David's Heart | Developing a Heart That God Promotes

We talk about why God promotes trustworthy people over simply gifted people, using David’s life to show what a heart after God actually looks like under pressure. We unpack honor, repentance, private integrity, and worship as the habits that keep your heart clean when influence grows. 
• David’s origin story as the overlooked shepherd anointed for leadership 
• why time with God shapes a worshipful heart 
• repentance as the key difference between David and Saul 
• honoring leadership offices without excusing sin 
• resisting gossip, slander, and platform-building through criticism 
• guarding your heart from a culture of demonizing and outrage 
• practical steps for a heart God can promote, including private integrity and serving first 
• healing from wounds so you don’t bleed on innocent people 
• choosing obedience over popularity and worshiping through warfare 
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Transcript

Promotion Requires Trustworthy Character

Ken Claytor 0:00

God doesn't just promote gifted people, He promotes trustworthy people. Because promotion comes with pressure, and God loves us too much to promote us into something that would destroy us. And I feel like the promotion destroys all. Which thing that happened? I've had pastors, people that I've put in position. They were good before they got the position, but the position crushed them because the spotlight was big, but the character was small.

Tabatha Claytor 0:20

You're not immune from life's attacks. No one is immune to that. Everyone is going to experience hardship. The Bible says it storms, they're gonna come. Jesus says, I've overcome them all. So with Jesus, we can overcome everything that comes our way. The test is when it comes, what are you gonna do?

Welcome And Why David’s Heart

Ken Claytor 0:44

Hey, what's up, everybody?

Tabatha Claytor 0:46

Hey everyone.

Ken Claytor 0:46

Welcome to Doing Life Again with Ken and Tabitha. We're pumped to have you, and we got a good one for you today. We want to really talk about developing a heart that God can promote, and we want to look at David's heart. I believe this podcast is going to be a blessing to you. If you're new to our show, thank you for joining us. We release a new episode every Thursday at 3 p.m. Um, if you're new, hit the subscribe button or the alert icon on YouTube or wherever you get your podcast from. Hit whatever button you got to to make sure that you can get the content fresh off the press when it is released. Are you ready for this one, sweetheart?

Tabatha Claytor 1:19

Ready.

Ken Claytor 1:19

Ready, ready as we're gonna be.

David’s Story And The Anointing

Ken Claytor 1:21

All right. David's heart, developing a heart that God promotes. Um, can you help me by just who was David? Let's fill everybody in. King David.

Tabatha Claytor 1:30

Well, first of all, King David. Now he started out as a shepherd boy. So he had older brothers. He was the youngest. He had older brothers, and um, his older brothers were um, I think they were soldiers also in Israel's army. Um, and so they were stronger, bigger, all of that. But David tended the sheep, took care of the sheep, the shepherd.

SPEAKER_01 1:49

Yeah.

Tabatha Claytor 1:49

And um Israel, uh, God wanted to give Israel a new king. And he told Samuel, prophet Samuel, to go to the um David's, who was David's father? Jesse. Jesse. My brain is.

Ken Claytor 2:04

Well, I didn't know you were gonna give like a super detailed historical explanation of everything that, but go ahead.

Tabatha Claytor 2:11

Okay, so um um the prophet Samuel goes to Jesse's house and he's going to anoint a son to be the next king. And he didn't anoint who the dad thought. In fact, the dad didn't even bring David into the room. He brought all of his other sons who were stronger and bigger, more attractive, maybe more handsome or or you know, strong, all of that stuff. And um the prophet said, There's none of these. Do you have any other sons? And there's one son that was in the field with the sheep. And so um David comes in, and David gets anointed to be the king of Israel.

SPEAKER_01 2:44

All right.

Tabatha Claytor 2:44

And there's a whole lot of story from after there. But I could tell by the shock of how I just explained all of that. I'm not gonna go into the rest of it.

Ken Claytor 2:52

I didn't, I didn't know what you would say. I thought I would say, and this is like a before we get into today's content, like a marriage nugget. Um, they say that women have a lot more words than men. I think we just proved that out just now. If you would have asked me that question, I would have said he was a king in Israel. Who's David? He was a king, but you I didn't expect that you were gonna go into the lineage of David, but now she's gonna explain with more words and just say, okay, she's gonna explain with more words.

Tabatha Claytor 3:23

Listen, you all know.

Ken Claytor 3:25

Husbands, that's why y'all gotta be patient that your patience be developed.

Tabatha Claytor 3:29

You all know, as a believer who knows the Bible, if somebody asks you who David was, is much more than a king, which is why you're talking about him right now.

Ken Claytor 3:39

You're ignoring my point, which was a good one.

Tabatha Claytor 3:42

I'm ignoring it on purpose.

Ken Claytor 3:43

All right, but who is King David? The second king of Israel, and he was known as as a man after God's own heart.

Honor God’s Office Despite Flaws

Ken Claytor 3:52

And that's what we're talking about today. Why do you think that he was known as a man after God's own heart?

