From His Heart

Speaker 1

Today on From His Heart with Pastor Jeff Shreve, we'll secure the key to intimacy with God.

Speaker 2

Hey, are you weary? And are you weighed down with the worries and the cares of this world? You put on a smiley face and come to church, but you're being weighed down with the shame and the guilt of your sin.

You say things to God that you think he wants to hear, but you don't really open up. You don't really tell him what's going on. You wonder, why am I not closer to God? Because you're not pouring out your heart, that's why.

God is a safe place for secrets. God is a safe place for hurts. God is a refuge for us.

Speaker 1

Why is it that so many people who are truly born again don't appear to have a close relationship with the Lord? In other words, the fruits of the Spirit are hard to find? Well, wouldn't it be truly fantastic if we could be intimate friends with God, the God who spoke the worlds into existence?

This is From His Heart with Pastor Jeff Shreve. Thank you for joining us today. We trust you had a glorious Easter celebration and grew even closer to the Savior. Today's lesson is called the Key to Intimacy with God. Part two, a perfect follow-up from Easter, and it's where we left off last Thursday.

Pastor Jeff is going to guide us through scriptures, exploring how we can experience that special closeness to God and consequently bring healing and comfort in troubled times. The message today from Pastor Jeff is from his series Roller Coaster: Facing the Ups and Downs of Life. We have been in it for the last couple of weeks, and this is the fourth message in the series.

If you missed any of these broadcasts this month, you can listen again online at fromhisheart.org. Click the Listen tab, but do that later. Now, open your Bible to Psalm 62 as Pastor Jeff helps us find and begin to use the key to intimacy with God.

Speaker 2

What is the key to an intimate, close relationship with God? I want to share with you the key, and it comes in two parts. This is very, very simple, but it's very, very profound. And if you will insert the key in the door, so to speak, you will enter into a deeper relationship with the Lord than you've ever experienced before.

What is the key? Part one. The key to intimacy with God is Time with God. Time with God. David was facing danger. His third-born son, Absalom, was coming to Jerusalem, coming to kill him. David had to leave, had to flee. If you read the story about David leaving Jerusalem, he leaves the city barefoot; he leaves the city weeping as he goes out to escape his son. Can you imagine your son coming to kill you, coming to steal the kingdom away from you? It's horrible. And so David, in the midst of danger, in the midst of trouble, takes time to linger in God's presence. He takes time to be with the Lord. That is critical.

Now, when you come before the Lord in quiet time to hear from God, to read His Word, that's how you hear from God. God speaks primarily through His Word. When we pray, that's how we talk to God. And there's a conversation going on. There are some key things that God is looking for, key things that you can give Him. First of all, you can give Him your undivided attention. I come before the Lord to have time with the Lord. And what does God want from me? He wants my undivided attention. He wants my full attention. It says in Psalm 123:1-2, "O Lord and our God, I turn my eyes to you. On your throne in heaven, servants look to their master. But we will look to you until you have mercy on us." It says in Hebrews that we're to be fixing our eyes on the author and perfecter of faith, the Lord Jesus Christ. That means to set your eyes on Him and don't look at anything else. You just keep your eyes on Him. God wants your undivided attention. When you have quiet time, have quiet, undivided attention given to God.

Secondly, you want to have not only undivided attention, but God wants you to give Him your unhurried attention. My soul, wait in silence for God. Only wait. Wait for God. See, it's quiet time. It's still time, and it's waiting time. We have to wait on God because God is working on us. So much of the time we want God to do, and God says, "Well, you know, I can't do that because you're not ready for me to do that." The things you're asking me to do, you're not ready for. I'm working something great in you, and it's not done yet. We could really speed this up if you would start growing more. And so we're waiting on God. God's waiting on us, and it takes time, unhurried time.

Then give Him your undaunted time. Undaunted time, you say. Jeff, what is undaunted time? The word undaunted means this: not intimidated or discouraged by difficulty, danger, or disappointment. David had confidence in God that God was going to see him through even this terrible, horrible situation with his son Absalom coming to kill him. Look at verse five again: "My soul wait in silence for God only, for my hope is from Him. He only is my rock and my salvation, my stronghold. I shall not be shaken. On God, my salvation and my glory, rest the rock of my strength. My refuge is in God." David had confidence, and so he was able to just rest and wait patiently.

