When approaching God in prayer, what is the motive behind your prayer request? The true motives of our heart cannot be disguised before Him - because God sees our intentions as well as our actions. Taking practical lessons from the lives of King Saul, Hannah and our Lord Jesus Christ, join Allison for this encouraging message titled, "You Cannot 'Makeup' Your Heart".
"No amount of 'makeup' can move your Maker to release what you are not ready to receive." - Allison
➡️ Receive Daily Encouragement on WhatsApp - https://godsheart.tv/whatsapp/
➡️ Support God's Heart TV financially - https://godsheart.tv/financial/
➡️ Information about Interactive Prayer - https://godsheart.tv/interactive-prayer/
➡️ Volunteer as a God's Heart TV Translator - https://godsheart.tv/translate/
➡️ Share your testimony - https://godsheart.tv/testimony
➡️ Join our Live Prayer Service on the first Saturday of every month - https://www.youtube.com/godshearttv/live
"No amount of 'makeup' can move your Maker to release what you are not ready to receive." - Allison
➡️ Receive Daily Encouragement on WhatsApp - https://godsheart.tv/whatsapp/
➡️ Support God's Heart TV financially - https://godsheart.tv/financial/
➡️ Information about Interactive Prayer - https://godsheart.tv/interactive-prayer/
➡️ Volunteer as a God's Heart TV Translator - https://godsheart.tv/translate/
➡️ Share your testimony - https://godsheart.tv/testimony
➡️ Join our Live Prayer Service on the first Saturday of every month - https://www.youtube.com/godshearttv/live
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:00It is impossible to deceive the one from whom we are expected to receive.
00:11Grace and peace to you all, people of God, in the mighty name of Jesus Christ.
00:17By the grace of God, I'm here to share with you a message from the Living Word of God,
00:25the Word that takes us into a genuine relationship with God.
00:31And when I say genuine, I mean a relationship without deception,
00:38a relationship without pretense, a relationship without makeup.
00:44And in fact, I would like to begin this message today by talking about the makeup culture of today.
00:55I know everyone here knows what makeup is.
01:01I'm referring to those cosmetic products we mainly put on our face to enhance or modify our physical appearance.
01:13There are countless videos we can find on Internet about how makeup can change, transform someone's appearance.
01:25To many, makeup is an art, is an art to beautify the face and even a way to strengthen someone's self-esteem.
01:42But unfortunately, for many, many others, makeup is used to hide, to disguise their true nature.
01:55For you to better understand what I'm talking about, I would like us to watch a short video about the power of makeup.
02:10So, in this video, we are looking at a makeup artist that took a stone, an ordinary stone,
02:18and she's doing a full makeup session for it.
02:22And we can see how she's applying so many cosmetic products to a stone.
02:28And we can see she's putting the foundation now, concealer.
02:34You really mean it.
02:35And she's now putting on the powder.
02:38And now she's going to do the eyebrows and she's going to put the eyelashes.
02:46Wow, this is very interesting what she, artist, is doing.
02:50She drew a nose and now she's going also to put some lipstick to do the lips.
02:59And then, voila!
03:02An ordinary object has been transformed into a beautiful face by the power of makeup.
03:13However, people of God, the power of makeup can be dangerous.
03:22Because it shows us a complete false image of what the person, in this case the object, really looks like.
03:34Makeup can hide reality from us.
03:39And the problem is that many people today are taking this makeup culture beyond the physical.
03:50Before I go on, I want to make it clear that by no means am I against makeup.
03:59In fact, today I have used some makeup to enhance my own facial features.
04:08And this message today is not to determine whether makeup is good or no.
04:16But what I want to call your attention to is to beware of this makeup culture many have fallen into, even as children of God.
04:30People want to believe by appearance and not by truth.
04:35There is a culture of falsehood.
04:39There is a culture in which we are no longer sincere, in which we are no longer genuine.
04:46And many people try to make up their heart by deceiving others, deceiving themselves and behaving as if they can deceive God.
05:01But the true motive of the heart cannot be disguised before Him.
05:10This brings me to the title of this message, you cannot make up your heart.
05:19So I want you, wherever you are, to say it loud.