Tabatha Claytor 3:58

Uh, from what I know from the scripture, he spent time with God. He loved God, he worshipped God, he loved, practiced the presence of God. It seemed like he loved the presence of God. And so I think he was intimate with God in that way through praise, through worship, and time with him, that he developed the heart for God.

Ken Claytor 4:16

Yeah. I think it's like the most impressive thing that anybody could ever say about you is that you're a man after God's own heart. The fact that Scripture records David as a man after God's own heart makes me want to study the life of David. And the thing we find out about King David is David wasn't perfect. There was a time in his life that he committed a sin with Bathsheba. There was adultery, there was murder, he was a man of war. But scripture still records David as a man after God's own heart. Why is that that he can have like these things that happened, but he's still known as a man after God? Why do you think?

Tabatha Claytor 4:56

I think that reflects on God and his character. Um that, you know, God, even though he was imperfect, uh, he still was able to repent, get it right, and still go after God.

Ken Claytor 5:10

Yeah.

Tabatha Claytor 5:12

I I don't know. Why why do you say?

Ken Claytor 5:14

I think that there's a lot there. I think repentance. Even when he messed up, he was willing to get it right right away. And so the prophet Nathan comes to him and he's like, Listen, this is gonna happen, that's gonna happen. David doesn't even know he's really talking about him. But as soon as he realizes that he's talking about him, he's like, Oh God, forgive me. You know, and so there's one kind of person that messes up and they continue to mess up, and there's another person that as soon as they realize they've been wrong, they want to get it right. I think that's huge. Um, I think that there's a lot of things with David, like you said, he was a worshiper, he's a heart player, he's a he loves the sheep. He um I don't know. I I there's I mean, even if you read the Psalms, which he um authored many of them, you would see this thing about um this repented tone, this um contrite heart tone, this pure hands. And I don't know, there's just a lot of things to David, like when I study his life, that I'm like, okay, I can see attributes of David where I'm like, okay, I understand why he was a man after God's own heart. You know the the most one of the most important or one of the most intriguing things in David's life that kind of shows who his heart is, is when Saul was after David and Saul comes into a cave and David cuts his robe and then he feels sorry that he cut his robe. And the scene is like um he's he he was in the palace with the king. He's now kicked out of the palace. David is running from Saul. Saul wants to kill David, but David won't touch God's anointing. David doesn't want to harm Saul, not because Saul is a perfect man, but Saul is in an office that honors God. And there's something about that kind of heart that I'm impressed with. And that's why I never speak negatively about other pastors and other churches and what God is doing in other people. People that I might not agree with them fully doctrinally, or I might not like their style of ministry, I will never use the weapon of my mouth to speak negative of somebody else that is preaching the gospel and people are getting saved.

Tabatha Claytor 7:19

It's because to go against him would be to go against God.

Ken Claytor 7:22

To go against God.

Tabatha Claytor 7:22

And David didn't want it again.

Ken Claytor 7:24

David didn't want to go against Saul because even though Saul was obviously wrong and he was being removed from office and David already knew that he was about to take over, he didn't want to take matters into his own hands because he honored God enough to respect the office that Saul was in. So when I see other pastors and ministers, I respect the office, even if they're imperfect, even if they've sinned and messed up, I still respect the office enough because when I honor that office, I honor God. And I see that in the life of David, and I think it's dope. I think it's dope that David, um, what is the script? Touch not my anointed and do my prophet no harm. I feel like we live in a day and time where people are touching God's anointed and doing his prophet harm and calling them false prophets and false teachers and attacking and ridiculing. And then there's a lot of people that are building their platforms by tearing down other people's platforms, and they don't understand they're fighting against God in some instances. They're actually dishonoring the one that they say that they're honoring. And that's what a pharasidical spirit does. It actually takes the work of God and makes it out to be the devil, and it's the spirit of blasphemy. Blasphemy is when you call a work of God a work of the enemy. All of it's just dishonor, and it doesn't honor God. It doesn't honor God, you know? Now there are some people that are like um witches and warlocks. I don't know. Now I'm getting off, but just bear with me for a moment. I just feel like there are so many people that are using their energy to judge the most popular pastors. Like let's say you got four or five people that everybody knows their name. There'll be websites and all these things about these four or five people, but why don't you use that same energy against the against the witches and the warlocks and the false religions and the cults and the people who just reject Jesus and the people that believe in aliens are coming back, and the scientists and the Scientologists and the people that oppose God and have people in seances.

Tabatha Claytor 9:13

There's millions of people in false religion.

Ken Claytor 9:15

Yeah.

Tabatha Claytor 9:15

Go after those people.

