God Sees The Heart | 1 Kings 8:39 | Pastor Daniel Batarseh

As we come to the end of yet another year, it's my prayer and

desire to share with you a truth from the Scriptures that greatly

impacted me earlier in 2025. It is an observation that has

stayed with me and was deepened throughout the year, and it is

my sincere longing that it will be a revelation that blossoms in

the years to come. But my prayer also is that it

will be of help to you, as it was to me, in shaping how we

perceive the Lord. I truly believe that this

insight will accomplish at least two things for the child of God

who sincerely longs to worship, live, and please the Lord, but

frequently is frustrated or disappointed with themselves in

that pursuit. This can provide a level of rest

to your soul that can help you as you seek to honor God.

If you really seize these glorious insights and you take

them home with you and you meditate on them in the days to

come, I believe with all my heart that it can encourage a

fresh and strong adoration, a God word.

Adoration, on the other hand, for the person who claims to

love Christ but is not true. In fact, habitually you are

living in spiritual adultery, loving the world and its

pleasures more than the Creator and the Savior of the world.

This message may unsettle you, and I actually hope it does.

I pray that it disturbs you enough to prompt repentance so

that you would flee to Christ, confess your sin, and experience

true satisfaction and joy that only He can offer.

And the truth that I am Speaking of today can be found in

Solomon's prayer at the dedication of the temple in

First Kings chapter 8. And I invite you to turn with me

1 Kings 8 · chapter mention

in your Bibles to that portion of Scripture, First Kings

1 Kings 8:38

chapter 8, verse 38 down to verse 39, and I will wait for

you. This great king says the

following as he is seeking God before the nation in verse 38.

Whatever prayer, whatever plea is made by any man or by all

your people, Israel, each knowing the affliction of his

own heart and stretching out his hands towards this house, then

here in heaven your dwelling place, and forgive and act and

render to each whose heart you know, according to all his ways.

For you, you only know the hearts of all the children of

mankind. I want to speak to you today

about how God sees and knows our hearts.

What a remarkable admission Solomon makes in the middle of

this petition. You only know the hearts of all

the children of mankind. Why is he saying that here?

Well, we have to remember that in this prayer, at the

dedication of this incredible achievement, the dwelling place

of God on the earth in the Temple, Solomon understands

humanity's tendency to go back into their ways of rebellion and

idolatry and habitual sin, even for people like this Israel that

is especially privileged to know God in such a unique fashion.

And so knowing what may come in the days after the dedication,

Solomon seeks the Lord and he says, oh God, if and when the

people do sin and continue to live in that place, but they

repent, I'm asking you to extend mercy and restoration to your

children. I'm asking that you would not

push them away, you would not turn your back on them, but that

you would welcome them again. And it's important to remember

that Solomon is not offering this prayer in solitude.

This is a public event. And so the peoples are there

observing it and listening to his very prayer as he makes it

before God. And so you can say that Solomon

is not only seeking the Lord, but indirectly teaching the

people and reminding them of something concerning the Lord in

our repentance. That God alone knows the

sincerity of someone's contrition and desire to be

right with God. That's why he's mentioning God's

omniscience in this context. He's not telling God.

God knows this about himself. He's telling the people that

should they choose to live in sin even after this great reward

of God choosing to be him in their midst and to fellowship

with them, and if they were to turn back after realizing their

foolishness, God knows. If you're sincere in your

repentance, God really knows what's going on in your heart.

And we see here that through the supplication, Solomon is also

reminding the people that no one has and no one ever will be able

to deceive God with insincere or formulaic confessions of sin.

He alone perceives the intentions and the integrity of

our hearts. He alone can see what is really

occupying our motives and what is really behind our actions.

So he can tell the difference between someone who wants to

forsake their sin in order to please God and one who is merely

seeking to escape its consequences.

And so they go through perhaps a ritualistic type of repentance.

But knowing the genuineness of 1's repentance is not the only

thing that the Lord is aware of. There's something that He says

in this same chapter a few verses back.

That was the verse for me a few months ago that was opened in

such a way that I'm still drawing refreshment from it.

Look what Solomon says about his father David back in verse 17 of

First Kings 8. He says now it was in the heart

of David my father, to build a house for the name of the Lord,

the God of Israel. But the Lord said to David, My

father, whereas it was in your heart to build a house for my

name, you did well that was in your heart.

Nevertheless, you shall not build the house, but your son,

who shall be born to you, shall build the house for my name.

