A Heart That Pleases God

Last Sunday we began, almost unexpectedly, a subject concerning the heart, and God gave it a slightly different shape as I addressed it here from the pulpit, but we have been reflecting on the importance of a heart that pleases God. I would say that this could be the title of this two-part meditation, right? A heart that pleases God. That is what we desire for our lives; that is certainly what I desire: that my heart may be pleasing to my heavenly Father. A heart in which, when He looks at it, He can see something that brings a smile to His face—and that should be the goal of our lives.

Many times, we do not even know what is in our own heart. You do not know what is in a person's heart—even, as I was saying, people who have been very close to us—and that is why we need God, as we were saying, to test the people and influences around us, the places to which we are going to submit ourselves, our schools, our university, a seminary, a long-term relationship, an environment in which we find ourselves, a city where we are going to live, even a culture. We must be careful to discern the things that are entering our lives, because these things will enter our hearts.

I was speaking to you about the heart before God, and about one of the most interesting figures. Who knows for how many centuries, ages, what was in his heart remained unknown until a certain moment came. I said that there are two things that test the heart of an individual, of a man. One is time, because in the long run what is hidden in the heart comes to light; one can hold it in for a certain amount of time, but what is hidden comes to light. And the other is trials, because in moments of great pressure, when things truly get tight and a person has to make a decision—when a sizable but dishonest gain comes along; when an opportunity comes to do something that will give you great pleasure, but you know it is wrong; when you have a great need and there is an opportunity for you to cut a corner and get what you need because you have to pay something, or else they are going to take your house away, or whatever it may be, and you say, “Well, since the Lord did not help me, I can help myself”—you then make a decision and do something improper, something illegal. Or an opportunity arises to speak badly about someone, and at that moment someone influences or incites you to say it. And so the trials of life also often bring to light what is hidden in the heart.

Or time passes and certain things happen in life that begin, as it were, to change our heart and bring to light other things that were there. Take Solomon, for example. In his old age, in the later period of his life, the many concubines and all the women he allowed into his life, corrupted by idolatry toward other gods—God had told him, “Do not associate with those cultures. Do not give your sons or your daughters in marriage to those people, because they will turn your heart toward their idols.” And that is exactly what happened to Solomon. He did not heed that warning, and at the end of his life his heart, it says, was not perfect toward God because it had been turned toward demons, and he introduced idolatry and the curse among the people of Israel, something they had to contend with for centuries and centuries.

Lucifer—the Lord rebuke him—that is what I was thinking about, right? Look how interesting this is. Lucifer was an angel of light, the pinnacle of God's creation. In all creation there was no being more radiant, more beautiful, more perfect in a sense, and more talented than Lucifer, Luzbel. He was created in a certain way, and yet at a given moment something that was within him came to light. How? Do not ask me. But look at what Ezekiel chapter 28 says here in verse 11. Here Lucifer is given the name King of Tyre, because in the Bible these figures, such as the prince of Persia and the king of Tyre, are demons, spirits that rule nations. Evidently, this figure cannot be a man, a human being. If you read the whole of chapter 28, Bible commentators have concluded almost unanimously that this is a prophetic reference to that demonic spirit called Lucifer, who later becomes Satan. For many reasons, you can clearly see that it cannot refer to a man. It says in chapter 28, verse 11: “The word of the Lord came to me, saying, ‘Son of man, take up a lamentation over the king of Tyre, and say to him, Thus says the Lord God: You were the most beautiful of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden—apart from Adam, Eve, and the Serpent—in Eden, the garden of God. Every precious stone was your covering: carnelian, topaz, jasper, chrysolite, beryl and onyx, sapphire, carbuncle, emerald, and gold; and the workmanship of your tambourines and flutes was prepared for you on the day of your creation.’” Human beings are not created. Adam and Eve were created, but Satan was created; he is a creation of God.

