Spiritual Open Heart Surgery
Psalm 26:2
Examine me, O LORD, and prove me; try my reins and my heart.
Psalm 139:23
Ps 139:23 Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts:
As most of you know on November 23rd I had a double by-pass surgery which required the opening of my chest and taking veins from my leg and using them by by-passing the clogged arteries therefore creating a free flow of blood in my heart,
The main artery of my heart was 99% blocked and I was just hours or days from having a fatal heart-attack.
But by God’s mercy and grace He spared me until I could have surgery to prevent that from happening.
Thanks to God, the prayers of the people, and good doctors and nurses I was spared and given a new lease on life.
I will need to change my lifestyle and my eating habits, get plenty of exercise and try to live a stress-free life as much as I can.
It’s amazing what medical science can do today!
I was sitting around after my surgery and my mind began to wander.
I began to think about the similarities between physical open heart surgery and spiritual open heart surgery.
Going back to my text:
Psalm 26:2
Examine me, O LORD, and prove me; try my reins and my heart.
Psalm 139:23
Ps 139:23 Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts:
David wrote, “examine me, Oh Lord, examine my heart.”
David wasn’t talking about the physical heart here. He was talking about the spiritual heart, the Hebrew word, labe, which is the feelings, the will, the mind, and the intellect of man.
You see, I had no idea the artery in my heart was slowly being blocked by a plaque buildup. I knew I was having problems, shortness of breath, etc., but I didn’t know what was wrong.
David wanted to make sure his heart was right with God. He wanted to make sure there was nothing that was blocking the flow of God’s Spirit within Him.
Lord, see if I have a spiritual heart problem! I’ve been feeling like something is wrong, I’ve been sluggish, I’ve just been crawling along, I’ve been slow in my movement, flow, and growth.
I know something is wrong, I don’t have the spiritual zeal I used to have, I don’t feel like praying anymore, I don’t even want to go to church sometime, I am lax in my prayer life, I don’t read the Bible like I used to, and I feel something is wrong.
I don’t feel the Spirit flowing through me like I used to feel.
Lord I know something is wrong so examine my heart oh God, and see if there be something in there that is blocking the flow of God’s Spirit in me.
None of us likes to admit that something is wrong with us, either physically or spiritually.
We like to feel that everything is okay, even though we have signs that something isn’t quite right.
You know, spiritually, in order for the Spirit of God, or the Holy Spirit to flow through us, we must have a clean heart.
A clean heart gives us the spiritually energy to do things for God. To be active in the work of God, to active in our prayer life and daily lifestyle.
Psalm 51:10, David wrote, “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.
When I went to the doctor on Friday November 20th, I just thought the doc would say “You’re heart is okay, just some acid reflux, you can take this prescription and don’t worry about it.”
But he didn’t say that! First, he had an EKG done on me. I heard the nurse say, “That ain’t right.”
What? What ain’t right! She just took off out of the room and the doctor said “I want you to get on the treadmill.”
Hey no problem! I have a treadmill at home and I used to walk on that thing a lot!”
I got on the treadmill and didn’t last but a few minutes, I was hurting so bad I had to sit down.
Then a heart MRI was done, then the doctors said, “You need to have a heart cath done!”
Hey this is not what I was expecting!
You know when your heart begins to get out of tune with God He sends you little warning signs, you don’t want to hear, you may act like you are surprised that God is dealing with you to get your heart right, but God is always right.
Well, guess what, the doctor said I had some major blockage.
He told me he couldn’t even place a stint in there because of where the blockage was.
I’m placing you in the hospital right now and you’re have open heart surgery Monday!
Wow! That hits you like a brick!
You see, David said, “Examine my heart, Oh Lord.”
Do a spiritual heart cath on me Oh Lord, see if you see anything in there that is stopping the flow of the spirit in my life.
Cause you see, if I had ignored the doctor and went home, and said, “Oh the doctor don’t know what he is talking about, I’m okay. I feel a little bad, but there isn’t anything wrong with me.”
You know what? You probably would be searching for a new Pastor about right now, because I would have had a fatal heart attack.
You may be here today and saying to yourself, “Oh I’m okay. I don’t feel there is anything wrong. I’ll just go on my way and not worry about it.”
