Sensitive Heart
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Intro: Last week we did a brief study on the sincerity of our heart when we pray, and I would like to continue to build on the subject of prayer. This week we will be considering praying with a sensitive heart. The word sensitive; as defined by the 1928: (Having sense or feeling, or having the capacity of perceiving impressions from external objects; as sensitive soul; sensitive appetite; sensitive faculty.) Our focus tonight will be those things which affect the souls senses.
The seat of the emotion is our culture is the heart, which is why we say things like you broke my heart or maybe I love you with all my heart. I am not saying that, that is good or bad, but the reality is that there are things in our life that affect us on a deeper level than other things. We are created in the image of God. God created us with feeling and emotion, so it would be foolish of my to tell you that we should disconnect from any feeling or emotion that we might have. It would be exceedingly foolish for us to pretend like they didn’t exist at all and to go on with our lives while ignoring them. The reality is that God is an emotional God, and what is clear throughout the Scriptures is that God has feeling, so what are we to do? We are to ensure that those feelings and emotions that we have, are in obedience towards God. Would you agree that there is a difference between being controlled by our feelings or emotions and being affected by our feelings or emotions?
When I say a sensitive heart I want to clarify, that I am not talking it’s hot or cold in here, I am talking about those things that affect the very depth of our soul.
Example:
And saith unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful unto death: tarry ye here, and watch.
It has been said, that if we didn’t have any problems, then we would have little reason to pray… We are certainly affected throughout life by physical things, but they typically come and go, if you have pain, there are usually things that you can do to get temporary relief from that pain. So I want to set the physical aside for tonight. Not to ignore it, but to focus on the deeper things.
Those things that affect my soul:
Sin - Whether my own, or the sin of another, either towards my, or just witnessed sin against God. ( This is a heavy burden to bear and deeply affects us)
Sometimes, it is in the dyer need of God’s mercy… (This can be in many forms, forgiveness from sin, restoration of fellowship between both God or a brother or sister in Christ, or may even be a spiritual need of some other sort.
Sometimes, it is mercy recieved… (Either we sought God, through the sensitivity of our heart, or we recognize God blesses us, and our soul is effected through His loving mercy given.
The prayer from the sensitive of heart is most often one that is squeezed out through grief.
A cry for mercy because the soul is greatly sorrowful:
Samuel 1:1-10
And she was in bitterness of soul, and prayed unto the Lord, and wept sore.
Save me, O God; for the waters are come in unto my soul.
I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing:
I am come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me.
I am weary of my crying: my throat is dried:
Mine eyes fail while I wait for my God.
I am feeble and sore broken:
I have roared by reason of the disquietness of my heart.
Lord, all my desire is before thee;
And my groaning is not hid from thee.
My heart panteth, my strength faileth me:
As for the light of mine eyes, it also is gone from me.
Hezekiah mourns:
Like a crane or a swallow, so did I chatter:
I did mourn as a dove:
Mine eyes fail with looking upward:
O Lord, I am oppressed; undertake for me.
Christ:
Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared;
The sorrows of death compassed me,
And the pains of hell gat hold upon me:
I found trouble and sorrow.
Then called I upon the name of the Lord;
O Lord, I beseech thee, deliver my soul.
In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord:
My sore ran in the night, and ceased not:
My soul refused to be comforted.
I am troubled; I am bowed down greatly;
I go mourning all the day long.
Because of sin:
Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness:
According unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions.
Wash me throughly from mine iniquity,
And cleanse me from my sin.
For I acknowledge my transgressions:
And my sin is ever before me.
Against thee, thee only, have I sinned,
And done this evil in thy sight:
That thou mightest be justified when thou speakest,
And be clear when thou judgest.
Behold, I was shapen in iniquity;
And in sin did my mother conceive me.
Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts:
And in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom.
With the sensitivity of our heart we cry, and it is with the sensitivity of heart, that we receive the promise of mercy to be given:
First comes in the soul a sense of mercy to be recieved:
In the first year of his reign I Daniel understood by books the number of the years, whereof the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet, that he would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem. And I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes: And I prayed unto the Lord my God, and made my confession, and said,
O Lord, the great and dreadful God, keeping the covenant and mercy to them that love him, and to them that keep his commandments;
For thou, O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, hast revealed to thy servant, saying, I will build thee an house: therefore hath thy servant found in his heart to pray this prayer unto thee. And now, O Lord God, thou art that God, and thy words be true, and thou hast promised this goodness unto thy servant: Therefore now let it please thee to bless the house of thy servant, that it may continue for ever before thee: for thou, O Lord God, hast spoken it: and with thy blessing let the house of thy servant be blessed for ever.
And Jacob said, O God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, the Lord which saidst unto me, Return unto thy country, and to thy kindred, and I will deal well with thee: I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies, and of all the truth, which thou hast shewed unto thy servant; for with my staff I passed over this Jordan; and now I am become two bands. Deliver me, I pray thee, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau: for I fear him, lest he will come and smite me, and the mother with the children.
What encouragement, comfort, and strength that comes as God enlightens His promise of mercy upon our soul.
Finally, with the sensitivity of heart we cry, and with the sensitivity of heart we receive mercy itself:
Bless the Lord, O my soul:
And all that is within me, bless his holy name.
Bless the Lord, O my soul,
And forget not all his benefits:
Who forgiveth all thine iniquities;
Who healeth all thy diseases;
Who redeemeth thy life from destruction;
Who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies;
Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things;
So that thy youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.
In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.
Would our thanks be meaningful if they were empty words? Through the sensitivity of our heart we cried, it was through the sensitivity of our heart, that God heart and responded, and now it is through the sensitivity of our heart, that we thank Him, for His blessings and mercy.