Resultantly, more than ever, we are encountering people who have severe bondages in their lives and seem to remain in this tormenting state for years. Instead of experiencing instantaneous deliverance through the Power of God's Word and His Holy Spirit, their testimony is that - after 10-20 years - they are still battling with strongholds of alcohol, lust, perversion, compulsion, suicide, depression, rage, etc. 

 

 

The Lord God wills that people everywhere be totally set free from their bondages and be free indeed! 

It only takes Him but a "twinkling of the eye" to set a captive free.

And whenever He does, their testimony goes like this - "If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed"(John 8:36).

 

Nowadays, the problem seems to be that we - as a society - have accepted the lie that man's dilemma lies in his head. Granted, the mind does need to be renewed and changed from all "stinkin' thinkin." But it's futile to try to deal with the mind when the crux of the problem is the heart.

 

 

 

 

In this message, we would like to examine the verses which prove that He is mankind's only solution for their present dilemma. The world may come up with thousands of other plans, projects, or solutions - but they will only meet with failure each time.

 

 

 

 

1 Chronicles 29:17 - "I know also, my God, that Thou triest the heart..."

 

Only God is capable of testing the sincerity and purity of a man's heart in order to expose what lies within. 

 

 

Psalm 44:21 - "Shall not God search this out? for He knoweth the secrets of the heart."

Jeremiah 20:12 - "But, O LORD of hosts, that triest the righteous, and seest the reins and the heart..."

 

What is concealed from the world is open to God. He knows the secret thoughts, purposes, aims, intentions, motives, and affections of the heart.

 

 

1 Chronicles 28:9 - "And thou, Solomon, my son, know thou the God of thy father, and serve Him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind: for the LORD searcheth all hearts..."

Jeremiah 17:10 - "I the LORD search the heart..."

 

Acts 1:24 describes the Lord as the Knower of the heart - "...Thou, Lord, Which knowest the hearts of all men..."

 

Hence, if there is any wickedness in a heart - even when man does not acknowledge or admit it - God sees it all. That which is overlooked or artfully disguised or concealed does not get by His divine inspection.

 

 

1 Chronicles 28:9 - "...for the LORD...understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts..."

Psalm 139:2 - "Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, Thou understandeth my thought afar off."

 

The Lord knows man's plans, designs, and thoughts even before they enter his mind.

 

 

Proverbs 21:2 - "Every way of a man is right in his own eyes: but the LORD pondereth the hearts."

Proverbs 24:12 - "If thou sayest, Behold, we knew it not; doth not He that pondereth the heart consider it?"

 

Man may want to excuse his wrongdoing using the plea of ignorance, but God knows the difference. He judges what He observes and knows according to the Truth of His Word.  

 

 

1 Samuel 10:26 - "And Saul also went home to Gibeah; and there went with him a band of men, whose hearts God had touched."

Ezra 6:22 - "And kept the feast of unleavened bread seven days with joy: for the LORD had made them joyful, and turned the heart of the king of Assyria unto them, to strengthen their hands in the work of the house of God, the God of Israel."

Proverbs 21:1 - "The king's heart is in the hand of the LORD, as the rivers of water: He turneth it whithersoever He will."

Jeremiah 20:9 - "Then I said, I will not make mention of Him, nor speak any more in His name. But His word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones..."

 

God can place an idea or mode of action into a person's heart who, originally, may have been opposed to it or never gave it much thought. 

He can influence the greatest of leaders to move in a direction in keeping with His Will.

 

 

Psalm 51:10 - "Create in me a clean heart, O God..."

Ezekiel 36:26 - "A new heart also will I give you..."

 

By His Supernatural Power, God can construct a clean heart out of nothing. He can spiritually remove an insensible, inflexible, impenetrable, hard, cold, and unyielding heart and replace it with one that is soft, tender, and in compliance with His Will.

 

 

1 Chronicles 29:18 - "O LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, our fathers, keep this for ever in the imagination of the thoughts of the heart of Thy people, and prepare their heart unto Thee."

Proverbs 16:1 - "The preparations of the heart in man, and the answer of the tongue, is from the LORD."

 

Once again, we see that it is God Who places into men's hearts certain dispositions, arrangements, designs, and thoughts to do good.

 

 

Acts 16:14 - "And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, which worshipped God, heard us: whose heart the Lord opened..."

 

Only God can open a heart to believe and receive the Truth of the Gospel.

 

 

2 Corinthians 4:6 - "For God, Who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."

Ephesians 1:18 - "The eyes of your understanding being enlightened..."

 

Man's views of Truth are generally perverted. It takes the Light of God - His Knowledge and Wisdom - being imparted to man's heart, mind, and understanding - which cause him to perceive self, God, and his future clearly and accurately.

 

 

Psalm 27:14 - "Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and He shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD."

 

Only God can enable a person to perform his duties faithfully and triumph over all his enemies in times of great danger and difficulty.

 

 

Psalm 112:8 - "His heart is established, he shall not be afraid, until he see his desire upon his enemies."

1 Thessalonians 3:13 - "To the end He may stablish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father..."

 

Most people panic when they hear bad news. But a heart which is established by God remains calm for it is supported, sustained, and upheld by His strength and power. It is "unblameable in holiness" for He cuts away all evil, corruption, and wickedness from it.