Ken Claytor 9:16

And you want to spend, you're called to just go after the four or five people that God is using right now to, and people are getting water baptized and saved, but you don't like their style, but you now want to make that's just, I don't know, I ain't with that. That's just whack to me. That's just a waste of time. Like if I got any kind of energy, there's too many strip clubs, there's too many liquor

A Critical Culture And Guarding Your Heart

Ken Claytor 9:38

stores, there's too many drugs and gangbangers, like there's so many prisons to go preach in. Why are you using your time to go after Jakes and Osteen and Joyce Myers and Mike Todd? Like, what that it doesn't make any sense to me.

Tabatha Claytor 9:50

I mean, there are people who, I mean, there's churches all over America. You know what I mean? And some of them probably do some pretty crazy stuff. I don't have time to be going in there and figuring out what they're doing.

Ken Claytor 10:02

You know why you don't have time? Because you're too busy preaching the gospel and making disciples and living a holy life.

SPEAKER_01 10:07

Yes.

Ken Claytor 10:07

Yeah. I ain't got time to be watching your sermon trying to break down where you're in error. Like if you could if you believe that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, within we family, and I might not agree with you, but I'm gonna pray for you. And that's what I want to ask some people. Like, you you you attack everybody else, but man, where's your heart at? Do you pray for that person? Like, if I'm gonna attack somebody and feel like I got I'm called to bring judgment to the body of Christ, how much do you pray for that person? There's so many people that are exposers when God is a coverer, he only exposes at the very, very end when there's no nothing else left. But and that's one of the reasons that I just love the heart of David. And so when I read King David, I aspire to have a heart that's pure and a heart that's tender, and hands that are clean, yeah, to respect the offices of God, to um to be a worshiper. Uh I I want to, I hope when I get to heaven, I can hear God say, You had a heart after me. Yeah. There ain't nothing better than a heart after God.

Tabatha Claytor 11:09

You know what I love about David's heart? He loved God enough to fight for God.

SPEAKER_01 11:13

Yeah.

Tabatha Claytor 11:14

Understanding that he can't fight for God. I mean, he needs God to fight for him. So when we talk about David and Goliath, yeah, like David couldn't defeat Goliath without God. You know what I mean? But God, David loved God enough to be offended at Goliath's insults and be offended that the the Israel, God's people, God's mighty people, are afraid, hiding from the enemy's army. And David said, Well, who is this person? Right. That they should come against the, you know, our God, the God of Israel. And I love that about David. Like, that's passion to me. Like, you know, if somebody's gonna say something about you, we're gonna fight.

unknown 11:54

You know what I mean?

Tabatha Claytor 11:55

Basically, like, I got your back. Don't talk about my husband, don't talk about my sister, don't talk about my frother, brother, don't talk about my friends. I'm that kind of person. Yeah, like don't talk. That's what you just said, like the um Joel Osteens of the world and just anyone. I don't know. I might not even know the person, but if you come out dogging them out, I'm probably gonna be on their side and not yours because you are doing something that's ungodly.

Ken Claytor 12:18

Yeah, that's the character.

Tabatha Claytor 12:18

It's not the character of God for you to be talking about people and they ain't in the room.

Ken Claytor 12:22

I can be like, I uh yeah, there's some things I might not agree with and might not like as well, but I'm wise enough. But I'm wise enough not to team up with you. Right. Because I don't want that critical spirit on me. Right. I don't want that pharasidical spirit on me. That's just not my heart. We're talking about hearts that God promotes. Go ahead.

Tabatha Claytor 12:37

Right, the hearts that God promotes. And so I love that about David that he was just like, wait a minute, yeah, we're not gonna sit back here and just let this guy come up and talk about our God like that. We're gonna we're gonna handle this situation. And of course, when he moved with a heart like that toward Goliath, God moved with him for him on his behalf.

Ken Claytor 12:58

Yeah, and so But I want to paint the picture. If you can imagine David, okay, David is um, so he's in there with Saul. Saul's heart turns against David for whatever reason, but he starts off as a like an armor bearer. So he already has this heart that kind of protects senior leadership, honors senior leadership, and deserves close proximity. He's anointed to where the brother's playing a harp and the presence of God and the demon is coming out of Saul. He's being set free

David’s Traits That Lead To Promotion

Ken Claytor 13:31

as he's playing. He stops playing and the demons come back. There's power and authority in what David's doing. Saul's heart, okay. So his boss, his supervisor, his pastor, uh turns against David and he throws a javelin at him, okay, and it hits the wall. And he's like, My king, what are you doing? And it has nothing to do with David, and it has everything to do with him. He's pushed out of the palace, he's running for his life. He gets 400 rejects, the scripture says. These are people who are poor and broken, they become his soul, his army. So he goes from the palace. Now he got these 400 guys, and they see leadership in David, so they begin to follow him. This is the kind of heart that he has. For years, he's running for his life. And then all of a sudden, Saul shows up and I don't know, maybe he's in a cave relieving himself, but it's a cave that David is in. And watch this. He sees his enemy that he's been running for from years, knowing that God's called me and anointed me for your office. And I come up behind you and I cut your robe, and then I repent for touching your clothing. That's a different kind of character, that's a different kind of temperature that he has. But I admire it. He says that I'm not gonna take you out, God gotta take you out. I have a heart for the things of God, and I just think that there's something about that position. And so all throughout David's life, I I just I kind of see that, other than of course, when he messed up, which is a small portion of who he is. Yeah. And that's why even, you know, we were in Israel, I don't think you went with me, but maybe 10 years or so, and they still have the city of David. Everybody still talks about David, Jesus, the link, oh son of David.

