UNDERSTANDING YOUR HEART
Job 10:8 & Selected
Jeff Seaman
Proverbs 27. We’re in a series I’m calling "You are Shaped for Significance". The theme verse we’ve been using is Job 10:8 "God’s hands formed me and shaped me." God made you unique. You’re a unique combination of numerous factors, abilities, interests, etc. To summarize that for you, I’ve put it into an acrostic S-H-A-P-E. God has given you Spiritual gifts. God has given you a Heart, things that you love to do. God has given you Abilities, Personality and Experiences. All five of these make up who you are.
Today, I want us to look at the second one -- the Heart that God has given you. Living Your Heart’s Desire.
I. UNDERSTANDING YOUR HEART
You need to understand your heart. The Bible uses the word "heart" to describe the bundle of motivations that you have -- your desires, your hopes, your longings, your dreams, your ambitions, your affections, the things you care about, the things you love to do. All these are composed in your heart.
Every human being physiologically has a unique heartbeat. Every human being’s heart beats just a little bit differently. There’s a slight variation in the pattern of every heartbeat. The same is true emotionally. Would you agree that there are some thing you care very deeply about and there are other things you couldn’t care less about? Would you agree that those of you who are married, married someone who is very different and often the opposite? God gave you a unique heartbeat. The Bible says in Proverbs 27:19 (Good News) "It is your own self that you see in your heart." Your heart is what makes you, you! And God made you so that your emotional heartbeat races when you’re interested in certain things and when you encounter other things, it doesn’t race at all. That is intentional. The interests that you have were put in you by God for a purpose. The Bible says that your heart determines three things.
1. Why I say the things I do. "The mouth speaks what the heart is full of."
2. Why I feel the way I do. "God’s word examines the thoughts and motives of the heart."
3. Why I act the way I do. "Guard your heart -- for out of it flow the actions of life."
If my heart determines the way I think, the way I feel, and the way I act then what my heart is, is the internal guidance system that God has placed in me and in you for a purpose. It’s not by accident. You are shaped for significance. You may have the same spiritual gift as somebody else, but your heart may be different so you’re motivated to use it in a different way. Same gift, same ability, different heart, different motivation, different passion.
II. THE RESULTS OF LIVING YOUR HEART’S DESIRE
There are some results of living your heart’s desire, living based on what God made you interested in. The Bible says, "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord." We are always to work from our heart. We’re always to work from the inborn motivations He put within us.
How do you know when you’re working from your heart? How do you know when you’ve got a job that matches the internal heart that God has given you? Three characteristics of living to your heart’s desire:
1. Enthusiasm
When you do what you love to do you enjoy it. When you do what you’re gifted and shaped to do. When your job fits your heart you don’t have to be motivated. You don’t need anybody to supervise you. You don’t need anybody to motivate you, challenge you. You do it simply because you love to do it. There’s natural enthusiasm there. You don’t need any rewards, applause, limelight. You do it because you love to do it. There’s enthusiasm.
Eccl. 2:10 "My heart took delight in all my work." Circle "delight". Do you delight in your work? If you don’t, that is a spiritual problem and you are likely in the wrong job. God doesn’t want you just to endure life, He wants you to enjoy life. He doesn’t want life to be a drag. He wants it to be a delight. If your heart isn’t in the work you’re doing, it’s a drag.
Once in a while I have someone say to me, "Someday I’m going to make enough money so I can quit work and do what I love to do." That’s a spiritual problem. God says,"NO! Don’t waste your life in a job that doesn’t express what I made you to be." That’s called wasting your life. It’s a lot more important than many of us have given consideration to.
There was a study of a cross section of American workers for twenty years -- all the successes and failures of thousands of workers. Conclusion: If you do what you love long enough the money will come if you follow your heart. When you use the interest that God put in your life you’re a lot more likely to succeed than when you’re trying to attempt something that God didn’t interest you in, or gift you, or give you the abilities to do. People don’t succeed at what they don’t like. You’ve got to love it.
