What Do You Do When You Find Your Heart Is Not Right?
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If you look in Strong's Exhaustive Concordance, you will discover that the word "heart" is used a total of 830 times in Scripture. The word "hearts" is used another total of 112 times. We can see from this that the subject of the heart is a major topic in Scripture.
The book of Proverbs tells us to keep our hearts, or guard our hearts, with all diligence—that is, consistently, always—for out of them spring the issues of life (Proverbs 4:23). The heart is not like the spirit, in that it can be influenced by many different things.
We first want to look, from Scripture, at the heart of an un-regenerated person (one who is not saved). Jeremiah 17:9 tells us that the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know the depths of its wickedness? Genesis 6:5 tells us that God saw the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. We can see from this that man's imagination and thoughts are by-products of his heart. Jesus said in Mark 7:21-22, "for from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, [and] foolishness."
Let me ask you a question: How many of you, since you've been a Christian, have had an evil thought, an evil eye, pride, or foolishness?
What happens to the heart in the new birth? Ezekiel 36:26-27 states, "A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart [a hard or calloused heart] out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh [a heart that is soft and can respond to God] and I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes." As stated earlier, we can see that the heart is not like the spirit, in that it can be influenced by many different things. Vine's Expository Dictionary states that the heart "embraces the whole inner man...while it is the source of all action and the center of all thought and feeling, the heart is also described as receptive to influences both from the outer world and God Himself." In reality, the heart will determine all that you do (Proverbs 4:23).
So what do you do when you find that your heart is not right? In Acts 8:12-24, we see the story of a man who became a believer and shortly after, found that his heart was not right in the sight of God. This man's name was Simon. The Bible tells us that he believed and was baptized, but shortly after his conversion, there was a situation in his heart that was not right. Peter told him how to remedy this situation. Peter stated that Simon's heart was not right in the sight of God, that he should repent of this particular wickedness, and pray to God that the thought of his heart may be forgiven him (Acts 8:21-22). Simon responded by saying, "You pray to the Lord for me." (Acts 8:24). How many times have we seen individuals asking others to pray to God for them instead of dealing with their own heart's issues before God? It is possible to be strengthened with might by God's Spirit in the inner man, that Christ Himself can dwell in all of the heart (our mind, our emotions, our feelings, etc.). What will you allow to influence your heart? Will it be the world, or will it be God? Why do you think that Jesus got up early before the break of day to be with His Father? By so doing, He was establishing His heart, because He knew that all Christian services proceed and spring out of relationship with God.
Do you know what your ministry is? It should be the same ministry that Anna the Prophetess had. She served God (worshipped God and ministered unto God) with fastings and prayers night and day. In the early church, the prophets and teachers at Antioch "ministered to the Lord, and fasted, and then the Holy Ghost said..." (Acts 13:1-2). The point is this—that the greatest commandment of scripture is still the greatest commandment: to love the Lord our God with all our hearts, with all our souls, with all our minds. Only by being before the Lord in worship, exposing our innermost being to Him, and inviting Christ into every area of our being can we establish our hearts, as our hearts are influenced by the very Person of the Most High God.
If we can help you, please contact us.
The book of Proverbs tells us to keep our hearts, or guard our hearts, with all diligence—that is, consistently, always—for out of them spring the issues of life (Proverbs 4:23). The heart is not like the spirit, in that it can be influenced by many different things.
We first want to look, from Scripture, at the heart of an un-regenerated person (one who is not saved). Jeremiah 17:9 tells us that the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know the depths of its wickedness? Genesis 6:5 tells us that God saw the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. We can see from this that man's imagination and thoughts are by-products of his heart. Jesus said in Mark 7:21-22, "for from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, [and] foolishness."
Let me ask you a question: How many of you, since you've been a Christian, have had an evil thought, an evil eye, pride, or foolishness?
What happens to the heart in the new birth? Ezekiel 36:26-27 states, "A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart [a hard or calloused heart] out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh [a heart that is soft and can respond to God] and I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes." As stated earlier, we can see that the heart is not like the spirit, in that it can be influenced by many different things. Vine's Expository Dictionary states that the heart "embraces the whole inner man...while it is the source of all action and the center of all thought and feeling, the heart is also described as receptive to influences both from the outer world and God Himself." In reality, the heart will determine all that you do (Proverbs 4:23).
So what do you do when you find that your heart is not right? In Acts 8:12-24, we see the story of a man who became a believer and shortly after, found that his heart was not right in the sight of God. This man's name was Simon. The Bible tells us that he believed and was baptized, but shortly after his conversion, there was a situation in his heart that was not right. Peter told him how to remedy this situation. Peter stated that Simon's heart was not right in the sight of God, that he should repent of this particular wickedness, and pray to God that the thought of his heart may be forgiven him (Acts 8:21-22). Simon responded by saying, "You pray to the Lord for me." (Acts 8:24). How many times have we seen individuals asking others to pray to God for them instead of dealing with their own heart's issues before God? It is possible to be strengthened with might by God's Spirit in the inner man, that Christ Himself can dwell in all of the heart (our mind, our emotions, our feelings, etc.). What will you allow to influence your heart? Will it be the world, or will it be God? Why do you think that Jesus got up early before the break of day to be with His Father? By so doing, He was establishing His heart, because He knew that all Christian services proceed and spring out of relationship with God.
Do you know what your ministry is? It should be the same ministry that Anna the Prophetess had. She served God (worshipped God and ministered unto God) with fastings and prayers night and day. In the early church, the prophets and teachers at Antioch "ministered to the Lord, and fasted, and then the Holy Ghost said..." (Acts 13:1-2). The point is this—that the greatest commandment of scripture is still the greatest commandment: to love the Lord our God with all our hearts, with all our souls, with all our minds. Only by being before the Lord in worship, exposing our innermost being to Him, and inviting Christ into every area of our being can we establish our hearts, as our hearts are influenced by the very Person of the Most High God.
If we can help you, please contact us.