Eternal Glorious Fountain Ministry (EGFM)
Programme: Writing the Vision (WTV) - June Edition
Date: Saturday, 19th June 2021
Speaker 4: Pst. Emeka Egwuchukwu
Text: Psalm 51:17
One of the greatest works of the New Testament is heart conversion.
Psalm 51:17
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise.
The person who wrote that scripture, David, was a man in an era of the sacrifices of bulls, but he had an understanding of the sacrifices of God. That was a dispensation that was given unto them at that time. In the midst of those activities of sacrifice that had been instituted, David broke into another understanding of sacrifice. Whenever “sacrifice” is mentioned, the Israelites think of animals. But David was able to breakthrough into an understanding above his season. He broke into another dispensation of God. He broke into the New Testament understanding of sacrifice. David was a man who spoke with understanding. He would usually end some statements with “Selah”, which means “to ponder upon”, per adventure you would come into more understanding.
David came to understand that the sacrifices of God were not animals but the heart. Every peace offering, burnt offering, meat offering etc., must be conformed to the heart. A man can come into a season where his heart becomes a meat offering or peace offering etc. God is an expert of the heart. God likes the heart. So when the heart is lifted in pride before God, it is a configuration against Him. Satan is also afraid of the heart. He knows what a heart can do. A heart filled with Satan is more than one who is demon-possessed. Peter said to Ananias, “Why has Satan filled your heart?” (Acts 5:3). The state of his heart was not a healthy heart disposition for the New Testament; it had to be judged.
Tongues and interpretation 1
“Burden. It’s My burden; even My burden, My aged long burden; even the very burden that makes Me push even a testament I had with flesh and bring forth a New Testament. This is My burden that My people must know, that I am a God of the heart. For man looks at the outward appearance, but I look at the heart: how you approach Me. Therefore I want to fill you with the substance, that the issuance of the heart will bring pleasure; that the things that flow from the heart will be an oblation before Me. Therefore I am feeding you to the intent that your heart may be to My glory saith the Spirit of the Lord.”
(Message continues):
It was not just the offering that Ananias and Sapphira brought that was the problem, it was an issue of the heart. This was the same issue God had with Cain. David said, “Let the meditation of my heart be acceptable, in Thy sight, o Lord” (Psalm. 19:14). God looks at the secret things of the heart. Heart arrangement is very important.
Pharaoh was higher than the magicians. The magicians might be doing enchantment but their hearts had not been configured like that of Pharaoh. Pharaoh went on to say “Who is that God that I should obey Him and let Israel go?” (Exo. 5:2). Pharaoh’s heart had been lifted against God. However, God is a heart expert. May we never fall into the hands of God (i.e. His hands of judgement); may we fall into His hands of mercy; so we can be made to be vessels of mercy not vessels of wrath. God waited for Pharaoh to deal with him and to show that He is a heart expert. God knew it was Satan’s heart arrangement. Pharaoh kept on resisting God. He was without restriction until perdition. A heart can be trained by Satan until it becomes perditious.
Another man was Nebuchadnezzar who had a contrary heart arrangement, although, God had mercy on him. There is a way a heart can be arranged and it will be God who did the arrangement. It takes time for hearts to be arranged. If arranged wrongly, it takes time to crack it down. God touched Nebuchadnezzar’s heart or understanding and he became a beast. He spent 7 years in the jungle. He came back and heralded the greatness of God. He even sent letters to all the provinces within his jurisdiction (Dan. 4).
Another heart that was wrongly configured was that of Judas. Satan arranged Judas’ heart against God, even while he was under Jesus. Hearts are arranged by pasture. The kind of message you hear will determine how your heart will be arranged. Judas was under our Lord Jesus but he was not eating what others were feeding on. He was selective about what to eat. How a man’s heart will be arranged is found in the pasture he feeds on.
Satan filled Judas’ heart so much. Our Lord Jesus gave him the bread of the communion (at the last supper) which was like a last extension of love to see if Judas would turn. The Lord had been covering him while he was stealing from the purse. Jesus loved him to the end (John 13:1). However, Judas rejected that love extension to him and Satan immediately filled him completely to sell the Lord. Hearts can sell the Lord; hearts that despise spiritual things will sell the Lord.
Pastures open a man up to the dealings or seasons of God that will bring about a conversion in the heart. We are the sheep of the Lord’s pasture; we are not of our own. We should guard our hearts, for the heart is the ministry. Ministry is not what we do, rather it is what we offer to God. If your heart is right, ministry will be right. The heart is the place of offering because it is the heart that offers or obeys. However, the heart has to be arranged to offer to God. When a man’s heart is well arranged, the Lord will begin to teach him different kinds or types of sacrifices. This refers to different types of heart.
There are offerings of bulls but these do not constitute what God desires. The Scripture says, “sacrifices of bulls, Thou wouldest not...” (Heb. 10:8; Psalm. 40:6) . We should wonder how David knew this. The high priest did not know this, but Jesus by understanding knew that God does not have pleasure in that kind of sacrifice.
Hebrews 10:7
Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of Me,) to do Thy will, O God.
A perfect sacrifice is the heart that trembles at God’s word. A trembling heart is the kind of heart that God will look at (Isa. 66:2).
1 Corinthians 2:1
“And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God.”
A man cannot receive the testimony without having the spirit or attitude of the testimony. It may be declared to him; but one who is only a hearer may never touch it except if his heart is arranged in a certain way. There is a way the heart will be arranged that it will appear in a plane in the spirit. It could appear in the Outer Court, or Holy Place or Most Holy Place. Heart arrangements are heart attitudes in the spirit.
1 Corinthians 2:2-3
“For I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling.”
It is interesting that Paul, though he had come to demonstrate spirit and power (1 Cor. 2:4), began talking about weakness. This weakness is what is referred to as being poor in spirit. Fear speaks of brokenness and contriteness of heart. A man must be broken to make him fear the Lord. Every man has got a particular wrong heart formation even after the new birth. The new birth does not deal with this wrong heart arrangement. It is this wrong heart formation that makes the man strong against God.
Naturally, parents train their children to be strong at heart but this training contributes to the hardening of the heart against God. They are vain conversations handed down by our parents and they expect that we carry them on. Hence, the need for the leading of the Spirit. The purpose of the leading of the Spirit is to soften hearts that had been hardened.
We must become weak, fearful and contrite. Then we go further into having much trembling. One thing about a sheep is that it is always shaking. When we are led in the path of righteousness, we will eat pastures that will rearrange our hearts. The heart that trembles is the final heart state that is ready for the testimony of God. Paul’s trembling heart was what made so much revelation available to him. It will take sacrifices to pull down spirits and to turn a nation. There is a particular sacrifice that the Lord is expecting from the church that will make the dragon fall.
Tongues and interpretation 2
“For there is so much beauty in a heart that has surrendered even to Me, even for you to allow me to work weakness in your heart; to work fear and much trembling. It is to your good that I work this to your heart. I want to get you to a place where the adversary cannot have access to your heart again. It is through your surrenderedness. Allow Me, allow Me, said the Lord. Give yourself to constant obedience. Allow Me to break you. Allow Me to work upon your heart. I want to press out beauty from your heart. I want to configure you to a heart that can sit on My throne. Allow Me. Do not shield yourself away. I want to take away ashes and press out beauty. Take My pasture, take My word and I will work in you a trembling heart. Just allow Me, yield to pasture, keep on eating and you will begin to see a trembling, weak and a heart that is contrite. Allow Me. For it is My desire and My joy to work this out in you as I did in the Lord Jesus. I want to lead you to pastures where you will find fear, weakness, poor contriteness and much trembling. Allow Me!”
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