05:24You cannot make up your heart.
05:28And now say it to yourself, I cannot make up my heart.
05:34Throughout the Bible, the importance of our motives behind our actions is emphasized to us.
05:45In Jeremiah 17, 10, the Bible says that God examines our heart to know our motives, to see if they are pure or corrupt.
06:01In 1 Chronicles 28, 9, the Bible says that it is He, God, who searches the heart.
06:12And God is the one that judges the unseen, the secret things, as Ecclesiastes 12, verse 13 and 14 says.
06:25Our motives are as important as our actions.
06:32People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.
06:39That's what the Bible says in 1 Samuel, chapter 16, verse 7.
06:46Brethren, with our lips we profess to be Christian, but are we searching heart?
06:57Many of us consider ourselves Christians because we go to church, because we carry the Bible under our arm,
07:07because we greet others, God bless you, because we kneel down to pray or we worship aloud.
07:15But are you searching heart? Do you really mean it?
07:22God values our intentions, our motives, because He's seeking for true worshippers.
07:30God is looking for sincere followers.
07:34John chapter 4, 23 says it.
07:38And as Prophet T.V. Joshua often taught us, true Christianity lies in the heart.
07:47I know that every one of you connected here today, you have a prayer request.
07:55You are seeking for God's intervention in your life.
07:59But I want you to ask yourself, what is the motive behind that prayer request?
08:08I'm not asking you what your prayer request is.
08:13I'm asking you, what is the motive behind?
08:19Because it is impossible to deceive the one from whom we are expecting to receive.
08:30Let me give you some examples about insincerity and sincerity.
08:35I mean examples of wrong motives and right motives that we can find in the Bible
08:43for us to reflect on some of the signs that will help us to identify
08:51in which category our own prayer requests, our own actions fall into.
08:57And I would like to start first by reading 1 Samuel chapter 8.
09:05We are going to read verse 4 and 5.
09:09And then we will be jumping into some verses in the same chapter.
09:14And the Bible says,
09:16Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah
09:23and said to him,
09:25Look, you are old and your sons do not walk in your ways.
09:32Now make us akin to judges like all the nations.
09:37And now let's jump to verse 7.
09:40And the Lord said to Samuel,
09:42Heed the voice of the people in all that they said to you,
09:47for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me.
09:52That I should not reign over them.
09:56And then now let us jump to verse 19 and 20.
10:00Nevertheless, the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel.
10:06And they say,
10:08No, but we will have a king over us.
10:12Verse 20.
10:13That we also may be like all the nations,
10:17and that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles.
10:25Here, people of God,
10:27we read about when the people of Israel asked Samuel,
10:33the prophet who was also judging Israel at that time,
10:37to anoint a king for them.
10:40As we see,
10:41though the reasons of their petition seem to be legitimate,
10:48Samuel was very old and his sons did not follow his ways.
10:55Their petition was born out of comparison.
11:01In verse 5 and verse 20,
11:04they said,
11:05Make us a king so we may be like all the nations.
11:13The people of Israel compared themselves with others
11:20and desired to be like them.
11:24Their petition was made up by first saying something that seemed true and justifiable.
11:33People of God know that when your motives are born out of comparison,
11:42your prayers, your actions are not sincere before the Lord.
11:48As Christians, we need to be careful to avoid the trap of comparison.
11:59When our prayers or actions are born out of comparison,
12:05it's because our heart is more focused on man's opinion than God's opinion.
12:17Petitions out of comparison come from a heart that is more interested
12:25in pleasing man than pleasing God.
12:28As you are there right now asking God for that blessing,
12:32for that breakthrough in whatever area of your life,
12:37it's important, people of God, that you examine yourself,
12:41that you examine your motives.
12:44Is the motivation of that prayer request because you are comparing yourself with others?
12:52Because you are desiring in the carnal, in the flesh, to be like others?
12:59Or to have what others have?
13:02And you are allowing this comparison to direct your prayers?
13:07People of God, let us check ourselves.
13:12Let us check where our prayers and actions are coming from.
13:19Many of you, as you continue reading this story, you may say,
13:23but God finally granted their petition as He anointed Saul as a king.
