The bible says, “All a man’s ways
seem innocent to him, but motives are weighed by the Lord.” (Proverbs 16:2). “He will bring to light
what is hidden in the darkness and will expose the motives of men’s hearts. At
that time, each will receive his praise from the Lord.” (1 Corinthians 4:5). “For the
appeal we make does not spring from error or impure motives, nor are we trying
to trick you, On the contrary, we speak as men approved by God to be entrusted
with the gospel. We are not trying to please men but God, who tests our
hearts.” (1 Thessalonians 2:3-4).
Our motives are important to God.
Sapphire was a woman married to
Ananias (Acts 5:1-11). This couple was one of the first who gave
their lives to Christ and were entrenched in spreading the Gospel with the disciples. The backdrop for this couple is this, “All
the believers were one in heart and mind.
No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared
everything they had. With great power
the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and
much grace upon them all. There were no
needy persons among them. For from time
to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the
sales and put it at the apostles’ feet and it was distributed to anyone as he
had need. Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom
the apostles called Barnabas, which means Son of Encouragement, sold a field he
owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles’ feet.” (Acts 4:32-37).
The believers had received the Holy
Spirit on the Day of Pentecost. Many
were baptized and becoming Christians. I
love the Scripture, “All the believers were one heart and mind.” If God gave
the believer the heart to sell his possession and give to the church, then the
Christian did as such. It must have been
a beautiful display to see full of praise and rejoicing to help those who were
in need and using this money to bring others to Christ with love for their
fellow brethren.
Ananias and Sapphire were
Christians who witnessed all the acts of kindness, generosity and “power” the
church, apostles and believers were exhibiting.
Maybe watching Barnabas receiving praise for his generous heart, laying
the money at the feet of the apostles sprang to live a desire for
acknowledgment by Ananias. Maybe the
desire to be noticed, commended and closer to the disciples laid the foundation
of motives to sell property and give the money to the church. The problem was this couple, once the money
was in hand, did not want to give it all to the church. Once holding the money in hand, he could not
let go of it or maybe he thought it too much to give to the church. Maybe he needed the money for himself to
live, only the Lord knows what was in his heart, but what was there was also
deception.
“With his wife’s full knowledge,
Ananias kept back part of the money for himself, but brought the rest and put
it at the apostle’s feet. Then Peter said, ‘Ananias, how is it that Satan has
so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for
yourself some of the money you received from the land? Didn’t it belong to you
before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn’t the money at your disposal?
What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied to men, but to
God.’
When Ananias heard this, he fell
down and died. And great fear seized all
who heard what had happened. Then the
young men came forward, wrapped up his body and carried him out and buried
him. About three hours later his wife
came in, not knowing what had happened. Peter asked her, ‘Tell me, is this
price you and Ananias got for the land?’
‘Yes,’ she replied, ‘that is the
price.’
Peter said to her, ‘How could you
agree to test the Spirit of the Lord? Look! The feet of the men who buried your
husband are at the door, and they will carry you out also.’ At that moment she
fell down at his feet and died.” (Acts
5:1-11).
Now, many may see this as “harsh”,
but remember, this is the spreading of the Gospel. The first believing church and once
witnessing what happened to this couple, a reverential fear of the Lord sprang
to heart. Men do not see in to the
heart, but God does, “I the Lord search the heart and examine the mind, to
reward a man according to his conduct, according to what his deeds deserve.” (Jeremiah 17:10). Deuteronomy 8:2 reads, “Remember how the Lord your God led you all
the way in the desert these forty years, to humble you and to test you in order
to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands.”
If the Lord had not brought justice
to Ananias and Sapphire, what else would they have done to sabotage the church?
The Lord can see our motives, thoughts and actions before we do them. He can see if we get away “secretly” with one
thing, we may test the limits in another.
God was not going to allow that with the spreading of the first church!
The “Sapphire Spirit” is alive and
well in our churches today. Sadly, I
will admit my motives were not always pure and honest, glorifying the Lord. Ten
years ago when the Lord called me back to the church, I still had the “world”
in me. The world says use those you can,
manipulate if you get away with it and claw your way to the top. It is hard for me to admit now, a decade
later, that I would use anyone for personal gain, but I did. Obviously God would not allow the friendship
to last long or the “meeting” to further into a friendship, because my motives
for meeting “leaders in the church” were not pure. I had a desire to teach the word, but in
those baby-Christian years where I was drinking milk and not meat, were years
God was humbling me in the wilderness.
I have a desire for Truth. Over these years, I have prayed for the Lord
to reveal ALL things within my spirit that are deception. I want to know what is in my heart. I can not help others, pray with others or
encourage others as long as my heart and motives are wrong. Maybe it could be as watching another
believer tithe more than you. Your heart
desires to give to the Lord, but you want to impress the “leaders” by tithing
more and receiving praise. Maybe you’ve
heard a prayer warrior pray and many come to that person for prayer. You want to pray and have the respect from
the body, but when “prayer time” comes, your heart truly is not there to pray
and lift the body up to the Lord. Maybe
God’s given you the desire for ministry. You try to “befriend” those in the
church who can help you get there quicker than the Lord’s plan. Woman, I am telling you now, it will not
work. If you desire the Lord’s plan,
then you have to patiently wait, especially until your motives and heart are to
glorify God.
I ran out before the Lord,
attempting to “hurry” my calling long, falling in to the trap of Sapphire and
the Lord NOT allowing my plan to work.
It was embarrassing, and still brings painful memories. I encourage you to check your motives. Are they truly for the Lord or for your own
gain? Are you prepared to work hard, pray for the body of Christ, fast for the
“ministry” God has placed in your heart or do you just want
acknowledgment? Come, let us reason
together and place this at the foot of the cross! (Isaiah 1:18-20).
Let us pray and
CONFESS the Word of the Living God;
Father,
My heart’s
desire is to have pure motives; motives that reflect your glory and not my
own. I want your glory to shine through
me, to bring broken hearts to your kingdom and fulfill my purpose. I may make plans which seem innocent to me,
but I know my motives are weighed by you (Proverbs
16:2). I desire truth in my inner
most being, so open my heart to reveal any part of me that is being deceived.
I know you
will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of
my heart (1 Corinthians 4:5, James 4:3).
I am not afraid to hear the truth, nor have my past dictate to me what is
truth. I know my faith will continue to
grow as I hear and pray the Word of God (Romans
10:17).
I desire to
be a woman approved by the Lord; trusted with the precious seed of Christ and
plant a harvest for your Kingdom (1
Thessalonians 2:4). I do not want my
appeal or the presentation of the Gospel to be from impure motives, my recognition
or applause from men, but to shine the light of Christ until the whole world
hears (1 Thessalonians 2:3, John 5:41-44).
I pray to
be a woman who studies and prays your Word.
For the more I know, the more I can compare my beliefs to yours. I can be renewed by the transforming of my
mind and know the perfect, pleasing plan of the Lord (Romans 12:2). I understand
that fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom
and discipline (Proverbs 1:7). May I always crave meat and not milk, may my
motives be in line with your will and not my own. I praise you Lord for you goodness, mercy and
grace. In the name of Jesus of Nazareth
I pray, amen.
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