forsake thy law." Verse 155 of
the same chapter says, "Salvation is far from the wicked: for
they seek not thy statutes." Verse 163 says, "I hate and abhor
lying: but thy law do I love." Psalm 119:29 and 30a say, "Remove
from me the way of lying: and grant me thy law graciously. I have
chosen the way of truth." (Study also Ecc.9:3; Prov.11:20;
Deut.11:16; Zech.7:12; Gen.8:21; Isaiah 29:13; Obad.1:3; Lev.
26:41)
Again, we can't base the way we live solely on feelings of the
deceitful heart. Many people say they love God, but it's all
based on feelings. A person who truly loves God keeps His
commandments, which would include His Sabbath day and His feasts
and holy days, rather than the pagan Sunday and the pagan
holidays and feasts that the false professing "Christian"
Catholic Church and the Protestants keep.
I John 5:3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his
commandments: and His commandments are not grievous.
John 14:15 If ye love me, keep my commandments.
John 14:21 He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it
is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my
Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.
Those that profess to be Christians and profess to love the
Father and Christ but do not keep Their commandments are liars
and worship them in vain:
I John 2:4 He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his
commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
Matthew 15:9 But in vain they do worship me, teaching for
doctrines the commandments of men.
Sunday, Christmas, Easter, and others mainstream "Christian" days
are the commandments of men taught as doctrines by the Catholic
and Protestant whore churches.
Just saying we love God doesn't mean we truly do. That's not true
love. The reason why there are so many divorces in modern culture
is that people base love on feelings and the deceptions of the
human heart. Real love sticks through trials and hardships. Real
love serves. Real love forgives. Real love submits. Most
marriages reach points in which one or both spouses don't feel
love toward the other spouse for a time. It seems that the
majority decide to divorce at that point. That's what happens
when love is based on feelings only. When a person has true love
in his or her heart, the person shows it by his or her actions
toward the other person by actions, not by feelings only.
Evidence has revealed that showing love in actions eventually
brings back feelings of love as well.
In the same way that marriages will fail if based on exclusively
feelings of love, a relationship with God will fail also if based
solely on feelings. If a person does not keep God's commandments,
he or she will not inherit eternal life (Matt.19:17; Mark
10:17,19; Luke 18:18-20; Luke 13:3; 2 Peter 3:9; Rev. 3:5; Psalm
119:155, etc.), not because keeping the law will save us, but
because we are not offered the free gift of grace without first
repenting of sin (transgression of the law - I John 3:4) and
agreeing to keep the commandments.
What kind of heart does God desire?
Proverbs 3:1,3,5,7 My son, forget not my law; but let thine heart
keep my commandments ... Let not mercy and truth forsake thee:
bind them about thy neck; write them upon the table of thine
heart ... Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not
unto thine own understanding ... Be not wise in thine own eyes:
fear the LORD, and depart from evil.
Proverbs 6:20-21 My son, keep thy father's commandment, and
forsake not the law of thy mother: Bind them continually upon
thine heart, and tie them about thy neck.
Proverbs 7:1-3 My son, keep my words, and lay up my commandments
with thee. Keep my commandments, and live; and my law as the
apple of thine eye. Bind them upon thy fingers, write them upon
the table of thine heart.
Deut.6:5-6 And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine
heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these
words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart.
Deut.11:13,18 ... ye shall harken diligently unto my
commandments which I command you this day, to love the LORD your
God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul
... Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in
your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may
be as frontlets between your eyes.
I John 3:19-22 And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and
shall assure our hearts before him. For if our heart condemn us,
God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things. Beloved,
if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God.
And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we. keep his
commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight.
Deut.5:29 O that there were such an heart in them, that they
would fear me, and keep all my commandments always, that it might
be well with them, and with their children for ever!
I Kings 8:58,61 That he may incline our hearts unto him, to walk
in all his ways, and to keep his commandments, and his statutes,
and his judgments, which he commanded our fathers ... Let your
heart therefore be perfect with the LORD our God, to walk in his
statutes, and to keep his commandments, as at this day.
Proverbs 4:4 He taught me also, and said unto me, Let thine heart
retain my words: keep my commandments, and live.
Deut.8:2 And thou shalt remember all the way which the LORD thy
God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee,
and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou
wouldest keep his commandments, or no.
Deut.30:2,10 And shalt return unto the LORD thy God, and shalt
obey His voice according to all that I command thee this day,
thou and thy children, with all thine heart, and with all thy
soul ... If thou shalt harken unto the voice of the LORD thy
God, to keep His commandments and his statutes which are written
in this book of the law, and if thou turn unto the LORD thy God
with all thine heart, and with all thy soul.
