By Micheal A. Mitchell
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My Heart Is Fixed (full article )
My Heart is Fixed (PowerPoint)
Psalm 57:7-11 (KJV)
My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed: I will sing and give praise. Awake up, my glory; awake, psaltery and harp: I myself will awake early. I will praise thee, O Lord, among the people: I will sing unto thee among the nations. For thy mercy is great unto the heavens, and thy truth unto the clouds. Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens: let thy glory be above all the earth.
David wanted to assure himself and let his adversaries know that his heart was fixed, thus he chose to say it not one time, not two times, but three times. In Psalm 57:7, he says it twice, and in Psalm 108:2, he says it again. The Holy Ghost would like for some of us to make the statement. My Heart Is Fixed–to the devil, to ourselves, and to our adversaries.
I am challenged by God, and I am challenged within myself to find the will of God and to bring to you a message of destiny for the hour that we are living in. Many of you are where you are today, and if God does not bring about something significant in your life, you will not be there tomorrow. The sad reality is that it always takes a trial, and it always takes a struggle or an unforeseen event, to bring us to a place of stability. For many of us a relationship with God is not easily forged; one has not been garnished. Something has distracted us from falling whole-heartedly in love with God. Sometimes, God must deliver something we did not see, in the menu, as the only way to secure stability in the lives of human beings. It is that which comes to you that you did not order that brings about order. In order for you to define the state of one’s soul, mind, and spirit, something earthshaking, mind baffling, and soul disturbing must take place. For when we speak of the heart being fixed, we are actually saying that the heart is now in a state of stability. The heart is now anchored in Jesus Christ. It is secured and fastened to a Rock Who is significant. I say to you that we dare not cross over into another day, week, month, or even year, and not be able to tell the devil that our hearts are fixed.
If the tests of the past did not bring stability to you, you might not like tomorrow’s tests. For God is greater than our schoolmasters on Earth. They do not pass you if you have failed, and they do not give you a diploma if you are not worthy to graduate. Do not think that God will graduate you when you have failed the tests of the past. My heart is fixed, speaks of stability, security, and being anchored in something or someone.
When David chose to pen the words, “My heart is fixed O God, my heart is fixed,” (Psalm 57:7), he began the psalm by saying: “Be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful unto me, for my soul trusteth in thee: yea, in the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge, until these calamities be overpast” (57:1). He was trying to sum up, for those of us who would read this chapter, that there were some things he was struggling with. He says in verse two through four of the same chapter, “I will cry unto God most high; unto God that performeth all things for me. He shall send from heaven, and save me from the reproach of him that would swallow me up…God shall send forth his mercy and his truth. My soul is among lions: and I lie even among them that are set on fire, even the sons of men, whose teeth are spears and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword.” What would cause David to write such a summation in regards to his life? In order for us to understand the events that took place in David’s life, we must go back in history and in time.
Go back to 1 Samuel 24. For there the Scripture introduces us to an event that took place in David’s life that changed his heart forever. It was in this chapter that David chose to write this particular Scripture “My heart is fixed.” He was telling us something happened in his past that fixed his future forever. Many of us do not serve God because of people; we do not serve God because of a building; but we serve God because something happened that fixed our hearts. Some earth-shaking, mind-boggling, soul-disturbing event caused us to search ourselves and brought us to a place of security. I am disturbed by what I see coming from people who should know better. I wondered to myself what exactly has not happened in their lives yet to bring about stability, and I say, “O, God, send whatever it takes to cause us to break and humble ourselves in your presence and become fixed on you; do it, Lord.” I know some of you are saying, “No, Pastor Mitchell, do not tell Him to do it.” But if you do not get fixed and if you do not get stable in Christ, you are going to go to hell. Your life is going to be miserable. It might hurt. It might cause grief. You might feel anguish and even anger; but if it will fix you in the end, the end justifies the means. What is it going to take to bring some of you back to God? What has to happen in your life to let church become important again? What does God have to take from you so He can be reintroduced to you? Something has to happen to bring about security to our lives and souls and to cause our relationships with God to finally be fixed.
1 Samuel 24:1-4 says: “And it came to pass, when Saul was returned from following the Philistines, that it was told him, saying, Behold, David is in the wilderness of Engedi. Then Saul took three thousand chosen men out of all Israel, and went to seek David and his men upon the rocks of the wild goats. And he came to the sheepcotes by the way, where was a cave; and Saul went in to cover his feet: and David and his men remained in the sides of the cave. And the men of David said unto him, Behold the day of which the LORD said unto thee, Behold, I will deliver thine enemy into thine hand, that thou mayest do to him as it shall seem good unto thee. Then David arose, and cut off the skirt of Saul’s robe privily. And it came to pass afterward, that David’s heart smote him, because he had cut off Saul’s skirt…”
Saul pursued after David in Engedi, and David lodged himself in a cave. Some of you have hidden your souls in a cave, but you are hiding from the thing that is going to save you; and if you do not come out of the cave, God is going to send the enemy to the cave. David was in the cave, and God sent Saul right to where David was. Saul was pursuing David not knowing where he was, and David was hiding from Saul not knowing where he was. Saul was in one side of the cave, and David was in another side of the cave. David was hiding from Saul; Saul was pursuing David; and they ended up in the same place. What you are hiding from is going to find you, but the only reason it is going to find you is because God wants to fix you. You cannot get fixed until the thing that is going to fix you finds you. Some of you need to come out of the cave because your revival is going to come in after you. The trouble is going to fix you–the debt, the hurt, and the problems–they are not trying to destroy you; it is God trying to fix you.
