By Marianne Mauti
The Spiritually Healthy Heart
Welcome to part two of our series on the spiritual heart condition of the inner man entitled, "the Heart of the Matter". In this article we are going to look at what the Bible has to say about a heart that is healthy and in good spiritual condition. To begin with, the Word of God is the standard of truth, the measure of all things in our life and everything that concerns our physical, mental and emotional health and well being can be found in its pages. The Bible tells us that a healthy spiritual heart is just as important to the well-being of the inner man as the human heart is to the life of the physical man. Just as our physical bodies could not function without blood, neither can our spiritual man survive without the life giving nutrients of the spirit of God. The condition of our spiritual heart dictates the quality of our entire life!The ability to live a healthy life is not dependent on our circumstances, it comes from within!
What Makes a Spiritual Heart Healthy?
The Bible has this to say about directing our heart," Listen, my son, and be wise, and set your heart on the right path" Proverbs 23:19 If God wants you to set your heart on the path, clearly God has one in mind. Because God has given us the right of self-determination, it is the responsibility of every believer to do what is necessary to 'keep our heart' soft and pliable before the Lord. The Bible tells us that a healthy spiritual heart is something we can maintain! When our inner man is healthy so is our relationship with God. Here are some scriptures that show us what God requires. They are an important spiritual guideline, a path :
A Healthy Spiritual Heart… Loves the Lord above all
"Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. You shall love the Lord you God with all your heart and with all your soul, and with all your might." Duet. 6:405…. The depth of love that God desires from us, is an all consuming love, that includes our spirit, our soul (the seat of our thoughts and emotions) and our might (an impressive force,forcefully). It is not a weak, lukewarm, halfhearted love! A healthy love relationship with God will also translate to all the other relationships in your life!
A Healthy Spiritual Heart… Is a heart that knows His Word and His ways
Knowing God's word is not only vital for spiritual health, but for spiritual life as well. We must be able to discern truth. Knowing God's word will help you to identify when the truth is being twisted. Even the Berean's didn't take Paul's teaching at face value. They wanted to know for themselves themselves whether what he had to say was true. Acts 17:11. Psalms 27:11 tells us, "Teach me your way, O Lord, and lead me in a level path because of my foes." It is important that we know God's ways, "Now therefore, I pray you, if I have found favor in your sight, let me know your ways that I may know you, so that O may find favor in your sight consider too, that this nation is your people." Exodus 33:13
A HEALTHY SPIRITUAL HEART… Places all it's value in a relationship with God
A Healthy Spiritual Heart… Is a heart that knows His Word and His ways
Knowing God's word is not only vital for spiritual health, but for spiritual life as well. We must be able to discern truth. Knowing God's word will help you to identify when the truth is being twisted. Even the Berean's didn't take Paul's teaching at face value. They wanted to know for themselves themselves whether what he had to say was true. Acts 17:11. Psalms 27:11 tells us, "Teach me your way, O Lord, and lead me in a level path because of my foes." It is important that we know God's ways, "Now therefore, I pray you, if I have found favor in your sight, let me know your ways that I may know you, so that O may find favor in your sight consider too, that this nation is your people." Exodus 33:13
A HEALTHY SPIRITUAL HEART… Places all it's value in a relationship with God
" For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also" Matthew 6:21.If you treasure your relationship with God, than it becomes more precious to you than anything else! Your heart will guide your thoughts and emotions to completely invest in God!
A HEALTHY SPIRITUAL HEART… Is loyal, faithful true to him
"For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him." 2 Chronicles 16:9. God requires a heart that is loyal to him. He promises to respond to us in kind. He is a loyal, faithful, true and strong friend, to those that love him. What a wonderful thing to know that God wants to prove himself to those that remain steadfast and faithful to Him. Devotion is a true test of love!
A HEALTHY SPIRITUAL HEART… Is transparent before God
"Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my thoughts." Psalm 139:23…. Keeping your heart transparent before God is an important part of maintaining a healthy heart. Giving God permission to examine our heart and show us if there is anything that we need to change in our life, in our way of thinking, is essential to our well being!
A HEALTHY SPIRITUAL HEART... Is patient and courageous
"Wait on the Lord; be of good courage, and He shall strengthen thine heart." Psalm 27:14…In today's instant everything world, it is hard to wait on what is best for us. A patient heart is one that has confidence in God's ability to do what He said He would do for us and the courage to wait for that to happen. Patience and courage strengthens our heart, just as exercise strengthens our body! Getting ahead of God's plan, because we are impatient, is always a bad decision!
A HEALTHY SPIRITUAL HEART… Is a heart that trusts God
"The Lord is my strength and my shield: my heart trusted in Him, and I am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoices; and with my song will I praise him." Psalm 28:7….Many of us have invested our trust in others, only to find out that they were not trustworthy. We become hesitant to trust again. God is the only one you can trust completely. He will never betray you! Knowing that can give you the confidence you need to move in the direction God wants you to go. It gives you cause to rejoice, with a grateful heart, knowing that you can trust and fully depend on Him !
A HEALTHY SPIRITUAL HEART… Pours his heart out to God
"Trust in Him at all times, you people; pour out your heart before Him" Psalm 62:8….. How many of us just need someone to talk to! Perhaps we are going through something difficult and we need a shoulder to cry on. Maybe it is something very deep and personal and we would be embarrassed to share it with anyone else. God wants to be the one you share your deepest thoughts, struggles, heartache and pain with! There isn't anything you can not bring to him. You can always trust that He not only hears, but He will comfort and guide you, in whatever you are going through, especially the difficult times in your life!
