4 Steps To Have A Happy Heart
Notes
Transcript
4 Steps To Have A Happy Heart
4 Steps To Have A Happy Heart
1 To You I will cry, O Lord my Rock: Do not be silent to me, Lest, if You are silent to me, I become like those who go down to the pit.
2 Hear the voice of my supplications When I cry to You, When I lift up my hands toward Your holy sanctuary.
3 Do not take me away with the wicked And with the workers of iniquity, Who speak peace to their neighbors, But evil is in their hearts.
4 Give them according to their deeds, And according to the wickedness of their endeavors; Give them according to the work of their hands; Render to them what they deserve.
5 Because they do not regard the works of the Lord, Nor the operation of His hands, He shall destroy them And not build them up.
6 Blessed be the Lord, Because He has heard the voice of my supplications!
7 The Lord is my strength and my shield; My heart trusted in Him, and I am helped; Therefore my heart greatly rejoices, And with my song I will praise Him.
A young man named John received a parrot as a gift. The parrot had a horribly nasty attitude and an even worse vocabulary.
Every word out of the bird's' mouth was rude, obnoxious and laced with profanity. John tried and tried to change the bird's attitude by consistently saying only polite words, playing soft music and anything else he could think of to 'clean up' the bird's vocabulary.
Finally, John was fed up and he yelled at the parrot.
The parrot yelled back. John shook the parrot and the parrot got angrier and even more rude. John, in desperation, threw up his hands, grabbed the bird and put him in the freezer.
For a few minutes the parrot squawked and kicked and screamed.
Then suddenly there was total quiet. Not a peep was heard for over a minute. Fearing that he'd hurt the parrot, John quickly opened the door to the freezer. The parrot calmly stepped out onto John's outstretched arms and said
" I believe I may have offended you with my rude language and
actions. I'm sincerely remorseful for my inappropriate transgressions and I fully intend to do everything I can to correct my rude and unforgivable behavior."
John was stunned at the change in the bird's attitude.
As he was about to ask the parrot what had made such a
dramatic change in his behavior, the bird spoke-up, very softly,
"May I ask what the turkey did? "
Are we not so glad this morning that we are not turkeys? Even though some make act as turkeys and hams. It is great to be in the house of the Lord. We always take time to remember all the things we have to thankful for. This is something we need to practice every day.
God is our strength . This word for strength is a noun for a place for protection. A stronghold of protection from attacks. When we were kids, we would play ‘tag’ and many versions of it and my favorite was freeze tag. There was always a designated base. A safe spot that if you could only reach it, you could not be harmed. God is our safe zone and we need to get back to the base.
God is my shield. God is not only my safe zone, but also my protector. He protects us in ways we do not even realize. We could list at least one way God has protected us. John Paton was a missionary in the New Hebrides Islands. One night hostile natives surrounded the mission station, intent on burning out the Patons and killing them. Paton and his wife prayed during that terror-filled night that God would deliver them. When daylight came they were amazed to see their attackers leave. A year later, the chief of the tribe was converted to Christ. Remembering what had happened, Paton asked the chief what had kept him from burning down the house and killing them. The chief replied in surprise, “Who were all those men with you there?” Paton knew no men were present--but the chief said he was afraid to attack because he had seen hundreds of big men in shining garments with drawn swords circling the mission station. Today in the Word, MBI, October, 1991, p. 18
My heart trusts in Him. My heart, in this portion of scripture is referring to my heart, mind, soul, and spirit. This the inner self with a focus on thoughts and feelings. Does our heart really trust in Him? Do we trust Him with the areas of our life where we are the most vulnerable? Our fears, our hopes, our dreams, our family. I really struggled with this when I was pregnant with Gabriel. I had a miscarriage 1 year previous, could I trust God with this one? Now think about it, my logic sounded good to me at the time, but looking back it seems definitely non-logical. At the time, it was a crisis of faith. I had lost a baby, how could I trust God with this pregnancy. So let’s say I allowed this became a game changer for me and I walked away from my faith because I allowed my fear and my pain to direct the direction of my life? That would not have ensured life for Gabriel. I came to the point, that no matter what happened with Gabriel, God was still number on in my life.
I will sing a song of praise. A song of praise is very important. There are many throughout the Bible written by my people such as Miriam and Miriam, Deborah and Baruk, numerous songs by David, Asaph, Jehoshaphat, Isaiah, and John records songs of praises he hears in heaven. Will that not be a glorious song? The first person to write a song in the bible is Moses and Moses wrote a song of praise.
1 Then Moses and the children of Israel sang this song to the Lord, and spoke, saying: “I will sing to the Lord, For He has triumphed gloriously! The horse and its rider He has thrown into the sea!
2 The Lord is my strength and song, And He has become my salvation; He is my God, and I will praise Him; My father’s God, and I will exalt Him.
3 The Lord is a man of war; The Lord is His name.
This is not the entire song. The song goes through verse 19 with Miriam adding an ending. Now lets look at the last song at the end of the book.
3 They sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying: “Great and marvelous are Your works, Lord God Almighty! Just and true are Your ways, O King of the saints!
4 Who shall not fear You, O Lord, and glorify Your name? For You alone are holy. For all nations shall come and worship before You, For Your judgments have been manifested.”
It is a reworking of the first song and significantly shortened down. From 19 verses to 2 verses.
On Thursday morning, before you watch the parade or start on any preparations for the day, go the Lord and be thankful. Be thankful for a God who loves you so much, He would to a cruel cross to redeem you. Be thankful that God is safety. He is our safe zone. Be thankful that God is our protections. Trust in God and do not lean on your own understanding. Sing a song of praise. It is very important to give praises to our God.
40 But He answered and said to them, “I tell you that if these should keep silent, the stones would immediately cry out.”
I do not want the rocks doing my job. Job is not the right word. It is my passion. It is my joy. It is my pleasure and honor to praise the Lord in song.
4 And in that day you will say: “Praise the Lord, call upon His name; Declare His deeds among the peoples, Make mention that His name is exalted.