So Saul laid down in the cave, and David’s men found out that Saul was in the cave. They ran over to David and said to David, “Did not the Lord tell you that your enemies would be right at your footstool and that you were going to kill your enemies?”
David said, “Yeah.”
David’s men said, “Saul is right over there!”
A place called there—your revival, your answer is in a place called there. David said, “I’m going to get him.” He found a knife, walked over to where Saul was, crept up on him, and without Saul knowing David walked over to him, cut off Saul’s skirt. David walked back to where he had been, and when he lay down on his bed and began to be at peace with his victory, God began to talk to him. God said, “David, don’t you ever touch my prophet again! And do my servant no harm!” The people who you think are trying to kill you are God’s servants. They are God’s messengers sent to fix you. You say, “I do not like them”. Well, then, you don’t like God either. The person who you think is trying to destroy you is a messenger from God, and God said do not touch His servant and do His prophet no harm. David awoke with Saul’s skirt in his hands and told his men, “Do not touch the king, for my heart has been troubled in the middle of the night.” God disturbed the heart. Many of us are shouting, but what we need is a heart disturbance. If God ever troubles your heart, you will stop doing what you are doing. We are shouting over preaching, but we are not becoming stable on the Word. David told his servants not to bother Saul because he was still the man of God. He was God’s authority. The Scripture tells us Saul arose in the morning not knowing what had happened. Some of you are so comfortable in where you are that you do not even know that someone has disturbed you. How sad it was that a stranger visited Saul by night, and he walked out of his cave without his garment and didn’t know it. Some of you have been stripped and are walking naked and don’t even know it. You think you are saved, but you are lost. You think you are safe, but you are in danger.
David watched Saul as he walked over to the countryside; and when Saul was far from him, he yelled, “Saul, O Saul, look what I have!” Saul looked down upon himself and realized his garment was taken. When he realized his garment was taken, he said to David, “You are more righteous than me, because a man that has his enemy right where he wants him and does not kill him must be a righteous man.” God was proving to David that he had more in him than he knew. You are more merciful than you think you are. The people you think you can’t forgive you can forgive. The people you think you can’t show mercy to you can show them mercy. The people you think you can’t love again you can love again. Your enemy will look at your love and call you righteous. Your enemy who knows you can kill them and yet you save them will command a blessing upon you. Saul from the countryside yelled to David, “My son… I thought I was your enemy.” But, when you have mercy on your enemy, your enemy will call you friend. Saul called David, son, and David turned around and called Saul, father, and gave him respect. Saul blessed David and said, “David, you are going to be king.”
“But this is your twentieth attempt on my life. And it is in your twentieth attempt to kill me that you now acknowledge me as king,” David replied. How did that happen? It only happened because something of significance took place. I imagine Saul saying, “You had me where you could have killed me, yet you showed me mercy. Therefore, I might have the anointing, I might be called the servant of God, but you have the love of God. Your heart is like Jesus.”
Saul said to him, “David, when you come into your kingdom, can you promise me you will not let my name be blasphemed, and you will not let my name and reign be forgotten. Also, will you please bless my heritage?” David said, “I promise.”
When God fixes your heart, you will even let your enemy live for the sake of what God is going to do for you. He can fix your heart in such a way that you and your enemy may live in peace. Some of you have been hurt by people; you have been talked about; you have been ridiculed; your husband left you; your wife forsook you; your boyfriend cheated on you; but in spite of all that pain, something of significance happened to your heart that you are now able to say, “My heart is fixed.”
Instead of breathing out vengeance and instead of dealing out evil for evil, David chose to forgive Saul. Forgiveness is a powerful thing. When Saul went on his journey and David was left in the midst of his men, he took out his pen and wrote Psalm 57.
He said, “Be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful unto me: for my soul trusteth in thee: yea, in the shadow of thy wings will make my refuge, until these calamities be overpast” (57:1). Saul still had five more attempts on David’s life, but first David wanted God to be merciful unto him for laying his hands on the Lord’s servant. Next, he needed God to help him and secure him under His wing until his calamities, until his test, until his trials, had past. He said, “Master, you know how long I have cried unto you, most High God, that you will perform all things for me. You brought my enemy to me, and then told me not to kill him. You know how long I’ve been asking you to avenge me of Saul, and instead you caused me to allow him to live. You brought him into my sight, and then you allowed me to show him love. Could you please then have mercy on me? Truly the problem is not Saul. The problem has always been me because it was not Saul who was being tested; the test was really about me. He who pursued me had no problems, but it was the one who was being pursued that needed mercy.” David now lets us know nets are prepared for him, his soul is bowed down, and pits are dug for him. He’s fallen in strange places. In the midst of not understanding what God was doing, he stood up on the mountain top, opened his mouth across the valley and said, “My heart is fixed.” He then opened his mouth, turned to the other direction, and he said, “My heart is fixed, O God, I will sing and give praise” (57:7). In other words: I will not concern myself again with my enemy. I will no longer worry about those who are trying to destroy me. The only thing I am going to do is sing praises to Your Name.