Emerson once said, "Nothing great was ever accomplished without enthusiasm." If you don’t have a heart for what you’re doing you’re not going to do it enthusiastically over the long haul.
2. Effectiveness
When you do what you love to do, what you’re gifted and have a heart for, you’re good at it. The key to productivity in your life is to do what you love to do. Another word for heart that is used commonly today is the word "passion". Passion is the motivation to give yourself to an idea, a cause, a person. Passion is neutral. It can be used for good or bad. Passion can be used selfishly or to serve others.
God has passion. The difference between passion and lust is when you have a passion for something, the more you do it the more satisfied you are. Lust, the more you do it the less satisfied you are.
Passion is when you want to give yourself to a cause, an idea, a person, a task. There are many, many examples in history of the impact of one passionate person can have, one person who has a heart to do something. Passionate people get results. They get things done. Moses had a passion to release the slaves out of Egypt which hadn’t been done for 400 years. David had a passion to build a temple. Nehemiah had a passion to build a wall around Jerusalem. Paul had a passion to share the good news everywhere he went. Passionate people, the people who’ve changed the world, were not the smartest, the most educated, or the wealthiest, or even the most gifted. But the people who’ve changed the world, who have made an impact were those who had heart. They had passion, conviction. They went with their heart!
Charles Garfield who wrote a best selling book a while back called Peak Performance studied all kinds of Olympic athletes and trained NASA astronauts and he said the common denominator, "the biggest predictor of success is a strong passion or heart for the work." That’s far more important than aptitude.
When I work toward my heart’s desire I have enthusiasm and effectiveness and ...
3. Excellence
When you have a heart for something you give it your best shot. This is obvious in sports. If you ask the top athletes (golf, football, hockey, baseball, whatever) "What drives you?" the fact is, they love to do what they do! They’re paid big incomes but the athlete that last are those who do it because they have a passion to do it. Passion outlasts profit over the long haul. You can see this in athletes. Some it doesn’t matter if you paid them or not they’d be out there on the football field. They love to do it. There are other people when you watch them you can figure that all they care about is the praise and the profits, the limelight.
When you do what you love to do the limelight does not matter. It’s not necessary. You’re not doing it for the applause of other people. Can you imagine saying to Mother Teresa, "Why have you spent your entire life in the slums of Calcutta helping the poorest of the poor and people with leprosy? Why?" Can you imagine her saying, "I was hoping someday to win a Nobel Peace Prize." She didn’t even think about that. The Nobel Prize was immaterial. She has a heart for helping hurting people. That’s her heart.
Does everybody have a God-implanted passion? a basic God implanted desire, dream, ambition? Yes. Everybody does. But hurts and fears and doubts often bury it so you can’t find it.
Four steps on how to start living your heart’s desire. My observation is that very few people act on the interests and desires and dreams and passions that God has given them and the saddest thing is to die with an unattempted dream. "I’ve always wanted to do this but I’ve never tried it." That’s sad! That’s not living to your potential. That’s not living to the glory of God. :The glory of God is a human being fully alive." Irenaus said.
III. HOW TO START LIVING YOUR HEART’S DESIRE
Four essentials in how to start living your heart’s desire, how to find your niche. These are steps on how to find a job you can love.
1. I commit all my life to Christ.
Why is this the first step? Because who do you think gave you those interests, desires, dreams, passions, ambitions? God gave you that heart. He shaped it. But unless you place it under His control it will be misused, perverted, and wasted. We see that all the time. You can use interests for the wrong motives. You can use them selfishly. Psalm 37;4-5 (Good News) "Seek your happiness in the Lord and he will give you your heart’s desire. Isn’t this an amazing promise? Give yourself to the Lord, trust in him, and he will help you." Circle the verbs: "seek", "give", then you "give" and "trust" and then He will "help". It’s a reciprocal promise. When you give your life to the Lord you instantly start to become a more passionate person.