You know what's so remarkable about this passage?

That you have God Almighty commending a man named David,

but he does not praise King David for constructing the

temple. He simply accepts and

appreciates the fact that David had a desire to do so.

What God is highlighting in David was never materialized.

It was never realized. It never manifested.

It wasn't something you can touch, it wasn't something you

can measure necessarily. What God here is pleased with is

a passion in David's heart, and so he lets him know you did

well, that it was in your heart. Do you understand the

implications of this for the true Christian?

You may have had and you may still have holy aspirations.

Christ honoring dreams and wishes, because of God's

Providence and His will for you may prevent you from ever seeing

it happen. And that may disturb you, that

may frustrate you. But you have to understand that

such intentions and longings, even if never fulfilled due to

God's will, are still commended and appreciated by Him.

What a thought. God honors our aspirations, not

only our actions. You know what I find interesting

about David after this point? There is no record of him ever

protesting this prohibition. You have to understand, David

had such a zeal for God's house that according to the Psalms,

when it came to him desiring to build a house for him, he

couldn't sleep at night. He stayed up all night because

to him he's like, look at me in my palace.

And God's, God's presence signified in that ark is in a

tent. It became his, his one goal to

do something about this, to exalt God's name.

And it wasn't very long after David confessed his desire to do

this that he was told prophetically, you will not

build the house for me. Now here's what's so amazing.

He doesn't protest. I believe perhaps in part, the

reason why David could receive this and rest in this is because

he realized that the Lord's pleasure was known simply in his

longing. Because that's what David was

after anyway. He wanted to, to bring the light

to the Lord, and God wants to let him know.

God knowing his heart, You're doing this for my glory.

In my wisdom. I cannot let you build my house,

but I want to let you know that you achieved your aim.

I am pleased by the fact that you simply want to do it.

This is the God that we serve, that he actually considers what

is hidden, what we meditate on, what we long for.

And as encouraging as this may be, our sinful hearts have a way

of twisting such truths to justify our unwillingness to act

in faith. You've probably had this

conversation with somebody. I know I have.

Maybe you've even said it. And I hope today will be the

last time you ever do. We're somebody who is clearly

living outside of God's will, somebody who is actually

rejecting commands by God through His word for selfish

reasons and sinful reasonings. And they say things like, well,

God knows my heart. Have you heard that?

Well, God, God knows my heart. As though the Lord condones

compromise. This is not speaking about that.

Far from it. Because David's concern and

excitement for the temple did not come in brief spirits or

fluctuated day by day. It consumed him, It was

something he really wanted to do.

It was something he was ready to do.

It was something that he was willing to sacrifice anything

for. And when he was told by God, you

will not do it, he did the next best thing.

OK, fine, you won't let me build it, then I'm going to fund it.

And so he gave, and he gave of his own personal treasures and

savings in order to leave this world, making an eternal impact.

More than anything, this passage is meant to encourage those who

have always wanted to serve God in a particular way, but I've

experienced providentially redirection or hindered by the

Holy Spirit. I want to let you know this

afternoon and be assured that the Lord sees your heart and the

desires in it and delights in them.

This also serves as a warning for those who have hidden

agendas or covetous motives and are willing to hide behind

spiritual offices or camouflage themselves within the church

circles to satisfy those impulses.

Many people know Elijah was Elijah's assistant, but there

are very few who remember the lessons that they can learn from

Elijah's apprentice. Does anybody remember his name?

Ghazi Ghazi. Ghazi had so much potential.

Gehazi, who knows what could have been, what could have been

accomplished through him as he was given access to 24/7

discipleship, living under the tutelage of this mighty man of

God, Elijah. But he squandered it.

Gehazi blew it. Why did Gehazi blow it?

Because his greed got the best of him.

He so desired materialism that he threw away his calling.

And the Bible gives us the moment that happened.

The Bible actually tells us step by step when this took place,

and it teaches us so much about what God knows about our hearts.

One of the most incredible miracles that Elijah was able to

perform by God's power was the healing of name in the Syrian.

This Gentile who from a servant girl that was kidnapped from

Israel, learned that there was a prophet in that land that they

were war with, who had a relationship with God that can

bring miracles into people's lives.

And he is riddled with this disease.

And sickness has a way of making people, even those who are

unbelievers, desperate. Sickness has a way of humbling

us. Sickness has a way of reminding

us that we're human and we are not God.

