The Battle For The Heart

The Battle for the Heart

Introduction

Last week we looked at the battle for our minds, and I ended saying, “That while the battle we are in is spiritual, the primary ground that this battle is fought is in our minds. But what ultimately determines the victory is the place we give to Christ in our hearts.”

Now, the reason why I am looking at the battle that is taking place for our hearts is because it’s the condition of the heart that determines not only who we are, but also how we relate to others.

Proverbs 23:7 says, “As a person thinks in their heart, that is who they are.” We looked at this in some detail last week.

Proverbs 4:23 says, “Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life.”

And Jesus said in Luke 6:45, “A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.”

Going back to what we looked at last week in the book of Ephesians about the battle we are in being spiritual, Paul takes us into God’s war room. And if we grasp the message, we will have a better view as to why the Christian lifestyle is so significant and must be fought for. We’ll also realize there’s a battle going on for our hearts.

Ephesians was written against a very bleak background, showing not only the type of people we were, but the overall condition of the human race. Listen to what Paul says about this in his letter.

“And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.” (Ephesians 2:1-3 NKJV)

What this says is that evil dominates when humanity pursues life as they think best without thought to their actions.

Yet there is hope. Evil offers no contest to God’s power, hence Paul’s words that while once they were like this, that is, dead in their sins, God has now made alive. But also, as he stated earlier in his letter, God has had a plan from the very beginning. And so, Paul longed to enlighten those caught in the thick of the battle about God’s power, and the goal toward which God is working.

“That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power.” (Ephesians 1:17-19 NKJV)

Therefore, Paul is telling us the nature of God’s power, and how God can transform those who are spiritually dead into becoming alive with Christ, which begins in our hearts.

What is the Heart?

Medically speaking, the heart is a muscular organ that pumps life giving blood to all parts of the human body through the body’s circulatory system. This provides the oxygen and nutrients that our bodies needs to survive.

Now, a healthy heart pumps the right amount of blood at a rate that allows the human body to function as God created.

But when our hearts fail to pump the way they should, when disease attacks it, or our arteries become clogged preventing blood from flowing in or out of the heart at its optimal rate, then we are faced with illness and possibly even death.

So, I think it’s safe to say that the human heart is one of the most important organs God placed in our bodies.

But I think it’s also safe to say that a person’s heart is also one of the most important spiritual organs God has given to us as well.

Spiritually, the heart symbolizes the center or core of our being, from which prayer and morality originate. This even explains the word “core,” which is derived from the Latin word meaning, “heart.”

The heart is therefore the primary source for much of what happens in our spiritual lives. It also explains why love is associated with the heart, that is, authentic love comes from the “core” of our being. It is not something that is on the “surface,” like what is being portrayed in the literature and movies of our day.