Topical Bible: The Heart: we should Walk Before God With All

◄ The Heart: we should Walk Before God With All ►

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The concept of the heart in the Bible is deeply significant, representing the innermost part of a person, encompassing emotions, will, intellect, and moral character. In Scripture, the heart is often seen as the seat of one's spiritual life and the center of one's relationship with God. Walking before God with all one's heart is a recurring theme, emphasizing sincerity, devotion, and integrity in one's faith journey.

Biblical Foundation

The call to walk before God with all one's heart is rooted in the covenant relationship between God and His people. In Deuteronomy 6:5, the Israelites are commanded, "Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength." This command underscores the totality of devotion expected from God's people, where the heart is central to loving and serving God.

King David, a man after God's own heart, exemplifies this principle. In 1 Kings 8:61, Solomon, David's son, prays, "And may your hearts be fully committed to the LORD our God, to walk in His statutes and to keep His commandments, as at this time." This prayer reflects the desire for a wholehearted commitment to God, a legacy passed down from David to Solomon.

The Heart's Role in Obedience and Worship

Walking before God with all one's heart involves obedience and worship. In 1 Samuel 16:7, the LORD tells Samuel, "Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not see as man does. For man sees the outward appearance, but the LORD sees the heart." This passage highlights that God values the heart's condition over external appearances, emphasizing the importance of inner sincerity in worship and obedience.

The prophet Jeremiah also speaks to the heart's role in obedience, warning of its deceitful nature: "The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?" (Jeremiah 17:9). Despite this, God promises transformation, as seen in Ezekiel 36:26, "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh." This transformation enables believers to walk faithfully before God.

New Testament Perspective

In the New Testament, Jesus reiterates the importance of the heart in one's relationship with God. In Matthew 22:37, Jesus cites the greatest commandment: "‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’" This commandment encapsulates the essence of walking before God with all one's heart, integrating love, devotion, and obedience.

The Apostle Paul further elaborates on this theme in Romans 10:10, stating, "For with your heart you believe and are justified, and with your mouth you confess and are saved." Here, the heart is central to faith and salvation, underscoring its vital role in the believer's life.

Practical Implications

Walking before God with all one's heart involves a daily commitment to align one's desires, thoughts, and actions with God's will. It requires vigilance against the heart's natural inclinations toward sin and a continual reliance on the Holy Spirit for guidance and strength. As believers strive to walk wholeheartedly before God, they are called to cultivate a heart that seeks after God's own heart, marked by humility, repentance, and a deep love for God and others.

Torrey's Topical Textbook

1 Kings 2:4
That the LORD may continue his word which he spoke concerning me, saying, If your children take heed to their way, to walk before me in truth with all their heart and with all their soul, there shall not fail you (said he) a man on the throne of Israel.
Torrey's Topical Textbook

Library

With, Before, After
... our communion with Him, of His loving heart as well ... follow Him'"'leaving us an example
that we should follow in ... in Him ought himself also so to walk even as ...
/.../maclaren/expositions of holy scripture k/with before after.htm

The Fourth Chapter: we must Walk Before God in Humility and Truth
... INTERNAL CONSOLATION The Fourth Chapter: We Must Walk Before God ... I shall walk with
You in great freedom of heart. ... your own vices and sins; these should be more ...
/.../kempis/the imitation of christ/the fourth chapter we must.htm

"Who Walk not after the Flesh, but after the Spirit. "
... Christ comes into the heart to dwell, and then he walks ... Christ by his Spirit making
them to walk in his ... even when renewed and quickened, that we should look on ...
/.../binning/the works of the rev hugh binning/sermon vi who walk not.htm

The Imitation of Christ
... The Twenty-First Chapter: Sorrow of Heart. ... The Fourth Chapter: We Must Walk Before
God in Humility and ... The Ninth Chapter: All Things should be Referred to God ...
//christianbookshelf.org/kempis/the imitation of christ/

Waiting on God
... God has taken care that the sun itself should provide you ... are not ready to offer
our petition until we are fully ... it; but you need to have your heart filled by ...
//christianbookshelf.org/murray/the masters indwelling/iii waiting on god.htm

The Morning Watch in the Life of Obedience.
... be led by Him, should walk after Him, should have our ... What we need, to hear the Voice,
to receive this ... faith that trusts in God, the quiet heart that bows in ...
/.../murray/the school of obedience/iv the morning watch in.htm

"To what Purpose is the Multitude of Your Sacrifices unto Me? ...
... and shall your prayers be accepted, which should come up ... time, we do not care how
we walk before God, or with ... that the light shines into the heart to inflame it ...
/.../binning/the works of the rev hugh binning/sermon ix to what purpose.htm

The King 'Blessing' his People
... It should suggest the abiding God yet more strongly than ... blessings comes after the
prayer for inward heart-obedience ... To ask that what we have asked may be given ...
/.../maclaren/expositions of holy scripture f/the king blessing his people.htm

Micah's Message for To-Day
... always what we are sometimes, what Christians we should be! ... but as a regular, constant
thing, "Walk humbly with ... of thy holiness, still keep thy heart in lowly ...
/.../spurgeon/spurgeons sermons volume 39 1893/micahs message for to-day.htm

Waiting Faith Rewarded and Strengthened by New Revelations
... Whenever our 'faith has fallen asleep' and we are ready to ... that breathed itself into
Abram's hushed heart, should speak new ... is that any word of Mine should fail ...
/.../expositions of holy scripture k/waiting faith rewarded and strengthened.htm