And so this name in the Syrian makes a petition to the king of

Israel, and he makes his way to Israel.

He gets a hold of Elijah, and Elijah gives him commands that

required humility. And Naman complied and he was

healed miraculously. And Elijah, who was the conduit

through which God performed this miracle, is approached by Naman.

And Naman is so moved, he now acknowledges the God of Israel

is a true God. How can I pay you back?

How can I compensate? How how can I express my

appreciation? And Elijah was a wise minister.

He understood this is a Gentile who's just being introduced to

the God of Israel. In no way am I going to take

anything from him less he should be confused and think to himself

that this relationship with this living God is a matter of give

and take. I want to show him that God is a

God of grace. So he looks at name, and he

says, go your way. I'm not asking anything from

you. And so Naman, with his

entourage, make the way back to Syria.

But who's there listening in on that conversation?

Elisha's servant, his personal assistant.

And when he discovers this, we have the record of his thinking

where he says, my master is foolish, essentially.

Why would he let go of this opportunity?

And so when Elisha is tucked away in his own place, Naman is

on his way to Syria, Gehazi makes his way and follows

Naaman. And when he follows him, I want

you to see what he asks of him in Second Kings chapter 5 verse

2 Kings 5:21

21. In Second Kings 521, we read.

So Gehazi followed Naaman. And when Naaman saw someone

running after him, he got down from the chariot to meet him and

said, is all well. And he said all is well.

Pause we've seen that before in Second Kings, haven't we?

We've seen this before with a Shunamite woman when her son

died approached Elijah and Elijah asked her is all well and

she said what all is well? It was true for her, her soul

was well. She had trust and faith in God.

Now Gehazi is being asked us all well and he says all is well is

all well with Gehazi soul. No, it's it's very dangerous to

perceive the condition of our own spirituality outside of

God's light. Ghazi thinks all is well, at

least he says it, when in reality it's not.

And we're about to discover that all is well.

My Master has sent me to say that I've just now come to me

from the Hill Country of Ephraim, two young men of the

sons of the prophets. Please give them a talent of

silver and two changes of clothing.

What is this deception? What is this manipulation?

What is this? It's greed.

And keep in mind exactly what Ghazi requested because at first

it won't seem to match what Elijah says when he confronts

his assistant. Scroll down now to verse 25.

This is when Ghazi makes his way back to Elijah's presence and he

thought that he can escape the prophet's knowledge of his

whereabouts. Second Kings 525 He went in and

stood before his master, and Elijah said to him, Where have

you been, Ghazi? And he said, Your servant went

nowhere. But he said to him, Did not my

heart go when the man turned from his chariot to meet you?

Was it a time to accept money and garments, olive orchards and

vineyards, sheep and oxen, male servants and female servants?

Elijah, what are you talking about?

What did we read back earlier? What?

What did Gehazi ask for specifically?

Just just some money and a few changes of clothing, right?

But what does Elijah include? He includes all.

Look at this catalog. Was it a time to accept not just

money and garments, but olive orchards and vineyards, sheep,

oxen, male servants and female servants?

What's happening here? I'll tell you exactly what's

happening here. God not only revealed to Elijah

what Gehazi asked from Naaman, he also showed the prophet what

truly lodged in Gehazi's heart. His true aspirations and

desires. His true ambitions to acquire

property, states, servants, to live in luxury.

That's what Gehazi really wanted, and he was willing to,

even with his ministerial position, even with the

vulnerability of people's needs, execute his authority and take

advantage of others in order to realize that aim in life.

In other words, God knew what was really in Ghazi's heart.

It wasn't to glorify God. It wasn't to extend grace.

It wasn't to preach the truth. It was to actually utilize his

position to pursue a selfish ambition, thinking that it was

indiscernible. Clearly he forgot to pay

attention or remember what Solomon prayed back in First

1 Kings 8 · chapter mention

Kings chapter 8, that God alone knows the hearts of all the

children of mankind. There's an amazing contrast

between Gehazi and Naman in this story.

If you remember, Naman earlier, after being told that he can go

back in peace, was concerned with something.

He was concerned about returning to his duties because he was a

high official in the Syrian government and his

responsibilities were vast. But he also had a close

relationship with the king of Syria.

And one of the things that Naman had to do was assist this aged

king into the temple of a false God.