No matter what they try to do to me, when I walk into the house of God, I want to be able to say my heart is fixed on Jesus. There are too many of you who are using Christians as your excuse. Take your eyes off Christians. Fix your focus on Jesus. Look full into His wonderful face, and everybody else’s problems, failures, and hypocrisies will fade away in view of Him. Because when you get to heaven, you are not going to worry about John on the second row, Jill on the fourth row, and Billy Bob in the balcony; you want to see Jesus. Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Take your eyes off of people. When you come into the church, get secure in Jesus. Do not look at your brother. Do not look at your sister. Do not look at who prayed for you. Do not look at who taught you a Bible study. Do not look at the choir director. Do not look at the songstress. Turn your eyes upon Jesus. He is ever faithful. He says, “For I am the LORD, I change not” (Malachi 3:6). The songwriter says, “Great is thy faithfulness, 0 God, my Father. There is no shadow of turning in thee.” Your brother, sister, wife, and husband will fail you; but Jesus never fails.
Some of you spend too much time talking to people and gossiping about nonsense, but you won’t spend time on your knees talking to Him. I am persuaded there’s nothing wrong with the church. It is the people who make up the church that have problems, but there is nothing wrong with the church. Jesus said, “…upon this rock I will build my church” (Matthew 16:18). God’s • church is not in trouble. Cities, religions, and denominations might be in trouble; but God is not in trouble. He has a people who are called by His Name who are going to live righteous, holy, and sanctified, and who are going to be Christians. Be fixed on Jesus. Fix your heart for heaven.
Everything you want down here you are not going to get. The relationships that you want to work might not work. All the money you think you want you might not get. The house that you want to live in might not ever be built. But Jesus said, “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions…” (John 14:1-3). God’s house is heaven. I might never live in Beverly Hills, or in the Hamptons, or in the Poconos, but I have a mansion. You can take my house, apartment, or condo. You can take the whole world, but give me Jesus. My mansion is being built; and the more faithful I am to the house, the bigger my mansion gets. All the people, who do not want to do anything in the house and who do not want to do anything for God, are going to have reduced mansions. You keep your focus on Jesus. Prepare your life for heaven. For eyes have not seen nor have ears heard; it is not entered into the hearts of men the things that God has prepared for those that love Him (1 Corinthians 2:9). What men are killing each other over is the very thing we are going to be walking on. The streets of heaven are paved with gold. You might only have a gold card now, but you are going to walk on gold tomorrow! Your walls are going to be made of jasper. Some of you all are fighting over what the world has to offer, but I know when I get my mansion there will be no need for fighting.
My heart is fixed on Jesus. My heart is fixed for heaven. My heart is fixed for worship. Worship is different from praise. Worship simply means I have secured to myself the reverence God deserves and the respect due unto God. If you fear God, you will reverence Him. God wants respect. When I walk into His presence, I must bow my knees and cry Holy, Holy, Holy. All the jesting, laughing, and carousing ought not to be so. God deserves reverence. God’s house is a house of holiness. But you cannot comprehend this until something of significance brings you to stability.
David said I will awake my psaltery, I will awake my harp, and I will awake my praise (Psalm 57:8). Praise sometimes can be classified as foolish, out of order, unorthodox, and even uncontrollable. But praise wasn’t meant to be given to men who can score a basket. It wasn’t meant to be given to “the Tiger” who can hit a golf ball. It wasn’t meant to be given to the best of football and baseball players or Hollywood’s best actors and actresses. Praise belongs to God. Praise was meant to be given to the Greatest of the Greatest, and we have taken it from the Greatest of the
Greatest and given it to the world’s greatest. The world has mastered their heroes. If you were in the arena with Michael Jordan playing, you would be on your feet screaming and hollering. A ball is not being tossed in the House of God, but miracles are being given away. Every time Jesus is in the house, He scores a touchdown when somebody’s life is changed.
What happened to you in your past wasn’t supposed to take you away from Him; rather it should have fixed you. It should have fixed you to the point that the next time you find yourself confronting your enemy, you just look at them and say, “Go thy way; I will sing praises unto God.”
Whatever comes your way you should say, “God sent this to test me to see if I’ve become bigger than myself” God’s school is difficult, and He does not pass failures. Know the second time is harder than the first. You think He would lighten up on you, but He doubles the test. That’s why some of you better say, “My heart is fixed,” and convince God that you are fixed!
The above article, “My Heart is Fixed,” is excerpted from the book, Bread Crumbs Vol.2, which was written by Micheal A. Mitchell.
The material is most likely copyrighted and should not be reprinted under any other name other author. However, this material may be freely used for research purposes.
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