Human beings—Adam and Eve—we have been begotten, but this being was created, fashioned, from the mouth of God or the hand of God. It says, “You, great cherub”—it is referring to an angel. A cherub is absolutely the pinnacle of creation. “You, great guardian cherub.” How interesting: Satan was created to protect; today he is the complete opposite. He only knows how to steal, kill, and destroy. Many times, when God's gifts are not used perfectly, they become twisted and end up being the complete opposite. Music—God has declared it—was given to Satan. Lucifer was a being who was like the worshiper of heaven. He was given the talent to play. He was not a musician; he was music. He did not play the flute; he was a flute. He could reproduce sounds and could do incredible things through his worshipful nature. He was created to worship God and to protect humanity from creation.

It says: “I placed you on the holy mountain of God; you were there. In the midst of the stones of fire, you passed beans. You were perfect in all your ways from the day you were created, until wickedness was found in you.” In his heart, something like a little black speck was discovered. This morning I thought about bringing a sculpture made of glass, of pure crystal, that we have—there are several over there. But you see pure crystal, beautiful crystal: it is something precious, transparent; it gleams, it shines. But if you could insert a syringe into that crystal and inject a little black ink into it, you would see how it would ruin it. And that is what happened in his heart. How long was Lucifer in heaven worshiping? But for some reason—do not ask me to explain how God can create something perfect, because angels are very strange creatures, and we do not understand their biology—angels are there somewhere between man and God, and they are something strange, aren't they?

The fact is that God created him this way, and at some point in his immense journey there was something in his heart that lay hidden there, and time and opportunity uncovered it. And it says: “Because of the multitude of your dealings, you were filled with iniquity and sin, and you sinned; therefore I cast you from the mountain of God and hurled you from among the stones of fire.” If you want to know Satan's origins, there it is; this is the text from which the Church throughout the centuries has derived Satan's origin. It says: “I hurled you from among the stones of fire, O guardian cherub. Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor. And I will cast you to the ground; I will set you before kings so that they may gaze upon you. By the multitude of your wicked deeds and by the iniquity of your dealings, you profaned your sanctuary. Therefore I brought fire from within you, which consumed you, and I turned you to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all who gaze upon you. All among the peoples who know you will be astonished at you. You will be a terror, and you will cease to be forever.” That is the destiny God has prepared for Lucifer, but you see what happens, don't you?

When we do not guard what is in our heart, at a given moment circumstances and situations can distort our perspective and cause damage. When God discovered this element in him—his desire to compare himself with Him; read chapter 8, comparing himself with God—he saw himself as so great, so beautiful, so powerful, so perfect that he said, “Hey, why should I have to worship this being if I can be equal to Him?” Pride, arrogance, the desire to replace God—and God immediately discerned this, cast him away, and stripped him of his glory, his authority, and his beauty. Satan immediately became a completely ruthless, horrible being with nothing good in him, because if God's grace does not touch a being, it becomes the most grotesque thing there is. It is only because God's grace is in a human being that the person does not become a horrifyingly ugly creature.

Even in a criminal like this man we see there in the video, there is grace from God in him that keeps him from becoming a living demon. So this is important, right? That we look at the heart. And that is how it can be. Moreover, many times we do not know what lies in the heart of the environments and things with which we are associated. We often say that we must be careful to ask the Lord to test them for us, as in Gideon's case—to test and deal with those people, individuals, and environments that are going to influence our lives and with whom we are going to share the intimate elements of our lives. For only God can uncover what lies deep within a person, and only time and circumstances can bring to light what is inside. And when God tests someone and something comes to light that is not for you, as He said to Gideon, “That one is not to go with you. If I approve him for you, he goes with you; if I do not approve him for you, he does not go with you,” we must be obedient.

Through years and years of counseling, one sees how many people suffer because they did not listen to the voice of God or the voice of wisdom. Then we become infatuated with something we want, and we distort the will of God, with terrible consequences later on. So we must be honest with ourselves and with God so that this does not happen to us. So one does not know what is in the heart. Now, you know what? Many times, we ourselves will not be able to determine what is in our own heart. Sometimes we will deceive ourselves about who we are; that is the hardest thing for a human being. How can a human being determine, “You know what? There is something bad in me. There is pride in me; there is sensuality in me; there is disloyalty in me; there is gossip, resentment, strife, and violence in me”? It is difficult for a human being to possess that degree of greatness and perception concerning himself. Introspection. It is like my trying to scratch my entire back: I cannot. In the same way, a human being cannot examine himself completely and honestly.