SPEAKER_01 15:15

Wow.

Ken Claytor 15:16

Everybody's still talking about David. Why? His heart. And I believe that we can have the kind of heart. So what I look for in people that I want to do life with, I want people who have a pure heart, people who have the right heart. Um, there's just something about, and you really can't tell because only God can judge a heart. People look on the outward appearance. So I'm hoping that the people around me have that kind of heart. But let's just say for me, I just want to have a pure heart. Um I want my motives to be right. Um I I want to be a faithful man. I want to be a man who loves holiness. I want to be integritous, you know.

SPEAKER_01 15:52

Yeah.

Ken Claytor 15:53

And I really want to raise up other people who have that same kind of heart. That's the temperature. But out of your heart flows the issues of life.

SPEAKER_01 15:59

Yeah.

Ken Claytor 16:00

What's coming out of the mouth has been in the heart. That's why I don't use profanity. I don't do certain things. It's what's in my heart. What's in my heart? I'm never gonna gossip or slander, you know. I'm not I'm not gonna talk negative about other people that are not in the room. That's not in my heart.

Tabatha Claytor 16:14

Yeah. A lot of people don't see it that way. Yeah, a lot of people don't see it that way. What do they see it like? I I think I I'm just thinking about like how many people just it's just everyday life to just criticize.

Ken Claytor 16:29

And tear down. It's a part of our like, you know, news and then and then make it like um, make it a spiritual thing.

Tabatha Claytor 16:35

I think, you know, even in in our government and how we do things like so.

Ken Claytor 16:39

Oh my goodness.

Tabatha Claytor 16:40

Saul was a king.

SPEAKER_01 16:41

Uh-huh.

Tabatha Claytor 16:42

And it was David was just like, I can't go against my king. This is who God put in place, you know, all of those things. And there are certain just principles that we talk about, even in government. One thing, it doesn't matter if you're demo Democrat or Republican or whatever. One thing that I hate, like really, like don't like about our government and our process is how we just dog one another out.

SPEAKER_01 17:04

It's like we demonize people.

Tabatha Claytor 17:06

So if I'm running for an office, it's not about how much I'm qualified and what I can do for people and what my vision is. It's about how evil the other person is, and you don't want them to be in office, and therefore you just gotta take me. Like, really? That's that's my opinion of it.

Ken Claytor 17:22

I haven't watched the news.

Tabatha Claytor 17:23

We demonize the other person so much that we say, well, we would rather have this person than that person.

Ken Claytor 17:28

I haven't really watched the news um since before uh right around the election. So, not the inauguration, not anything. I haven't watched the news. Not because I don't want to be informed, because as a spiritual leader and a prayer warrior, I need to be informed. I just want to get my information without the fear. And so what I noticed right after the election is

Practical Steps To Build A Clean Heart

Ken Claytor 17:50

that I thought that maybe after the election things would die down, but they only turned up. Meaning that no matter who's in office, the other party is trying to get back in office. So what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna slander you and make you the devil, no matter what it looks like. And there's a percentage of people that would just say, Yeah, that person's whatever the thing you want to use. Um, you know, whatever it, whatever title you want to give somebody, you're Hitler, you're Nazi, you're racist, you're this, that, and the other. Both ways. I'm not talking one way, whatever your language is, it's let me demonize that person.

SPEAKER_01 18:23

Yeah.

Ken Claytor 18:24

And I don't want that in my heart. It's not that I'm not a grown man. I can watch the news if I want to, and I will again, but I don't want that in my heart, like a consistent diet of demonizing. I was just talking to somebody on our team, and he said, um, he was asking me a question about um about voting. And he was like, Yeah, I had somebody in my family that used to be on this side of the aisle, now came way over into this side of the aisle, and they are so on this side of the aisle that they've been disconnecting themselves on Facebook. And this is like, you know what I'm saying? This is like an older person. Like they, I mean, anybody who don't vote like them, they're that's you've done taking it way too far down. You don't understand that, you know, I'm not here to demonize, I didn't demonize Biden, and I won't demonize Trump. I'm not demonizing Trump, I didn't demonize Biden. They're both individuals. Um, and and when we vote, we're not just voting for people, we're voting for policy because people will be gone in four or eight years, but policy will be there.

SPEAKER_01 19:20

Yeah.

Ken Claytor 19:21

But what the news in our society wants to do is make politics so personal that you don't even vote for policy, you vote for who you don't like. And so if I just tell you how bad this person is and how evil they are and what kind of devil they are, there's a percentage of people that's just gonna believe that. And I'm just not a part of that crowd.

