Supernatural Transformation: Change Your Heart Into God’s Heart (38 page)

The Lord has led me through a process of supernatural transformation of the heart that continues to this day. Once, I had no passion to seek God; but after I received Jesus as my Savior and Lord, He kindled that passion within me. At one time in my life, I had neither the attitude of a conqueror, nor was I courageous; but after God delivered me of fear, I was able to develop those qualities. What I am today is due to the supernatural grace of God. I am a living testimony that He can thoroughly change the heart of a man. It
is
possible to have a heart after God’s own heart!

David’s Heart Versus Saul’s Heart

The prophet Samuel announced to Saul, the first king over Israel,
“But now your kingdom shall not continue.
The L
ord
has sought for Himself a man after His own heart
, and the L
ord
has commanded him to be commander over His people, because you have not kept what the L
ord
commanded you”
(1 Samuel 13:14).
God had desired to work with and through Saul, but the king repeatedly disobeyed His voice. He would filter God’s clear instructions by acting according to what seemed reasonable to his human intellect. Saul pretended to seek and to serve God, but his heart was set on his own agenda. His intentions and motivations toward the Lord were not genuine—he merely practiced a religious ritual.

For example, Saul seemed to treat the ark of the covenant not as the holy dwelling place of God’s presence but as a “good luck charm” in battle. He would seek God only when he faced difficulties. But even then, he again did not obey God’s commands, because he always ended up doing what he had already planned to do in his heart. Of supreme importance to Saul were his position and his preeminence in the eyes of the people. He walked so far away from the Lord that he ended up consulting a witch. After this incident, Saul and his son Jonathan died on the battlefield.

Although Saul was God’s anointed king, he ended up a failure because he didn’t allow God to guide him, and he didn’t follow His counsel. We must all examine our heart to make sure it doesn’t have any of the characteristics of Saul’s disobedient heart. If it does, we should diligently seek God’s forgiveness and the transformation of our heart so that we may learn to hear and obey God and take responsibility for growing in Christlikeness. Likewise, we must not follow any leader who has a heart like Saul’s; otherwise, we may be destroyed along with him.

God rejected Saul because of the king’s continued disobedience, and He raised up another man—David—to be king, instead. While Saul held on to his rebellion and did not allow God to form him, David had a heart after God’s own heart. David’s good character had been established long before he was called to the throne; as a youth, he had spent much time worshipping God, meditating on His Word, and delighting in Him. To receive God’s acceptance, and to avoid His rejection, we must allow Him to form our heart to be like His own.

This truth is what a man named Abedef came to recognize. He thought he would conquer the world with his athletic abilities, until a personal crisis led to the transformation of his heart in Christ. The following is his story. “From the first day I arrived in the United States from Haiti, the only thing I knew, experienced, and breathed was basketball. I remember returning home with body aches and black-and-blue marks as I struggled to become a professional player. My high-school years were devoted to attaining success and fame as I dreamed about how I would finally be able to bring my family out of Haiti’s poverty.

“Basketball was my idol—it was what I adored and what I lived for; it was everything I knew and loved. It was my ‘drug,’ the vehicle for my exceeding pride and arrogance—on and off the court. Although I didn’t use illegal drugs, have promiscuous sex, or drink alcohol, I would become impatient and would verbally unload my anger on my family. Then something terrible happened: While practicing for a championship game, I suffered a meniscus tear and was rushed to the emergency room, where the doctors told me I would not be able to play basketball for at least three months. That meant the end of my season. Consequently, I fell into a deep depression. I lay on the hospital bed, crying, until I exclaimed, ‘If I can’t play basketball, what reason is there for me to continue living?’ Then and there, I decided to take my own life.

“That same day, a friend whom I had not seen for years called me and said, ‘I haven’t heard from you in a long time. Why don’t you come to church with me?’ I didn’t want to go to church, because I thought I would hear a boring message and would leave the same way I had come in. My friend insisted until I agreed to go with her to a Bible study in someone’s house. There, the power of God greatly impacted me. Halfway through the teaching, the leader said to me, ‘You can be healed of your condition. God will heal you.’ Although I felt a bit skeptical, I said, ‘All right; I surrender. I want to see God heal me!’ The leader prayed for me, and I felt heat travel throughout my entire body.

“The next day, I started to play basketball again! My trainer couldn’t fathom what was happening. The doctors didn’t understand it. But God did much more than that. He changed my heart and showed me my true purpose in life. I no longer depend on basketball. I don’t need any idols. I need God and His eternal promises. I was set free from depression and was able to finish my last basketball season. All the hunger I’d had for the sport was transferred to a desire to serve God and to preach His Word. Now people admire me not for who I am but for what the Lord has called me to do. My dream was to play in the major leagues, but now I am finally on the right path. My destiny was not basketball but serving God.”

“A Man After My Own Heart”

“
[God]
raised up for them David as king, to whom also He gave testimony and said, ‘I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after My own heart who will do all My will’”
(Acts 13:22). David is the only person named in Scripture whom God the Father specifically referred to as having a heart after His own heart. You may wonder, “How could David have been a man after God’s own heart if he became an adulterer (see 2 Samuel 11:1–5), a murderer (see 2 Samuel 11:6–17), and a man who spilled much blood (see, for example, 2 Samuel 8:1–6)?” If we look at David from a human perspective, it makes no sense for God to consider him a man after His own heart; therefore, we must look at him from God’s perspective.

