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GOD REVEALS WHATS IN OUR HEART

God reveals whats in our heart
1. Position
2. Power
3. Property
4. Profit
5. People
6. Pleasure
7. Pressure

Deuteronomy 8:2 Remember how the LORD your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to
humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands.
God often calls us to endure disciple or testing over a long period of time to work his purpose in our lives.
A young man once asked why does Gods testing go on so long?
A wise pastor replied, God can grow a squash in a few months but it takes years to grow an oak tree.
God is not interested in growing Christian squashes!

2 Chronicles 32:31 But when envoys were sent by the rulers of Babylon to ask him about the miraculous sign that had
occurred in the land, God left him to test him and to know everything that was in his heart.
Hezekiah had the greatest success since the time of King David.
When word spread, special messengers from the country of Babylon came to see his success.
God watched to see how Hezekiah would act.
Unfortunately, his heart turned to pride and sin.
Success can test us just as much as trouble.
Be careful to give God the glory when God gives you success.

Proverbs 27:21 The crucible is for silver and the furnace for gold, And each is tested by the praise accorded him.

Of course God knows already because He is omniscient

God exposes the content of our heart so we can know it
He is just like a doctor diagnosing our spiritual condition

Genesis 22.1 says that God tested Abraham

God wanted to know if Abrahams heart is still loyal and faithful to Him
God gave the greatest promised-the ultimate gift to him-Isaac
Abraham waited for a long time to receive Isaac
But suddenly God told Abraham to sacrifice his only son

Hebrews 11:17 by faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had embraced the
promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son.
God sometimes puts into life situations that make absolutely no sense to us at the time.
We call out why Lord?
(Habakkuk 1:3) and How long, Lord?
(Psalm 6:3) but God is silent.
We must keep on following God through the test until God is satisfied with our faith. Remember, God
rewards your faith.

Why Does God Test Us?

God tests us for our good and so that we will grow in our relationship with him. This positive purpose separates
Gods testing from Satans temptations, for the devil provokes us in order to devour and destroy (1 Pet. 5:8).
God wants to reproduce the character of Jesus in all of his children (Romans 8:29). To do that he uses testing to
achieve the following results:

To Refine Us Psalm 66:10 for you, God, tested us; you refined us like silver. The fire of the refinery is fierce, but God
uses the heat to purify your heart and mind to make you complete and free from the contamination of the world.
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GOD REVEALS WHATS IN OUR HEART
To Keep Us From Sinning Exodus 20:20 Moses said to the people, Do not be afraid. God has come to test you, so
that the fear of God will be with you to keep you from sinning. The trials God sends have the remarkable quality of
intensely focusing our attention on what really matters in our lives. When we are tested, we realize in a new way
how awe inspiring God is and how deeply he examines our lives for sin. Intense testing should result in a holy fear of
God and a new commitment to live a pure life.

To Test our Integrity 1 Chronicles 29:17 I know, my God, that you test the heart and are pleased with integrity.
Psalm 17:3 Though you probe my heart, though you examine me at night and test me, you will find that I have
planned no evil; my mouth has not transgressed. The Lord is only pleased with genuine character, he abhors a
hypocrite who says the right thing but who has the opposite feeling in the heart. God uses testing to reveal how
genuine we are, or are we just a counterfeit Christian?

To Measure Our Love Deuteronomy 13:3 you must not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer. The LORD
your God is testing you to find out whether you love him with all your heart and with all your soul. Testing reveals our
loyalty and love for God. God does not want a Sunday Christian who sings His praises and says pious things on
Sunday, but who gives their heart to the world the other days of the week. So God uses testing to make us authentic
people who love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength (Mark 12:30).

To Reward Our Efforts Jeremiah 17:10 I the LORD search the heart and examine the mind, to reward each person
according to their conduct, according to what their deeds deserve. In school a student is rewarded for their hard
work with a good grade. In business an employee is given a promotion or a raise when they pass a certification test.
God promises great rewards to the believer who works hard for his name over a sustained period of time (Galatians
6:9, Revelation 22:12).

hedonist [heed-n-ist] NOUN a person whose life is devoted to the pursuit of pleasure and self-gratification

Jeremiah 17:9 the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?

Scripture clearly teaches us that the real issues of life are spiritual and are really matters of the heart, the inner man.
Maybe its for this reason the word heart is found so many times in the Bible.
Because the word heart can be translated a number of ways,
Depending on the context, the number of times it is found varies in the different translations of the English
Bible (863 in the NASB, 963 in the KJV, and 791 in the NIV).
As these numbers suggest, the heart is a prominent concept and one of the most commonly used words of
the Bible.
Most of these occurrences are used metaphorically of the inner man.
When used metaphorically (depending on the context) heart refers to either the mind, the emotions, the
will, to the sinful nature, inclusively to the total inner man, or simply to the person as a whole and is often
translated as such

Open Heart Surgery

Since the heart is so important to what we think, say, and do, we each need to regularly do open heart surgery with
the scalpel of the Word under the guiding hand of the great physician, the Lord Jesus. We accomplish this through
the teaching, guiding, convicting ministry of the Holy Spirit. Like a sharp two-edged sword, the Word divides the
inner man asunder to reveal the true condition and needs of our hearts Heb. 4:12

What are the means God uses to reveal whats in our heart

POWER
Even the smallest dose of power can change a person. You've probably seen it. Someone gets a promotion
or a bit of fame and then, suddenly, they're a little less friendly to the people beneath them.
Power inevitably changes people sometimes for the better, sometimes not.
Look at Lucifer before but now Satan
The story of Lucifers fall is described in two key Old Testament chaptersEzekiel 28.14-18 and Isaiah 14.12-
17
Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely
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GOD REVEALS WHATS IN OUR HEART
Does power corrupt? It depends who is using it!

POSITION
Even the smallest dose of power can change a person. You've probably seen it. Someone gets a promotion
or a bit of fame and then, suddenly, they're a little less friendly to the people beneath them.
Power inevitably