And when he would bow down to worship this false God, he would

lean on Naaman's arm, and Naaman would have to bow down with him

in order to help him. So he brings his predicament up

to Elijah, and he says, oh, please, may your Lord pardon me

when I do this. And Elijah reassures Naaman,

Yes, I God understands you may have to physically prostate

yourself, not because you're worshipping this false God, but

because you have this position that requires you to help this

elderly king realize that you should be in peace.

Be in peace. But then now Fast forward in the

same chapter, we learn what we just read it that you have

Gehazi who outwardly look like a true minister.

What was his posture? He stood in the presence of his

master. When somebody stands in the

presence of someone else, that often means that they are ready

to serve at a command. He looks spiritual.

He looked promising. He was the closest man to

Elijah. But inwardly, what did he want?

What did he truly desire? Fields and servants and

affluence and was willing to even exploit others through the

ministry to arrive there. Teaching us what God knows.

Our hearts, He does not evaluate externally.

He looks internally and He considers the purity, the

sincerity of what we long for. He looks at our hearts above all

else. You know, Gehazi and Judas

Iscariot share many similarities.

From the outside, Judas appeared to be what?

A genuine disciple. I mean, he, with the other 11,

walked away from their daily routines, the familiarity to

follow this rabbi wherever he went.

More than that, don't forget this, that when Jesus

commissioned the 12 along with other disciples, Judas himself

operated under the same power that these others did.

Through Judas's hands, the sick were healed.

Through Judas's voice, in the name of Jesus, demons were cast

out. I mean, from the outside, this,

this man, Judas looked like the real deal.

Even the others among him thought the same.

But there was someone in the midst.

There was someone in Judas's life who really knew his true

character, Christ, and regularly in the Gospels, especially,

especially in the Gospel of John, the Holy Spirit shows us

how Christ all along in that three-year tenure in a

three-year ministry route, understood exactly who Judas was

even though he was on staff. Do you remember what Jesus said

in John 6 verse 70? Didn't I choose you the 12?

John 6:70

And yet one of you is what a devil.

Not one of you is going to be a devil.

One of you right now is a devil. What a shocking claim.

What does it show us that God knows?

He can see through the veneers of gehazis and Judases, and He

also sees the sincerity in the purity of unformed people like

Naman who have the desire to to worship the true God but may not

know all that He is all that he has to offer.

The revelation of God's awareness of what resides in our

hearts, it's so prevalent in the Bible.

It goes back as far as Genesis, and I want to show you one

strong example of this from Genesis chapter 20.

Genesis 20 · chapter mention

Let's turn that together. What's happening in Genesis 20,

at least in the beginning of it, Abraham makes his way to Guerrar

with his family. And when he arrives at Guerrar,

like before, he was afraid because of the beauty of his

wife. You imagine that he was so

worried that people would perceive and see just how

beautiful his wife was that he had to lie.

And he did this before so that no one would try to take him out

if he stood in the way from having her.

So Abraham repeats his mistake. Sarah, if anybody asks you, tell

them you're my sister. So they do that, and Abimelech,

the king of Gerard, took notice of Sarah.

So he takes her for himself and all.

Thank God he supervised over his plan of redemption.

Because Abraham, this man of faith supposedly right, blew it

at a very critical time. The Lord had promised Abraham

that within a year's time Sarah would conceive the miracle

child, and he still is willing to put her at risk of being

taken by another man, which would what compromise that plan?

So God himself intervenes, and this is what we read in Genesis

Genesis 20:3

20, verse 3. But God came to Abimelech in a

dream by night and said to him, Behold, you are a dead man

because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is a man's

wife. Now Abimelech had not approached

her, so he said, Lord, will you kill an innocent people?

Did he not himself say to me, She is my sister?

And she herself said He is my brother.

In the integrity of my heart and the innocence of my hands, I

have done this. And God said to him in the

dream, Yes, I know that you have done this in the integrity of

your heart. And it was I who kept you from

sinning against me. Isn't that amazing?

Sinning against me? You know, some people say, well,

it's not. It can't be wrong if I'm not

hurting anybody. Well, actually you are hurting

someone with every sin you commit, and that's God sinning

against me. Therefore, I did not let you

touch her. What kind of trouble might have

Abimelech got himself into? If God was a God who judged only

actions and not considering motives, intentions or even

ignorance, I believe like would have ended right there and then.

Actually, why do we see this in our Bibles?

Because the Lord wants to show us that he looks at the heart.

And Abimelech confesses that he did not pursue Sarah knowing

that she was another man's wife. He was under the impression that

she was single and therefore available.

