What do you desire most? For what cause are you willing to fight? Where do you find your strength? Whom or what do you worship? How do you respond to your sins? The answers to these questions reveal the affections of our hearts.

King David demonstrated for us what it means to live for an audience of One.

First, we begin with a surrendered heart for an audience of One. David fully surrendered his heart and his desires to God. A well-known illustration of David’s heart for God lies in his refining prayer for his Lord to examine and help David to surrender any offensive way inside his heart, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting” (Psalm 139:23-24). When we fully surrender our hearts and desires to God, He orchestrates our desires to be like His. This is how we know God’s will for our lives. This dynamic process includes the refining prayer for the Spirit of God to examine and help us surrender any offensive ways.

Second, we battle for an audience of One. David’s perspective of victory shifted from we to He. Rather than battling for his own causes, David fought for God’s. His heartfelt words recorded in a psalm reflected his perspective that gave God all of the credit for victory, “With God we will gain the victory, and he will trample down our enemies” (Psalm 60:12; cf. 108:13). When we shift our perspective from we to He, God delivers and sustains us in our spiritual battles (Psalm 144:10; 18:35).

Third, we become strengthened for an audience of One. Scripture records, “David was greatly distressed because the men were talking of stoning him; each one was bitter in spirit because of his sons and daughters. But David found strength in the Lord his God” (1 Samuel 30:6). David found strength in and for an audience of One. When we seek God’s face in the midst of our weaknesses, He lifts us from the old and gifts us with the new (Psalm 40:2, 34:18).

Fourth, we worship for an audience of One. In his psalm, David depicted his philosophy of a 24/7 worship, “I will exalt you, My God and King; I will praise your name for ever and ever. Every day I will praise you and extol your name for ever and ever. Great is the LORD and most worthy of praise; his greatness no one can fathom” (Psalm 145:1-3). When we worship God the most where people expect it the least, we worship Him 24/7 including in our work. This results in God blessing our lives with an awareness of His presence.

Finally, when we sin, we repent for an audience of One. In his psalm repenting of his sin with Bathsheba, David communicated his contrition toward a Holy God, “Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are proved right when you speak and justified when you judge” (Psalm 51:4). When we repent, we exhibit a contrite heart, and we stand forgiven by a Holy God Who does not give us a one-for-one punishment for our sins nor recounts our sins against us. Rather, He gives us the heart of Christ Whose Spirit resides in us so that we may live for an audience of One.

Each day this week, select one of David’s five behaviors and focus on it. Live for an Audience of One and experience the desires, deliverance, restoration, intimacy, and forgiveness that only God can give.

Episode 35: Living for an Audience of One from mitchkrusetv on Vimeo.