I Kings 14:8 Go, tell Jeroboam, Thus saith the LORD God of
Israel, Forasmuch as I exalted thee from among the people, and
made thee prince over my people Israel, And rent the kingdom away
from the house of David, and gave it thee: and yet thou hast not
been as my servant David, who kept my commandments, and who
followed me with all his heart, to do that only which was right
in mine eyes (Note: David did what was right in whose eyes? God's
eyes and not his own, not what seemed right to himself, but what
was right according to God's law. - TC)
2 Chron.34:31 And the king stood in his place, and made a
covenant before the LORD, to walk after the LORD, and to keep His
commandments, and His testimonies, and His statutes, with all his
heart, and with all his soul, to perform the words of the
covenant which are written in this book.
Jeremiah 31:33 and Hebrews 8:10 But this shall be the covenant
that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days,
saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and
write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall
be my people. (Note: Nothing here about doing away with the law.
Rather the new covenant comes with the promise of God's Spirit
begettal so that His law is written in our hearts. Jesus in Matt.
5:17 said that he did not come to abolish the law. Absolutely
not! If He could have abolished the law, He would not have had to
die to cover our transgressions of it. - TC)
Ezekiel 11:17-21 Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will
even gather you from the people, and assemble you out of the
countries where ye have been scattered, and I will give you the
land of Israel. And they shall come thither, and they shall take
away all the detestable things thereof and all the abominations
thereof from thence. And I will give them one heart, and I will
put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out
of their flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh: That they
may walk in my statutes, and keep mine ordinances, and do them:
and they shall be my people, and I will be their God. But as for
them whose heart walketh after the heart of their detestable
things and their abominations, I will recompense their way upon
their own heads, saith the Lord GOD. (Note: This is a future
prophecy, foretelling of the gathering of the tribes of Israel
out of the nations after Jesus' return to set up His Kingdom,
those that will not be in the first resurrection, because
obviously they are not keeping God's commandments and do not have
His Spirit and do not have the kind of heart God desires. Those
who then still walk after the heart of detestable things and
abominations will be punished accordingly. - TC)
Joshua 22:5 But take diligent heed to do the commandment and the
law, which Moses the servant of the LORD charged you, to love the
LORD your God, and to walk in all His ways, and to keep His
commandments, and to cleave unto Him, and to serve Him with all
your heart and with all your soul.
2 Kings 23:3,25 And the king stood by a pillar, and made a
covenant before the LORD, to walk after the LORD, and to keep His
commandments and His testimonies and His statutes with all their
heart and all their soul, to perform the words of this covenant
that were written in this book. And all the people stood to the
covenant ... And like unto him was there no king before him, that
turned to the LORD with all his heart, and with all his soul, and
with all his might, according to all the law of Moses; neither
after him arose there any like him.
Ezra 7:10 For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the
LORD, and to do it, and to teach in Israel statutes and
judgments.
Deut.26:16 This day the LORD thy God hath commanded thee to do
these statutes and judgments: thou shalt therefore keep and do
them with all thine heart, and with all thy soul.
Isaiah 51:7 Harken unto me, ye that know righteousness, the
people in whose heart is my law; fear ye not the reproach of men,
neither be ye afraid of their revellings. (Note: Again, the new
covenant was prophesied to offer many God's Spirit begettal [upon
repentance and baptism] so that people would have God's law
written in their hearts.)
Deuteronomy 32:46 And he said unto them, Set your hearts unto all
the words which I testify among you this day, which ye shall
command your children to observe to do, all the words of this
law.
2 Chron. 31:21 And in every work that he began in the service of
the house of God, and in the law, and in the commandments, to
seek his God, he did it with all his heart, and prospered.
Job 22:22 Receive, I pray thee, the law from His mouth, and lay
up His words in thine heart.
Romans 7:22 In my heart I take pleasure in the law of God. (Bible
in Basic English translation)
2 Corinthians 3: 2-3,15 Ye are our epistle written in our hearts,
known and read of all men: Forasmuch as ye are manifestly
declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written
not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in
tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart ... Seeing
then that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech:
And not as Moses, which put a vail over his face, that the
children of Israel could not stedfastly look to the end of that
which is abolished: But their minds were blinded: for until this
day remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading of the
Old Testament; which vail is done away in Christ. But even unto
this day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart.
Nevertheless when it shall turn to the Lord, the vail shall be
taken away. Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of
the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with open face
beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into
the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the
Lord. (Note: Wow. Strong words here. People are still hardened in
heart. Most people do not wish to have God's law written in their
hearts. They are still blinded, refusing to accept the truth. -
TC)
Deut.10:16 Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and
be no more stiffnecked.
Deut.30:6 And the LORD thy God will circumcise thine heart, and
the heart of thy seed, to love the LORD thy God with all thine
heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live.
Jeremiah 4:4 Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, and take away the
foreskins of your heart, ye men of Judah and inhabitants of
Jerusalem: lest my fury come forth like fire, and burn that none
can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.
King David is known as a man after God's own heart:
I Samuel 13:4 But now thy kingdom shall not continue: the LORD
hath sought Him a man after His own heart, and the LORD hath
commanded him to be captain over His people, because thou hast
not kept that which the LORD commanded thee.
Acts 13:22 And when he had removed him, he raised up unto them
David to be their king; to whom also he gave their testimony, and
said, I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after mine own
heart, which shall fulfil all my will.
