Participants: Jill Morikone
Series Code: HLFT
Program Code: HLFT000014A
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00:24 Hello, and welcome to Heart Lift.
00:26 I'm Jill Morikone, and I'm so glad that you 00:29 have joined us today. 00:30 We're in the midst of a journey toward hope, toward healing, 00:34 toward the transformation that the Lord Jesus wants to work 00:39 in your heart, and in mine as women, as daughters of God. 00:44 If you're just joining us, we began our journey with 00:47 forgiveness; the forgiveness God wants to pour into our hearts, 00:52 the forgiveness He desires us to extend to other people. 00:56 We move next to fear, and the bands that bind us tightly, 01:00 but how God came to set us free. 01:03 Then we tackled the subject of sadness, and loss, and pain, 01:08 and how God can turn our sorrow into peace, and even joy. 01:13 And our most recent part of the journey has to do with purity; 01:18 the purity that the Lord Jesus Christ wants to pour into our 01:22 hearts; His righteous white robe that He wants to clothe us with. 01:28 This program we're discussing purity, 01:30 but from a little different angle. 01:32 We're talking about guarding our brother's heart. 01:36 Our Scripture is Proverbs 4:23, Proverbs 4:23. 01:43 The Bible says, Keep your heart with all diligence, 01:48 for out of it spring the issues of life. 01:52 Let's pray. Father, we come before You in the name of Jesus. 01:56 Right now we give you our hearts. 01:59 And even as I say that, I know that we're not even capable 02:02 of doing that, so we ask that You would take our hearts, 02:06 that You would pour Your purity in, and that You would open up 02:10 our minds and hearts to hear what You have 02:14 from Your Word today. 02:15 And we thank You in the precious and holy name of Jesus, Amen. 02:21 The day was just dawning. 02:25 He stepped out the door and looked outside. 02:28 The sun was just coming up over the hills. 02:32 He had a lot to do that day. 02:35 First check in with the grain bins and see how that was going. 02:40 Then he had to check on the fields 02:43 and see how the harvest was coming. 02:45 Next there was a shipment of cattle that was coming in. 02:49 and was that all in readiness? 02:51 Finally, he went in the house, because he had to check with the 02:54 butler and see what was going on in the home. 02:58 Was everything ready for the dinner guests for that evening? 03:02 When Joseph stepped into the house, his master's wife, 03:07 Potiphar's wife, called to him. 03:10 She said, Come here, Joseph. 03:12 And now this is a little artistic license, 03:15 but I would imagine he was a little cautious, maybe, 03:18 about heading that way. 03:19 But he said, Okay, because she was his master's wife. 03:24 He stepped in, and the Bible, we find this story in Genesis 39, 03:30 the Bible doesn't record what Potiphar's wife said, 03:36 the Bible, or how she went about it. 03:39 It simply says, she said, Lie with me. 03:42 She was, we would say, quite a bold woman. 03:45 At least I would think she's quite a bold woman to just 03:48 come straight out and say, Come have sex with me. 03:51 That's pretty bold. 03:53 Joseph, the Bible says, had been at Potiphar's house 03:58 for several years. 04:00 Remember he was sold as a slave into Egypt. 04:03 And during those years he was away from 04:06 his family, from his Dad. 04:07 I believe his relationship with God became that much more 04:13 cemented in and sure, because he had no one else 04:16 to depend on but God. 04:18 He was probably there around ten years. 04:21 And the Bible says that Potiphar, that was his master, 04:25 gave Joseph charge over everything 04:28 in the house; everything. 04:30 He, it says, Potiphar didn't even know anything that went on, 04:35 except for the food that he ate. 04:37 So Joseph did a great job. 04:39 Day by day Joseph chose the high road, the difficult road. 04:46 And he said, No! No to the temptations of, you could say, 04:49 his work place, because he worked there. 04:51 No to the sexual pressure from his master's wife. 04:55 He said no every day. 04:59 Later,... We know what happened. 05:03 ...his master's wife grabbed his coat, and he was afraid, 05:07 and he turned and fled. 05:08 He was thrown into prison, but God overturned even that 05:12 situation out for good. 05:15 When I think of the story of Joseph, I think of a man who 05:18 loved God more than his own desires, 05:22 a man who chose purity over passion, 05:25 a man who honored God even if it was going to cost him his life. 05:30 And I think the beautiful thing about Joseph's story is that 05:34 you and I can make the same choice. 