Over the years I have done multiple teachings on heart matters. In this season however, it has become increasingly heavy in my spirit to focus on the heart. This intensity started last year in December when I went on a three day fast. Within myself I just felt like something was off. I prayed and cried out to God to reveal to me what was wrong. On the second day I felt a constant pain in my heart, and on the third day it got worse. I pressed in prayer to find out what was happening, and my spirit was brought to an individual with whom I was having great difficulty with. Then, I was asked the question “what stirs up strife?” I thought about pride, and He said “the other one.” Then I remembered the scripture:
Proverbs 10:12 Hatred stirreth up strifes: but love covereth all sins.
Then immediately I had a vision where I saw an evil hand trying to tighten its grip around my heart. This was the pain I was feeling which was a physical manifestation of a spiritual experience. I started to repent immediately. For me, who has been so loving and have suffered greatly from unkind and disingenuous people, this was a surprise. When I inquired of the Lord, He told me that I was doing well for many years, but other persons started to identify and voice their opinion about how I was treated, and it made me pay so much attention to the pain associated with the treatment that I took my eyes off of the lesson I knew I was learning. For many of us, the adversary has been causing our love to “wax cold” through offences, disappointments, discouragements, ingratitude, betrayals, dishonor and disrespect. This strategy should be no surprise as the Lord Jesus told us to expect this. Since we are to be expecting this, should we not be coming up with counter strategies to guarantee that our hearts burn with love for God and our brethren?
The Word of the Lord declares in 1 Samuel 16:7, that man looks at the outward appearance but God looks at the heart. We have forgotten that it is the heart that God judges as words and actions can be deceitful. In the Amplified Classic version of 2 Corinthians 5:12, the Apostle Paul says:
We are not commending ourselves to you again, but we are providing you with an occasion and incentive to be [rightfully] proud of us, so that you may have a reply for those who pride themselves on surface appearances [on the virtues they only appear to have], although their heart is devoid of them.
There is nothing new under the sun, and as in the days of Jesus, the religious sect looked and spoke the part but were far away from the Truth in their hearts. The church is increasingly becoming like the film making industry. The part the actors play is by no means a reflection of the life they really live. Jesus spoke harshly to the religious group in Matthew 23:27:
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchers, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness.
My God, we look down our noses at the Pharisees but do our thoughts, actions and speech reflect the God we serve? It’s amazing the increase of slander, disrespect, bitterness, venom and hatred that is being spewed from pulpits. O God! My heart cries today for the body of Christ. We are to be pursuing peace with all men. We are to be loving and honoring the brethren and those in authority. We ought even to be esteeming each other higher than ourselves! My God, My God, HELP us Jesus! We are to be known by love, not works, because works can be deceitful. I tell you, even in writing this blog there is a cry in my heart for the church of the living God to not just talk but walk according to the Word of God.
We are told to Love God with all of our hearts. It’s only when we do this are we able to sincerely love ourselves and others and so fulfill all the laws and the utterances of the prophets of old. Let us allow the Spirit of God to search our hearts daily that the hidden contrary intents can be exposed and dealt with.
Heart Matters Matter Most. Let’s not deceive ourselves…
LOVE IS THE MORE EXCELLENT WAY!