Kerry Shook - Your Target Determines Where Life Takes You
You know, the last couple of weeks we’ve been targeting the heart. We’ve been focusing on the heart because the Bible says everything you do in life flows from your heart. Now, the Bible describes your heart as those internal motivations and passions, your internal will and desire. Your heart is really like an arrow. Your arrow represents our hearts. Somebody said, «Uh-oh,» I know you’re concerned that the band is back there, but I’m not very concerned about them because I’m not worried about those guys. They can dodge, you know, an arrow; they proved it last night. But really, our hearts are like an arrow, and we get to choose where we direct our hearts. You get to choose what you aim your heart at.
There are a lot of targets out there that try to gain the attention and aim of our hearts. What? What you can see? I’m not very good at archery. Yeah, what’d you say? Keep practicing. Thank you very much. Well, let’s try it one more time. That wasn’t bad. Okay. Yeah, you better clap, or who knows? This arrow represents my heart, and I get to choose what I direct it toward. The target is whatever my heart sets its affections on. Well, it’s not too bad but not too good. At least I didn’t shoot it over the target like I did last night.
I wanted to illustrate that because our hearts really are like an arrow, and we get to choose where we direct our hearts. In life, we all choose a main target, the number one focus of our hearts. Now, you get to choose your target, but then the target takes over because whatever your heart focuses on, it follows after. Your target determines where your life takes you. The focus of your heart determines what you follow after. For example, if the number one focus of your heart is success-and there’s nothing wrong with success-but if success is your number one target, then you’ll step over the people closest to you to try to impress people that don’t even care about you because you’re trying to impress them with success. Your heart’s focus will determine what you follow after, and what you follow after will determine your fulfillment in life. We follow after so many things that just leave us empty. So focus on the right target, and you’ll find the treasure.
Some of you are hitting your target! I mean, you’re hitting bullseye after bullseye after bullseye. But one day, you’re going to wake up and realize that those bullseyes didn’t matter because you were shooting at the wrong target the whole time. It was just arrows of emptiness. It was bullseyes with no lasting blessing because you were shooting at the wrong target. You’re hitting bullseyes, but it makes no difference.
There’s only one target that offers true fulfillment, and that’s God’s heart. If my heart’s number one focus is following after God’s heart, then God meets the deepest longings of my heart. That’s why God targets our hearts. God focuses in on our hearts because He loves us, and He knows our hearts are restless until they find their rest totally in Him. That’s why God is constantly targeting our hearts. God speaks to our hearts if we’ll listen. God draws our hearts close to Him if we’ll let Him. God directs our hearts when we seek Him. God settles our hearts when we trust Him. God will always target your heart because He knows that your heart will never be satisfied until you give Him your whole heart. God targets your heart to turn you to His heart. That’s why so many times God tests our hearts. All through Scripture, God would test the people’s hearts.
Now, God tests our hearts not to find out what’s in our hearts because God already knows. He’s God; He already knows what’s in your heart. God tests your heart to show you what’s in your heart. God tests your heart so you’ll turn your heart because when you’re aiming at the wrong target, you miss the treasure. If your heart is distracted or divided, you can miss a divine opportunity. In fact, you can miss your defining moment in life. If your heart is divided, you can miss your defining moment in life.
That’s what happened with one of the kings in the Bible. His heart was divided, and he missed his defining moment. The story is found in an obscure passage in the Old Testament, in Second Kings. So would you look at it with me and stand in honor of God’s Word? Second Kings, chapter 13, beginning with verse 14. Now Elisha had been suffering from the illness from which he died. Jehoash, king of Israel, went down to see him and wept over him. «My father, my father!» he cried. «The chariots and horsemen of Israel!» Elisha said, «Get a bow and some arrows.» And he did so. «Take the bow in your hands,» he said to the king of Israel.
