Over the years and in recent times, the church has concentrated on condemning the sinful acts of Christians, but I want to let you know, as the late Kenneth Hagin used to say, that “God will judge a Christian more by his spiritual sins than his physical sins”. This is so because many Christians can say assuredly that they do not commit “physical” sins, and they are correct to a large extent, but how about the sins of the heart? How about the envy, the bitterness, the strife and the malice in their hearts? How about the lies and the hypocrisy, or the craftiness that you call wisdom? There are some things that God will overlook for an unbeliever, but He will not overlook such for Christians.

Many Christians think they know who God is or who they are, but they are mistaken. If there was a man in the scriptures who never got confused about his life and his sins, it was the man David. He knew who God was, and he knew who he was and he never confused the two. If you check the Bible, you will find that his name is mentioned more than any other name in the entire Bible. And though he failed in some areas, yet God called him a man after His heart, why? Join me as I expound to you that you need to watch your heart because God is after your heart.

THE COUNSEL OF GOD TO US

Malachi 4:1 says, “For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.”

There is a particular day which does not come under normal human time of 24 hours, but comes under God’s divine time. That day represents two days, which are the day of the Judgment Seat of Christ and the day of the Great White Throne Judgment. In the day of the judgment seat of Christ, the works of Christians will be tried by fire burnt, to prove it.

The apostle Paul explained this in 1Corinthians 3:9-15 where he said “For we are labourers together with God: ye are God’s husbandry, ye are God’s building. According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon. For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is. If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.”

Here, Paul again mentioned the day that shall reveal everybody’s work by fire. What this means is that all we have done as Christians will be tested by fire on that final day. We need to watch our ways so that our works will not be burnt. If your heart is not right with God then your works will be burnt.

There are four things you will give account for:

1. Your works: Revelation 22:12 says, “And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.”

Brethren, you will be judged according to the assignment you are given, not according to another man’s assignment. So lets’ drop every form of comparisons; only carnal Christians do that and are therefore candidates for hell. If God has called you to be a carpenter, you will be judged by the numbers of chairs and tables you constructed, not by the numbers of cars you parked in your house. (Revelation 11:18).

• Your words: Matthew 12:36-37 says, “But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.” 

The Greek word for idle is ‘ARGOS’ and it means ineffective, worthless and unfruitful word. You will give account of every ineffective, worthless and unfruitful word that you speak—all the slander, all the backbiting, and all that you said on your own opinion, different from God’s.

These first two (your works and words) can be seen, but the following two (your thoughts and motives) cannot be seen by man; only God sees and knows why you do what you do.

• Your thoughts: 1 Corinthians 4:1-5 says “Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful. But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man’s judgment: yea, I judge not mine own self. For I know nothing by myself; yet am I not hereby justified: but he that judgeth me is the Lord. Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God.” 

• Your motives: 1 Corinthians 4:5 says “So don’t get ahead of the Master and jump to conclusions with your judgments before all the evidence is in. When he comes, he will bring out in the open and place in evidence all kinds of things we never even dreamed of–inner motives and purposes and prayers. Only then will any one of us get to hear the “Well done!” of God.” (MSG).

Some people would have received the praise of man and on the final day will receive the judgment of God, instead of His praise, while some who never received the praise of man would receive the praise of God. Some Christians will be burnt together with their works, while some will be saved by the whiskers but their works will be burnt, because there was a problem in their heart.

Cain had a problem in his heart. God’s rejection of Cain’s offering was not  because he presented a bad offering as many have speculated, but because his person had been rejected by God. Child of God, you are more important to God than your offering; your obedience to Him is more important that whatever service or sacrifice you have to offer Him. That was why God said through Prophet Samuel in 1 Samuel 15:22 that obedience is better than sacrifice; though many churches today emphasize offerings more than obedience. When you obey God, then your sacrifice will be accepted. Don’t wait until that dreadful day to try to obey because by then it would have been too late.

How do we ensure that our works are not burnt? It is by aligning our hearts with God, because if we do not align our hearts with God, we will think we are with God when we are not. Most of the things we condemn ourselves and one another about are physical sins, which can be seen. But if the one you condemn repents and you are still filled with anger and hatred towards him, are you not the one living in sin? As much as we have condemned physical sins, much more should we condemn and repent of spiritual sins in our hearts. God is calling us to repentance, before the day of terror will come (Malachi 4:6).

