From: Beverly French [frenchb@vcss.k12.ca.us]
Sent: Sunday, April 13, 2003 6:38 AM
To: Heritage
Subject: Joyous Greetings

"I love You O Lord my strength."  Psalm 18:l

"O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek You..."  Psalm 63:1

"Whom have I in heaven but You?
 And earth has nothing I desire besides You."  Psalm 73:25

Putting these three verses of Scripture together I sense a heart that is after the Lord; people with such a heart I believe are those whom Jesus describes in Luke 21:6, "Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied." And again in Matthew 5:6 Jesus said, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied."

Scripture says much about the heart.  What of the heart that is seeking? It is one that is steadfast and in its steadfastness, this heart sings "My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast; I will sing and 
give praise."  Psalm 57:7

"My heart is steadfast, O God;
 I will sing and make music with all my soul."  Psalm 108:1

Not only does this heart sing praises, but it does so with the whole heart, joined with the assembly of Believers as in Psalms 111: 1, "...I will praise the Lord with my whole heart, In the assembly of the upright and in the congregation."

Not only in song is the congregation of one heart, but we see the great example of oneness in the early church in Acts 4:32, "Now the multitude of those who believed were of one heart and one soul; neither did anyone say that any of the things he possessed was his own, but they had all things in common."

Of the one whose heart fears (reverences) and trusts the Lord, 
Psalm 112: 6-8 says,
"Surely he will never be shaken;
 The righteous will be in everlasting remembrance.
 He will not be afraid of evil tidings;
 His heart is steadfast, trusting in the Lord.
 His heart is established..."

We need therefore to guard our hearts:
"Keep your heart with all diligence,
 For out of it spring the issues of life."  Proverbs 4:23
Our heart expresses our character:
"For as he thinks in his heart, so is he..."  Proverbs 23:7 Jesus warns us of the evil in the heart as he explains to the disciples the parable he told the multitude, "But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, an they defile a man."  Matthew 15:18  (Read Verses 1-20)

Our heart is the source of faith as we see in Romans 10: 10 "For with the heart man believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation."

Let us seek to have hearts that hunger and thirst after a deeper personal relationship with our loving Lord Jesus, the Christ, who is our treasure. "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."  Matthew 6:21 Amen.