When he had taken it, Elisha put his hands on the king’s hands. «Open the east window,» he said, and he opened it. «Shoot!» Elisha said, and he shot. «The Lord’s arrow of victory-the arrow of victory over Aram!» Elisha declared. «You will completely destroy the Arameans at Aphek.» And then he said, «Take the arrows.» And the king took them. Elisha told him, «Strike the ground.» He struck it three times and stopped. The man of God was angry with him and said, «You should have struck the ground five or six times! Then you would have defeated Aram and completely destroyed it. But now you will defeat it only three times.» You can be seated.
So here’s the picture: The prophet Elisha is about to die, and Joash, the king of Israel, is distraught because he knows Elisha is God’s representative here on this earth, and he recognizes, to some degree, that he needs God’s protection and God’s power. So, King Joash goes to visit Elisha, and he mourns over him. In Elisha’s last act, he tells the king to get a bow and some arrows. And so the king obeys. He gets his bow, he gets some arrows. And Elisha says, «I want you to take the bow in your hands.» And then Elisha puts his hands on the king’s hands. Now, Elisha’s hands represented God’s hands. That was to let the king know that it’s God’s hand and God’s power that gives you the victory and the blessings and directs your life. When Elisha placed his hands on the king’s hands and the king’s hands were on the bow, God wanted the king to know that it was God’s hand that brings victory.
If you’re a Christ follower, do you realize that you have the hands that created the universe to hold your hand steady and to guide your life in the right direction? And where God guides, God will provide. He will give you the power and provision to win your battles. If you need guidance and direction today, maybe you’re struggling with a decision and you need God’s direction, just ask Him to take your hand and guide you. If you need strength to overcome a struggle today, ask Him to take hold of your hand and hold you up. If you need God to provide for you today, ask Him to take your hands and fill them with what you need.
So the king takes the bow, and Elisha puts his hands on the king’s hands. Elisha tells him to open the window that faces east. And the king does that. Now Israel’s great enemy was to the east-Aram, which is modern-day Syria. Aram had been continually defeating them and had taken territory from Israel. Aram was an enemy that seemed insurmountable to King Joash. He thought they could never conquer them. They were the problem that was always there. It was the mountain that couldn’t be moved. But Elisha says, «I want you to open the window to the east.» And then he tells the king, «I want you to take that arrow and shoot.» And so that’s what the king does. He obeys, and he shoots the arrow.
Elisha says, «Great shot! You hit the target! You hit the target!» You guys didn’t say «great shot,» but God approves of me even when you don’t, so my identity is in God, not in what you think about me or how good I am at archery. Praise God! But when the king shoots the arrow out the window, Elisha says, «You hit the target. It’s the symbol of the Lord’s victory over Aram.» And Elisha gets excited and he says, «The Lord’s going to give you the victory over your greatest enemy, Aram.» Then Elisha says, «I want you to take the rest of the arrows and strike the ground.» And so he takes all the arrows left in the quiver.
I can just imagine King Joash taking those arrows and thinking about what the prophet just told him. «Strike the ground.» And I can imagine him striking the ground and looking up at Elisha, kind of wondering what to do next, then striking it again, and then hesitating a little bit, then striking the ground three times. And he’s thinking, «I’m sure that’s okay. That’s good enough. I did it. How’s that, Elisha?» Elisha was furious. Elisha was angry at the king. I mean, he was ticked! And he said, «You should have struck the ground five or six times! Now you’ll only defeat your enemy three times, but you won’t defeat them completely. Now your enemy is going to hang around. You’re going to have to deal with them for the rest of your life. And your children and your grandchildren are going to have to deal with them. But you could have completely defeated them, but you missed the opportunity!»
And really, in King Joash only striking the ground three times was a symbol of his half-hearted commitment to God. His heart was divided, so he missed his defining moment. His heart was divided, so he missed his defining moment. And the repercussions lasted for years. When you miss your defining moment because your heart is divided, it has repercussions for generations.