In other words, this man was not driven by sinful compulsion.

He wasn't perverted. He didn't have evil intent.

In this moment, the basis of his actions was pure, and God

Himself confirmed it. I can, I can confirm and affirm,

Abimelech, that you are innocent in this regard.

What lessons can we take from this?

I think a few. Let me offer a couple.

Number one, it's very likely that you and I have made

mistakes of various kinds, some more consequential, some less,

yet they arose from a place of moral integrity.

You know who makes these kind of mistakes?

Very often young Christians when they first get saved, who do a

lot of things from the place of righteous zeal but lack wisdom.

And sometimes in their decisions, sometimes with their

words or confrontations or even their attempts to do something

right, they do more harm than good, right?

Maybe if we're all a little bit honest, we can say, yeah, that's

that's true of me when I was first born again.

There's some things that I think back to, and I'm like, I'm

cringing just thinking about it. And if you have a particularly

sensitive conscience, that may be enough to help you not be

able to move on from past blunders.

You're almost chained to your past mistakes because you can't

seem to just get over how you missed it.

And yet we come to a truth like this that reminds us that God

sees the integrity of our hearts.

He sees the innocence. He sees how maybe we were even

operating under a limited awareness of how things should

be done, but we really want to do something good.

So if that describes you, take take comfort in knowing that the

Lord's assessment of our choices are not surface level.

They are never surface level. He's incredibly patient.

He considers other factors. He he looks at our motives.

He looks at our limited knowledge that we may have had

at the time of our failures. Another point to consider is how

there will be times when we will be misjudged by others,

sometimes even accused, while God fully recognizes our

innocence. When David sent some of his

servants to the land of the Ammonites to console and comfort

Hanoon, who was the son of the late King Mahash, the Princess

of the Ammonites whispered in the ear of Hanoon and convinced

them David sent spies here. You think that this is an act of

kindness? No, he's here to actually see

your weak spots. This is his intelligence agency

and Hanoon believed him. He believed the whisper of the

Princess and it caused an unnecessary war.

Here's David just trying to do the right thing.

And it was misunderstood, misconstrued, and caused

bloodshed. You and I have to be prepared to

be misunderstood or wrongly accused by others, yet at the

same time be ready to take refuge and to take comfort in

the thought that God Himself knows the integrity of our

hearts, even if others do not, because ultimately His judgement

matters the most. I love the Apostle Paul for many

reasons. One of the things that I so

appreciate about this great man of God is the confidence he had

in living in light of God's evaluation of his efforts, his

ministry, his character. This man who sacrificed so much,

This man who took beatings, this man who faced death on on behalf

of others for the sake of the gospel, for the sake of other

believers, at one point was severely scrutinized by these

Corinthian Christians, these Corinthians who dare to question

his ambitions and his motives, to compare him to other

teachers. And so at one point in his first

letter to this group of believers, he says it's a very

small thing for me to be judged by you or by any human court.

In fact, I love this part. He goes on to say I don't even

judge myself. I don't rely of my own

assessment of my own heart because sometimes I'm too hard

on myself or sometimes I'm too light.

No, no, no, He ends up saying this.

It is the Lord who judges me ultimately is God.

It's God who knows the depth of my being.

It's the Lord who knows who knows why I do what I do.

It's a very small thing to be judged by you, Corinthians.

My identity is not in your assessment, your conclusions,

your speculations, your comparisons.

That's not where I find my identity, nor do I find it in

any human court. I rest in God and in God alone.

Oh, we can go on and on with examples, can't we?

You're saying, can you just pause it and remind me why we're

going through these passages? Because I want you to leave with

one thing this afternoon. God knows your heart.

That's it. But I believe there are at least

more applications that we can drive.

How should we respond to these scriptural insights?

What do we do with them? I believe that there are two

major applications, one that deals with our horizontal

attitudes toward one another and one that concerns our vertical

relationship with the Lord. Listen to the words of the

apostle Paul on how we should treat one another, perceive one

another in light of the fact that God knows our hearts.

Turn with me to the New Testament now in First

1 Corinthians 4 · chapter mention

Corinthians chapter 4 and look at verse 5.

Therefore do not pronounce judgement before the time before

the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden

in darkness, and will disclose the purposes of the heart.

Then each one will receive his commendation from God.