What's the key to intimacy with God? Time with God. Time with God. The key to intimacy with God, Part one, is time with God. The key to intimacy with God, Part two, is honesty before God. Honesty before God. This one seems easy, but it's not easy. Look at verse 8: "Trust in Him at all times, O people. Pour out your heart before Him. God is a refuge for us." We need honesty before the Lord. David said in Psalm 51 that, "Lord, you desire truth in the innermost being." That's what God wants—truthfulness in the innermost being.

You know, in the Bible, in Ephesians chapter six, it talks about the armor of God. "Put on the full armor of God that you may be able to resist the enemy in the evil day." The very first piece of armor that the Scripture talks about is the belt of truth, the girdle of truth that holds everything together. It's truth; it's honesty. You have to have that; I have to have that if we're going to walk with God. God works in an honest heart. He can't work in a dishonest heart. He can't work in a duplicitous heart. That's why the Bible says that when you pray, "If any man lacks wisdom, let him ask of God. He gives to all men generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith without any doubting. For the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the waves. Let not that man expect to receive anything from God, being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways." God says, "I want truth and honesty in the inner being." And when you come before me, I want you to be honest with me. Honest with me.

You know, you go to a counselor and you need help. And I'll tell people this all the time: "Listen, for you to get help in your marriage problem, for you to get help in this problem, that problem, whatever it is, you have to be honest. Because if you're not honest, this isn't going to work." A counselor can't work in a dishonest heart. God can't work in a dishonest heart.

Well, you say, "Why would anyone have trouble being honest with the Lord?" It's because of pride. Pride keeps us from being honest with God. Pride says, "Well, I don't really want to open myself up because I'm going to expose myself, and so I want to keep myself intact." God wants us to put away our pride. He says, "Come before me. Linger in my presence. Be honest before me. Put away your pride." Why, God? Because God says, "I'm opposed to the proud. I give grace to the humble."

There are six things—Proverbs 6—there are six things which the Lord hates. Yes, seven which are an abomination to Him. Number one on the list: haughty eyes, a proud look. God hates pride. He hates pride. He says in the book of Isaiah, "But to this one will I look: to him who is humble and contrite of heart and who trembles at my word." Who are you going to look at, God? "I'm going to look at the humble man, the humble woman, the humble boy, the humble girl." Because the prideful, I'm opposed to them. I line up against them like in football. God's going to line up against you if you're proud. But if you're humble, He will pour out His grace. God says, "Put away your pride when you come before me."

And God wants us not only to put away our pride but to face the brutal facts. Now, here's the thing about pride: pride doesn't like to face the brutal facts. Pride doesn't like to look in the mirror. Pride doesn't like to soberly look within. See, we want to keep ourselves intact. "Hey, I'm okay. I got everything together. You know, I may not be perfect, but I'm pretty good. I'm better than most, and so I don't really have any problems." We kind of want to have that persona. We come before the Lord, "Oh, Lord. You know, it'd be nice if you could help me with this or help me with that or help me with the other. But everything's going pretty good."

You know, I ask people at restaurants and things, "Hey, we're going to pray before our meal. Is there anything that I can pray for you about?" Oftentimes it catches the waiter or waitress off guard, and they're like, "Well, nothing you can pray for me about. You know, everything's good." Sometimes they're just like, "I'm not ready for this." And so I know everything's fine. And then sometimes they just open up, as one lady told me. She said, "Yes, you can pray for me because I just lost two children over the summer." She was just kind of a zombie in terms of grief. She still had to work, but she was processing through all of this. And through a series of events, we were able to lead her to faith in Jesus Christ. But she opened up.

And we don't really like to do that because we don't like to look in the mirror. We don't like to face the brutal facts. You know, the song says, "It's me, it's me, it's me, O Lord, standing in the need of prayer." But it's much easier up here to say, "It's y'all, it's y'all, it's y'all, O Lord, standing in the need of prayer. We're good over here." Quinn was. Now he's out there, so he's in trouble. But, you know, it's always the other guy. But no, God says, "What about you?" And we love to deny, and we love to deflect, and we love to look at other people. "Well, if they didn't do this, they didn't do that, then, you know, I'm really not at fault here." God says, "Face the brutal facts."