Heart disease is a serious thing! Spiritual heart disease is even more serious!
You can ignore God’s warning, you can ignore the Holy Spirit telling you that you have blockage in your spiritual heart, that you need for God to open your heart and give you a clean heart, a clean bill of health.
Because if you ignore the warning signs, spiritual death will come.
You will find yourself totally cut of from the flow of God’s spirit in your life, dead in the trespasses of your sins.
Listen church, we need to ask God to examine our hearts this morning.
Lord, see if there be anything in my heart that is blocking your blessings, blocking your spirit, blocking your joy and peace.
Its dangerous to ignore signs of heart problems. If you have those signs you are very lucky and it is your body telling you something is wrong and you need to see a doctor before its too late.
Some people don’t have a chance to experience those little signs that warn them.
They are feeling fine, and the next thing you know they have a massive heart attack and die instantly.
It pays to ask a doctor to examine us and see if we are okay.
Its also dangerous to ignore the signs of spiritual heart disease.
You should know! You see when the blood is flowing freely through your heart, there is no obstructions, your heart is healthy, you have energy, zeal, there is no worry because you know you have a clean bill of health.
When we begin to feel lethargic in our spiritual life, we have no joy, no peace, no zeal, no desire to do anything for God, and we back off from doing things for God that we know will take a little effort on our part, there is usually something wrong with our spiritual heart.
And if we ignore those signs, it won’t be long until our spiritual life suffers serious consequences.
You see, we have spiritual dead people sitting in the church. They died a long time ago. They have no spirit, they never feel the Holy Spirit, they have no spiritual life.
Because they ignored the signs a long time ago that something was wrong with their spiritual life, but they ignored them, thinking they were okay. But they are dead!
When you begin backing off from working for God, you think you need a rest, it’s a sign you are in the beginnings of spiritual heart disease.
I’ve heard people say, “I’m tired, I need to take a rest.” It really means there is something else wrong. They have lost their zeal.
How many of us tell our employer, I’m tired, I’m I think I will just quit for awhile. I wonder what they would say?
Well I’m going to step out and tell you this morning, working for God is a lot more important than your job!
Your job has temporal benefits, but your work for God has eternal benefits.
So what do we need to do?
Again, “Psalm 51:10, David wrote, “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.
Oh God, perform a spiritual open heart surgery on me, and Lord I need it today!
Lord clean out those impurities! Clean out my sins! Clean out all the obstructions that is keeping me from being what I should be for God.
Create in me a CLEAN heart Oh God! And renew my spirit once again.
Clean out my heart Oh God, so that I can once again feel your Holy Spirit.
Clean out my heart Oh God, so I can once again have a desire to work for you!
Clean out my heart Oh God, those sins, those iniquities, those impurities, that envy, that jealousy, that prejudice, that hatred, that unforgiving attitude.
Because I know that if I have a clean heart, a pure heart, that life will come back into me!
I will once again experience the Spirit of God flowing through my spiritual heart.
Make me better than I have ever been before!
You know, the plaque that builds up in your arteries doesn’t build up over night.
It sometimes takes a long time for the buildup to take place.
But when it does, something has to be done.
We don’t build up spiritual heart disease overnight either.
It comes slowly, not realizing that something is wrong, until one day God sends you some warnings, the Holy Spirit begins to deal with you.
If you listen and do what He tells you to do, you will get where you need to be with little consequences.
But if you ignore the symptoms, you will suffer spiritual sickness and maybe even spiritual death.
I’m glad I heeded the warning! I’m glad the surgeons knew what to do to prevent me from having a fatal heart attack.
I’m glad God spared me until I could get some help.
I’m also glad my spiritual heart is clean before God.
You may say, “Pastor, I know there are some little things in my heart that should not be there. But they are just little things. It won’t hurt me!”
But those little things will grow into big things. Those little things will suck the life from you.
The bible says it’s the little foxes that spoil the vine. They eat on the vine that is close the ground, out of view, undetected, until its too late.
I challenge you this morning to come to this altar and ask God to check your spiritual heart. “God see if I have something that is blocking the joy in my life, something that blocking the peace in my life.
Lord do a spiritual heart operation on me before its too late.”