Now, you see, years before, the kingdom of Israel had split in two. To give you just a little history lesson: There was the northern kingdom, Israel, and there was the southern kingdom of Judah, where Jerusalem and the temple were. Now, God had commanded all the people to come to Jerusalem every year to worship God in the temple. But when the kingdom split, Israel and Judah were two rival countries. So the first king of Israel didn’t want all his people going south to Judah every year to Jerusalem to worship. So, he set up some golden calves and he told his people, «There’s no need for you guys to travel all the way down to Jerusalem every year. You can stay right here, and you can worship. We got something better to worship! I built these golden calves!»
So the first king of Israel sets up these idols, and the people’s hearts turn away from God, and they start aiming at the wrong target, and it causes all kinds of problems for Israel. Many disastrous defeats were on the way from their enemies. Now, years later, Jehoash becomes king, and he must have had some heart for God because he sought God by going to the prophet’s house. But the Bible says he did evil in the sight of the Lord because he didn’t tear down the golden calves. Jehoash had a divided heart.
Now, he may not have even worshiped the golden calves himself, but he left them up. He didn’t tear them down either because he was afraid that he’d lose control of his people if they went to Jerusalem to worship God or he didn’t tear them down because he was afraid the people wouldn’t be pleased with him. The people wouldn’t like it. The people might turn against him. Either way, he had a divided heart. He was shooting at two targets at the same time. When your heart is divided, you make half-hearted commitments. Jehoash was a half-hearted king. He was a tentative king who wasn’t living all out for God. He wasn’t totally committed to God; he was holding back. Jehoash’s heart wasn’t fully committed to God, so he missed the full blessing. If your heart is half-committed, you miss the whole blessing.
Jehoash’s heart was divided, so he missed a huge divine opportunity. And there are times when we let our hearts get divided, and we’re aiming at two targets. There are times when we only hit the ground three times, and God has called us to hit the ground six or seven or eight times. The Bible says that’s dangerous because when my heart is divided, I will miss a divine opportunity.
So, what do you do when you become half-hearted? When your heart is divided, commit your whole heart to God. Just commit your whole heart to God. Surrender your whole heart to God because you can trust Him. Jesus put it this way in the great commandment in Matthew 22:37: «Love the Lord your God with half of your heart and with one-third of your soul and with two-thirds of your mind.» No, that’s not what He said. He doesn’t say love God with half your heart or one-third of your heart. No, He says, «Love God with all your heart.»
I think many times those of us who are believers let our hearts get divided between two targets. We become half-hearted. We lose our passion, and we only strike the ground three times. Sometimes I only strike the ground three times when God wants me, in faith, to wholeheartedly and passionately strike the ground five, six, seven, or eight times. Sometimes in my marriage, I only strike the ground three times, and I’m just an okay husband that doesn’t lead spiritually and as passionately as I should. I settle for okay. I’m selfish at times; I put my wife’s needs behind my own needs at times. I’m just an okay husband. But for those of you who are husbands out there, you know your wife doesn’t settle for just okay! Because okay means atrophy in a marriage relationship. A marriage can’t make it on a half-hearted commitment. Both husband and wife have to wholeheartedly strike the ground six, seven, eight, nine, ten times and keep striking the ground because you don’t give up! You keep striking the ground until you find gold.
Some parents only strike the ground three times, and they’re okay parents. But your kids need more than just okay. They don’t need a perfect parent, but they need a parent that’s willing to stay at it. They don’t need, if they’re a teenager, a best friend. Parents, they’ve already got best friends. They’ve got friends. They need you to be a parent and stay in the game, to stay at it. Striking the ground six, seven, eight, nine, ten times. You keep striking the ground until you find gold.
