Over the years i’ve watched, and even been a part of, something i’ve come to call the “Christian yoyo”:
We go to conferences, read books and have encounter nights. Get on fire one minute, then within a short period, we can find ourselves feeling spiritually sick.
Why is this? Jesus didn’t seem to be like this did he?
I’ve come to this conclusion: it’s because so often we have Jesus in our hearts, along with a lot of rubbish we don’t deal with. Most often its hurt, fear, insecurity, pride, self.
The fire of God in our lives can start but unless the heart is dead to self, the fire wont last.
Its like putting green leaves on a bonfire -there’s a lot of smoke but no lasting flame. You need to be dead to truely burn. This means allowing your self to be vulnerable before God, so He can help deal and heal any issues of the heart that will ultimately make you sick.
Whatever is in your heart, whether you’ve buried it or not, will eventually come out and be reflected in who you are.
“So a man thinks in his heart, so he is” (proverbs 23:7)
I recently shared these thoughts with my local church and was amazed at the response from people who have been saved for 20, 30 and even 40 years. They couldn’t work out why they would go through times of being fired up for the Lord and then seem to get sick spiritually. The key: Uprooting the things in there heart that were polluting the body.
Unresolved heart issues will always act like a dam blocking the flow of the Holy Spirit in your life.
Take a minute to ponder this question…
What are the things that are closest to your heart?
The answers to this question are probably things like friends, family, a relationship, hobbies, causes, work, money, music, God…the list goes on.
I’ve come to realize that the most important thing in this world is the condition of my heart.
The Bible tells us that “Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the well spring of life” (Proverbs 4:23).
There is nothing more important in our lives than our heart.
Just as the condition of our physical hearts keep us healthy or sick, so our spiritual hearts determine who we are.
You are…your heart.
Who you are today, how you speak, how you act, the attitudes you carry, your emotions, the way you responded last time someone offended you, the last time you responded when someone else took the last cookie?
These are all a reflection of one thing: your heart.
Proverbs 27:19 tells us that “as water reflects a mans face, so the heart reflects the man”. Who you are today is just an outward showing of an internal heart.
This is the reason we ask Jesus into our hearts at salvation. If Jesus is truly in our hearts, who we are will resemble who He is.
Jesus tells us that what you say comes from what is in your heart (matt 12:42). That the good man brings forth good out of the good stored up in him and the evil man brings forth out of the evil stored up in him. Notice the word Stored. Everything we allow close to our heart is storing something within us that will eventually surface, both good and bad.
What are you storing in your heart?
For example, If you want to be someone who genuinely loves people, don’t just try love more people because you made your mind up to, but ask the Lord to fill your heart with love, and love will flow from you, from who you are.
I’ve come to the conclusion that there’s no such thing as ‘having a bad day’ or ‘waking up on the wrong side of the bed’. Its when an orange is squeezed that whatever is on the inside of it will come out – either sweet goodness or sourness.
People who know me well will tell you that I’m pretty guarded about the things that I allow to be close to my heart. The enemy is consistently trying to sow seeds into our life’s that bring destruction, division and death. Every time we speak the bible tells us that we either speak words of death or life- Everything we say is a seed and every time we allow someone to speak into our hearts they are sowing a seed.
How do seeds get in? Through what (or who) we listen to or are close to, through what we read (or view) and from who we partner with (Both friendships and relationships). The amount of people I’ve seen ripped off because of a lack of guarding the heart in these issues is staggering – I myself many times have fallen for these traps. In different seasons of my life I’ve had to lay down close friendships (Both Christian and non-Christian). Why? Because they were sowing seeds that were (or were going to) produce bad fruit in my life. My heart condition is more important than any friendships
So what do we need to do?
Its simple…Put your heart number one. Above all things guard your heart.
Everyday I try pray these prayers
- Lord clean out the temple of my heart
- Lord Set me heart on Fire and burn up the dross
- Lord Soften my heart
- Lord Consume my heart…”You must increase, But I must decrease”
Hope the Holy Spirit spoke to you through this.
Much love,
Benaiah