Let's look at what David wrote about a HEART that is after God's
own HEART:
Psalms 119:1-3, 10, 32-36, 58, 69-70, 111-112, 145, 161 Blessed
are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the LORD.
Blessed are they that keep His testimonies, and that seek Him
with the whole heart. They also do no iniquity: they walk in His
ways ... With my whole heart have I sought Thee: O let me not
wander from Thy commandments ... I will run the way of Thy
commandments, when thou shalt enlarge my heart. Teach me, O LORD,
the way of Thy statutes; and I shall keep it unto the end. Give
me understanding, and I shall keep Thy law; yea, I shall observe
it with my whole heart. Make me to go in the path of Thy
commandments; for therein do I delight. Incline my heart unto
Thy testimonies, and not to covetousness ... I intreated Thy
favour with my whole heart: be merciful unto me according to Thy
word ... The proud have forged a lie against me: but I will keep
Thy precepts with my whole heart. Their heart is as fat as
grease; but I delight in Thy law ... Thy testimonies have I taken
as an heritage for ever: for they are the rejoicing of my heart.
I have inclined mine heart to perform Thy statutes always, even
unto the end ... I cried with my whole heart; hear me, O LORD: I
will keep Thy statutes ... Princes have persecuted me without a
cause: but my heart standeth in awe of Thy word.
A person would do well to read the entire chapter of Psalm 119.
It is curiously the LONGEST chapter written in the Bible.
Let's compare the wise at heart and the foolish at heart:
Ecclesiastes 10:2 A wise man's heart is at his right hand; but a
fool's heart at his left.
Proverbs 10:8 The wise in heart will receive commandments: but a
prating fool shall fall.
Again, a warning about trusting a carnal heart:
Proverbs 28:26 He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool: but
whoso walketh wisely, he shall be delivered.
What is wisdom?
Psalm 111:10 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: a
good understanding have all they that do His commandments: His
praise endureth for ever.
Matthew 5:8 Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see
God.
Who are the "pure in heart?"
I Peter 1:22 Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the
truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see
that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently.
(Truth is defined by Psalm 119:142 as: Thy righteousness is an
everlasting righteousness, and thy law is the truth. See also
Psalm 119:151; Daniel 9:13; Romans 2:20; Malachi 2:6; Nehemiah
9:13;1 John 2:4
Psalm 19:7-8 The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul:
the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple. The
statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart: the
commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes.
I conclude that the law of God is pure, and those who obey and
rejoice in His law have pure hearts. Again, Jesus said, "Blessed
are the pure in heart: for they shall see God." He also said:
"Blessed are they that do His commandments, that they may have
right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates
into the city" (Revelation 22:14).
Those who do NOT have a pure heart and who do NOT keep God's
commandments will NOT see God and will NOT enter through the
gates into the city.
..................
Tara Chapman's Website is:
http://www.endtimecog.net
Entered on this Website May 2008
NOTE:
If Christians would study from works such as Strong's Concordance
of the Bible or Nave's Topical Bible, they would find the truth
on all the important doctrines that the Lord wants you to
understand.
If it was for not having the controversy over obeying the FOURTH
commandment - the weekly Sabbath day and the true Festivals of
the Lord instead of those handed down to us through the Roman
Catholic church, there would be very little difficulty for
Christians to disagree and argue away all these verses quoted in
the Bible. With the verses here shown from both Old and New
Testaments, it is clear what the Lord looks for as He searches
your heart. What He looks for is FAR MORE that just "emotion" or
a tingle up the spine at times. Yes, emotion is not ruled out, but
that emotion must be in line with what God claims is "truth" and
"righteousness" which have been apply proved in this study by
Tara Chapman.
The question is do YOU have the strength of character to admit
these verses say what they mean and mean what they say. A child
can come to read and understand them. The subject of getting a
heart and mind-set that is approved by the Most High, is pretty
easy to understand, but the willingness to search for it, to
grasp it, love it, and to BE a person after God's own heart ...
Ah, that is the jack-pot question. Just having a sentimental
emotion of the heart towards God, is NOT having the heart of
someone like king David. If you read his life story and his many
Psalms, if you note his deep repentant attitude towards his sins,
his confessing them, his humbleness, his desire beyond desire to
serve the Eternal in spirit and truth. If you read Psalm ONE you
will see the heart of this man, and you will KNOW that if you
follow the right ways of the Lord that David did in most of his
life, then yes you will know God does know your heart, and you
will know you have a heart after God's very own heart.
Again I say, it is pretty simple really, no fancy theology
doctorate is needed, just a reading and believing all the
passages on "the heart of man" and what it should be towards God in
thoughts, words, and deeds. As the apostle Paul once said, "The
simplicity that is in Christ Jesus."
Thank you Tara (a 25 year old young lady) for making what God
wants your heart to be like towards Him. It is clear and simple
for those who have eyes to see with and a heart to respond and
obey with.
Keith Hunt
Entered on this Website May 2008