That is why the psalmist David says, “Examine me, O God; look into my heart; test me.” And what is he saying? We must always be saying to the Holy Spirit, “Examine me, Lord. Bring out what is inside me and show it to me; show it to me with complete honesty.” In Deuteronomy 8, verses 2 and 3, we see there what God did with the people of Israel, where He speaks to them about this. It says here in chapter 8, verse 2: “And you shall remember all the way by which the Lord your God has led you these 40 years in the wilderness, to humble you, to test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep what is in your heart.” The Hebrew people walked through the wilderness for 40 years, and one reason for it was so that, in light of all those adventures, wars, and situations, everything would come to light and it would become evident that only through God's grace and mercy would those people be brought into the Promised Land.

There was nothing they could be proud of; there was nothing there, only the mercy of God. And God wanted to show them. You know, many times God wants to exhibit publicly what is there. God needs to bring out what is there. This humanity is still on trial. It says that when the time comes for the wickedness of men to reach its full measure, then God acts, but He has to bring to light all the things that are hidden. Then we see that farther on it says: “He sustained you with manna, food that neither you nor your fathers had known, to make you know that man shall not live by bread alone, but by everything that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord shall man live.” God subjected Israel to all these years of tribulation in order to teach them, instruct them, and form them. So we see that it was both a process of revealing what was within them and one of formation and instruction concerning certain truths they needed to know. The same thing happened with Moses, the man who was to be the deliverer of the people of Israel. God took eighty years to form Moses' heart. He placed him in Egypt for forty years to prepare, educate, and instruct him, and then He placed him in the wilderness for forty years so that there, in the wilderness and the silence of the night, tending goats, alone, walking along the desert paths, he might learn about himself, thinking and reflecting, while his character was being formed, right?

And we see the same thing with Abraham, with David, with Joseph. God is with these people, but He takes His time forming them and subjecting them to trials, certain experiences, certain journeys that prepare them and create in them awareness, maturity, deep knowledge, introspection, and honesty about themselves. By the time God comes to use them, they know what they are; God has already crushed them, made them flee, made them afraid, made them fail, in order to temper them and make sure they know who they are, because a man or a woman who wants to serve God has to know who he or she is. Because otherwise, at any moment, a mouse they did not know was there will come out.

You have to know who you are and who you are not. I see so many people in ministry who are so sure of themselves. I would like to have that confidence, but you know what? I say that only for an instant, because when you know what you are like, you do not have that much confidence in yourself. I say, “Only by Your mercy, Lord.” I like people who are a little unsure, you know. I prefer people—when I see a man who is very sure of himself, I am afraid of him, you know, because unless it is excessive confidence, it is very healthy and good to have a little fear of yourself and not think, like Peter, “Even if all these fools abandon You, Lord, I will remain faithful to You,” when He comes and says, “Peter, Peter, before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times—not just once, but three times,” right? We must be careful about the supreme self-confidence many of us have.

And the people of God often, you know, err and want leaders like that: confident people, people who declaim well, people who give good speeches. I prefer a simple-hearted person, tempered in God, to a person who is putting on a show of great self-confidence. And many times that is what we demand of preachers and evangelists: people who can declaim, who have a broad chest. But that is not what makes a man a great leader; it is the heart, what is inside. Let us be careful not to exalt our leaders inappropriately. Discern what is in people’s hearts; let us be a discerning people. Because God is always forming that kind of person. At the precise moment, God activated the calling He had for them. Listen to this: when they ask Him and allow Him to do so, God forms men and women. God devises a plan of treatment and formation, and throughout life He uses circumstances, events, and human relationships to form the hearts of His chosen ones.

Everything that happens in the hearts of His children is meant to deal with them and forge in them a heart after His own heart. God is very intentional in the way He deals with us. Brother, I say, if people understood, whether sitting there, speaking in the pulpit, or serving God in some way, that—brother, look—God is always like Jesus at the fig tree. He is there with His hand saying, “Move aside, move aside. I want fruit; I want the fruit. I do not want the foliage.” And we believe that the foliage will somehow impress God. I do not know whether they say it in other countries, but we want to impress God, as though God could be impressed, or the devil could be impressed. The devil knows—and God knows, because He is infinitely wise—what is in your heart and in your life.

