The state of your heart
I want to ask you a question: “What is the condition of your heart?”
It is amazing to me how much my 4 year old can hold on to offense when he is really angry with one of his siblings. No matter how much you try to reason, negotiate or bribe him in order to let go and forgive, he refuses with such a strong sense of determination that is almost scary and extremely frustrating. Even after they have apologized to him multiple times, you will find him going on and on about the situation until everyone gets tired of listening.
One day, he got so upset with his brother that he insisted on a fight even after his brother had apologised and I had done everything to de-escalate the issue. I remember asking him: “does being so angry feel good?” and I can’t remember his response but I remember saying to him: “Immanuel, you have to guard your heart”. Even I chuckled saying these words to a 4 year old whose biggest issues range from not liking the clothes I picked for him to one of his siblings using his paper to color.
The thing is, God has been speaking to me a lot about the condition of my heart and how much it impacts everything else. These below rings so true:
“My son, do not forget my teaching, but keep my commands in your heart, for they will prolong your life many years and bring you peace and prosperity.” - Proverbs 4:20-22
A few things have happened in my life recently that have hurt my feelings considerably. I have found myself bitter, angry and a bit resentful by what I considered a betrayal and to some level unfair treatment. As a result of my justfied feelings, I have noticed how decisions I make are laced with the desire to revenge and hurt my offenders.
Unfortunately for me, I have also been strongly ‘encouraged’ to check my heart before proceeding with certain decisions. I remember having a dream where I was very angry with 2 people who I felt had treated me unfairly. Later that day, I received emails from these 2 people over different things and there were lots of back and forth. I was telling my husband about these experiences, and he started to laugh which was even more annoying. Then he reminded me about my dream and pointed out that God was already warning me in advance. The issue was that after expressing myself and having these email exchanges, I felt extremely uncomfortable and started to regret my actions because I had to honestly admit that I was not being completely rational and my responses were because those people had offended me at previous times so I was reacting from that place of hurt and I was the unfortunate recipient of regret and shame.
One major thing has been highlighted to me is the fact that if the condition of our heart is wrong, we are limited in how much we can experience spiritual maturity or growth as the word of God is usually planted in our hearts as shown in the parable of the Sower in Luke 8. Read Here
Now this is the meaning of the parable: The seed is the word of God. 12The seed along the path are those who hear, but the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. 13The seeds on rocky ground are those who hear the word and receive it with joy, but they have no root. They believe for a season, but in the time of testing, they fall away. 14The seeds that fell among the thorns are those who hear, but as they go on their way, they are choked by the worries, riches, and pleasures of this life, and their fruit does not mature. 15But the seeds on good soil are those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, cling to it, and by persevering produce a crop
The word is planted in all our hearts but for various reasons, the word does not bear fruit because the condition of our heart is not conducive for the word to grow and become fruitful. In this parable there are 4 major types of soil (read heart) that the word of God is sown into. The image below is perfect to explain what I have tried to explain in this post.
The Footpath: The word barely makes it to your heart before the devil that steals it away. The word from your heart before it even has any impact which is why some people never accept Jesus. My general assumption is that most people who read my blog are Christians but if you are not and are curious about accepting Jesus please send me a message. Ask as many questions as you want and I will do my best to answer. If you have heard the word and you are on the fence, I want to say believing in Jesus is such a beautiful freeing gift and I pray you accept him today. You can watch my video on coming to faith here HERE
Rocky Hearts: Some hearts are compared to rocky grounds because they have no root and after a little testing, they fall away because they find it easier to to go back to what was comfortable before they accepted Christ. They would rather stay where they were before than make the necessary adjustments to grow in relationship with Christ. I know many people don’t like to hear it but becoming a Christian does come with some sacrifice and you won’t always be able to do the same things prior. A criminal for example can’t continue with a life of Crime after Christ.
Thorny Hearts: Some hearts are called thorny because the word is chocked by ‘life’s worries, riches and pleasures’ which then stops then from maturing. Imagine a beautiful flower bed and then imagine that there are more thorns than anything else. So as the seed becomes fruitful, so do the thorns grow until the point where there are more thorns which choke life out of the fruitful tree. Many of us peak at this point because quite frankly our Christianity is comfortable so long as life is comfortable. In fact the better life gets for some people the more we relegate God and his word to the backburner until we need something treating the word like some vending machine. We get distracted by the things we consider matter and many times we put them before God and his word.
Good Soil: Finally the good soil which is referred to as the ‘noble and good heart’: I touched on this before but just to emphasize the good soil represents the good heart that creates the right environment for the word to grow and become fruitful. The condition of the soil (read: the heart) matters. If your soil condition is not right, then you might have to do some work on it so it becomes better. If there are many thorns, is it time to do some weeding? If there are too many rocks, do we need to change environment? What needs to be done to make sure your heart is in the right condition before we start discussing whether or not we can be fruitful.
I kept asking the Holy Spirit ‘why the heart?’ and he explained that a person’s life is connected to a person’s heart. Once a heart stops beating, the person is dead and there is no life. This is why God plants his word in our hearts because it is the life source which is why we are told:
Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it -Proverbs 4:23
What I keep seeing highlighted throughout the bible is this. For God’s word to achieve what it is supposed to, in a sustainable and long term way, the conditions of our heart must first be right even before we start talking about being fruitful. The condition of your heart determines how far you can mature as a Christian.
There are things I have been praying for but I find myself frequently asking God to help my heart because I want to make sure I have the right reasons. I also have realized that if the condition of my heart is wrong, I might misunderstand the word God gives me about certain things I am praying about. It also might mean that God can’t trust me with certain assignments or responsibilities because my heart is not at the right place.
A prayer I have been praying constantly is this: “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me” Psalm 51:10. I don’t want to miss opportunities or make a mess of them because my heart is the wrong place. I have prayed to God to help me forgive, to help me let go when I am hurt.
I don’t want this to be long so next week I will share somethings that could be affecting the state of your heart and making it an unconducive place for God’s word to be really fruitful. Make sure you are signed up on the newsletter to see it.
One final verse I want to leave you with:
Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. [6] In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
Notice that we are told to trust the Lord with our hearts and not rely on our own understanding which can mean our minds or wisdom. When you trust the Lord with your heart and you begin to nourish the word he places in your heart, everything else flows from there. So I am asking again: What is the condition of your heart?
Once again remember:
Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it - Proverbs 4:23
I have to be honest that many times I wonder if the things I write make sense. I read it over and over again and never stop editing even after I have published it 😂. So please let me know if I made sense or if anything is unclear. I promised a LIVE video and I intend to follow through on that. Please be patient with me. Working full time with 3 young kids can take it’s toll. My priority apart from the kids and work is writing until I have more time to do more. Please be patient with me. Life is in seasons so I do what what I can. Thank you so much you guys for always reading, commenting, sharing and subscribing to my newsletter. I am so incredibly grateful to you.
All my love,
Tito.