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www.truthworks.com 26 AUG 03 devotion archive send this page to a friend |
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HEART TO HEART I tell you the Truth, The heart is mentioned more than 900 times in God’s word. Rarely does the Bible refer to a physical heart. It’s important that we understand what God is showing us by understanding the meaning of the words. When I read in God’s word that the heart is wicked, I try to stand back and look at my heart as if it is an organ that is beyond my control. My carnal mind immediately looks down upon my heart as this savage beast, a problem of the flesh. “Hey, I’m glad He’s not talking about me. He’s just talking about my heart!’ But when we look deeper into God’s Word, we find that the heart is much more than an organ. The heart is more than just our source of love as in, “with all my heart.” Pain is derived when our heart breaks. Our character is displayed when we act “from the heart.” The heart is who I am, my inner most being. The physical heart will one day stop. But my spiritual heart is eternal. Can I really have a spiritual heart? Using my rule of definitions, I always go to the first occurrence of a word in the Bible to derive its meaning.
Genesis 6: Have you ever thought about thoughts coming from your heart? Can you now see that when the Word refers to your heart, it refers to you, your person, your intellect, your soul, your being? These are the characteristics of the heart. Our spiritual heart is designed in God’s own image (Genesis 1:27). God, being a spiritual being has a spiritual heart which He said was “filled with pain” because of man’s wickedness. In Matthew 5:8, Jesus said blessed are the pure in heart. That’s quite a tall task for man whose thoughts of the heart are evil all the time. So how do we obtain a pure heart? The answer: we cannot do it – not on our own. Only Christ can purify the heart. It’s a matter of simply confessing the evil of the heart to a Holy God and receiving the purification. Once the heart is purified, then we must maintain that which Christ has done for us. Jesus gives us maintenance instruction in Matthew 6: 19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Where is your heart? Don’t know? Then where is your treasure? Christ makes it so easy for us to examine ourselves. We make it so difficult. Treasures in heaven are eternal while earthly treasures will one day pass through the fire and be consumed. Purify your heart today by taking up your cross and doing the work of the Kingdom. There is no greater peace in this life than to have a pure heart before the God of creation.
Your Servant,
<*))))))< <*))))))< <*))))))< <*))))))< <*))))))< <*))))))< Prayer Requests (and Praises!) Please pray for two young guys in my area. They are Sammy Wright and Jonathan Cook. Both these boys are in their teens and both suffer from a severe form of MD. Sammy is the son of a good friend and co-worker. I met Jonathan in a local nursing home and he never sees his family. MD can not only be crippling, but it can also be fatal and both these guys, along with their families need our prayers, so please pray with me for Sammy and Jonathan.
Also be in
prayer for area that I live and work in. If you’re a news watcher, you may know
that we’re experiencing a copy cat sniper shooter preying on people in the
Charleston, WV area like Maryland and Virginia experienced last year. We’ve had
three people gunned down this past week. The people of southern West Virginia
need peace which
transcends all understanding.
We appreciate your prayers. Please reply if you have prayer requests, comments or simply need an open ear. I always enjoy hearing from you. <*))))))< <*))))))< <*))))))< <*))))))< <*))))))< <*))))))< Copyright © 2003 Truth Works Publishing. All rights reserved.
Unless otherwise specified, all scripture quotations taken from the HOLY BIBLE,
NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. NIV.
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