Some people say, "I don’t feel passionate about anything! There’s nothing that really turns me on. There’s nothing that really thrills me in the morning to get up and say `This is a new day!’ I just don’t have any passion." My answer: "You’re not spending enough time with the Lord. The closer you get to the Lord, the more passionate you’re going to become about life, the more fully alive you become." You become like the people you hang out with. If you start hanging out with God you’re going to become like Him. And you’re going to start feeling deeply about all the things God feels deeply about and He made this whole world. When I spend time with Him I pick up His heart and begin to feel the way He does. Bob Pierce, who founded World Vision, used to say, "God, let my heart be broken with the things that break the heart of God." I’d say, "Let my heart be interested in the things that interest the heart of God. And let my heart be thrilled with the things that thrill the heart of God."
2. Examine what I enjoy doing.
This means you need to go back and review your personal history. you need to sit down and maybe even write it out. Make some notes. What were the things I’ve enjoyed doing in my life up to this point? I did them well and I enjoyed doing them. Look particularly at your accomplishments. What gave you a sense of satisfaction? Look at the things in your life that you really enjoyed doing. Maybe it was just for a day. You were successful at it.
Consider these questions:
1. What fascinates me? When you’re doing the work of your heart, you don’t get bored. People ask me, "Do you ever get tired of the ministry." No! I don’t. I get tired in the ministry, but I never get tired of the ministry. Everybody gets tired. I get tired in it but never of it. It’s my passion. And until I found that niche I was just stumbling around!
2. What do I really love to do?
3. I really feel good when ..... When were the times you felt most fully alive? Making a craft. Planning a project. Doing that event. Or making that sale. Or doing that speech. Planning. Writing. Whatever. God put that interest in your life.
4. I was the most successful at ....
Galatians 6:4 "Everyone should examine his own conduct, then he will be able to take the measure of his own worth, no need to compare himself to others."
3. I explore my options.
I suggest you expose yourself to all different types of work. All different types of ministry. Don’t lock yourself in. Try many and you will find the one that fits.
The same is true in a job. What is it to get into a job that maybe paid good money, but you hated it all your life and in the end you get a gold watch? Wow! That’s what I call a wasted life! You need to find out all you can. Explore the options. Proverbs 23:23 "Get the facts at any price..."
Don’t compare yourself to others. Passionate people don’t care what other people think in terms of what God’s called them to do. Passionate people aren’t intimidated by expectations of others. "Daddy wanted me to be ...." No. What does God want you to be?
The Bible says "Get the facts at any price." How do you do that? You can read widely and find out what appeals to you. You can interview people from different kinds of work. When you meet somebody who has the same heart as you, you instantly like them. It clicks! Somebody who has the same heart, the same passion. They may be a total stranger but you instantly feel good about them. Why? Because you have the same mind.
Link up with people who are successful and effective in an area you love to do. There’s a verse in the Bible that says, "Iron sharpens iron." That’s what I call the hot poker theory. You take a poker from the fireplace and stick it in the fire and the red hot coals are hot and all of a sudden the poker gets hot. First the poker is in the fire. Then when you pull it out the fire is in the poker. When you get around people with passion, you start picking it up. That’s why you ought to choose your friends carefully.
4. Step out in faith.
You commit your life to Christ, you examine what you enjoyed doing in the past, you look at all the options and then you go for it! This is what God made me to be! Some of you may go home and change jobs as a result of this message. That’s great! That may be one of the most spiritual things you ever do to start looking for a different job that expresses what God made you to be.
Joshua 1:9 "Be bold and strong! Banish fear and doubt! For remember, the Lord is with you wherever you go."
It’s my experience that most people do not go after their dream in life. Most people live lives of mediocrity. They don’t develop the gifts, the talents, the interests that God has given them. Why? FEAR. The great heart stopper is fear. It destroys more dreams, more desires, more ambitions, more longings, than anything else. Fear is spiritual cholesterol. It’s a heart stopper. It will keep you from being all God wants you to be.