05:37 We can choose purity over passion. 05:40 We can choose the life of surrender and self-denial, 05:44 of devotion, and dedication to God. 05:46 But today we're talking about guarding our brother's heart. 05:51 We're not talking about, really, even the life of Joseph. 05:55 I want to analyze it from the eyes of Mrs. Potiphar. 05:59 What was her life like? 06:01 Obviously, it was affluent, because of her husband's 06:04 position and social standing there in Egypt. 06:08 Obviously, she had, I would say, a good status, friends, 06:14 all of that stuff. 06:15 Did she try to seduce Joseph because she's bored 06:19 with her life, or with her husband? 06:22 Maybe it was a power struggle to get to Joseph. 06:25 Was she empty inside, and she was trying to fill that void 06:29 with something, or did she simply feed her lust 06:34 until she reached out? 06:37 She was dissatisfied maybe with her husband, 06:41 and reached out for somebody else. I don't know. 06:44 As we begin our journey here, discussing guarding our 06:48 brother's heart, we want to take a self-evaluation. 06:52 Now with our self-evaluations, that we've been doing throughout 06:55 the program, I want to encourage you to be honest. 06:58 Sexual purity is a sensitive topic, and you, I'm sure, 07:04 would not feel comfortable sharing that with someone else. 07:06 So simply put, when we go through this list 07:11 of self-evaluation, simply be honest between yourself and God. 07:22 1. Maybe you're at this state. 07:45 Maybe that's where you're at today. Maybe 2. 08:04 Maybe you're at the next category. 08:15 I'm honestly unaware. Maybe it's 4. 08:29 And finally. 08:51 Now that's kind of heavy. 08:53 I don't know if it is for you, but when I read through that 08:56 I think, Wow, God, what category am I in? 09:00 Be honest. Which one do you think most accurately represents 09:05 where you are right now in your journey with God? 09:08 And you know what? no matter where we are, God says, 09:11 I can change you. 09:14 We're going to look at two dangers in this program: 09:17 first is to beware of the unguarded heart. 09:21 Beware of things that might make your guard come down. 09:24 I can think of a couple that would make my guard come down. 09:28 One is idleness. Have you ever heard Satan's little lie? 09:32 He says, You've worked hard. 09:33 You deserve a break. 09:35 Indulge in a little selfish pleasure. 09:38 You've been a good Christian, Jill, for many years. 09:42 It's time you just let loose and relaxed. 09:45 You don't have to be so strict all the time. 09:49 Maybe it's daydreaming. 09:51 I've shared with you in past programs about my 09:53 own battle with that. 09:55 Satan might say, Don't worry about your thoughts 09:59 for a little while. 10:00 Let them run free. 10:02 You've, remember we talked about 2 Corinthians 5, 10:05 how God calls us to bring into captivity every thought 10:09 to the obedience of Christ. 10:11 And maybe, you say, I've really brought them before God, 10:15 and I have walked in this. 10:17 I'm tired; I'm tired of always giving those thoughts back 10:20 thoughts back to God. 10:22 Let me just indulge in this little 10:24 day dream for a little while. 10:26 Maybe it's a compromising situation, and Satan says, 10:29 This looks wrong, and it feels wrong, but you know what? 10:33 You're strong in Jesus. 10:35 You can handle that. 10:37 Run from such thoughts. 10:39 When I think of the idle heart, I think of the story of David. 10:44 I'm sure you're familiar with the story of David. 10:46 We find it in 2 Samuel 11, and it's interesting to me. 10:51 This is the story of David with his sin with Bathsheba. 10:56 And the interesting part to me is not even so much the sin, 11:00 although that is dangerous, but God gave him purity, 11:04 and that is a beautiful thing. God restored. 11:07 Even though there was terrible sin, 11:09 God could still forgive and restore. 11:11 But in spite of that, what I'm very interested in for today's 11:14 program is the first verse, 2 Samuel 11:1. 11:21 It happened in the Spring of the year, at the time when kings 11:25 go out to battle, that David sent Zoab, and his servants 11:29 with him, and all Israel, and they destroyed the people of 11:33 Ammon, and besieged Rabbah. 11:35 The critical part is the next sentence. 