13:30Yes, people of God, but the Bible also says that God was not pleased
13:38and that God gave them a clear warning of what would happen to them if they had a king.
13:48The Bible says that they would become His servants.
13:53Other Bible versions say that they would become the king's slaves.
13:58People of God, let us not become slaves of the very thing
14:06we are asking God to give us because of wrong motives.
14:12Another example of insincerity can be taken from the life of King Saul
14:22and his acts of worship that displeased God.
14:27We can find it in 1 Samuel chapter 15.
14:32After having spared the life of the king of Amalek, Israel's enemy at that time,
14:41King Saul received a rebuke from Prophet Samuel.
14:47But Saul justified himself by saying that he kept alive the best of the cattle
14:57to offer them as a sacrifice to the Lord.
15:02And apparently Saul acknowledged his sin, Saul acknowledged his mistake,
15:09but his vain words of repentance were nothing more than makeup to the true intentions,
15:21the true motives of his heart.
15:25Pride and self-sufficiency.
15:29He only wanted to maintain his fame, his reputation.
15:36King Saul did not mean to worship the Lord from his heart.
15:44Offering sacrifices, worshiping the Lord, they were acts of righteousness.
15:52But King Saul was rejected by God because of the wrong motives in his heart.
16:00Let us reflect on these examples.
16:05Let us come to God in sincerity, sincerity of heart.
16:13And I know that no one here connected to this service today
16:20want to be like the type of people Jesus spoke about in Mark chapter 7 verse 6
16:30when he said,
16:32These people honor me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.
16:40And people of God, you may also say that these examples are extreme cases of insincerity.
16:49Maybe you may think, oh, but we all know that King Saul, he had a wicked heart.
16:56And we may also say that, oh, at that time, the people of Israel, they were wicked,
17:02they were not sincere.
17:04But in the light of this message, I want to share with you
17:09something that happened to me in my first year of marriage.
17:15So we can all see how easy we can fall into insincerity
17:21if we don't check constantly our motives.
17:26For those who don't know, by the amazing grace of God,
17:31I am married to a wonderful, loving, caring, but most important,
17:38God-fearing man, a man of faith.
17:41I'm married to brother Chris.
17:44And one day, we were at home, and the time to do one of the activities
17:51that I enjoy the most, cooking, came.
17:55So I went to the kitchen, I opened the fridge, and we had chicken and beef.
18:04So I needed to decide what to cook that day.
18:08So I said to myself, oh, well, I don't have much time.
18:14Perhaps cooking chicken would be faster, and I feel like eating chicken.
18:19But still, let me ask Chris what he would prefer.
18:24So I went to see him, and I asked him in a very charming way,
18:30mi amor, what would you like for lunch, chicken or beef?
18:37So he replied and said, oh, thank you, I would like to eat beef today.
18:43So immediately, without thinking, I said to him, oh, you know what?
18:48I'm going to cook chicken.
18:50It is faster, and I prefer chicken.
18:54So brother Chris corrected me and said, why did you even ask my opinion
19:03if you already concluded what you wanted to cook?
19:08People of God, in fact, at that moment,
19:13I realized that the motive behind my question was not sincere.
19:22Normally, he enjoys my food, whatever I cook.
19:27He never demands from me a specific type of food.
19:33But when I came to this question, I already made up my mind
19:39concerning what I wanted to cook that day.
19:43And this showed that I was not ready to hear something different to what I wanted.
19:52And my question was provoking because it was made up with a fake consideration
20:03to include my husband's opinion in a very simple decision
20:09when my true motive was already to cook chicken.
20:16People of God, this can happen between God and us.
20:22This can happen in our relationship with God.
20:26Sometimes, when we approach God and when we make up a petition,
20:33they are not sincere because we have placed our own will above His will.
20:43Sometimes, we make our petitions to God with nice words, a smooth speech,
20:53but we are not prepared to hear something different to what we really want.
21:02And I ask you again, what is the motive behind your prayer request,
21:10behind your petition, behind your actions?
21:14Because no matter how clever you are, you cannot make up your heart.
21:21And I want to ask this sincere question to every one of you.
21:29How sincere are your prayers?