David, in Psalm 139, prayed this prayer: "Search me, O God, and know my heart. Try me, and know my anxious thoughts and see if there be any hurtful way in me, and lead me in the everlasting way." Do you ever do that with the Lord? You come before Him and say, "God, I just want you to show me what's wrong in here. I want you to show me what in my life is displeasing to you. Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer." Lord, you show me.

I was talking to a friend just the other day who had gone through a divorce. He didn't want the divorce, but he was telling me what was going on. He said, "I tried and tried. I asked my wife, please, let's go to counseling." She said, "I don't need counseling. You need counseling. You're the problem. The problem's not me. The problem is you." I know this guy pretty well, and I know his wife, and I know that guy's not perfect. But the problem is mostly her. And she refuses to see that there's any problem in her. She has difficulty with so many people, and the problem is always someone else.

It's like, "Hey, do you ever stop to maybe look in the mirror and see what the common denominator is? Why can't you get along with anybody?" Well, the problem is always somebody else. I heard Rick Warren say this one time: "You know, if one person calls you a horse's rear end, you can just kind of blow it off and say, 'Well, they're just kind of mean-spirited.' If two people call you a horse's rear end, you may want to take note. If three or more call you a horse's rear end, buy a saddle, because that's what you are, right? You got a real problem." And that's why you're hearing this from all sorts of people.

We have to be willing to face the brutal facts and quit just saying, "No, it's somebody else's problem." Matt Redmond was at our church just a couple of weeks ago. What a sweet-spirited guy. What a tremendous worship leader and songwriter. Well, Matt Redmond shares a story that early in his ministry, he was part of a praise team at a particular church. The pastor sat down with Matt and the rest of the praise team and said, "Listen, team, we're losing it. We're missing out on the purpose of what we're here for. You guys are more concerned about making good music and sounding good and hearing the accolades from the people, and we've lost track of the vertical relationship here. That's what it's all about, is to worship the Lord."

The pastor rebuked the praise team, and the praise team got mad, and the praise team quit. Except for Matt Redmond. Matt Redmond took the rebuke, and he took it before the Lord. He looked in the mirror and said, "God, search me and know my heart and try me and know my anxious thoughts." The Lord convicted him and said, "What that pastor is saying is right." Matt Redmond repented of that, and the Lord gave him a song: "When the music fades and all swept away, I'm coming back to the heart of worship, and it's all about you. It's all about you, Jesus. I'm sorry, Lord, for the things I've made it because it's all about you. It's all about you."

He had lost sight of that, and he needed somebody to speak into his heart like Nathan did to David. All of a sudden, it jolted him back, and he came before the Lord in humility. He faced the brutal facts. We put away our pride, we face the brutal facts, and then we share our hurts and our hopes and our failures with the Lord. This is hard. See, "Trust in Him at all times, O people. Pour out your heart before Him." That means to spill. It means to gush forth. You know, we use that sometimes when you can tell a friend is very, very bogged down. You're talking to them, and you're like, "Okay, timeout. You need to spill. Something is on your heart. Something is bothering you. What is it? Spill."

And we want that person to really open up and share. Oh, God says that to us. He says, "Listen, you need to pour out your heart to me. You need to tell me what's going on." You say, "Well, doesn't God already know?" Yes, He knows. But you need to tell Him because it's to your benefit to get that out of your heart and onto the table with the Lord.

Hannah, in the Old Testament, was married to a man named Elkanah. In First Samuel, chapter one, we read about him. He has two wives: Hannah and Peninnah. Peninnah had children, and Hannah didn't have any children. And, you know, back in that day, if you didn't have kids, your prayer was, "God, give me children, lest I die. God, I be barren." It's the worst stigma that a woman could have in Israel. Peninnah, there was jealousy; you know, it's never a good idea for a man to have two wives. And so there's jealousy amongst the family. Peninnah has kids, and she's constantly needling Hannah, who doesn't have any children.

Hannah's just so broken, and her heart is just filled with such grief. She goes before the Lord. She couldn't eat. She just goes before the Lord, and she cries bitter tears. She's praying, and there's no sound coming out. She's just so deep in prayer, and her lips are moving, but there's no sound. Eli the priest sees her, and he thinks she's drunk. So he says to her, "How long are you going to be drinking? Put away your wine from you." And she said, "Oh, no, my lord. 1st Samuel 1:15. Know, my lord, I am a woman oppressed in spirit. I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but I have poured out my soul before the Lord."

