God is Greater Than Your Heart
- Bishop Keith Butler
- 2 days ago
- 2 min read
For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things. Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God. (1 John 3:20-21)
The enemy wants to short-circuit your faith. And the most effective tool he has found for doing that is your past. He will bring it up at every opportunity. He will remind you of what you said, what you did, what happened, and who you were. He will beat you with it again and again until you feel so disqualified that you cannot even approach God with confidence. And the moment your confidence breaks, your faith breaks. And the moment faith breaks, the whole thing stops working.
John gave you the answer to that strategy right here. If your heart condemns you, God is greater than your heart. Read that carefully. Your heart may be condemning you, but God is greater than your heart. His verdict always outranks your feelings. His declaration of forgiveness is greater than whatever accusation your own conscience brings up. And He knows all things, including everything you have done, and His position toward you has not changed.
This is why it is not enough to know 1 John 1:9, that if you confess your sins, He is faithful and will forgive them. You have to exercise faith in it. Forgiveness is real, but the enemy will not let you rest in that forgiveness without a fight. He knows that a believer who cannot receive forgiveness cannot operate in confidence before God.
When you seek God with all your heart, you find out who you are in Christ and what you have in Christ. You find out that your position before God today is not determined by what happened yesterday. God said He throws your sins away as far as the east is from the west and has no more remembrance of them. He has no remembrance of your sins. The only one still holding onto it is you. Stop letting yesterday's failures determine today's confidence before God. He is greater than your heart.
Practical Application
The next time condemnation rises up to keep you from prayer, speak 1John 3:20 out loud before you say anything else. “God is greater than my heart.” Remember that there is no condemnation in Christ Jesus.
Hebrews 4:16; Romans 8:1
