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Is your heart healthy?
1Peter 5:5 states, “God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble.” The Greek word for resists is antitassomai: It means to oppose oneself or to be rewarded in like kind or be addicted to something or someone. God has decreed that, those who operate with a spirit of pride will be continually opposing them self by reaping the consequences of their decision making. In turn, they have become addicted to a condition which stops God from communicating His truths into their spiritual ears.
There is an old saying that I heard many years ago that states, “The meaning of insanity is doing something the same way continually and hoping to come up with a different results.” Now there are two ways of interpreting 1Peter 5:5. One is with the law mentality of our old nature that we were should have been delivered from the day we became saved. On the other hand, we can interpret this scripture with our new nature that we received the day we became born again.
If we interpret through our own reasoning, we come to the conclusion that, God is not pleased and He will fight and oppose us in some form or fashion. Now the exact opposite of this is the truth. God has laws of life that He put into motion from the beginning of time. Whatever we sow into our thought life and act out in our behavior contrary to any one of God’s ordained laws, we reap the consequences. We need to realize that when God swears by anything it is an absolute because, He is the Author of all things and the final judge and there is no one greater than He.
God’s love does not want to get even and avenge Himself. We at times berate ourselves because; we believe we have done something stupid and at times; it makes us become our worst enemy. God tells us if your enemy is hungry or thirsty give him food or drink. By us doing this we will heap coals of fire on his head. When we become our worst enemy through stinking thinking; we need to do to our self the same that we should do for another person who may want to be our enemy.
We are not to get even, but to overcome evil with good works. Let’s reason a little bit here. Does God tell us to act or do something different then the way he does? This idea of putting coals of fire on a person’s head sounds like a good way of torturing and getting even with our enemies. However; the true interpretation of this is defined like this.
In the Middle East when a traveler was journeying through the desert at night, they would have a burning candle over their head to light their way before them. At times the candle would go out and as they would pass some ones tent it was the custom whether you knew these people or not to relight their candle from their campfire.
I had been saved 10 years before I ever became aware of the meaning of this verse. By us not understanding the meaning of God’s merciful way of dealing with people, we have done some atrocious abusing to them and ourselves in our ignorance of not knowing the true meaning of scripture.
When our spiritual candle of understanding has become dim or we have never matured in our Christian walk after being saved for years, we resist God from pouring His grace into our lives. He still stays faithful and true and has always been ready to brighten up our candle of discernment in spite of the fact that, we have been our worst enemy. A person that does not understand his righteous position in Christ will stay his worst enemy all of his life.
Scripture tells us that if our heart condemns us, God is greater and more loving then we are of our self and it is His intensions to give us His best in spite of our ignorance and growing pains. It’s us getting in touch with ourselves and coming to understand what God means in Proverbs 4:20-23 when he says. “My son, attend to my words; consent and submit to my sayings. Let them not depart from your sight; keep them in the center of your heart. For, they are life to those who find them and healing to all your flesh. Keep yourself alert and above all guard your heart for out of it the issues of life are formed giving us the nourishment we need to make our self-whole.”
In the Greek our heart is called the loin area which controls our emotions and where the center of our character is being formed. I have encountered too many Christians living with unresolved issues and hurts of the past; that have kept them cripples most of their lives. A proud heart is a sick heart and a humble heart is healthy.
Pride is the main characteristic of the devil and keeps the body of Christ continually learning; but never coming to the truth of their position in Christ.
I am totally convinced that if a person is a born again and living in a sick heart condition and is unfulfilled in their Christian experience, it has to be that they have never been discipled and made secure in their position in Jesus Christ. If the body of Christ ever comes to recognize the freedom and power they possess as God’s children and the desire that God has for them to explore their relationship without judgment by Him; the Acts of the Apostles will be revisited as it is described in the New Testament.
I am possessed by the freedom I have to explore and have a running conversation with the Holy Spirit moment by moment. If there is not a joyful testimony and anticipation with in you for God to show up in your life and you are not sharing with others the rich relationship you have in Christ, I must say that your heart’s sick.
Jesus as He taught His disciples; He had to reprove them on many occasions for their attitudes of pride when they wanted to inflict God’s judgment in their own understanding, when the people did not respond correctly in their own eyes. Jesus said. “Don’t you realize what spirit is motivating you? It is the spirit of the devil. I came to heal and save mankind not to condemn and bring judgment on them.”
Our heart is like a reservoir that stores water. It needs a continuing flow of clean clear water that does not become stagnant, which directly influences our thinking. There are many references in the bible where Jesus is referred to as the water of life. Scripture tells us that out of a man’s heart comes bitter and sweet water. He says that this should not be so.
We must be going through a cleansing process of having our mind renewed and being constantly cleansed by the washing of God’s word in our thought life because; our mind is being bombarded daily with thoughts for good or evil on an intense pace as never before in history. We staying focused and hungry for a relationship with the Holy Spirit will make us able to counter this demonic influence in these last days.
Having said all that, do we realize that pride in all of its many forms is the sin of idolatry and the worship of self. It can become a deep implanted root in the area of our heart where only God wants to have the seat of final and total authority.
When we in our own strength try to clean up our acts through religious activities or are never discipled and shown through example what it means to have a reverential fear of the Lord, there can be no maturity in our Christian life. The basic drive and foundation of the devil’s whole personality and strength is having a prideful spirit. In a negative sense; pride is being boastful, or having an excessive vanity and a higher opinion of your own abilities with having feelings of being superior over others. In a positive sense, it is having proper feelings of personal dignity and self-worth.