21:35Now, I would like to highlight some examples in the Bible of sincere prayers
21:43so we can be inspired by them.
21:46When we come to God, we don't need to be perfect to approach God.
21:54We only need to be sincere.
21:58In 1 Samuel chapter 1, we read the story about Hannah, prophet Samuel's mother.
22:09She made a vow to the Lord when she asked Him for a child.
22:17Hannah's petition was for God to release her
22:23from the distress and the affliction of having a closed womb.
22:29And perhaps her petition was influenced by the provocation of the second wife of Elkanah,
22:38Hannah's husband.
22:40But the true motive behind Hannah's petition was to glorify God.
22:48Because it doesn't make sense in the natural, from a human point of view,
22:55that she will ask for something that later on she will give it away.
23:03Hannah's petition was motivated by her desire to glorify God.
23:13Her motives were not to glorify herself or to pretend that she was better than her rival.
23:22She wanted to honor God.
23:26Her petition was not made up with empty confessions and tears.
23:35Her petition was not made up by sentimentalism and drama.
23:41Hannah meant what she prayed and God saw her heart and blessed her.
23:50And the test of time, people of God, showed the genuineness of that prayer.
23:58Because when the time came, Hannah gave her child to God's service.
24:07How can I know if my prayer is sincere?
24:14When the motive of that prayer is to glorify the Lord.
24:21When the motive of my prayer is to do His will.
24:27When what I'm asking for is to bring me closer to God.
24:34When what I'm asking for is for the salvation of my soul.
24:39Brethren, the right motives are critical for us to have a good relationship with the Father.
24:51And that's why I want you to go with me in the Bible to the book of Psalm 145.
25:01And we are going to read verse 18 and 19.
25:06The Bible says,
25:07The Lord is near to all who call upon Him, to all who call upon Him in truth.
25:18He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him.
25:24He also will hear their cry and save them.
25:29This is very clear.
25:32The Lord is near to those who call upon Him in truth, in sincerity, with transparent motives.
25:44And He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him.
25:49Because when we fear God, people of God, we only want to do His will.
25:57Can you see how important is sincerity when we approach God?
26:05I want to conclude with another great example of sincerity from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
26:15In the prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane in Matthew chapter 26 from verse 36 to 46.
26:25The Bible says that Jesus Christ was sorrowful even to death.
26:33And He prayed three times to the Father saying,
26:38Father, if it is possible, pass this cup from me.
26:47Nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.
26:54What a sincere prayer!
26:58Jesus Christ let the Father know that He was in agony, that He was sorrowful.
27:07But immediately He asked the Father to remove the suffering from Him.
27:14He revealed His motives.
27:17Nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.
27:23Jesus' motives were to fulfill God's will.
27:30His motivation was to honor God, to glorify Him.
27:36To do His will and fulfill the plan for our salvation.
27:44He did not hide His feeling to the Father.
27:48Yet, He did not allow those feelings to direct His prayers.
27:54And the Bible says in Luke chapter 22 verse 43 that God sent an angel to strengthen Him.
28:05This means that when we are sincere to God, when we have the right motives,
28:12even if it is not the will of God to give us what we are asking for,
28:19He will not leave us, He will not forsake us.
28:24He will strengthen us whatever life brings.
28:29So, my brothers and sisters, we cannot make up our hearts.
28:37No matter how many layers or foundation, concealer, powder, lipstick we use to disguise our motives,
28:47our true motives, God sees the heart.
28:53Today, you are here to receive a touch from God, not from men.
29:01So, don't waste time pretending.
29:05No makeup can move your maker to release something that you are not ready to receive.
29:15So, people of God, check your motives and be sincere right here, right now before the Lord.
29:25And leave aside every wrong motive.
29:29Leave aside every comparison, pride, self-intention.
29:36And focus on glorifying the Lord and submitting to His will for your life.
29:49In Jesus' name.
29:51And finally, I just want to leave you with this Bible verse.
29:57So, please, if we go quickly to 1 John chapter 5 verse 14 and 15 says,
30:07Know this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.
30:19And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.
30:31May the Lord bless the seed of His Word in our heart.
30:39In Jesus' name.
30:49Amen.