And sometimes, our hearts are half-committed to God. But God doesn’t settle for half of our heart or a third of our heart. He demands our whole heart because if you’re half-committed, you miss the whole blessing. And some of you are half-committed to the church right now. I mean, you attend Woodland Church maybe fairly often, maybe almost every week, or maybe once in a while, but you’ve never fully committed to join the church. So, you’re missing the full blessing-the blessing of belonging! That’s a huge part of God’s will for your life. God commands every Christ follower to belong to a local church family. You got a divine opportunity today because at 1:00, we have our membership class from 1 to 3. We feed you, we take care of your kids, and we have it at our campuses. It’s an amazing class; it’s a lot of fun. But here’s the big thing: You commit. You commit totally.
So many people today don’t want to really commit to anything. Always afraid of commitment. So, we half-heartedly commit to a hundred different things instead of fully, wholeheartedly committing to a few things that will make all the difference in our lives and families for generations to come. You know, half-hearted commitment misses the whole blessing.
And so I just challenge you: If you haven’t joined the church, I mean, God commanded you to join a local church family. We’d love to have you here, but you need to join a church family. It’s the blessing of belonging where God begins to really work in your life. And some of you are half-committed to God in your finances. I mean, you give back to God here and there. It’s good to give, but you’re not giving the whole tithe-the first 10%-like God commands to put Him first in your finances. You’re half-committed, but you’re missing the whole blessing because God’s promise to open up the windows of heaven and pour out blessings on you that you can’t contain is activated when you put God first in your finances and you give Him the first and the best-that tithe.
Do we have an enemy who also targets the heart? But unlike God, who targets your heart because He loves you, Satan targets your heart to divide your heart and to destroy you. Scripture says he’s always shooting flaming arrows at us. And so many times, we don’t even know it because of God’s mercy and grace blocking those arrows. But look at Ephesians 6. This is talking about the armor of God. I want to say this is not the full passage, so you ought to do a study this week on the armor of God and how God wants you to be ready for the enemy’s attack so your heart doesn’t get divided and so he doesn’t steal your passion and joy and destroy your marriage.
It says in Ephesians 6:13, «Therefore, put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.» So the enemy is always shooting these flaming arrows at us. The answer is to put on the full armor of God. You can’t put on the full armor of God if your heart is half-committed to God. You need the shield of a real and genuine and fully committed faith to withstand the arrows of the enemy.
Satan wants to divide your heart so you’ll live life half-hearted. You lose your passion. He wants to divide your heart between two targets. But if he can’t divide your heart, he’ll try to distract your heart. Even though I’ve given my heart to God, it’s so easy for my heart to get distracted. And I start fixing my focus on the wrong target. And that’s where some of you are right now. I mean, you’re focused in on all these different targets that are distracting you. You’re a Christ follower, but you’ve taken your eye off the target, and your heart is distracted. You’re shooting your arrows all over the place. You’re missing the target. Your schedule is full, but your heart’s empty right now. You’re really busy doing a hundred different things, but you’re neglecting your heart, and you’ve lost your focus.
Whenever you lose focus, you’re not effective or productive. That’s why the Scripture tells us in Hebrews 12:2, «fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.» We’re to fix our heart’s number one focus on Christ to meet our deepest needs. If you’re married and the number one focus of your heart is on each other, then you’ll look to your mate to meet your deepest needs-needs that only God can meet, that no human being can meet, those needs of meaning, purpose, and fulfillment.
I can guarantee you, if you focus on your mate to make you happy, they’re going to disappoint you. No human being can meet those deepest needs of your heart. If you’re looking to another person to make you happy, they’re going to disappoint you, and then they’re going to frustrate you. Chris and I have learned that when we stop fixing our focus on Jesus and start fixing our aim at each other, we start shooting arrows at each other. But when we focus our hearts on Jesus, He draws us closer to each other because He meets our deepest needs that only He can meet. Then it gives us the power to meet each other’s needs, those needs that we can meet.
