Return with All Your Heart

Scripture 1 Sam 7:3 Then Samuel spoke to all the house of Israel, saying, “If you return to the LORD with all your hearts, then put away the foreign gods and the Ashtoreths from among you, and prepare your hearts for the LORD, and serve Him only; and He will deliver you from the hand of the Philistines.”

Observation: What is it to return with all of your heart? That God is your everything, He is your heart, mind and soul and that you will live for Him. God should be the master of us, everything that we have and are needs to belong to the Lord. Before we do anything we should see if it honors God, we need to die to ourselves and then live for our Lord. It seems like a lot to ask, but it’s the very least we can do. Everything we give Him He gave it to us first and we are simply giving it back. Our hearts need to be prepared for God, which makes Him our main focus and since we love Him we desire to serve Him, it’s no longer a chore to serve, but becomes an honor.

Application: I still need to return to my Lord with all of my heart and rid myself of this self-centerness. I need to prepare my heart and get my life into perspective. I’m still living as if this life is for me, when in fact it has always belonged to my Lord. I need to serve more, because when I serve I know I’m in His presence and in His will. I need my Lord to deliver me from this sinful existence and get my heart ready to glorify Him.

Prayer: I can’t do it by myself, my Lord. I’ve tried and always fall short and go back to focusing on me. Help get my heart ready for service to You. In my heart I do want to be the man you call me to be, but I continue to stray off the path. Give me a strong heart and take this laziness from me so that I may serve.