Do ItHow do you prepare your heart to seek the law of the Lord? I think you prepare your heart through prayer, meditation and commitment. You make a commitment, "I'm going to seek the Lord. I'm going to study the Word of God. I'm going to commit the Word of God to my heart and learn what God has to say about Himself." I think it's through commitment, dedication, and prayer that a person prepares his heart.
Notice Ezra was preparing his heart, first of all to seek the law of the Lord, and, then, second, to do it. Paul the apostle said that the Jews were making a serious mistake in their day because they thought that just because they had the law of the Lord, they were justified. Paul said that having the law of God doesn't justify anybody. It is the keeping of the law that justifies a man.
Sometimes we make the same mistake, thinking, Well, I go to church, I partake of the sacraments of the church, and therefore, I am saved; I'm all right. Yet we are not really doing the things the Lord commanded. Jesus said
It is really obedience to Him - the doing of the Word of God - that is so important. As James wrote
This is because if you're just a hearer of the Word you can deceive yourself. You start to think I know all about the Bible. I studied under Pastor Chuck. I've really gone through the Bible. That won't do it. Are you obeying the Bible? Are you obeying the precepts of the Bible? We hear stories that grieve our hearts. Stories of those that attend Calvary Chapel and yet are living in fornication or in adultery. Somehow they feel attending Calvary Chapel is going to do something for them. I'm always reading about some far-out person who says, "Well, I attend Calvary Chapel," as if that's going to buy them something. Not with God. It's doing the word that's important.
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