SPEAKER_01 19:38

Yeah.

Ken Claytor 19:39

And so I've just, I don't know. What I'm trying to share is that this is, I have one heart, and it's my responsibility to keep this because out of this flows the issues of life. My heart, also, my spirit, the center of my being. That's why music I listen to, movies that I watch, the people that I hang out with. I don't want to hang out with people that are gonna sow their seeds into my ear that goes into my heart because what's in my heart coming out of my mouth and where my mouth goes, my life also follows. This is very, very important to me. And it's a key to promotion, not just promotion, like you're gonna get a promotion, like we talked about a while ago, how to get promoted. Like, this ain't about that. I'm talking about spiritual promotion. Yeah. Where God looks through all of your brothers and says, This is the one that I choose. I don't look at what man looks at. This is the one who has a heart. You see, what I believe about us in our ministry is like I'm not the best preacher, I'm not the best communicator. Um, I don't have the best tone. I'm I'm from the, I'm from a I'm from a small town of Beckley, West Virginia. A lot of words I can't even pronounce, but I think God chose me because he saw my heart. Yeah. I think God chose you. You're a mixed chick from the projects of Uniontown, Pennsylvania. We are, we we we don't come from much. We wasn't born with a silver spoon, but God sees our heart. Yeah. And it's the heart that God wants to promote. I think there's a lot of people that are in YouTube university and they're getting all this head knowledge, but it's not the head knowledge, it's the heart position. It's the heart that God wants to promote. And my prayer is that we will come to a place where we can say we're pure-hearted people. I believe that those are the people that carry revival in God's best. Right. He's looking for people that have pure hearts.

Tabatha Claytor 21:10

That's really good. That's really good. And I think it's important for us to to know that and fight for a pure heart and to guard ourselves, to guard our heart. Because, like we said, like, you know, even in in our nation, in the highest seat of our nation, there is

Worship Through Warfare And Final Encouragement

Tabatha Claytor 21:25

um just backbiting and and you know, rumors and gossiping, and that we we hate on each other. But then that follows down into like school systems in your cities and and you know, in our neighborhoods. And we kind of just take on this attitude of like, oh, we're just going to attack people. And then on when we're riding in the road, you know, road rage and people honking horns and you're walking in the we're not opening doors and holding doors for people anymore. We're just angry and just, you know, yelling at people and and and barking at people a lot. If we're not careful, we will get sucked into all of that.

Ken Claytor 21:59

That's not

Tabatha Claytor 22:00

God's people.

Ken Claytor 22:01

This is going a different direction than what I thought it would go, but it's a needed direction for where from where I thought it would go. I'm releasing this podcast to the hands of the Lord. A heart that God's promote is a heart that listen is submitted, teachable, humble, loyal, repentant, faithful, obedient, pure, full of worship, full of courage. That's what we see in the life of David. And we can develop that too. And so what does scripture teach us? 1 Samuel 16, 7, I said this one man looks at the outward appearance, but God looks at the heart. What does that mean to you? What it means to me is that God's looking for the right heart. God looks at the heart. God's looking at motives. He's looking for purity. He's looking, he's looking for heart. And I want to make sure that my heart is something that when he looks at, he's like, yeah, it pleases him.

Tabatha Claytor 22:52

Absolutely. Yeah.

Ken Claytor 22:54

Acts chapter 13 and 22 says, I found David, a man after my own heart. He'll do everything I want him to do. And so that means to me that David's heart was connected to obedience. God says, I found David, meaning that he's looking for people that has this heart temperature. And he says, He'll do everything that I want him to do. So God connects having a pure heart to obedience. I want to be obedient to God. I believe that that's a pathway to promotion.

SPEAKER_01 23:24

Yeah.

Ken Claytor 23:25

And so what do you think made David's heart different? Anything else sticks out to you? Other than the things we've kind of already gone over?

Tabatha Claytor 23:32

I might have said this already, but it was out of the overflow of his heart, that presence with God, that he was a worshiper. Yeah. That he loved to be in the presence of God and in the company of God. And I think sometimes we can be so concerned of like, am I going to do the right thing? And you know, you don't want to mess up, you don't want to do the wrong thing. And it's like if if we just take, don't worry about messing up. Have a heart for God. Spend time in the presence of God.

SPEAKER_01 23:58

Yeah.

Tabatha Claytor 23:59

Spend time talking to God, worshiping God. And he will ensure that all of those other things turn out right.