What led God to forgive David, remove his sin, and preserve his kingdom? David had slept with Bathsheba, the wife of one of his soldiers, impregnated her, and then arranged to have her husband killed. But God knew David’s innermost heart. He knew David was sensitive to Him and that he had allowed Him to greatly mold him in the past. Moreover, whenever David sinned, he was quick to genuinely repent, because he loved God passionately and recognized that he had deeply offended Him. (See, for example, Psalm 51.)

I am not saying that God ever tolerates sin or agrees with it. But, again, He sees our heart; and He considers us according to our finished state in eternity—as having the righteousness of Jesus and a transformed heart and life. Perhaps you have had a major failing, as David did, and you think it is the end of your relationship with God or even your life. Yet, if you will repent, He will restore you and lead you to the destiny to which He called you before the beginning of time. The Scriptures say,
“He who covers his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy”
(Proverbs 28:13). God expects you to repent of your sin and to believe that you have been completely forgiven in Christ. Then, He wants you to allow Him to continue to transform your heart.

Divine grace is not a license to sin but rather the supernatural means by which we receive a heart that is pure and clean, and through which we can draw near to our heavenly Father. Therefore, whenever we fail, we should immediately go to God for forgiveness through Christ.
“Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need”
(Hebrews 4:16). If our heart has not been transformed, so that we fail to understand God’s grace by supernatural revelation and do not repent, we will abuse that grace, dishonoring the precious blood Christ shed for us. We must experience the transformation of our heart!

Alex is the owner of a prestigious international legal firm that deals with cases in the United States, Canada, Panama, and Honduras. Yet he experienced deep grief. When God began the process of transforming his heart, he received new joy and spiritual freedom. Here is his story: “My wife and I lived through a very difficult crisis—we lost two of our children. One died at age twenty-eight and the other at age thirty-three. Personally, I believe the death of a child is the hardest blow anyone can experience. In this condition, I attended a meeting at King Jesus Ministry, which made a great impact on me spiritually. God told me that I had to make a change, that a new season was coming for me. I experienced a peace that I had never felt before.

“From that day, God has dealt with my heart, and our life has changed 100 percent. He has prospered me as a man, as a father, and as the priest of my home, and He has removed my deep grief over the death of my children. Furthermore, He has prospered me in a supernatural way. My legal firm has grown greatly, and I truly believe that the Lord has given me a gift that I didn’t have before. We have invested in many things and now own several construction companies, community development companies, and pharmaceutical companies, as well as a film production company, and we continue to grow. God has made me influential in order to impact my city for Him; but, most of all, He has built up my wife and me and given us hope, so that we can provide our grandchildren with guidance and purpose.”

God gives us His supernatural grace to live a holy life.

Characteristics of a Heart After God’s Own Heart

The only way to have true success in our journey through this world—success that will last for eternity—is for our heart to be in the right place. How did David merit being called “a man after God’s own heart”? How did he capture the heart of God? The following are the major characteristics of a heart after God’s own heart.

1. A Heart After God’s Own Heart Passionately Seeks God’s Presence

One of the virtues of David’s heart was that he was passionate about God. He wanted to know God, to love Him, to dwell in His presence, and to receive direct revelation from Him. He sought to please God and to serve Him with his whole being. David wrote,
“O God, You are my God; early will I seek You; my soul thirsts for You; my flesh longs for You in a dry and thirsty land where there is no water. So I have looked for You in the sanctuary, to see Your power and Your glory”
(Psalm 63:1–2).

David was always “thirsty” for God—and his thirst impelled him to seek the Lord’s presence continuously. Psalm 42 provides another vivid image of a heart that is thirsty for God:
“As the deer pants for the water brooks, so pants my soul for You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God”
(Psalm 42:1–2). Such a thirst for God cannot be manufactured. It manifests in a person’s life during a sincere, continuous quest to experience His presence.

David was consumed by this quest. He sought God’s face every day, and even during the night. (See Psalm 63:6.) And, each time he was confronted with a crisis, he would look to God for help, because he totally depended on his relationship with the Lord. The more we love God, the more we will desire Him; and the more we know of Him, the more we will want to learn of Him—always more. “More” of God will never be enough for us!

A lack of spiritual thirst will produce spiritual dryness, which will yield only legalism, religion, and spiritual death.

2. A Heart After God’s Own Heart Passionately
Worships God

David was also passionate about worshipping God. He wrote,
“One thing I have desired of the L
ord
, that will I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the L
ord
all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the L
ord
, and to inquire in His temple”
(Psalm 27:4). I believe David altered the history of worship by establishing a pattern of praise and worship for Israel that was observed by God’s people from Old Testament times through the practices of the New Testament church—and his influence continues to impact us today. From David’s writings in the book of Psalms, it seems as if he lived thousands of years ahead of his time—as if he lived according to the grace released by Christ’s death on the cross and in the power of His resurrection. (See, for example, Psalm 16:9–11.)

Generally, David did everything in his life from a position of worship, because he had received the revelation of how worship affects the heart of God. He knew that worship greatly pleases Him! If we had a revelation of this truth, we would worship God more. We must understand that, like the exercise of our faith, our worship of God develops and matures the more we practice it.

Let us now explore the effects of worship on God’s heart and on our own heart.

Our Passionate Worship Opens God’s Heart to Us and
Our Heart to His

Our genuine, passionate worship of God opens His heart to us while softening our own heart, because it is an act of voluntary submission and obedience to Him. Obedience is one of the greatest acts of worship. If we have a heart that is hardened and unwilling to submit to God, our “worship” will be rejected by Him, and He will close off His heart to us. Authentic worship makes us more sensitive to the Lord, leading us to recognize our true spiritual condition so that we will surrender to God, repent, and allow His Holy Spirit to operate the needed transformation within us.