When we speak of the heart of man, It Is the wholeness of our being starting inwardly from our spirit. The heart is the combination of your mind, your will, your emotions and your spirit. Your brain simply directs your body in the direction you devise. Your brain is the command center that takes its command from the mind, spirit and emotions. If you think on anything long enough, then it will effect your emotions. And, if your spirit isn't renewed by the Word, then it will follow the mind and emotions. As it direct its impulses to the brain, the body will simply follow the command whether good or bad.
There's been a classic case of being ruled by the soulish man rather than the spirit of a born again man going on for quite awhile. If a person is insulted or given a reason to be angry, then you've probably heard him say "The more I thought about it, the angrier I got." His soulish man ruled rather than the born again spirit.
Psalms 86:11-12 (Amplified) says, "Teach me your way O Lord, that I may walk and live in Your truth; direct and unite my heart (solely, reverently) to fear and honor Your Name." Verse 12 goes on, "I will confess and praise You, O Lord My God, with my whole (united) heart; and I will glorify Your Name forevermore."
A "whole and united" heart is one that overrules the mind and emotions and is obedient to the Word of God. If our minds haven't been renewed by God's Word, then our spirit is still not united and undivided. James speaks of this in James 1:8 (Amplified) when he tells of a man wavering or doubting when asking God for wisdom. He said that, "If we lack wisdom, then ask God and He will give it." "But," James said, "If we become double-minded in this wisdom, then we won't receive it." James didn't say that God wouldn't give it. He said that we wouldn't receive it. Verse 8 says, "(For being as he is) a man of two minds (hesitating, dubious, irresolute) (he is) unstable and unreliable and uncertain about everything (he thinks, feels, decides)."
The man with a divided heart has a heart condition. His spirit wants to hear from God, but his emotions and his mind are still working in an unrenewed manner. So, when God gives wisdom, the first thing a divided heart or unrenewed mind will say is, "I wonder if that was really God or not."
Psalm 112:7-8 (Amplified) is about a man following God's Word. He's giving to the poor and is conducting his affairs with justice. He's a man who is uncomprimisingly righteous. Verse 8 says that, "His heart is established and steady, he will not be afraid while he waits to see his desires established on his adversaries." We need to be where Verse 7 says, "He shall not be afraid of evil tidings, his heart is firmly fixed, trusting (leaning on and being confident) in the Lord."
That man isn't moved by the things going on around him. His heart is "fixed, established and united" by the Word of God in his mind, will and emotions and his spirit is directed by the Word. It would be very easy to have a divided mind today. Wrong is called right and right is called wrong. Sin is no longer sin. People just have "issues." Things that once would have made the hardest of men blush are now accepted as normal. We've entered an age where our hearts must be established in God's Word.
We've somehow decided that some of the things God said are old fashioned and out of date in this 21st century. We find that even in our churches, this compromise of faith and righteousness not only being tolerated, but being encouraged. This heart condition is partly due to the Church not knowing God's Word and having a divided heart. As the Church, we're led more by our minds and emotions more than by the Word.
This condition of the heart is a thing that only the individual can fix. Each person must weigh his own heart and not be led by the mass or majority. It doesn't make it right simply because others are doing it or thinking that way. In the face of opposition, this man prayed for an "undivided heart" to walk in God's way.
Even the laws of these last day's land reveal the heart of man to still be opposed to the things of God. We've watch this great nation of America decline in the world's standing and in righteousness. What was once a light on a hill shining for all the world to see, has become a debt ridden, laughing stock for the world to openly mock. This is a heart condition on a national scale. The heart of this nation (not all of her citizens), but the heart of the nation, has been turned from God.
We watch our national leaders be moved by popular opinion more than by righteousness. We pass laws and amendments that are a slap to the face of a Holy God. As a nation, we have watched the family decline, our schools fail, and our economy being controlled by foreign nations that hate us. The only way to change a nation is for each one of us to change our hearts. Individuals make up a nation. When Israel turned as a nation from God, the whole nation declined.
The condition of a heart can affect a person, a family or a nation. It seems to be a hereditary thing that passes from one generation to the next. We somehow have passed the denominational church we belong to onto our children and not necessarily the Word and personal relationship with God. If we asked people on the street whether or not they were Christian, then they'd probably tell us what denomination they belonged to.
Deuteronomy 10:18-19 (Amplified) says, "Therefore you shall lay up these words in your (minds and) hearts and in your (entire) being, bind them for a sign upon your hands and foreheads and between your eyes." Verse 19 goes on, "You shall teach them to your children, speaking of them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you rise up."
These words and deeds of God were to be before our eyes (reading and handling) helping us teach a personal relationship with God and the Word of Life to our children from generation to generation. The Lord speaks concerning Abraham in Genesis 18:19 (Amplified) For I have known (chosen, acknowledged) him (as My Own) so that he may teach and command his children and the sons of his house after him to keep the way of the Lord and to do what is just and righteous, so that the Lord may bring Abraham what He has promised him."
Receiving the blessing (the fullness of the promise) depended on their being taught what the promise was. Today, we only seem to know that the promise means we'll go to heaven. We haven't been taught nor have we been able to teach what the fullness of that promise really is, for here as well as later. Our hearts are still divided by truth and untruth and by what we've heard and what the Word says. We've become double minded concerning the majesty of all He has done through Jesus. Our heart condition restricts God in the full move of our new covenant. We need our hearts to once again become established in the Word.
No comments:
Post a Comment