Matthew 25, Jesus told a story of it. Remember the parable of the talents? One guy doubled his talents, another guy doubled his talents, a third guy did nothing. When the master came back and said, "Why didn’t you invest the money?" He said, "I was afraid! So I did nothing." That’s not going to cut it as an excuse some day when you stand before the King of Kings and Lord of Lords and say, "You gave me these interests and You gave me this heart and abilities and gifts. You shaped me this way. But I was afraid so I did nothing." That’s not going to cut it!
Some of you have allowed fear to suffocate your dreams. Three fears that kill dreams and stop a heart.
1. The fear of ridicule. Our educational system actually often hampers people with passion. You hear, "Who do you think you are to have a dream like that?" Or "Don’t you get too big for your britches." Or "Just remember where you came from!" Or "Don’t get carried away!" When people discourage you ... dis courage. It means they’re taking courage away from you. They take courage away from you to do what God made you to do. Passionate people do not let other people intimidate them by expectations or discouragement.
2. The fear of failure. What if I try and fall flat on my face? The way to success is through failure. There are always a number of failures before success. That’s the way you get there. Success comes from experience and experience comes from right decisions and right decisions comes from experience. And experience comes from making wrong decisions. You’ve got to have a lot of errors along the way. Don’t be afraid to go out on a limb because that’s where the fruit is. Don’t be afraid to rock the boat if Jesus Christ is the captain of it.
3. The fear of the unknown. That keeps a lot of people from becoming all that God wants them to be. "I hate my job but at least it’s secure!" "I’d rather hold on to a job that I don’t like than go after a job out there I’m not sure I can get." That’s why step four is step out in faith! That’s why God calls it a risk. You’ve got to trust in Him.
The antidote to the fears of ridicule, failure and the unknown is faith. You expect God to help you fulfill the dream He’s placed in your life. If God’s given you the dream He’s going to help you fulfill it. Saddleback Valley Community Church is an example of that. The answer is you must move against your fears. I’ve led this church every step of the way fearing "Am I doing the right thing?" From the very first service. I just move against the fears. Keep moving against the fears. Courage is not the absence of fear. Nobody is courageous if they’re not afraid. Courage is moving ahead in spite of your fears. You don’t base your life on fears. You base your life on what God’s told you to do. Move ahead in spite of your fears. Go for it and take the leap of faith.
Believe Philippians 2:13 (Amplified) "It is God who is at work with you energizing and creating in you the power and desire to will and to work for his good pleasure and satisfaction and delight." Circle "power" and "desire". When God gives you a desire He gives you the power to do it! He does not give you the desire, the dream, the ambition, a longing, a hope and then not help you out! But when He gives you a desire and a dream, He gives you the power to do it! Step out in faith.
I can summarize this message in a single sentence -- the secret of a fulfilled life: Find out what you love to do that God made you to do and do it for His glory! Find out what you love to do that God made you to do and do it all you want! For His glory! Don’t drift and drag through life. Take the advice of Psalm 37, "Seek your happiness in the Lord. He will give you your heart’s desires. Give yourself to the Lord. Trust in Him and He will help you!"
I personally am committed to helping you discover and develop your shape, and position you in your place in the world that God meant you to have. Then comes meaning and significance and pleasure and satisfaction and delight.
If you’ve never given your life to Christ, that’s the first step. You need to do that. If you’ve already done that, you need to be baptized. It’s a public statement saying "I’m not ashamed to say I’m a Christian." After you’ve been baptized, you need to find a church family. We welcome you at Saddleback.
Prayer:
Heavenly Father, I don’t want to waste my life and I know that there are many here who don’t want to waste their’s. This message has struck a cord in some lives. They’ve always had a dream and a desire and they’ve wondered where it came from. Help them to see that You gave it to them, that passion can be used for good or for bad, for selfish or for serving purposes. Help us to commit all of our lives to You, to examine what we enjoy doing, to explore the options and then to step out in faith, that our lives might be testimonies of what You made us to be. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