Ken Claytor 24:07

David's heart, what made it different? He had a worshiper's heart. Before David was king, he was a worshiper. He wasn't trying to be seen, he was faithful in private. David had a servant's heart. David wasn't entitled. He served his father. He served Saul. He served Israel. And the people who get promoted are the people who serve well. David had a courageous heart. He fought with Goliath while everybody else was scared. And the truth is, God promotes people who have courage. Not cocky, but courage. David had an honoring heart. And this is the big one. David had a chance to kill Saul, but he didn't do it. Even when Saul was wrong, David stayed honorable. 1 Samuel 24 and 5, it says, David's heart struck him after he cut Saul's robe. That's wild. David felt conviction over something most people would celebrate. And so to me it says David had reverence, he had restraint, and he had a pure heart. And last but not least, David had a repented heart. David made major mistakes, but he repented fast. And that's what separates David from Saul. Saul made excuses, right? But David got broken. Think about the difference for a moment between David and Saul. Okay? So David's sin was worse than Saul's sin. What was Saul's sin?

Tabatha Claytor 25:23

Probably pride, right? Was it pride? What was Saul's sin?

Ken Claytor 25:27

Most people don't disobedient to God?

Tabatha Claytor 25:30

Disobedient?

Ken Claytor 25:31

Yeah. Right, right. Here's my point. David slept with Bathsheba, put Uriah on the front line, had the man murdered, and then took his wife and had a baby. Right? But when we say there was a man after God's own heart, we think about David and nobody thinks about Saul. Why? Because David repented and Saul didn't. The power of repentance is something different. Repentance is not just a one-time thing, it's a lifestyle. God forgive me. God, if there be anything wrong in me, create in me a clean heart, oh God. Oh God, I want to make sure that I'm the best representative for your kingdom as an ambassador to the people that are around me. God, when people do wrong towards me, I'm going to do right towards them. God, when people say wrong things about me, I won't retaliate with wrong things about them. That is a heart that God promotes. Are you with me? Psalms 51, 10 says, creating me a clean heart, oh God. What does that scripture mean to you, like personally? Like creating me a clean heart, oh God.

Tabatha Claytor 26:30

I feel like it's more um, I don't want to have any baggage in my heart, any bitterness in my heart, any impurities in my heart, like everything to be good. Like I just want there's good stuff. My heart is a treasure chest, and I want jewels and gold, and I want good things in there, love, joy, peace, the presence of God, all of that. I don't want hatred and bitterness and backbiting and you know, just holding on to um just regret and all of those things. I don't want that in my heart.

Ken Claytor 27:01

Yeah, yeah. I mean, one of the reasons that I felt like you were so attractive to me and wife material right from the beginning is even before you were saved, I felt like you had a good heart. And that's hard to say, you know what I'm saying? Because God judges a heart, but you can kind of be around people. You ever have people say, I like your spirit? You know, people tell me that all the time, I like your spirit.

SPEAKER_01 27:22

Yeah.

Ken Claytor 27:23

To me, what that means is that you can kind of discern and feel that I'm not that gossip, slander, competitive, lustful, envious. That's not, you know, even when I'm tempted to with those things, I try, I keep them underneath my feet.

SPEAKER_01 27:37

Right.

Ken Claytor 27:37

That's what I want people to be known for, especially as people of God. Creating me a clean heart, oh God. Renew a right spirit within me. And so here's what I want you to hear: God doesn't just promote gifted people, he promotes trustworthy people.

Tabatha Claytor 27:50

Yeah.

Ken Claytor 27:51

Because promotion comes with pressure, access, influence, warfare, and responsibility. And God loves us too much to promote us into something that would destroy us. And I feel like the promotion destroyed Saul. Saul started off anointed, head and shoulders above the rest, but he couldn't handle the weight of the responsibility. And you know, Israel didn't even need a king back then. They're trying to keep up with other nations. God had judges and he was good with judges, but the people kept saying, give me a king, give me a king. God at that time picked the best thing that they could have had, which was Saul, but Saul wasn't ready for this. And now Saul comes into a position of promotion that he's not ready for, and the promotion crushed him. We've seen that happen. I've had pastors and people that I've put in position. They were good before they got to position, but the position crushed them because the spotlight was big, but the character was small. And so what I am, and this is what we try to do, we teach our pastors, the churches that we cover. Um, you know, I feel like I'm a pastor to the pastors and a leader to leaders. If I'm if I'm able to coach you in anything, it would be have the kind of heart that God can promote. Have that kind of heart. Like when ain't nobody around, how do you live? How do you treat your wife, your kids, your neighbors? That's what's very important. Wow, that's really and so here's some practical steps to develop a heart that God promotes. All right. And and feel free to jump in whenever. You got to get your private life right because God promotes what's real.

Tabatha Claytor 29:17

That is real. Everything else is fake. Your private life, what you do when you come home behind closed doors. That's you. What you do all by yourself, that's who you really are.

Ken Claytor 29:27

The pastor used to say it this way: that you are who you are when nobody else is around. You're not who you are when everybody's watching. Yep. The real you comes out when nobody's around. Who is that person? Right. Number two, learn to serve before you leave. If you can't serve well, you can't lead well.

Tabatha Claytor 29:45

Yeah, that's really good.