It seems like we’re always looking to another human being to be the savior, but there’s only one Savior. Maybe you get a new job and a new boss, and you’re going, «Man, I got the greatest boss now! Not like that last one; he was terrible!» You have the perfect boss, and you’re looking to your job or your boss to make you happy. I guarantee you, they’re going to disappoint you. Anyone you put way up on a pedestal, man, they’re going to disappoint you. You’re going to be frustrated. Then you’ll start firing arrows of blame at them because if you don’t fix your focus on Jesus, you’ll fix the target on someone else.
I guarantee you, if you’re looking to a friend to make you happy or a mentor to make you happy or a mate to make you happy, you’re going to be disappointed. You’re going to get frustrated, and eventually, you’re going to put the target on them. Single adults, if the number one focus of your heart is trying to find the mate who makes your heart whole, you’re going to be disappointed. Instead, fix your focus on Jesus and learn how He’s already made you whole, and let Him take care of the rest.
When our son Josh was living in Nashville, he dated two or three gals that, you know, Chris and I weren’t so sure were bringing him closer to God and seemed like they were kind of bringing him further away from God. So, we just prayed for him. Then he called me one day and said, «Dad, you know I’m not going to date for a while because I just want to focus on my relationship with God.» And I said, «That’s great! You know Josh, I think that’s really wise. We’ll be praying for you.» He said, «I’m just going to, you know, I don’t want to get distracted. I just want to focus on my relationship with the Lord.» And so that’s what he did for quite some time.
Then he called me and said, «Hey Dad, you know I went as a counselor on the ski trip in my church.» Because he’d gotten real involved in his church, he said, «And I met this gal that, you know, she’s beautiful, and she loves God, and she was also a counselor on this high school ski trip, and she was amazing.» He said… we kind of hit it off, but he said, «But you know, I’m not going to ask her out because I just want to focus on my relationship with the Lord.»
And I said, «No, God wants you to ask her out! You do not understand, son! No, you’re going to miss your divine opportunity! You focused on God; now it’s time to focus on asking this girl out!» Because I said, «Hey Josh, if she, you know, volunteered to be a counselor on a ski trip for high school students, she loves God. You can count on that! You know God brought y’all together on that bus! Just accept it! Seize your moment, son!»
And so, now Josh and Kelly, of course, are married and have a great family, and God took care of it. But I really -yeah, you can clap for them too! That’s great! Yeah! Yeah! Because we prayed a lot for our kids, I can tell you that! You know, but it’s so true. When you focus as your number one target on God, He starts taking care of the other concentric circles. Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added. They’ll fall into place.
So what do I do when my heart is distracted? I have to quiet my heart, and that’s so hard for us to do. When your heart is divided, you have to commit your heart. When your heart is distracted, you have to quiet your heart so you can listen to the Holy Spirit speak to your heart. Because the Holy Spirit of God speaks to our hearts, nudges us, speaks to our hearts. If you’re a Christ follower, you know what I’m talking about; it’s the Holy Spirit nudges you and speaks to your heart.
Several weeks ago, Chris and I were celebrating our anniversary, and we were in the Hill Country. One night, I couldn’t sleep, so I got up in the night, and you’re probably thinking I’m going to say how I had this amazing quiet time, opened my Bible, and God really spoke to me. But no, I didn’t do that. I’m sorry, I should have, but I didn’t do that. I just got a book that was on the shelf about the Comanches in the Hill Country, and I started reading that. And it was so interesting that the indigenous people have been in that area for thousands of years, and then it was about the Comanches, you know, 150, 200 years ago and all this. It was just really interesting.
I thought, «There must be arrowheads and stuff like that all around here.» Well, the next day, I forgot all about that. The next day, I was jogging on these trails, and after I went for a little bit, I thought, «Oh, I need to look for arrowheads.» And something nudged me to just look down. I looked down, and there was an arrowhead! I mean, this never happens to me. Things like that — God nudges me all the time on different things, but I mean, something like that-and there was an arrowhead right there, and I was like, «Wow, that’s an arrowhead! I can’t believe it! It’s like, wow!»
