| – Caldwell Ministries – Loving God, Touching People, Changing Lives |
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THE HEART OF GOD As a worshipper, I have always taken great interest in the life of David. To my knowledge, there has never been a greater compliment given to anyone than the compliment given by God to David, “a man after God’s own heart.” That statement by God concerning David says volumes. To really understand what that means, we must first look at the heart of God. When I think about the heart of God there are so many things and aspects that come to mind, but the two greatest are love and the act of giving. When you consider the character of God, the clear conclusion is that God has a heart of love, for God is love, and a heart of giving. Over and over again in the Word of God and in our lives do we experience the generosity of God and how much He constantly gives. David understood the importance of loving God and giving unto God. That’s why he was such a great man of worship. David constantly poured his love out to God through his worship and his praise. He was a man that gave to God, more than he asked of God. I was doing a teaching on worship a few years ago and began to teach about the fact that David was a man who gave more than he asked. Off the cuff I made the comment that if you were to read through the book of Psalm and the Psalms that David had written, I believed that you would find that David praised God more than he asked of God. One of the young men who was n the class took it upon himself to research this very fact. His results, although not surprising, were quite amazing. He came to me a short time after that class and said that he had researched the amount of praise David offered to God compared to how many times David asked God for something. His findings were 70% giving to 30% asking. WOW! That’s the very reason he was called a man after God’s own heart. It became the cry of my heart to the Lord, that my giving outweigh my asking. Up to that point my quiet time was a time of me asking God for strength, creativity, to hear his voice, to meet my needs, and so on. A funny thing began to happen in my life. As I began to go into my quiet time, I began to praise God more than ever. Yes there were things in my heart that I wanted to ask of Him, but I wanted to give more than I asked of Him. I am convinced that the more you praise Him, the more He blesses you. I have never heard the voice of God more clearly than when I am praising Him. I have never been more creative than when I spend time in worship. I have found more strength, and have had more needs met when I stopped begging God to do something for me and simply lifted my hands and exalted Him in spirit and in truth. I am not suggesting that we stop asking God for things that are on our heart. I simply want to point out the importance of giving to God. I’ll never forget what God spoke to me when I made this change in my life. He said, “I give you what you NEED because I love you. I give you what you WANT because you love me.” That changed my life. If you are a parent you will understand this concept. As a parent, I provide food, clothing, shelter, education, and all the necessities of life to my children simply because they are my children and I love them. It’s when they crawl on the couch with me and give me a big hug and say “Daddy I love you” that moves me to go to Wal-Mart and get them what they WANT. Come on somebody! Let me take it one step further. As their father, I know what their needs are. Although they do at times, my kids do not have to come to me and my wife and say, I’m thirsty I need you to provide something to drink for me. Not only has drink has already been provided for them, they know where to go to get refreshed without even asking. Can I just tell you, God has already provided for you what you need, and I am fairly certain that you already know where to go to get your hands on it. As a father I also know what my children WANT. How do I know this? I live with them. I hear the things they tell one another. I keep up with what kids are doing these days. I have to tell you that there are times that I will get my kids something they want, without them asking, just simply to remind them of my love for them. What I’m saying is that God already knows your needs and your wants without you saying a word. There’s nothing wrong with you asking Him for what you have need of, but too often we spend all of our time with Him asking Him for something, when we should be spending most of our time showing Him some love. I challenge you to put this into practice in your life and see how your life dramatically changes. May God richly bless you as you engage His presence through praise! |