Repentance is all about turning our hearts to God, and that is the important matter at hand, because the life we are living now is zero, when compared to eternity. God has given you a heart to work on during this zero time called life. Can you say assuredly that if the Lord Jesus looks at you now, He can see in you the heart that He gave His life for? Always check the state of your heart.

WHAT ABOUT THE HEART?

Mark 12:30, 31 says, “And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.”

If I may ask, is the heart different from the soul? Is the soul different from the mind, and is the mind different from the strength? From the Greek perspective they may all mean the same thing in different words, but from the Hebrew perspective, they may not be the same. But the most important thing is that you love the Lord your God with all your heart.

When you love the Lord with all your heart, then nothing can separate you from His love, as is written in Romans 8:35-39 says, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

There are many things mentioned in this scripture which cannot separate us from the love of Christ. The only thing that is not mentioned is me or you. In other words we are the only ones who can separate ourselves from the love of Christ Jesus our Lord. It is one thing for the love of Christ to be shed to you, have you reciprocated the same? That was why Jesus asked, “Simon son of Jonah, lovedst thou me?” (John 21:15-17).

When Jesus was apprehended in the Garden of Gethsamene, Peter cut the ear of an High Priest’s slave, but Peter’s intention was actually to cut off the slave’s head. He only missed the head and then cut off the ear. God saw Peter’s intention, as He sees our intentions beyond all our actions. Peter went this far because he was ready to defend Jesus his master. But the same Peter denied his master only a few hours later, because he did not know his heart (John 18:10; 15-27).

You can preach and do so many “exploits” for God, but He alone knows your motives, not just your actions. Do you think you know yourself? What helped David to be a man after God’s heart was because he did not claim to know himself more than God knew him. He always stayed in God’s presence, to search his heart and reflect over his life. Whoever has a right heart towards God, even if he is overtaken by evil, will overcome after some time, just as David did. But the one whose heart is in terrible shape will continue to draw back; and while men praise him, he has lost his anointing. Remember, position is not an indication of hierarchy in the realm of the spirit.

Jesus asked Peter, do you love me more than these? And I ask you, O child of God, what do you love as a Christian? Is it the ministry, your position or the accolades you receive, or do you love the Lord? Do you love your financial blessings or do you love the Lord? Abraham believed he loved God until he had Isaac, and his laughter changed from the Lord to Isaac. So God had to sort that out by asking him to sacrifice Isaac to Him. In so doing God revealed Abraham’s heart of love for Him. There is no true great man in the Bible who ever asked God for greatness. God made them great while their hearts sought to fulfill God’s purpose. Ask the Lord to reveal your heart to you. If the Lord reveals your heart to you, it is because He loves you with an immeasurable love.

God revealed David’s heart to him through the Prophet Nathan. Since David’s heart was right, he stirred up God’s everlasting mercy upon his generation, because even when he sinned, he did not despise the chastisement of God. God’s chastisements are not to punish or condemn but to make us align with His will.

2 Samuel 7:4-16 says, “And it came to pass that night, that the word of the LORD came unto Nathan, saying, Go and tell my servant David, . . . Thus saith the LORD of hosts, I took thee from the sheepcote, from following the sheep, to be ruler over my people, over Israel: And I was with thee whithersoever thou wentest, and have cut off all thine enemies out of thy sight, and have made thee a great name, like unto the name of the great men that are in the earth. Moreover I will appoint a place for my people Israel, and will plant them, that they may dwell in a place of their own, and move no more; neither shall the children of wickedness afflict them any more, as beforetime, And as since the time that I commanded judges to be over my people Israel, and have caused thee to rest from all thine enemies. Also the LORD telleth thee that he will make thee an house. And when thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build an house for my name, and I will stablish the throne of his kingdom for ever. I will be his father, and he shall be my son. If he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men: But my mercy shall not depart away from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away before thee. And thine house and thy kingdom shall be established for ever before thee: thy throne shall be established for ever.”