I just let it all hang out. I just told God everything. I let all my hurts out. I let all my hopes out. I let all my failures out. I told God about how much I disliked Elkanah's other wife, Peninnah, I like to call the pain. And I just let it. I just told God everything. And I just poured out my heart to the Lord. That's so important. That's how you get to be close with God. When you start to put away your pride, you start to open up your heart. You start to see what's in there. You let the Lord do His diagnostic in your heart, and then you start bringing everything before the Lord—all your hopes, all your dreams, all your sins, all your hurts, all your failures—and you put it out there.

You say, "Oh, I don't know if I could do that. That would be pretty scary. I don't know if the Lord would want me to do that." Well, you know what Jesus said in Matthew, chapter 11: "Come to me, all who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me. For I am gentle and humble in heart, and you shall find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my load is light."

Hey, are you here today, and are you weary? Are you weighed down with the worries and the cares of this world? Are you weighed down with sin and guilt and shame, and it's just crushing you? You're going on in life, and you're trying to play the game, and you put on a smiley face and you come to church, but you're being weighed down with the shame and the guilt of your sin. You come before the Lord, and you try and keep yourself intact. And so you say things to God that you think He wants to hear, and you don't really open up. You don't really tell Him what's going on. And you wonder, "Why am I not closer to God?" Because you're not pouring out your heart. That's why you're not being honest with the Lord.

What does He desire? "Thou dost desire truth in the innermost being." God says, "I can't work in your life until you get honest with me." But you say, "Oh, Jeff, I don't think that would be a safe thing to do. I can't. Boy, I think I would burn my bridge with God if I really told Him what was going on, if I told Him all the frustrations." That's why it says, "Trust in Him at all times, O people. Pour out your heart before Him. God is a refuge for us." God is a safe place. Secrets. God is a safe place for hurts. God is a safe place to tell Him everything that's going on. God is a refuge for us, and He wants you to know that He is a safe place.

And it says after verse 8 you have the word "Selah." S-E-L-A-H. Selah. You read that in the Psalms. Selah probably means a musical interlude because the Psalms were sung, and so Selah doesn't really have anything like, "What does that mean? That must really enhance this verse." There's some kind of thing that Selah means. Selah means pause. It's a musical interlude. You're going to pause right there. But the key to Selah is this: God is a refuge for us.

Speaker 1

What a message and great encouragement from the heart of David. God is a refuge for us. Today's message was part two of the lesson called the key to intimacy with God from Pastor Jeff's eight-lesson series, Roller Coaster: Facing the Ups and Downs of Life. We know that God was a refuge for King David even in the dark times, and he had many.

What about you? Have you let the problems you have in life cause you to believe the lies of the devil and keep you from God, diverting your worries and hoping for an answer from this world to solve your problem? Sadly, many people, and even some churches, have succumbed to this deception. But when we avoid the hard truths of sin and repentance, we forfeit the life-changing power of the gospel. The truth of it is, more than ever, we need to discern the lies of the enemy and anchor ourselves in God's truth.

To help you do that, we want to send you Pastor Jeff's series, Nothing but the Truth, in the format of your choice as our thanks for your gift of support this month to From His Heart. And with that series, we'll send you the bonus booklet, Sticks and What to Do When the Going Gets Tough. To get yours, call 866-40-BIBLE (866-40-BIBLE) or go online to fromhisheart.org. Again, the number is 866-40-BIBLE or go to fromhisheart.org today.

Hey, thanks again for being with us today on From His Heart. I'm Larry Nobles, and we pray that you'll be back tomorrow for the next lesson in Pastor Jeff's series, Roller Coaster: Facing the Ups and Downs of Life, when we'll be informed about how to live a life that is completely unshaken. That's Tuesday, when we'll study God's word to discover real truth, real love, and real hope. From His Heart.

Speaker 2

He can heal every scar. So.

Speaker 1

From his heart is the listener supported Broadcast Ministry of Dr. Jeff Shreve speaking the truth in love to a lost and a hurting world.

Remember, no matter what, God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life.

Find out about that when you go to promisheart.org.