Tag: God’s word revealed

A Heart of Value

What if we had the imaging technology to see our hearts through God’s eyes?

Your heart is of great value to you. From a medical standpoint, it is of high import. As long as your heart is beating and your blood is coursing through your veins; all systems are go. A heart that stops beating typically results in death. We know to take care of our hearts for this reason. We even have the medical technology to see what our hearts look like, how they are functioning, and what might be blocking them or keeping them from functioning. We do everything we can to keep them going strong.

Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life. Proverbs 4:23 KJV

As important as our heart is to our physical life, how much more important it is to our spiritual life!

The Darby Translation says to “keep thy heart more than anything that is guarded”. In addition to guarding (keeping) our heart we are also told to guard our mind (see Romans 8:5-6) and to guard our mouth (see Ephesians 4:29). All three are important. But the heart is of high import. I love the way the Living Bible puts it. “Above all else guard your affections. For they influence everything else in your life”.

What you do with your heart affects everything!

 What if we had the imaging technology to see our hearts through God’s eyes. What would we see? Would it be well guarded as He advises us to do? Or would there be missing pieces, blockages, malfunctions or death?

Have we given our hearts to people it should not have been given to, only to be returned with pieces missing. Have we allowed things/sin into our hearts that have caused us to die a spiritual death. Have we held onto things we should have let go of that create blockages in our hearts. Have we let lies and doubts plant themselves in our hearts like seeds causing our hearts to malfunction.

Examine your heart. What you’re storing there comes out.

Luke 6:45 ” A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.”

 

A Heart to Know Him

Jeremiah 24:7 KJV “I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the Lord: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God: for they shall return unto me with their whole heart.”

Today this verse strikes a cord with me. For the longest time, I knew about God. I had a heart to know about Him. I loved hearing the stories about him. I loved memorizing and reciting His word.

 But I didn’t know Him. I didn’t  have a heart to know him. I am discovering that there is a big difference between knowing Him and knowing about Him. Knowing about him is good but it doesn’t really mean anything until the head knowledge turns into heart knowledge.

Sometimes I look to other translations for different wordings for better understanding. In the amplified bible it says “a heart to know, recognize, understand, and be acquainted with Him”. Contemporary English version says “a desire to know him, and a want for him to be our God”. International Standard Version says “the ability to know him”. The living bible says “a heart that responds to him”. That’s a lot of responsibility on our part! But he’s already done His part.

He desires to know us! So much so that he gives us a desire to know him. It’s a relationship that requires communication and action! Let’s not be one-sided in this! We get more out of him than he gets out of us. Let’s make this personal. (He will give me a heart to know him, that he is my Lord: and I will be His, and He will be my God: for I will turn to him with my whole heart.) This implies an intimately close relationship. He desires to be with us in that secret place, the place that only He should ever be allowed to go.

See  Psalm 91:1

Do you know Him? Or do you just know about Him?

 

The Dwelling Place

Today in a moment of calm at church, I’m lead to what has become my go-to scripture. Psalm 37:4 ” Delight thyself also in the Lord; and He shall give thee the desires of thine heart.” Delight in Him, be joyful in Him, love Him, set your affections in Him. But then I see that word ‘also’. This implies that there’s more to the story, there’s more to this equation. It’s not just delight in Him but ‘also’.  My eyes go to the verse before. The verse that’s been sitting on my desk for the past week. I finally make the connection, this verse before is the ‘also’ in this equation.

Psalm 37:3 ” Trust in the Lord, and do good; Dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness.” Trust in the Lord and do good. That’s pretty straightforward, no explanation needed. But then we have dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness. Faithfulness speaks of promises kept, trustworthy, words spoken true, never failing. Feed on His promises! Feed on His Word!

We’re left with dwell in the land. What land are we supposed to dwell in? Dwell in the land of promise!

Trust in the Lord and do good, trust that God is who He says He is and let your actions represent that trust. Dwell in the land of promise and feed on His faithfulness. Delight also in Him, and then after you’ve done all that He will grant you the desires of your heart.