Examine your heart. God wants integrity in your heart. Nothing else appeases the heart of God, and nothing intimidates or impresses the devil except what is in your heart, what you are when he sees you. And so God is at work. If you and I allow Him, God will work. I believe that nothing in my life or in your life happens by coincidence. Everything happens because God, through His Spirit, is dealing with me day by day, 365 days a year, to forge a man who is pleasing to Him. If you see your life that way, that is why the apostle Paul says that all things work together for good. “For good” means that, in the final analysis, even if bad and difficult things come into your life, God can turn all of that around and use it as raw material to forge a material, ethical, spiritual, and moral work that brings pleasure to His heart and blessing to the world. Say amen to that, even if it is just to give me a little encouragement.

And you know what? We have to live life that way, brothers and sisters, as though every day counts, every experience counts, every movie I watch, every conversation, every experience in my life. God has something in it, brothers and sisters. Why did God allow it? What does He want to teach me, and how can I become better, and how can I get rid of something that should not be there? Live your life intentionally, because God wants to form in you a heart that is pleasing to Him. Do you know that He also wants to form a church that is pleasing to Him? God is working with us as a spiritual family, and He is working in Lion of Judah. I say, “Yes, continue forming the collective heart of this church.”

Remove everything that is not Yours: all hypocrisy, all duplicity, all mediocrity, all lukewarmness of heart, all self-deception. Remove it—all that is not holy, all that is not pleasing. Begin with this one who is up here. Seek a church whose heart pleases You, Lord. Subject us; deal with us, because that is what a man or a woman—and if you take that vision seriously, God is going to deal with your life and take you through a process of formation in your life. Why? You know what? If the heart is healthy, if the heart of a man or a woman is healthy, that does not mean it is perfect. If the heart of a son or daughter of God is healthy, that person’s life will be blessed and prospered.

The heart attracts and determines everything else, including God’s favor. That is why the Bible says, “Above everything else that is guarded, guard your heart, because from it flows life.” That is why it is so important to let God form us and to attach great importance to that formative process in our lives, because it is the only thing that will guarantee that our hearts become pleasing to Him and thus attract God’s blessing and favor. Luke says—uh, excuse me, Ecclesiastes, chapter 2, verse 26—it says there, remember, that the eyes of God range throughout the whole earth to seek those whose hearts accord with what He is looking for. Now look, it says here: “For to the man or woman who pleases Him, God gives wisdom, knowledge, and joy; but to the sinner He gives the work of gathering and heaping up, to give it to the one who pleases God.” Do you know what attracted God to David’s heart? It was not that the man was perfect, because David was a very imperfect man, but he had a heart that pleased God. He had a noble heart, a healthy heart. Woman, if you are going to marry a man, look, find yourself a person with a healthy heart. Do not look at the size of his legs, or the color of his eyes, or how tall he is. Look for his heart; look at his psyche; look at his mind; look at his character. Look in those places, because that is what will bless or fail to bless your life. So be careful how you judge, because that piece of flesh—which is actually a metaphor; today we would speak of the psyche, character, personality, the subconscious—there are many psychological expressions that define the heart, but I could find nothing more beautiful and so perfect as the heart. But the heart must be examined. If it is healthy, that attracts God’s goodness.

What drew God to Mary? Why did God choose Mary and not a princess in some royal court somewhere in the world? It was Mary’s heart. She was a virgin both outwardly and inwardly: Mary’s healthiness, her innocence. Many times we want sophisticated people, murky, calculating people. Those are the ones who get their way in this world, but you know what? They are destined for failure. Their riches turn to water in their hands. Money comes in on one side, and unhappiness, illness, and neurosis enter their lives on the other. The only thing that guarantees true, fruitful gain in your life is a healthy heart. Never obtain anything through calculation. Let the Lord give it to you; if the Lord does not give it to you, do not seek it, and make sure that the methodology of your life is always a healthy methodology.

