The Heart Series Week 2
God Who Contends with the Human Heart
Jeremiah 17:9-10 (MSG)
“The heart is hopelessly dark and deceitful, a puzzle that no one can figure out. But I, God, search the heart and examine the mind. I get to the heart of the human. I get to the root of things. I treat them as they really are, not as they pretend to be.”
Johari Window
Psalms 10:4 (NIV)
”In his pride the wicked man does not seek him; in all his thoughts there is no room for God.”
Mark 7:6-8 (NIV)
“You hypocrites; as it is written: ‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men. You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of men.’"
God Wants to Work In The Whole of Our Hearts, and It Can Mean Facing Some Tough Things. He May Need to Challenge and Change Some Areas…
Where Can I Go from Your Presence?
Psalms 139:1-18 (NIV)
“You have searched me, Lord,
and you know me.
You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.
You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.
Before a word is on my tongue
you, Lord, know it completely.
You hem me in behind and before,
and you lay your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too lofty for me to attain.
Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.
If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,”
even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you.
For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place,
when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes saw my unformed body;
all the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
How precious to me are your thoughts, God!
How vast is the sum of them!
Were I to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand—
when I awake, I am still with you.”
Luke 16:15 (NIV)
”You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of men, but God knows your hearts. What is highly valued among men is detestable in God’s sight."
Psalms 26:2 (NIV)
“Test me, O LORD, and try me; examine my heart and mind.”
Psalms 139:23-24 (BSB)
“Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my concerns. See if there is any offensive way in me; lead me in the way everlasting.”
1 John 3:20 (BSB)
“Even if our hearts condemn us, God is greater than our hearts, and He knows all things.”
Prayer of Confession
“Most merciful God,
we confess that we have sinned against you
in thought, word, and deed,
by what we have done, and by what we have left undone.
We have not loved you with our whole heart.
We have not loved our neighbors as ourselves.
We have not walked in your ways
and have chosen what seems good and right in our own eyes
we are truly sorry, and we humbly repent.
For the sake of your Son Jesus Christ,
have mercy on us and forgive us.
That we may delight in your will, and walk in your ways,
to the glory of your Name. Amen.”
