In the Morning

In the Morning 

by David Brenneman 

"Give ear to my words, O Lord, Consider my groaning. Heed the sound of my cry for help, my King and my God, For to You I pray. In the morning, O Lord, You will hear my voice; In the morning I will order my prayer to You and eagerly watch. For You are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness; No evil dwells with You. The boastful shall not stand before Your eyes; You hate all who do iniquity. You destroy those who speak falsehood; The Lord abhors the man of bloodshed and deceit. But as for me, by Your abundant lovingkindness I will enter Your house, At Your holy temple I will bow in reverence for You. O Lord, lead me in Your righteousness because of my foes; Make Your way straight before me. There is nothing reliable in what they say; Their inward part is destruction itself. Their throat is an open grave; They flatter with their tongue. Hold them guilty, O God; By their own devices let them fall! In the multitude of their transgressions thrust them out, For they are rebellious against You. But let all who take refuge in You be glad, Let them ever sing for joy; And may You shelter them, That those who love Your name may exult in You. For it is You who blesses the righteous man, O Lord, You surround him with favor as with a shield." Psalms 5:1-12.

How often do you really start your day in prayer before other things? Do you at all consider that when you lay down and when you rise up you are always on the mind of Jesus? He who knows your thoughts from afar? He who set you aside from your mother's womb? He who eagerly desires the Spirit of God within you? 

It's always awesome and amazing when the Spirit of God makes parts of the Scriptures stand out. Yesterday part of what was written had to do with our hearts before Him. 

I read this morning and what I read last night stands out along side this portion from the book of Psalms. 

Was reading in the book of Chronicles. For as much as modern preaching says it's ok to do this or that. Do you notice how kings were rated on whether or not they served the Lord with ALL their heart or not?

I can't ever forget a saying. All means all and that's all all means. 

When we put things higher in our hearts than is healthy, the Spirit will have something to say about it. 

The Disciples were called to serve and learn with their whole heart. All their heart. 

They were teaching others as per the Great Commission to do the same. Later, we see some examples of people ridding themselves of stuff they put higher in their heart than Jesus. 

Your heart is that important to Jesus. Love the Lord your God with all your heart. Trust in the Lord with all your heart. See the pattern yet?

We prepare our hearts for the day by being in prayer. We get ready for the battles that wait for us through prayer. We communicate with Jesus through prayer. We share our heart aches and our joys with Jesus in prayer. We find out what's more important to us by our prayers. We see what we avoid talking to God about and the things we do. Don't think it goes unnoticed by Jesus when we're avoiding Him or avoiding a subject that He's intent on talking to you about. 

David was known as a man after God's own heart. David held nothing back in his prayers. Beit anger, frustration, fear, joy, love, hate, anything that was on his heart was shared with Jesus in prayer. 

David knew what we need to learn...we are an open book before Jesus. He accepted it, he embraced it, he looked forward to it. 

We often compartmentalize our lives. A social media room in our hearts. A face-to-face room in our hearts. A workplace room in our hearts. A close friend(s) room in our hearts. A casual acquaintance room in our hearts. A my desires room in our hearts. A...we can theoretically have countless rooms. 

The point is...Jesus wants into all of them. Our hearts belong to Christ Jesus. All of the heart. If we're holding onto a part that we think He's not coming into, He WILL wait us out until we submit to Him...or in some cases...He's going to bust down the door. Look at the Apostle Paul.  

The Biblical examples of the Kings of Judah show us that walking after God with a whole heart is important. Most of those Kings were compared to how well they walked with the Lord compared to His servant David. 

Our adversary prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. We read in 2 Corinthians 2:11 "so that no advantage would be taken of us by Satan, for we are not ignorant of his schemes."

Schemes are being formed by the Devil and his minions concerning you. Read that again. 

Solomon fell, regardless of the wisdom he had because he did not walk with Jesus with his whole heart. All of it.

Liking something is perhaps ok in this world. Loving it, regardless of if you define it as such, is not right. 

If we are taking the passion, devotion, joy, anything that belongs to God and place it upon someone or something else, it's a sin. 

Jesus wants all of you. All of your heart. "All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work." 2 Timothy 3:16-17. Every good work can be read as All work in Christ Jesus. 

Start your day off right and clear out whatever is in your way of a right relationship with Jesus. He's the Good Shepherd. He's your Lord and Savior. He's worthy of our all. Not our leftovers. Not what we decide to give to Him. Not what we've justified as belonging to Him and these other things are ours to do with as we please. 

Even the Lord's Prayer is replete with the truth that "all" is implied. 

Discover David's heart in the book of Psalms. See in the books of Kings and Chronicles every single time their hearts are mentioned. 

It's time to be getting our hearts right before Him with whom we have to do. 

All NASB 1995 and NASB Scripture Excerpts used by permission. (C) Lockman Foundation.