I put it in my pocket, and I thought, «Oh, I bet Chris just put that there. I bet she just did get me.» I’m still not sure; she hasn’t said anything, but I’m still not sure. But no, it’s like, «Wow, God!» And I put it in my pocket and thought, «God, why did you nudge me? Why did you do that? What’s the significance there?» And it was as if God just spoke to my heart, «I want you to know if you’ll listen to me, I’ll tell you what to do and I’ll give you direction. I’ll be the arrow that will point the way for you.»
And it just bolstered my heart about decisions and directions in my life, family, the church, that God said, «Just listen to my voice and follow the trail that I tell you to go down.» But you’ve got to quiet your heart. So many times, I’m so busy doing so many things that I don’t hear God speak to my heart, or when the Holy Spirit nudges me, I just ignore it.
By the way, here’s a picture of the arrowhead. I found out that it didn’t really go on an arrow; as I did some study about it and talked to some people about it, it’s a Castroville arrowhead, but it really went on a longer shaft, like a spear. It was before, in the Americas, they invented the bow, and they would use this little instrument to throw it called an atal. That’s more than you ever wanted to know! But here’s the thing: It’s almost 3,000 years old! And so it wasn’t Comanche at all. And I thought, «How cool is that, God, that you care about even little things like that, that you want to do in our lives to show us what direction to go in?»
Because if you don’t quiet your heart, you miss the treasure that God has for you. If you neglect your heart, you’ll miss the target. And if you miss the target, you miss the treasure. And God has treasure for us. I just wonder, like King Jehoash, who missed that amazing opportunity for that mountain to be moved forever, for that enemy to be vanquished forever. And it had ramifications for his children and grandchildren and the people for years. He missed that defining moment; he missed the target; he missed the treasure. I wonder how much treasure I’ve missed. I think I’ve missed quite a bit of treasure at times because I didn’t quiet my heart and listen to the Holy Spirit.
Think about all the treasure that God has for you. A lot of times, we’re praying, «God, just drop your treasure and your miracles from heaven. Just drop it down from heaven.» And God says, «You strike the ground. You dig. You strike the ground, and you keep striking the ground until you strike gold because that’s where it’s at. It’s not coming to drop in your hands. I’m not just going to put it in your hands. I’m going to take your heart, and you’re going to dig, and you’re going to find the gold.»
That’s the way God works through the messages, the sermons each weekend. Because sometimes I’m praying, «God, just drop it down to me word for word! Just give it to me! I need you! It’s been a busy week!» But God always says, «No, you strike the ground and you dig, and you’ll find the gold.» And I dig into God’s Word, spend time in God’s Word, and the gold comes out, and God’s so gracious in that. God wants you to strike the ground, but you can’t do that until you’re tuned in to the Holy Spirit.
We have to just be quiet to do that. Get along with God. Just settle our hearts. That’s why it says in Psalms 46, verse 10, «Be still and know that I am God.» Maybe that’s all God wanted you to hear today. Forget everything else; forget Carrie’s terrible archery skills; forget all the other things that I’ve said, but remember this: «Be still and know that I am God.» Be still and know that I’m not God, but He is! Be still and know that you’re not God, but He is! That He is God and you can trust Him because He’s going to bring about His purpose. Just fall in line with His purpose. Shoot at the target with your whole heart and strike the ground. Don’t be half-hearted! Believe God fully for the things that He has said in His Word and obey.
Do you have a divided heart? You’ll miss the target, and you’ll miss the treasure. When you have a half-hearted commitment, you miss the whole blessing. Some of you have a distracted heart today, and it’s time to just quiet your heart. You’ve got a worried heart; you’ve got a hurried heart; you’ve got an anxious heart. And it’s time for you to say, «God, I just want to be still in my heart because I know you’re God. I surrender to you the care and control of my life. I know you’re going to show me where to go, and your hand is on me, and you’re going to give me your strength, your power, your provision. I can count on you, God, who created the universe with your hands and with your voice. You’re going to see me through. You’re going to hold me up, and you’re going to speak to my heart, and you’re going to guide me because you’ve brought me too far to let me down!»