God promised David His mercy to forgive the iniquity of his unborn generation, as well as readiness to discipline them with the rod of man and the stripes of the children of men.  Iniquity is lawlessness, and has its root in the Adamic nature. Child of God, does your will drive you to do what you do without God? If you commit iniquity, God will use the rod of men (fellow humans) to punish you—they will misjudge you; and also use the stripes of the children of men (fellow believers). But the end result is not to humiliate you but to put you back on track where His mercy can reach you. Why did God remove His mercy from Saul? Are you like Saul? – “Sauls” are “Christians” who go to church, receive anointing, but God’s mercy cannot endure for them. When we derail from the mercy of God, He will use human beings to punish us but if we are not careful, we will fight them back without knowing that God is actually using them to bring us back into His mercy.  So we need to be sensitive to God as He reveals our heart to us. What kind of heart do you have? 

 There are different types of hearts:

• An evil heart: Genesis 6:5
• A grieving heart: Genesis 6:6; 1 Samuel 1:8; 1 Samuel 2:38.
• A honest heart: Genesis 20:5, 6.
• A  Fainting heart: Genesis 42:28; 45:26.
• A hardened heart: Exodus 7:13, 14.
• A discouraged heart: Numbers 32:7, 9.
• An Obstinate heart: Deuteronomy 2:30
• A  Melting heart: Joshua 5:1; 14:8.
• An inclined heart: Joshua 24:23b.
• A glad heart: Esther 5:9
• A  Merry heart: Ruth 3:7; Esther 1:10.
• A rejoicing heart: 1 Samuel 2:1.
• A perfect heart: 2 Kings 20:3; 1 Chronicles 12:28.
• A faithful Heart: Nehemiah 9:8.
• A wicked heart: 2 Kings 2:44, Proverbs 6:18.
• An understanding heart: 1 Kings 3:9, 12
• A tender heart: 2 Kings 22:19
• A Sore troubled heart: 2 Kings 6:11
• A sorrowful heart.
• A lifted heart: 2 Kings 5:26.
• A returning heart: 2 Chronicles 6:38
• A  turning heart: 2 Kings 23:25
• A prepared heart: Ezra 7:10, Job 11:13.
• A backsliding heart: Proverbs 14:14.
• A seeking heart: Proverbs 15:14.

There is the positional and dynamic state of the heart. In other words, there can be a position of your heart and there can be what your heart wants to do. What is the heart and where is it? There is the heart that pumps blood, and then there is the heart that is you, your person; and that is the one that encapsulates your relationship with God. That is the heart that you can use to love the Lord with.

Do you know that when God said you should serve Him with all your heart, it is possible for God to anoint you but you will not serve Him with all your heart? God sent a prophet to anoint Jehu, but of him God said that He did not serve Him with all his heart (1 Kings 19:16; 2 Kings 10:31).

Anything can bring impurity to your heart. Saul and David were both anointed to be king by the same prophet of God, they both sinned against God, they both confessed their sins, but David was forgiven, while Saul was rejected. The difference between the two of them was their hearts. David’s heart sought after God while Saul’s heart sought after the people. David was looking for God’s approval while Saul was looking for the people’s approval; he was too concerned about what people said about him, he wanted the recognition of the people more than God’s recognition.

Same goes for Lot. Lot separated himself from Abraham, not because God couldn’t bless both of them together, but because Lot’s heart was too proud. Abraham defeated the five kings who attacked Sodom; rescued Lot, and also shared the booty among everyone, because his heart was right.  Abraham even saved the king of Sodom because he wanted to save his nephew, Lot, but still Lot didn’t go with him. When God destroyed Sodom, Lot was not destroyed simply because Abraham interceded for him. And even when the angels told Lot to go to the mountain, he refused and the angels let him be, all because he was riding on the wings of Abraham’s intercessions. Lot had a faulty heart.

What is the state of your heart? Do you walk with an outward appearance, but cover a lot of things in your heart? Have you forgotten that God examines the heart? “Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God” 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 (NIV).

This is the day of repentance; this is the time to align our hearts with God, because God is after our hearts! Avoid offences, avoid sin! Remember, “Without holiness, no man shall see the Lord.” (Hebrews 12:14). Man may look at your words and works, but God is looking at your thoughts and motives. God is looking at your heart; God is after your heart! Repent now; do harden not your heart. This is the word of  the Lord to you.