11:38 But David remained at Jerusalem. 11:43 Did you catch that? 11:45 In the Spring of the year, all the kings go out to battle. 11:49 That's their job. In the Spring they go out to battle. 11:53 But what happened? 11:54 David remained at Jerusalem. 11:56 Now why did he stay home? 11:59 I have no idea, to be honest with you. 12:01 Why did he stay home? 12:03 Was it he thought, I'm king. 12:05 I don't have to go do that work. 12:07 I don't have to do that anymore. 12:09 I am king. Was it that? 12:12 I don't know. Was there a little pride involved? 12:15 Maybe he just thought, I've worked hard, 12:18 and I've fought many battles in my time. 12:21 It's time for me to rest. 12:24 It's time for me to relax and indulge in a 12:28 little selfish pleasure. 12:30 You know, the interesting thing is if David had gone out 12:35 to battle, like the kings always did, the story would 12:39 never have happened. 12:40 He would never have gotten involved in the 12:45 sin with Bathsheba. 12:46 Beware of the idle heart. 12:49 God given rest though is not idleness, 12:52 so I want to be clear about that. 12:53 We're not saying, God doesn't give us rest. 12:56 Of course He does. 12:58 God doesn't say, You need to work all the time. 13:00 You need to always be busy. 13:02 God's not saying that. 13:03 He calls us to come apart, and to rest with Him. 13:08 I think of Matthew 11:28. 13:09 He says, Come to Me. 13:11 Come to Me, you who are weary and heavy laden, 13:14 and I will give you rest. 13:18 God wants us to come to Him. 13:21 Learn to relax, but with Jesus. 13:24 In addition to being aware of the unguarded heart, 13:27 we'd beware of the discontented heart. 13:30 1 Timothy 6. Jumping over to 1 Timothy 6:6. 13:39 The Bible says, Now Godliness with contentment is great gain. 13:46 Perhaps you're married, and maybe you're 13:50 like a friend of mine. 13:51 She told me one day,... 13:53 This was several years ago. 13:54 She told me, Jill, I work every day. 13:59 And I know she does. 14:00 She said, When I go to work there's a certain guy that I 14:04 work with that I think is better than my husband. 14:08 And as soon as she said that, I thought, 14:10 We're on dangerous territory, with the discontented heart. 14:15 She said, Jill, he treats me better than my husband does. 14:20 Jill, He's funny, and I wish my husband was as funny as he was. 14:26 Jill, He provides for his family, and my husband doesn't 14:32 provide quite as much. 14:34 And her husband didn't make as much. 14:37 She said, I think I'm on dangerous ground. 14:41 And you know what? she was. 14:43 Beware of the discontented heart. 14:48 You know, if you are married, Satan can tempt you 14:51 to be dissatisfied. 14:53 Maybe you've all heard the old adage, 14:56 the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. 15:00 I'm here to tell you it's not. 15:02 You know, you could be in your own yard and think, 15:05 I'm having a lot of weeds in my yard. 15:08 You look at your neighbor's yard over there, and you think, 15:12 It's lush, it's green, it's beautiful! 15:16 If only I could have my neighbors grass, I'd be happy. 15:21 But, you know what? 15:23 If you took a few steps over to your neighbor's house, 15:27 do you know what would happen? 15:29 You'd discover that he's got the same weeds growing in his grass 15:33 that you have in your own grass. 15:36 You'd discover that he might even have a few little brown 15:39 patches that you couldn't see from that great distance. 15:44 The grass is not always greener. 15:47 If we start longing for something that isn't ours, 15:51 that is dangerous territory. 15:54 Dissatisfaction and comparisons, as women, 15:58 maybe you've gossiped with your friends, and you say, 16:01 Oh yeah, my husband provides, but he sure doesn't communicate. 16:05 Have you ever talked to your friends about that? 16:08 Or maybe, You know what, my husband 16:10 communicates really well. 16:12 You know, he wants to sit down and talk about how things are 16:16 going, and he wants to hear about my heart, 16:18 and he will actually share his emotions, too. 16:21 And you know that's a rare thing in a man. 16:24 But he doesn't encourage me a lot. 16:27 And another woman might say, My husband encourages me. 16:31 Every day he says, You're the best! 16:34 You do such a good job at this. 16:36 But he doesn't give me any affection, and he doesn't... 16:40 I just want to hold his hand when we walk, 16:42 and he doesn't do that. 16:44 As you go around the circle, each woman wishes that she had 16:50 not necessarily the other woman's husband, 16:52 but she might be discontented with who God gave her. 16:58 The beautiful thing is that God brings us together in marriage 17:03 for a purpose, and He has a beautiful plan for marriage. 