Ken Claytor 29:47

You can't lead well if you don't serve well. We learned this before we were pastors. We were our pastors' armor bearers. What does that mean? We just took care of the lead pastors and we basically cleaned stuff, cook stuff, traveled with them, carried stuff. It was the best ministry training that you could ever receive. I see people nowadays, they want to promote themselves. And it's like, well, I've been on the bench too long. No, there's a reason you've been on the bench. Well, I'm ready, I'm I'm ready to go depopulate. Hell, no, there's a reason that senior leaders haven't come and chosen you and promoted you yet.

Tabatha Claytor 30:20

Yes.

Ken Claytor 30:20

And I learned more about ministry and serving people now when I was carrying my pastor's suitcase and I was just there. And I I could give you so many stories about being faithful over the little things. And that's what David was doing with the sheep. He was just playing a heart, being faithful over the little things and enjoying the presence of God. And that's what caused him to be promoted. We gotta be the kind of people that can serve well because all this is podcast platform is a higher level of service.

Tabatha Claytor 30:50

Exactly. And that's what God does. God is a, you know, Jesus came. He didn't come to be served, but to serve.

SPEAKER_01 30:55

Yeah.

Tabatha Claytor 30:56

And so we see that's who God is. That's the character of God. And I think so many times as a Christian, you know, as believers, we want to be like God, you know, like the man who everybody serves. And it's like, no, we want to be like Jesus, the servant. The servant shall be the greatest, the first. The people want to be promoted.

Ken Claytor 31:13

Shall be first. You want to, they want to be promoted. They want to be lifted up. Yeah. But uh let me just tell you, as someone who has a platform, I don't really want to be lifted up. Yeah. I actually wish that I could be behind the scenes. Yeah. I wish that I could be behind the camera. Yeah, I don't really want to be lifted up. And so sometimes the people that want to be lifted up are not lifted up, and the people who don't want to be lifted up are the ones that are lifted up because God's looking for the heart. And so number five would be practice honor even when people are wrong, because honor is a heart posture. Practice honor even when people are wrong. So I honor up, honor down, and honor all around. Now, I've been in ministry for over 20 years. And so there are people that can say things to me and do things to me that they don't really have my track record, but I still try my best to honor them.

Tabatha Claytor 32:05

Yeah.

Ken Claytor 32:06

Even though they're dishonoring me. Right. Like they'll come, you listen, you ain't said, you know, like rip me down, but haven't built a ministry, haven't built anything. You know what I'm saying? Haven't, you know, like our church led 12,000 people to Jesus last year. But I'm nothing. But you know what I'm saying? They'll read a little bit of the Bible and then tear me down. But I'll still try to honor that person.

SPEAKER_01 32:24

Yeah.

Ken Claytor 32:25

Because they've been made in the image and likeness of God. Honor, honor is not just honor the CEO and the lead pastor and honor up. That's that's easy. Honor is honor up, honor down, and honor all around. And I believe that whenever you honor what God honors, God will always honor you. I just feel like today is just principles. Anything with that?

Tabatha Claytor 32:43

No, that's so good. Every person is a person.

Ken Claytor 32:46

Yeah.

Tabatha Claytor 32:46

And um, even sometimes it's almost you feel justifiable to just start someone yells at you, yell back at them, or someone says something wrong about you, you want to um attack their character as well. Yeah. But that's not really God, doesn't do that.

Ken Claytor 33:01

I go into the lobby of our church and I try to find the least of these sometimes. The person who looks lonely, the person who's in a wheelchair, because I want them to feel honored. Yep. Now, how much more my pastors and people that are preaching the gospel, I want to honor what God honors. And so number six is don't touch what God hasn't released to you. You know, David didn't take Saul's position by force. And I think that there are some people they're trying to take something by force and they're out of season. Number seven is repent fast, don't defend sin, kill it. I think that's very important. Like when it comes to having a pure heart, don't defend your sin, like kill it. Um, number eight is let God heal your heart. A wounded heart will bleed on innocent people. And there's so much like woundedness, wounded warriors, church hurt, offended people, and I understand that there's certain things that happen on the battlefield that you can be hurt by. I've been hurt before, that you can be offended by, I've been offended before, but you can't stay there. And I think that whenever you are a hurt person, your perspective of reality is off. You don't even know it. And so, no matter how much you feel like I have a right to be hurt, and I have a right to be offended, just know that that offense and hurt will blind you. So, one thing that I look for before we promote is is this person healed from their wounds?

SPEAKER_01 34:28

Yeah.

Ken Claytor 34:29

So the thing that I look for before I ask, are they healed from their wounds is have they been through enough life to wound them? Because I need them to go through enough life to wound them to see how they handle the wounds.

Tabatha Claytor 34:42

How they handle it, yeah.