The spirit of pride in all its ugly forms comes from a spirit of jealousy. When we express jealousy, we become resentful and suspicious of a rival or become hostile and envious over the advantages and good fortune of others. Us participating and co-operating with this spirit makes us live in a continual environment of strife or (strong opposition) in our relationships with God and others in everything we do.
Isaiah 14:12-14, tells us, “Lucifer who is defined as the light bringer, son of the morning meaning, (with great diligence and total purpose to do evil to humanity) fell from heaven to earth and became the ruler over this world system and now he has the capability to weaken and destroy human natures intense purpose to seek the Lord.” He became jealous of all God had because of the adoration God received from all the other heavenly beings. Because of this, he was thrown out of heaven with all of the other angels who sided with him.
There must be a process going on within us of dying to self so; we can let Christ who lives within us have complete control over our life. The Holy Spirit is constantly trying to wean us off the pride nature we inherited at birth. Our spirit became alive when we accepted Christ however, our soul has to mature and be influenced by our spirit, which needs to be governed by the mind of Christ we received on our second birth from above as stated in 11Cor. 5:17. “Therefore for us who have been born again and are in Jesus Christ, we have become a new creature and our old nature that we were born with has passed away and all things have become new.”
Scripture tells us that; we have to have a blessed heart to mature and stay healthy. A person who knows they are blessed has come to the realization that; without a vital nourishing life in Christ, nothing else will ever satisfy their longing for satisfaction and give them the power to cope with life’s issues. Without this vision and purpose, you will not have a desire and without a desire, you aren’t able to go forward and have a closer relationship with Him.
This is why the first act of obedience after accepting Christ is found in Mathew 6:33 where Jesus says. “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all things will be added to you.”
Having a heart blessed attitude is defined in James 3:17, when he says, “Our way of reasoning will be like God’s wisdom and reasoning. First, it will be pure not religious. It will be seeking love and searching for peace, considerate and gentle. It will listen to reason (meaning hungry for truth) rather than trying to always prove your own point. You will be a ready listener and able to identify yourself with other peoples searching for God.
It also says that you will have a very giving spirit of support with incites of wisdom or finances, depending on the need. You will be straightforward (no lies), non-judgmental, but patient and unafraid. The outcome of this attitude produces freedom from doubt, being double minded (always not sure, having many opinions) and not being real.”
Now all this definition of blessed represents only us being a hearer of God’s word as the Holy Spirit is educating us in God’s word. We now have to become doers of the word to maintain this heart attitude. The beginning of doing does not start with witnessing, going to church, paying tithes or offerings, or preaching and so on. We don’t have to help God out to stay saved. Although these may be the end results through the Holy Spirit’s leading. We first have to spend time and learn to interact with Him.
This attitude keeps us healthy as we actively take part in God’s nature. The Holy Spirit’s working power keeps us hungry in our seeking after Him and causes us to want to have real fellowship as we visit each other in our homes, share our everyday experiences in the market places with people, and pray one for another.
This fellowship strengthens our resolve so we don’t feel like we are alone or like lost sheep. Knowing what a healthy heart is and how we need to prepare it; causes us to receive God’s revelation of His thoughts and attributes, so we can walk in His Spiritual Kingdom and stay humble.
A humble person is modest, long suffering and gentle, teachable and easily approachable. This causes us to expose our senses to God because we are coming to understand God’s total love and acceptance for us. In reality, we are becoming His mature children who can now begin to eat meat rather than staying milk babies. I really think that most born again believers do not realize that, there are areas in their lives, where they are addicted to behavior that is based solely on self-centered passions.
These addictions can only come to the surface if, we allow the Holy Spirit to peel back all the hidden agendas of our life as we mature
It’s like having inner secrets from our self that we do not want God to bring to the surface so He can heal them because; we love to live in our darkness rather than coming onto God’s light and have Him evaluate our heart’s condition. It is so critical that we have the gift of discernment operating in the church today.
There are painful areas where people have suffered physical or psychological abuse in some form in their past and they end up closing off those feelings because of the pain of opening old wounds. Scripture tells us that God is the healer of all things and He is the one that can restore what the canker worm has eaten.
He is a restoration God and there is nothing He cannot do.
If we want God to heal these types of wounds, we are going to have to first make a small commitment, come out from our hidden denials, and allow God to at least put a finger on these hurtful areas. This is where we have mature Christians in the body of Christ who have the sensibilities and the gifts to operate in this arena of God’s Kingdom. This type of ministry is badly needed if things are ever going to change in the family of God. Those of us, who see this, must explore this gift and look for every possibility to share a word of wisdom to the people God brings into our arena to be ministered to even if; they need a word of reproof or rebuke.
Jesus in Matthew 18:3-6 defines this attribute of humility when He says, “Unless you change your mind on things going on in your life and become as a little child by (trusting, loving and forgiving) it will be impossible for you to actively participate in my kingdom. When you allow me to make you over to this position, you will be the greatest in my kingdom. In turn this will make you recognize that you are not alone in your walk with me because, you will recognize all of my other children and when you accept them you will be receiving me.”
Trusting, loving and forgiving to me are monumental tasks. It is us focusing on these three words that keep us humble as we bow our hearts and bend our knee to a God, who sent His best love gift to us in Jesus. He did this without really knowing if, any one would accept what He did for them at the cross.
You cannot fathom what I said here if, you have not been enlightened, consciously tasted, fellow ship with the Holy Spirit, felt how good the word of God is and got a glimpse of God’s power and the world He has planned for us. If you haven’t been participating in your righteous position in Christ, it is very easy. Just a simple call to Him with a heartfelt cry that you need Him.
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