A HEART FOR THE LORD!

There is an old saying, “home is where the heart is,” maybe we should be saying, “the heart is where the home is!” According to the Bible, the heart is the center of all spiritual activity and the operations of human life.
Another term used for, “Heart” is “soul”. They are often used interchangeably in the Old Testament, in: (Deuteronomy 6:5 You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.); (Deuteronomy 26:16 This day the LORD your God commands you to observe these statutes and judgments; therefore you shall be careful to observe them with all your heart and with all your soul. ). Then in the New Testament we have: (Matthew 22:37 Jesus said to him, “ ‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.) and in: (Mark 12:33  And to love Him with all the heart, with all the understanding, with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love one’s neighbor as oneself, is more than all the whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.”) but this is not generally the case.
The heart is the “home of the personal life, and hence a man‘s personality, is according to his heart,
wise, in: (1 Kings 3:12 behold, I have done according to your words; see, I have given you a wise and understanding heart, so that there has not been anyone like you before you, nor shall any like you arise after you.),
pure, in: (Psalms 24:4-5 He who has clean hands and a pure heart, Who has not lifted up his soul to an idol, Nor sworn deceitfully. 5 He shall receive blessing from the LORD, And righteousness from the God of his salvation.) and (Matthew 5:8 Blessed are the pure in heart, For they shall see God.),
upright and righteous, in: (Genesis 20:1-6 And Abraham journeyed from there to the South, and dwelt between Kadesh and Shur, and stayed in Gerar. 2 Now Abraham said of Sarah his wife, “She is my sister.” And Abimelech king of Gerar sent and took Sarah. 3 But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night, and said to him, “Indeed you are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is a man’s wife.” 4 But Abimelech had not come near her; and he said, “Lord, will You slay a righteous nation also? 5 Did he not say to me, ‘She is my sister’? And she, even she herself said, ‘He is my brother.’ In the integrity of my heart and innocence of my hands I have done this.” 6 And God said to him in a dream, “Yes, I know that you did this in the integrity of your heart. For I also withheld you from sinning against Me; therefore I did not let you touch her.) and (Psalms 11:2 For look! The wicked bend their bow, They make ready their arrow on the string, That they may shoot secretly at the upright in heart.); (Psalms 78:72 So he shepherded them according to the integrity of his heart, And guided them by the skillfulness of his hands.),
pious and good, in: (Luke 8:15 But the ones that fell on the good ground are those who, having heard the word with a noble and good heart, keep it and bear fruit with patience.).
The heart is also the seat of the conscience, in: (Romans 2:15 who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and between themselves their thoughts accusing or else excusing them.). The heart is also described as naturally wicked, in: (Genesis 8:21 And the LORD smelled a soothing aroma. Then the LORD said in His heart, “I will never again curse the ground for man’s sake, although the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; nor will I again destroy every living thing as I have done.), and hence it contaminates the whole life and character, Jesus said in: (Matthew 12:34 Brood of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.); and in: (Matthew 15:18 But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man.); compare these with: (Ecclesiast 8:11 Because the sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.) and (Psalms 73:7  Their eyes bulge with abundance; They have more than heart could wish.). Hence the heart must be changed, or regenerated in: (Ezekiel 36:26-27  I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them.); (Ezekiel 11:19 Then I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within them, and take the stony heart out of their flesh, and give them a heart of flesh,) and in: (Psalms 51:10-14 Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me. 11 Do not cast me away from Your presence, And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. 12 Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, And uphold me by Your generous Spirit. 13 Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, and sinners shall be converted to You. 14 Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God, The God of my salvation, And my tongue shall sing aloud of Your righteousness.), This regeneration must take place before a man can willingly obey God.
If you ask medical professionals about the heart, all they will tell you is that it is a pump, that pumps blood throughout the rest of the body. That is the ones who are not true Christians and do not know the truth. It is so much more than just a pump. We are told that we are the temple of God in: (1 Corinthians 3:16 Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?) I believe since the heart is the control center of mankind, that this is where Gods thrown is and we all need to determine who or what sits on the thrown of our hearts. God is Spirit and He created man in His image, Spirit. However today we have a bad habit of trying to create God in our image, corruptible flesh (Romans 1:22-24 Professing to be wise, they became fools, 23 and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man—and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things.)!