Ken Claytor 34:43

You understand what I'm saying? Like if you're, oh well, I want to be, I'm called to do this and I'm called to do that. Oh, God, I love ministry. And the devil slap you, you know. I want to see what you do now when you get up off the floor. Are you still gonna serve God? Are you gonna deconstruct your faith? Anyone who's deconstructing their faith, they didn't have strong faith. They didn't have, I don't have anything to deconstruct. I don't need to reconstruct. And I know that we have people that have gone and deconstructed their faith. It's okay. Yeah, they're just not there yet. They're immature. You know what I'm saying? They're just trying to mature. I have nothing to deconstruct with this, you know. But what is that? Life hit you. Persecution, suffering, um, ridicule. Somebody didn't promote you, somebody fired you. Okay, now what you gonna do? Those are the best people. Now, the people that can get up from that and still love Jesus and still have a pure heart and not walk with a wounded heart, those are the people that get used. Those are the people that get promoted.

unknown 35:34

Wow.

Tabatha Claytor 35:35

Yeah, but that's that's true. You're not it, you're not um, what is it called? You're not um immune from life, life's attacks from life's, you know, what happens in life. No one is immune to that. Right. Everyone is going to experience hardship. The Bible says it storms, they're gonna come. Yeah, but take cheer. You don't have to be afraid or anything. Jesus says, I've overcome them all. Yeah. So with Jesus, we can overcome everything that comes our way. But like you said, the test is when it comes, what are you gonna do?

Ken Claytor 36:10

What are you gonna do? Number nine is choose obedience over popularity. David obeyed God even when it cost him. Everybody wants to be in the palace. Oh, I'm with the king. Oh, I'm his armor bearer, I'm playing the heart for Saul. But, you know, can you still be obedient when you when it costs you something?

Tabatha Claytor 36:29

Right.

Ken Claytor 36:29

And number 10 is keep your worship strong because worship keeps your heart clean. And um, if you want a heart that God promotes, is that we've worshiped him through every season. Whether it's cancer, whether it's losing all of your hair, whether it's um a bad season financially, what what whatever it's been, we've just continued to worship God. And it hasn't been perfect, but I just believe it's been an example. And I see that in David, and I see that in you, and I see that in many others, that when you go through the battle, you know, it's the squeezing of the olive that produces the oil. It's the crushing of the grape that produces the wine. And so can you worship your way through the warfare? And I think that kind of heart is the heart that God promotes. Any closing thoughts?

Tabatha Claytor 37:15

I just want to say that you you can you worship in the warfare? Yes, you can.

Ken Claytor 37:20

Yeah.

Tabatha Claytor 37:20

I want you to know, everyone who's watching, that yes, you can have a heart that's pure toward God.

SPEAKER_01 37:27

Yeah.

Tabatha Claytor 37:27

Yes, you can. How do you do it? Just worship him, just spend time in his presence. It can start with five minutes a day, then 10, then 15. It can be, you know, uh, turn on a worship CD and just worship God until you can't worship anymore. I mean, it starts David was able to have God's heart because he had a good relationship with God. If he did not have a relationship with God or know God, he wouldn't have his heart.

SPEAKER_01 37:53

Yeah.

Tabatha Claytor 37:53

There'd be no relation, there'd be no avenue. Um, and so I think that's where it starts. I believe that you can have a heart like David, a heart um turned toward God, um, just like David did.

Ken Claytor 38:05

Yeah. I believe that that is God's will to take us from one level to another level. But there is tests that need to be passed. I see it with Joseph. He was someone who God promoted. I see it with Daniel. He was someone who God promoted. I see it with David. We still talk about the city of David. We don't talk about Saul, but we talk about David because he had a heart that God could promote. Right. And so we're out of time for today, but man, this was good. Um, it really was. I believe if you get better, your marriage will get better. I believe that this topic today, bless you, about having a pure heart and having a listen, it will affect your business life positively, your ministry life, and it will really affect your marriage. When two hearted, good um pure-hearted people get together, there's no telling what God can do, you know?

SPEAKER_01 38:50

Yeah.

Ken Claytor 38:50

And so if you're out there and you're watching this and you've been a person that's been, man, maybe you've not had a pure heart. Maybe you've been the kind of person that's attacked some of God's generals or God's pastors or God's spokesmen. Maybe you've been battling people. Maybe it's just time to let that go. Maybe it's time to turn away from it, repent, because you just might be fighting against God. I pray for your heart. Pray that it remains pure because there's all kinds of toxicity around us. Just don't let it get in you.

Tabatha Claytor 39:18

That's right.

Ken Claytor 39:19

We're done for the day. If you enjoyed today, make sure that you subscribe if you're not subscribed already. Um, hang out with us, man. Be a part of this online family that we're building called Doing Life with Ken and Tabitha. We're not perfect. We don't know it all. Matter of fact, you will learn more from our mistakes than you will our successes. And we're gonna share it all with you. And so come join us. If you enjoyed today, make sure you share this with other people. Um, also, if you're ever in Florida, come worship with us at a live church. We would love to see you here. Until next time, peace.