Now I’ve seen way too much, God, of how you work in my life to not believe you today. It’s time to quiet your heart. Listen to the Spirit speak to your heart. Quiet your heart, or you’ll miss your moment. And some of you, you’ve been hitting the ground and you’re about to give up, and God says, «You keep striking the ground until you strike gold.» Because that gold is right there. It’s coming! You keep striking the ground until you strike gold!
Well then, church, let’s stand together. Let’s just thank the Lord who guides us-the God who says, «I give you divine opportunities. I want you to take it!» The God who says, «I’ve got great things that you can’t even dream of or imagine that I have for you if you’ll trust Me and follow Me and go My way and let My arrow point you to My way.»
But here’s the thing: When God speaks to my heart, it’s kind of like this arrow. He speaks to my heart, and sometimes it’s with the sharp point because I’m going the wrong direction against His arrow. And when I go the wrong direction, it hurts. «Ouch, God, why did you do that?» Because I love you, and I don’t want you to go the wrong direction. There’s so much pain that way that I want you to feel a little bit of pain so you’ll turn around. We rarely change when we see the light, but we change when we feel the heat. And some of you are feeling the heat right now. You’re feeling God speak to your heart because of that arrow, and it hurts. And God’s saying, «I love you.»
Did you know the Bible says God disciplines those He loves? He disciplines His kids! If you’re being disciplined by God because you’re going the wrong direction and it’s painful, and God’s trying to turn you around, that’s a good sign! It just means you’re one of His kids. I mean, when my kids were growing up, I didn’t discipline the neighbor’s kids, even though they needed it. A couple of them really needed it! But I disciplined my own kids because they’re my kids. I love my kids, and that’s what God does.
And maybe that’s how He’s speaking to your heart. And then there’s the feather, and that’s the soft part -that’s the comforting voice of God. Sometimes when you’re hurting, and you’re doing the right thing, and you’re hurting, God just comes and speaks to your heart, «You’re my boy! You’re my girl! I’m going to see you through! You’re going to make it!»
And today, God’s speaking to so many of your hearts in that way. He’s telling you, «You’re going the right direction. I know it’s hard right now, but I’m going to see you through. I’ve got my hand on your hands, and I’m not going to let go of you. I’m going to see you through. I’m going to give you what you need. It’s coming! You keep striking the ground until you find that gold!»
Let’s bow together. Dear God, we come before you today, and we realize that we need you desperately. I just ask you to take hold of everyone’s hand today, especially those who have worried hearts and anxious hearts. Just take hold of their hands- maybe hands that shake a little bit out of fear because of what’s going on in their life. You would just take our hands and settle our hearts, and You would remind us that You’re going to see us through.
I pray today for those, Lord, who have a divided heart. They’ve been shooting at two targets and wondering why they feel so empty. Lord, help us commit our whole hearts to You today because we can trust You. We can obey Your Word, knowing that Your Word is always true and that Your promises are always true. I pray for those with half-hearted commitments that You would just help them surrender their whole heart today and experience the peace that comes with it.
I pray, Lord, for those who are tempted to strike the ground only three times and not really believe You for all that You have for them, that You would help all of us strike the ground six, seven, eight, or nine times and keep striking the ground until we strike gold, because I know that gold is on the way.
And Lord, I just pray for those who have never had a heart transplant; they’ve never received You into their life, that right now they would just pray this prayer in the silence of their heart: «Jesus Christ, I give you my heart. I ask you to come into my heart with your Holy Spirit and change me from the inside out. Forgive me of all my sins, and I want you to be the Lord of my life. I want to follow your target from now on. I aim my heart at Your heart, Lord Jesus. Draw me close to Your heart. I accept your free gift of forgiveness. I accept Your free gift of heaven. Thank you for saving me.» In Jesus' name, I pray. Amen.