If you draw a large circle, then draw a small circle in the center, you will have a good representation of man. Of course we must complete the drawing, draw an arrow to the outside circle and write Satan speaks to the mind! Then draw an arrow to the small circle and write God speaks to the heart!
The bible also speaks of the spirit of man in: (Job 32:8 But there is a spirit in man, And the breath of the Almighty gives him understanding.); (Zechariah 12:1 The burden of the word of the LORD against Israel. Thus says the LORD, who stretches out the heavens, lays the foundation of the earth, and forms the spirit of man within him and in: (1 Corinthians 2:11 For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. ) Now seeing that the heart is the hub of all spiritual activity, this is most likely the place for the spirit of man to be found!
Just as Jesus cleaned out the physical temple in: (Matthew 21:12-13 Then Jesus went into the temple of God and drove out all those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. 13 And He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer, but you have made it a ‘den of thieves.”) So must we as the spiritual temple of God be cleaned out of all the worldliness and become a house of prayer but in order for this to be accomplished, Jesus said in: (John 3:3 …………….., “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”)
Even though every man and woman born of the womb has a spirit in them, they do not automatically know God or the things of God. We are told in: (1 Corinthians 2:10-12 But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. 11 For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. 12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.) We are clearly told that the spirit of man knows only the things of man but that the Spirit of God seek and searches the deep of God, this is why we must be born again. Just as we were born once in the flesh and needed human parents to raise and teach us, so we must be born of the spirit and taught by Gods Holy Spirit, this is only for those that intend to spend eternal life in heaven with their Creator God. However if this is not what you are looking for then the flesh birth is enough for you, but you will be spending eternity with the deceiver Satan the devil in hell. Everyone has their own free choice. God guarantees this right to choose!
But for the man or woman that would rather spend their time with God, the good news is that the process of salvation begins in the heart by the believing and receiving the testimony of God, as presented to us by the gospel of Jesus Christ and as taught by His Holy Spirit! God chose preaching in: (Romans 16:25 Now to Him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery kept secret since the world began.) and in: (1 Corinthians 1:21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.)
But the rejection of that testimony hardens the heart: (Psalms 95:8 Do not harden your hearts, as in the rebellion, As in the day of trial in the wilderness,); (Proverbs 28:14 Happy is the man who is always reverent, But he who hardens his heart will fall into calamity.) and in: (2 Chronicles 36:13 And he also rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him swear an oath by God; but he stiffened his neck and hardened his heart against turning to the LORD God of Israel.) And the new testament bears witness also in: (Mark 10:5 And Jesus answered and said to them, “Because of the hardness of your heart he wrote you this precept“.) and in: (John 12:40 “ He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, Lest they should see with their eyes, Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, So that I should heal them.”)
Hardness of heart can be very clearly seen in those who take sin lightly! Through partial acknowledgment and confession of sin; pride and conceit; ingratitude; unconcern about the word of God and ordinances of God; inattention to the preaching of the gospel that God chose to call a people to Himself; preaching or teaching false doctrine; stifling convictions of conscience; shunning reproof; making excuses for sin; presumption, and general ignorance of divine or Godly things.”
The eyes, ears and hearts are organs of the body used in conjunction with blindness, deafness and perception or understanding as in: (Isaiah 6:10 “ Make the heart of this people dull, And their ears heavy, And shut their eyes; Lest they see with their eyes, And hear with their ears, And understand with their heart, And return and be healed.”); and Jesus said in: (Matthew 13:15 For the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, And their eyes they have closed, Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, So that I should heal them.’)
Of course this is not talking about physical sight, hearing or understanding, but spiritual blindness, deafness and understanding because people are not aware of what goes on in their heart as they are in their mind and once again who speaks to the mind? That’s right the devil, what, don’t believe me? In: (2 Corinthians 4:3-5 But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, 4 whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them. 5 For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your bondservants for Jesus’ sake.) Who do you suppose, is the god of this age? It is none other than the little “g” god of this world. How do we get rid of this blindness? We are told in verse 5, “For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your bondservants for Jesus’ sake.” Just as we are told in: (2 Corinthians 3:14 But their minds were blinded. For until this day the same veil remains unlifted in the reading of the Old Testament, because the veil is taken away in Christ.) And where do you suppose this veil is applied? In: (2 Corinthians 3:15 But even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart.) And I ask you once again, where dose God speak to us? That’s right the heart!
So I close this study with, do we really have a heart for the Lord?

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