A HEALTHY SPIRITUAL HEART…Is repentant before God
"If my people, who are called by my name will humble themselves, and pray, seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land." 2 Chronicles 7:14, "The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance." 2 Peter 3:9. A healthy spiritual heart seeks forgiveness when sin has been committed. It is a heart that is correctable, teachable. God is patient with us, willing to wait for us to confess our sin, then willing and eager to forgive! When we call to Him, He will hear our cry. When we turn from our sin, He brings healing to our life. Even to a Nation!
A HEALTHY SPIRITUAL HEART…Is one that acknowledges the wisdom and authority of God!
"Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; lean not to thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy path." Proverbs 3:5,6…Giving God sovereignty over your life is a choice ! If you make Him the Lord of your life, it means that He has the right to expect you follow His commands, obey His Word, adopt His wisdom and seek His direction in every area of your life. Lordship is giving complete authority to God, it is a sacred trust.
A HEALTHY SPIRITUAL HEART…Worships God with all that is within Him!
"I will praise you. O Lord, with all my heart; I will tell of all of your wonders." Psalm 9:1. Human beings cannot exist without worship. It is inherent in our nature. Worshipping beings need someone or something to worship. If we choose not to worship God, we will worship wealth, beauty, even other people. Our worship of God is a complete surrender of the heart! Being in the presence of God, acknowledging who He is to us, this is the 'heart' of our spiritual well being. A heart that chooses to worship God will find total, absolute and complete fulfillment in Him!
"I will praise you. O Lord, with all my heart; I will tell of all of your wonders." Psalm 9:1. Human beings cannot exist without worship. It is inherent in our nature. Worshipping beings need someone or something to worship. If we choose not to worship God, we will worship wealth, beauty, even other people. Our worship of God is a complete surrender of the heart! Being in the presence of God, acknowledging who He is to us, this is the 'heart' of our spiritual well being. A heart that chooses to worship God will find total, absolute and complete fulfillment in Him!
A HEALTHY SPIRITUAL HEART… Is a merry heart!
"A merry heart makes a cheerful countenance: but by sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken....But he that is of a merry heart hath a continual feast" Proverbs 15:13-15. "A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones." Proverbs 17:22. Doctors tell us that laughter is emotionally and physically good for us. It releases endorphins (a type of hormone) which causes a calming effect on the body, mind and emotions. Isn't it wonderful that when we allow joy and laughter flow from our heart , it is healthy for our whole being!
"A merry heart makes a cheerful countenance: but by sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken....But he that is of a merry heart hath a continual feast" Proverbs 15:13-15. "A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones." Proverbs 17:22. Doctors tell us that laughter is emotionally and physically good for us. It releases endorphins (a type of hormone) which causes a calming effect on the body, mind and emotions. Isn't it wonderful that when we allow joy and laughter flow from our heart , it is healthy for our whole being!
The Prescription
The Word of God gives us a the prescription for a healthy spiritual heart! When we take it, all kinds of good things to begin to flow from it! Kindness, goodness, graciousness, hospitality, patience, joy, faithfulness, loyalty, giving, caring, serving, love, peace and so many more. They are all the overflow of an abundantly, healthy heart. It begins with our relationship with God and flows out from us ,spilling over on to every other relationship! In Matthew 12:33-35 Jesus likened our heart to a tree, saying a good tree puts forth good fruit and a bad tree puts forth bad fruit. He also said
"those things which process out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man." Matthew 15:18-19
We must be careful what we allow to go in it and what we allow to come out of it! We are commanded by God to keep our emotions from governing our will and causing our heart to stray from God and the path he has for our life. Allowing God to be the center of our being, keeping His word fresh in our heart, is the perfect prescription for a healthy spiritual heart !
Conclusion
God is intimately involved in the matters of our heart! The Bible challenges us to be equipped to live a life for God with a heart that is committed and prepared to trust Him in our daily life! God's prescription for healthy living is the one we need to take every day of our life! Unless we pay attention to the condition of our heart, we risk finding ourselves subject to spiritual damage and disease. The degeneration of our spiritual heart will eventually effect every area of our life. When we begin to stray in our relationship with God, it isn't very difficult to discern where the problem originated. Jeremiah warns us of the deceitfulness of the heart and declares that apart from the redemptive power of God it is incurably evil! "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can understand it?" Jeremiah 17:9
Next in this series Part 3: The Hardening Heart
Next in this series Part 3: The Hardening Heart
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FORGING YOUR FAITH
To 'Forge' something, is to mold and shape something for suitable use. We believe that our lives are constantly being shaped and molded by the hand of God for His divine purpose! This publication strives to encourage believers who are beginning this process and those who are well into it! We also believe a truly successful life is a Christ-Centered Life! We hope you will join us and become a regular reader!
Thank You and God Bless,
Marianne Mauti
Founder and CAO
'Forging Your Faith' is the online Christian publication of 'Christ the King Church' in Bellevue, Pa.
About Marianne Mauti: Marianne is a writer and blogger as well as a Pastor at "Christ the King Church" in Bellevue, Pa. She is currently the Dean and Chief Operating Officer of "Christ the King Seminary" a full time Bible Institute. For more information about us please contact us at: crowncntr@aol.com
About Marianne Mauti: Marianne is a writer and blogger as well as a Pastor at "Christ the King Church" in Bellevue, Pa. She is currently the Dean and Chief Operating Officer of "Christ the King Seminary" a full time Bible Institute. For more information about us please contact us at: crowncntr@aol.com ***********************************************************
ARTICLE RESOURCES
ARTICLE RESOURCES
* The Bible
*Dr. George R. Beninate: Is Bishop of "Christ the King Church" in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. A Doctor of Theology, Biblical Apologist, conference speaker, lecturer and my spiritual father.He is also the Author of several books including,"The Age of Glory", Thank you for your relentless pursuit of truth!
* webbed.com: for heart health tips
