Spiritual Open Heart Surgery

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.