Heart Over the Gift

Heart Over the Gift

Jonathan Helser

More Heaven will always fill the room when we are thankful.

Our Hearts:
- When we put our gift before our heart it’s like putting the cart before the horse.
- Your heart is who you are.
- Our greatest gift is not our gifts, it’s our heart.
- Proverbs 4:23 says to guard and tend your heart with all diligence because of all issues of life flow from it.
- With God it’s not “either/or” (heart or gifts), it’s always “both and more”.
- We honor the Father when we are fruitful with our gifts. But our gifts do not make up our identity, it’s our sonship (our hearts) first.
- Everything Jesus did was out of how pleased His Father was with Him.
- The Father is pleased in our “being”, not our “doing”.
- When we do our “doing” out of the pleasure He has in our “being” we will do much more than we could ever imagine.

Our false view of the Father causes us to use our gifts to impress Him when they are actually there to enjoy Him.

God has given us gifts so that we might enjoy His presence more. Often the gifts require the Father’s presence to be used the right way.

“What comes into mind when we think about God? It is the most important thing about us.”
A.W. Tozer

Are we worshipping the God that we made? Or the God who made us? When we have an inaccurate view of the Father we walk out our gifts as an orphan.

Matthew 25:24 - Parable of the Talents The one who had 1 talent and buried it had a false view of who the Master really was. He was incorrectly afraid of Him. The other servants shared in the Master’s pleasure. God’s in a good mood. It is our privilege to make mistakes in the pursuit of His pleasure.

Jesus said, “Seek first the Kingdom of God and everything else will be added to you”. Protect your heart with all diligence and the gifts will speak for themselves.

Solomon asked for the heart first, and everything else was added to him. He became the richest and wisest king that ever existed.

Bill Johnson says “when God gives you extraordinary favor it's for the sake of those around you”.

Everything God does is relational. Right before he was crucified, Jesus washed the feet of His disciples. And right before He ascended into Heaven he made the disciples breakfast. Everything He does is relational.

The ways orphans and sons use their gifts: - Orphans use their gifts to try to climb the ladder of success. Sons use their gifts to climb into their Father lap and discover Him.
- An orphan’s gifts will cause a sense of entitlement, that strips them of character. But a son will steward his gifts with gratitude and seek to serve those around him with what he’s been given.
- An orphan will look for security in his gift and is left empty and broken. But a son discovers security in the Giver and then walks in confidence in the gift.
- An orphan’s gifts are bound by fear, but a son’s gifts are fueled by the love that has broken off the fear of failure.
- Orphans are bound by perfectionism, they have to get it right to “earn” God’s approval because they are defined by what they do, not by what God did. But a son is defined by what His Father has done for Him and he soars in excellence. Perfectionism is driven by fear, excellence is driven by joy and love.
- An orphan’s gifts cause a cycle of jealousy, competition, and rivalry towards other’s success and position. But a son walks in humility and unity with his gifts, and he values others and he’s able to rejoice in their blessings and their successes.
- An orphan uses his gifts to fight for what he can get. But a son walks out his inheritance with his gift and watches it flourish beyond what he could ever have done in his own strength.

Jonathan ends reading the children’s book Just the Way You Are.