Motive matters
Motive matters by lcl
You may have heard the old saying about fooling some of the people some of the time and all of the people some of the time but not all of the people all of the time. Reading scripture we find that we could add another part to the saying. You can’t fool God any of the time. Why? He knows our hearts which is much more accurate than our words and actions. This ability of God is well confirmed in the scriptures below.
1Ch 28:9 And you, Solomon my son, know the God of your father and serve Him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind. For Jehovah searches all hearts and understands all the imaginations of the thoughts. If you seek Him, He will be found by you. But if you forsake Him, He will cast you off forever.
God does not act on anything but the complete truth. This is especially true of granting salvation. We have to really believe and desire Christ in our lives before He enters. God is a gentleman in that way. The great part about verse 4:14 below is that Christ will do the necessary work of cleaning our hearts when we turn our lives over to Him and the Holy Spirit.
Jer 3:10 And yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah has not turned to Me with her whole heart, but with falsehood, says Jehovah.
Jer 4:14 O Jerusalem, cleanse your heart from evil so that you may be saved. How long shall your vain thoughts lodge within you
Jer 4:18 Your way and your doings have brought these thing son you; this is your evil, because it is bitter, because it reaches to your heart.
Jer 5:23 But this people has a revolting and a rebellious heart; they have revolted and are gone.
Jer 5:24 And they do not say in their heart, Let us now fear Jehovah our God, who gives both the former and the latter rain in its season; He reserves to us the appointed weeks of the harvest.
Jer 9:8 Their tongue is a slaughtering arrow; it speaks deceit; one speaks peaceably to his neighbor with his mouth, but in heart he lies in ambush.
Jer 12:3 But You, O Jehovah, know me. You have seen me and tried my heart toward You. Pull them out like sheep for the slaughter, and devote them for the day of slaughter.
Jer 12:11 One has made it a desolation, it mourns to Me. The whole land is made desolate because no man lays it to heart.
Jer 17:5 So says Jehovah, Cursed is the man who trusts in man, and makes flesh his arm, and whose heart departs from Jehovah.
God even gives just rewards that are due from our actions and words.
Some rewards may happen while in the current life, but all rewards are guaranteed when we transition into the next realm of Heaven or Hell.
Jer 17:10 I Jehovah search the heart, I try the reins, even to give to each man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings.
Jer 20:12 But, O Jehovah of Hosts, who tries the righteous and sees the reins and the heart, let me see Your vengeance on them. For I have committed my cause to You.
God does not speak through prophets just to make us feel good but speaks the truth because He has sworn to be Holy which includes being perfect in all things and not lying.
Jer 23:16 So says Jehovah of Hosts, Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you. They make you vain; they speak a vision from their own heart, not out of the mouth of Jehovah.
Jer 29:13 And you shall seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.
Jer 49:16 Your dreadfulness has deceived you, and the pride of your heart, O you who dwell in the clefts of the rock, who hold the height of the hill. Though you should make your nest as high as the eagle, I will bring you down from there, says Jehovah.
God hates pride and falsehoods. He desires and requires real worship from us that originates from our hearts.
Lam 3:41 Let us lift up our heart and hands to God in Heaven.
Eze 11:19 And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you. And I will remove the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh,
Eze 11:21 And as to those whose heart is going after their hateful things, and also their heart is after their disgusting idols, I will give their way on their own heads, says the Lord Jehovah.
Joe 2:12 Yet even now, says Jehovah, turn to Me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning.
God also wants us to really believe in Him to do all that He says that He will. Without real trust in God, we are really saying that either He is lying and will not do what He says or that He does not have the power to accomplish what He says or what we have asked. Either view is not true and amounts to sin.
Thus, it becomes quite important what we believe is the truth before we expect God to act in our behalf.
Zep 1:12 And it shall be in that time I will search Jerusalem with lamps, and punish the men who are settled on their lees; who say in their heart, Jehovah will not do good, nor will He do evil.
When we truly know God, what He has already done for us and what He is capable of doing on our behalfs, it is only right that we should give Him praise and glory. Anything less implies unbelief or unthankfulness on our part. God then reacts appropriately.
Mal 2:2 If you will not hear, and if you will not set iton your heart to give glory to My name, says Jehovah of Hosts, then I will send a curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings. And indeed I have cursed it, because you do not set it on your heart.
God knows our heart condition all the time, but it becomes even more
apparent to others when the truth comes our of our mouths. Speaking correctly is important, but the heart determines what that speech will be. When we speak something it has become action resulting from the condition of the heart. All people will eventually be judged on that action which influences others and shows our commitments.
Mat 5:8 Blessed are the pure in heart! For they shall see God. Mat 6:21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
Mat 12:34 Offspring of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.
Mat 12:35 A good man out of the good treasure of the heart brings out good things; and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings out evil things.
Mat 15:18 But the things which come out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile the man.
Mat 22:37 Jesus said to him, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.
For prayers to be answered, we must truly believe in God and what He can and will do. Without that, we call God powerless or a lier.
Mar 11:23 For truly I say to you that whoever shall say to this mountain, Be moved and be cast into the sea, and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that what he said shall occur, he shall have whatever he said.
True heart love will automatically erase fears and point the way for our commitment and God’s reciprocating love to act.
Mar 12:30 and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.” This is the first commandment.
Luk 6:45 A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth the good. And an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth the evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.
Luk 8:15 But those on the good ground are the ones who, in an honest and good heart, having heard the Word, keep it and bring forth fruit with patience.
Luk 10:27 And answering, he said, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.
What we desire originates in our hearts much more that what we reason in the mind. The heart will always surpass the mind (especially if the will is weak) when it comes to getting its way. Therefore, we must love God for the mind and actions to follow correctly.
Luk 12:34 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Joh 14:27 Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
1Jn 4:18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear, because fear has torment. He who fears has not been perfected in love.
Understanding with the mind is only the first step. The real important convincing eventually is done in the heart. The heart determines belief and will result in action.
Act 28:27 For the heart of this people was fattened, and they have heard with their ears dully; and they closed their eyes; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.”
Rom 10:9 Because if you confess the Lord Jesus, and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved.
2Co 3:3 it having been made plain that you are the epistle of Christ, ministered by us, not having been written with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not on tablets of stone, but in fleshly tablets of the heart.
2Co 9:7 Each one, as he purposes in his heart, let him give; not of grief, or of necessity, for God loves a cheerful giver.
Heart thoughts are matched up against the truth of God’s word. If we are not in tune with God, then we are in tune with God’s enemy in sin. One cannot serve two masters.
Heb 4:12 For the Word of God is living and powerful and sharper than any two- edged sword, piercing even to the dividing apart of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
1Jn 3:20 that if our heart accuses us, God is greater than our heart and knows all things.
1Jn 3:21 Beloved, if our heart does not accuse us, we have confidence toward God.
When we ask for the wrong things it is because the heart is pushing us for those things. If the heart is not right, it is because of sin and our will is being put ahead of God-the-Father’s will. We should not expect God to do or give what is against His perfect will for us. That would be putting us above God. On the other hand, God may likely give us ample blessings of what we really need when we trust in Father God’s will. Once the priority is right, God really desires to surpass our needs and desires. Wouldn’t you want the same for your children and lovedones?
Jas 4:3 You ask and receive not, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it upon your lusts.
The final conclusion is that our motives often result from heart desires and beliefs. God knows our heart and thus our motives. If the motive is wrong so is the heart, and we are out of tune with God in all of our being. We will act in sin as far as God is concerned. Good motives, actions and requests come from a good heart relation with God. That’s what He wanted all along!