Jim George - A Man After Gods Own Heart: Updated and Expanded

HARVEST HOUSE PUBLISHERS

EUGENE, OREGON

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Cover illustration dra_schwartz / iStock

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A MAN AFTER GODS OWN HEART

Copyright 2002/2008/2015 by Jim George

Published by Harvest House Publishers

Eugene, OR 97402

www.harvesthousepublishers.com

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

George, Jim, 1943

A man after Gods own heart / Jim George.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and study guide.

ISBN 978-0-7369-5969-8 (pbk.)

ISBN 978-0-7369-5971-1 (eBook)

All rights reserved. No part of this electronic publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, digital, photocopy, recording, or any otherwithout the prior written permission of the publisher. The authorized purchaser has been granted a nontransferable, nonexclusive, and noncommercial right to access and view this electronic publication, and purchaser agrees to do so only in accordance with the terms of use under which it was purchased or transmitted. Participation in or encouragement of piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of authors and publishers rights is strictly prohibited.

For my two PaulsPaul Seitz and Paul Zaengle, the best two sons-in-law a man could ever have.

May you continue to be godly husbands, fathers, and spiritual leaders, and men after Gods own heart.

My heartfelt thanks to Steve Miller, friend, encourager, and a true man after Gods own heart.

Contents

Your Wife

Your Children

Your Work

Your Church

Your Witness

E very major accomplishment in a mans life requires a major level of commitment. Im sure you can remember such an accomplishment in your life. Perhaps you were starting your own business. Or maybe you were contemplating a job change or mapping out a new direction for your company or your family. Whatever it was, there was probably some initial hesitancy. One day you were eager to startand the next day you werent so sure. But once you made the decision to proceed, all the long hours of effort were worth it because of the joy of seeing the fruit of your labors.

Another man, King David, whose life is sprinkled throughout this book, understood this principle of commitment when he desired to buy land and build an altar to God. However, because David was the king, the landowner wanted to give him the land. But David realized that the greater the commitment, the greater would be the blessing. Therefore he declared, I will not sacrifice to the L ORD my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing (2 Samuel 24:24).

Im thrilled to have had two opportunities to put the bare-bones principles of my 35-plus years of ministry to men in print. I say two because the first opportunity came some 14 years ago when I was asked to write the original book. It has been a great privilege over the decades to teach, train, equip, disciple, counsel, and mentor many men using these principles from Gods Word. And in the lives of man after man, these truths have reaped major blessings in their spiritual lives, in their marriages and families, in their churches, and on the job. Once any hurdles of hesitancy were dispelled and a decision was made to proceed full speed ahead, all the effort was definitely worth it. Now 14 years later my publisher has given me this second opportunity to revise and update the original material. Much has happened during this time and I am thrilled with this opportunity to reflect upon and add to my original material.

If you read the original book, I invite you to pick up this revision and refresh your thinking about these priorities. Its easy to forget some of these principles, so a refresher course may be in order, and I think you will be encouraged by the new material I have added. And if you have yet to read this book, I invite you to embark with me on a journey toward greater growth and maturity. Join me in making giant strides toward becoming a man after Gods own heart. Prepare yourself to learn about

the priorities of a man after Gods own heart,

the practices of a man after Gods own heart, and

the purpose of a man after Gods own heart.

You will reap major blessings in every area of your life as you make your own commitment to follow after God and do everything He wants you to do (Acts 13:22).

May God encourage and strengthen you as you make the journey of your lifethe journey to becoming a man after Gods own heart.

Your fellow traveler,

Jim George

In the Scriptures, God is frequently represented as searching for a man of a certain type. Not men, but a man. Not a group, but an individual.

When God does discover a man who conforms to His spiritual requirement, who is willing to pay the full price of discipleship, He uses him to the limit, despite his patent shortcomings.

J. O SWALD S ANDERS

I have found David son of Jesse a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do.

A CTS 13:22

W hen I was a young boy, my parents took me on our one and only family vacation. Leaving from my boyhood home of Miami, Oklahoma, we passed through Dodge City, Kansas, on our way to Colorado. And of course, we had to stop in this historic town and visit its famous Boot Hill Cemetery.

To this day I can still remember looking down at a tombstone with an inscription to this effect:

Here lies Old Joe.

He died with his boots on.

And at the end of the grave were two boots sticking up out of the earth! Later I learned that Old Joe wasnt actually buried there. And much later I found out that the inscription on a grave marker is called an epitaph , which is basically a short composition in prose or verse written as a tribute to a dead person.