"DAVID - A MAN AFTER GOD'S OWN HEART"

Good Afternoon to All!

I wanted to make sure that I got this post written today, as tomorrow my husband and I will be starting our journey back home to Texas.

I started this trip with hesitation because I am not good with change, and I didn't want to leave the comfort of my church, and my friends for ANY length of time. You would have thought I was a child going on my first sleepover away from the comforting arms of my mother.

I have to admit though, I have embraced it and really enjoyed my time here in Arizona. I have made several friends who I hope to stay in touch with through the next year, until we meet again here in sunny Arizona. That being said, I should get to the "EYE OPENING" experience which has occurred in this place and why I have decided that it has to be God that brought me here.

A couple of weeks after arriving, I started attending a Bible Study at the Chapel here on the Proving Ground. It was titled "David - Seeking a Heart Like His" by Beth Moore. If you ever get the chance, I highly recommend having it.

Have you EVER thought to yourself, "Oh! How I would love to have an intimate relationship with Jesus, but I'm not good enough. I've done too many things wrong. I am too unworthy!" I know I have. I went to Sunday school and church when I was a child, but it didn't have that profound effect on me that my present relationship with HIM does. What's strange is that I really thought I was "a woman of God". Boy! Was this trip an eye-opener.

I figured out that there is definitely a difference in a "relationship with God" and an "INTIMATE RELATIONSHIP with God". All this time I have thought mine was an intimate one, but the Bible Study I attended while here showed me differently.

It woke me up to the fact that to have an Intimate Relationship, I had to give more. Just like in my marriage, I need to be open to my husband's needs and wants, and be willing to sacrifice some of my own. Our relationship with God should be no different. We should be willing to sacrifice our needs and wants for Him. After all, we as Children of God are the "Bride of Christ". He gives to us, and we should give to Him. We can never outgive God in money, time, or anything else. He supplies ALL our need. David understood this.

Since becoming a "true Christian", (I use that term because I used to attend church sometimes, but didn't really have a relationship with Christ), I have been fascinated with David. I am always saying about my worship and "dancing before the Lord", if KING David did it, what gives me the right to worry about what other people think about it? After all, Michal, David's wife actually despised him for doing it. It embarrassed her.

This Bible Study has not only enforced that feeling that much more, but now, I not only want to Praise God like David, but as he was a "man" after God's own heart, I want to be "a WOMAN after God's own heart.

I know, it's hard to think in terms like that because it is our nature to bring up things of our past, to think "What am I thinking?" I'm not Good enough! I don't pray as often as I should, I don't read His Word as much as I should!" Well, I'll let you in on a little secret. David was no perfect angel either. He was not sinless. He was a murderer, an adulterer, he did things that God was not happy about quite a bit, yet GOD SAID David was a man after His own heart.

Samuel is speaking to Saul and says: But now your kingdom shall not continue; the Lord has sought out [David] a man after His own heart, and the Lord has commanded him to be prince and ruler over His people, because you have not kept what the Lord commanded
(1 Samuel 13:14 Amp.Vers.)

This is because he sincerely repented. He cried out to God for forgiveness, and according to His Word says: "And when he had removed him (Saul), he raised up unto them David to be their king; to whom also he gave their testimony, and said, I (God) have found David the son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfil all my will. (Acts 13:22)

I have heard that phrase often, but for some reason this time, it hit me like a ton of bricks. In this Bible Study, it shows the parallel of David to Christ. It is amazing! It has put a fire in me to strive much harder to be the Woman of God that God wants me to be.

After developing my relationship with Christ, I have always said I wanted a closer walk, and I try, but evidently I haven't tried hard enough. It is one thing to pray a little bit, and to read the Bible sometimes, and go to church every chance I get. ALL of these are good things, only instead of sometimes, it should be constantly instead of a little bit, it should be without ceasing No, this does not mean constantly be praying and nothing else. It means to have a prayerful attitude about EVERYTHING.

As David said, "Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength, and my redeemer". (Psalm 19:14)

Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.
(Psalm 51:10)

This Bible Study has caused me to really open my eyes to my own faults and want to work on them. It has caused me to examine my own heart, and fall down before God and ask Him to help me to be more like David,to strive to be more like Christ, to be a Woman after God's Own Heart.

Good Night to All and May God Bless!