A Heart Fit for Christ

King David had a heart for the Lord. It is evidenced in the many Psalms he wrote.  In fact, God referred to him as a man after His own heart, (1 Samuel 13:14; Acts 13:22).  Here are a few of some of His love letters to God.  Click on the reference to read the entire Psalm.

I love you, Lord; you are my strength. The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my savior; my God is my rock, in whom I find protection. He is my shield, the power that saves me, and my place of safety. (Psalm 18:1-2)

With all my heart I praise the Lord, and with all that I am I praise his holy name! With all my heart I praise the Lord! I will never forget how kind he has been. (Psalm 103:1-2 CEV)

I love the Lord because he hears my voice and my prayer for mercy. Because he bends down to listen, I will pray as long as I have breath! (Psalm 116:1-2)

From the time the Israelites left Egypt, they worshiped God in a mobile Tabernacle, basically a tent that they carried with them from place to place. The Lord led them through the wilderness in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night.  When they built the Tabernacle, God’s presence filled the Tabernacle.

Then the cloud covered the Tabernacle, and the glory of the Lord filled the Tabernacle. Moses could no longer enter the Tabernacle because the cloud had settled down over it, and the glory of theLord filled the Tabernacle. Now whenever the cloud lifted from the Tabernacle, the people of Israel would set out on their journey, following it. But if the cloud did not rise, they remained where they were until it lifted. The cloud of the Lord hovered over the Tabernacle during the day, and at night fire glowed inside the cloud so the whole family of Israel could see it. This continued throughout all their journeys. (Exodus 40:34-38)

Because of his love for the Lord, David’s great desire was to build a permanent Temple for Him. But God wanted a man of peace to build it; David was a man of war. 1 Chronicles 17, 18, and 22 tell how David spent the last years of his life gathering supplies and money in the treasury for this task. At the end of his life, David challenged Solomon to devote his life to building God’s temple.

Now devote your heart and soul to seeking the LORD your God. Begin to build the sanctuary of the LORD God, so that you may bring the ark of the covenant of the LORD and the sacred articles belonging to God into the temple that will be built for the Name of the LORD. (1 Chronicles 22:19)

Now, our bodies are God’s temple. Jesus dwells in our hearts.

When I am raised to life again, you will know that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. (John 14:20)

I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. (Ephesians 3:16-17)

Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body. (1 Corinthians 6:19-20)

Don’t you realize that all of you together are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God lives in you? (1 Corinthians 3:16)

So now you Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners. You are citizens along with all of God’s holy people. You are members of God’s family. Together, we are his house, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. And the cornerstone is Christ Jesus himself. We are carefully joined together in him, becoming a holy temple for the Lord. Through him you Gentiles are also being made part of this dwelling where God lives by his Spirit. (Ephesians 2:19-22)