Be a healthy, honest person, someone whom people can turn their backs on and know that a knife will not be plunged into them from behind. Let your heart be in your hand, and let people know who you are. Let them know that they can entrust their property and their honor—everything—to you, and that you will handle it properly. That attracts God’s love, and that is what enables you to be a blessing. I am going to read this without commenting on it, so that the Lord may act in your life. Enrique, you can begin to give us a little music there.

How can we make sure that our hearts attract the will of God? What must we practice? Listen to this. Number 1—give me a pair of shoes and a tie after this, because it is worth it—number 1: fill your heart with the Word of God. Let it shape your heart through the force of reading it, studying it, and meditating on it day and night. Later, look up Psalm 19, verses 111 and 112. Learn to meditate on the Word and to love it. The Word must be what shapes your life. Number 2: make a covenant with the truth. Make a covenant with the truth and love it, so that you do not deceive yourself. Be honest with God and with yourself as much as possible.

Interestingly, the Bible says that the heart is more deceitful than anything else, so do not conceal your defects. Do not project your defects onto others. Do not disguise the true motivations and intentions of your heart, and do not shift the blame to others. Instead, marry the truth and make a covenant unto death that says, “I will respect the truth wherever it comes from and however it comes, even if it comes from a person who hates me. If there is truth in what he or she says, I will listen to and receive the truth that is in him or her.” Marry the truth. Number 3: deliberately surrender your life to God so that He may form your heart throughout your life. Surrender your life to God so that He may form your heart throughout your life, so that He may subject you to a formative process, so that you may forge your path in the world. Do not resist it or resent it when He acts in unpleasant or unexpected ways, because He works alone, in the sense that you cannot tell Him what to do. In the end, you cannot take a hand in anything. Say, “Lord, do whatever You want. Form me, and I want You to do it even if I neigh and bellow, because I want You to form my heart, Lord.”

Number 4: ask God, as the psalmist did, to examine your heart continually. “Examine me; test me.” Let Him test you and reveal everything in you that is not pleasing to Him, and let Him cut it out and shape your heart according to His preference, according to what He wants. “Lord, examine me throughout my life, every day, and bring to light everything that is not pleasing to You. I want to know what things to present to You in worship. I want to make my life a pleasing theme, so that it may be what You want it to be.” And finally, put the acquisition of a well-formed heart above every other objective in life. Listen to this again: put acquiring a well-formed heart above every other value. “I want a heart that pleases You, Lord.” You have to make this a theme in your life: “My heart, my heart, my personality, my attitude, my strength, what I am—that is what defines me. I want that above everything else. I do not want money; I do not want wealth; I do not want influence; I do not want people’s adoration; I do not want a large house; I do not want fame. I want my heart to be pleasing to You, Lord.” Let that be the driving force of your life, because God will take that seriously until you become what He wants you to be. Place your heart before Him.

And finally, watch the things that enter your heart. Be careful with your regular reading and entertainment, your regular human influences, your partner, the church you choose, and the mentors you choose. Watch it all. There must be a guard at the door of your heart, a cherub who stops them and says, “Give me your identification. Who are you? Are you in agreement with the Word of God? Are you in tune with what this man or this woman wants to be before God?” Watch it. Because many times you allow dirty water to enter your heart through a movie, something you read, habits, or conversations; it enters your heart. Whenever you are subjected to that television screen, that movie screen, that conversation, or those people around you, ask yourself, “Is this in favor of God? Is this contributing to the edification of my spiritual life?” And if it is not, grab the largest ax you can find around there and cut it off. Watch the influence that enters your heart.

Let us stand. The Lord wants to form our hearts according to His own heart. This has to be a lifelong goal, brothers and sisters. God will not be satisfied with anything less than a heart after His own heart. Nothing else will bring Him satisfaction—not works, not money, not service, nothing—a heart that beats for Him and a life committed unto death, so that when that person dies and God looks at his or her heart, He may say, “It pleases Me; it honors Me.” And that will bring happiness to your life; it will bring fruit, abundance, and everything else. Glory to the name of the Lord.