So again, the Corinthians were guilty of making judgments of

various leaders in the church, including the apostle Paul, to

the point that it was causing divisions and fostering

spiritual pride. And so he's confronting this and

he's reminds this group of believers, hey, hey, hey, hey,

hey. God alone knows the intentions

of the human heart. You can't come to a definite

dogmatic arrival at why a minister does what he does.

That's the context here. Because sometimes our judgments

are premature. Sometimes there are conclusions

based on incomplete information. Other times they are influenced

by our own insecurities. So Paul tells his believers

there is a time coming though, where the Lord will reach down

into every heart and pull out the intentions of it.

So you Corinthians, instead of spending your energy and causing

problems with verbalizing and sharing your personal

understanding supposedly of why someone is the way they are or

why they preach or minister or serve in the way that they do,

reserve that for examining your own heart and preparing your own

heart to be evaluated by God Himself.

And that's perhaps one way we can grow in our sanctification

regarding this truth. He says that there will be a

time coming when the purpose of the heart will be revealed, and

that's God's prerogative alone. You know, we live in an age

today where everybody can grab a microphone and share something

with the world. And especially with the

political climate we're in and how everything is accessible,

the culture war, all these things, the things people share

online that they're not even sure about and the havoc and

confusion and chaos that it's causing.

Listen, if the world wants to do that, let them do that.

But nuts, let's not bring it in the church instead of murmuring,

instead of trying to be your own private investigator and

bringing others in and deeming if somebody's truly righteous,

really authentic, leave that to God and worry about your own

heart. But there's a vertical element

to this. Do you remember what David's

prayer was after getting one of the most comprehensive

explanations of the wonders and purposes of the word of God in

Psalm 19, we we spoke about this Psalm back at the conference.

But let me remind you how He ends, how He responds right

after giving this wonderful description, this bullet point

kind of explanation of the applications and the treasures

of the Word of God. This is what He says in Psalm

Psalms 19:14

19, verse 14. Let the words of my mouth and

the meditations of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, oh

Lord, my rock and my Redeemer. I do not believe for a moment

that it is accidental that immediately right after speaking

and giving a catalog of what the Word of God is and what it can

perform in in a human soul, David responds in this way.

It's as though David arrived at the same conclusion that you and

I did this afternoon that the Lord he sees the heart.

He considers the heart. And so David doesn't end his

prayer with let the words of my mouth that deals with outward

piety. That's what other people can

hear. He says, not not just outside.

I'm asking you clean this heart, the hidden private secret part

of who I am. I'm asking you, God, that the

meditations that nobody else knows about would be acceptable

in your sight. This is David's response to what

he knew about the Word of God and what you and I are being

reminded of in the Word of God, that He sees our hearts.

May that be our prayer also. Let's do that now.

And before, before I even pray, I want to give you a short time

to do business with God. And perhaps that looks like you

worshiping the Lord in with Glee because you had these

aspirations that were never realized.

You never understood why you prayed about it.

You're willing to give up everything for it, and God has a

different path for you. And you might be frustrated with

your life, but oh, remember that the Lord praise David for his

desires alone. Take comfort, servant of Christ.

If that's you, perhaps you're riddled with guilt even still in

2025 because of things that have been done.

Though you did it from a pure place.

Take comfort in knowing that God knows your heart.

The integrity of it may have not been the best choice.

It may have been a wrong action. Not the wisest, but be liberated

and move on in the grace of God. You might be a Ghazi in this

place and your heart is filled with worldly ambitions, carnal

cravings. You know the right words, you

look the part, but there is nothing of God in your

affections and your ambitions. It can change today.

God can renew that heart of yours and fill it with the

desires that were meant to be there.

Lord, we pray that the words of our mouths and the meditations

of our hearts leaving this place would be acceptable in your

sight. Thank you, Lord, that You were

not just the great revealer of hearts.

You were the healer of hearts. You are the regenerator of

hearts. You perform spiritual heart

transplants. You can take these Stony hearts,

these cold icy hearts, these critical hearts, and put your

heart instead. And we pray that we would

experience that, though we will never know it perfectly on this

side of eternity, we want as much of it as possible.

And so low. We sit here patiently and humbly

asking for you to do what only you can do.

In these hearts, in Christ's name, we pray.

Amen. If you desire to stand and sing

with us, you can do that. If you still want to stay seated

so that you can better pray and seek the Lord, you can do that

as well. Whatever you choose to do in

this moment, do it from a place of worship.

Let's let's seek the Lord and thank Him for speaking to us

today, Yeah.