17:07 His thing is not to say, Okay, you're married, 17:10 you're miserable, you're going to have to stay miserable. 17:13 God says, I can redeem your marriage. 17:16 I can bring in healing. 17:19 I can cause that communication to begin again. 17:22 I can rekindle the love that used to be there, 17:25 and I can bring it back up again. 17:29 I can cause you to be at peace, and in love with your husband, 17:35 and not wish for somebody else's. 17:37 Now this is not a marriage seminar by any 17:40 stretch of the imagination. 17:41 I just want to say that to be careful of being discontented 17:45 with who God gave you, and at the same time seek to respect 17:50 and affirm the husband that God's given to you. 17:54 Maybe you're unmarried, and you say, Jill, but I'm not 17:57 married, and I wish I could be. 18:00 Practice contentment in your singleness. 18:05 I have several friends, several friends in my 18:11 life that are single. 18:12 These are Godly women, beautiful women, women of intelligence, 18:20 women of integrity, women who seek to follow God. 18:25 The sad thing is that they're in their twenties, 18:29 they're in their thirties, they're in their forties. 18:33 I remember one friend recently sat down with me, 18:36 and we were sitting in a church. 18:38 And after the church, whatever, we were sitting there and she 18:41 said, Jill, she said, I just turned forty. 18:43 And she said, I'm still single. 18:46 And I have boxes of love letters that I wrote to my future 18:51 husband, and I want to be married. 18:53 I can't answer that. 18:55 I don't know why, but I do know that you can trust 19:01 God with your heart. 19:02 I do know that you can surrender that back to God. 19:06 I know that you can choose to practice contentment where you 19:11 are, and choose to find ways to minister. 19:14 Find ways to serve the Lord Jesus, even in the midst 19:21 of what you're dealing with. 19:22 It's a beautiful thing. 19:24 God wants to work in our hearts. 19:28 He says, Beware of the unguarded heart. 19:31 Many times we might be unguarded. 19:33 I don't know about you, but it's easy for me 19:36 to let my guard down. 19:38 And God says, I want you to put on the full armor of God. 19:41 And when we put on the armor, I don't know about you, 19:45 but I can wear the armor. 19:47 I've got the helmet of salvation. 19:49 I've got the shield of faith. 19:50 I've got the breast plate. 19:52 I've got all of that going on. 19:54 And then what happens? 19:55 I start walking and I say, It feels heavy. 19:59 I think I'd like to take it off for a little bit. 20:02 But when I do that what happens? 20:06 I become unguarded. 20:08 I let that guard down. 20:11 I give easy access for Satan to come in. 20:15 So 1. Just beware of that unguarded heart. 20:19 2. Beware of the discontented heart. 20:25 I don't know what experience you're in right now, 20:28 I don't know, maybe you say, Jill, but you don't know 20:32 what my marriage is like. 20:33 Jill, but you don't know the pain I have in my heart. 20:37 You don't know what I've been through. 20:39 And you're right, I have no idea. 20:42 But the Lord Jesus Christ knows. 20:45 He knows every tear you've shed. 20:47 He knows every hurt you have had in your heart, 20:51 and He says, I came to bring you deliverance. 20:55 I came to bring you freedom. 20:58 I came to work even in the midst of the pain, 21:03 of the hurt in your marriage, and I can restore it again. 21:08 I can rekindle what you used to have. 21:11 Or if you're single and you say, But God, I'm so lonely. 21:16 God says, Isaiah, Your maker can be your husband. 21:23 He says, I love you, and I want to come alongside you right now. 21:28 We're going to take a short break. 21:31 When we come back we want to do our practical application. 21:35 We like to do this every week. 21:37 Give you something that you can do; some sort of assignment 21:40 that you can do this week at home, as you deal with the 21:43 unguarded heart, and the discontented heart. 21:46 And next week we're going to take a look at the next type of 21:50 danger, the next type of heart, the forward heart 21:54 that we need to be aware of. 21:56 We'll be right back. |
Revised 2016-05-26