The Believer's Heart. (Part1) Series

Introduction:

I believe as a believer of Christ we should always look inside our hearts.

The physical heart is the very center of life.This is the only organ when it fails your dead immediately.

That’s why we need to take care of this in order to have a healthy heart.

Heart: Chief organ of physical life.

But today we are going to study the spiritual heart of a believer.

In the Bible the heart is not simply the organ that pumps blood through the body.It’s a metaphor for a person’s innermost core or spiritual center.

God sees tests and searches the hidden depths of the human heart.

Are you a person who always looks inside your heart?

This is a wonderful habit a believer must have, always checking the motives and the conditions of his heart.

The phrase "hardness of heart" is used not only for God’s people’s enemies, like Pharaoh in Egypt, but also for God’s people, Israel.

In the New Testament it describes not only the scribes and Pharisees but also the disciples.

A hardhearted person is self-centered, resistant or closed off to God and what God wants to do in that person’s life.

It is deep below the surface of our lives, then, that God begins a work of renewing grace in us. The real action is deep in the heart.

The heart represents the true character of man.

How to make your spiritual heart healthy.

1. Always look inside your heart.

Matthew 15:19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander.

You are the only person on earth who knows the condition of your heart.

Jeremiah 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?

Everything in our spiritual life is all about the condition of the heart.

We say the reason why some of our police are corrupt because of their low salary. I believe that statement is wrong.

Some are already corrupt because that is already the condition of their hearts before joining the police force.

There are many police officers with low salary but not corrupt.

That’s why it is very important for us to examine our hearts everyday.

Christians who don’t pay attention to the conditions of their heart are in dangers of abandoning God.

When David failed he asked God to create a clean heart in him again.

Psalm 51:10 Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a loyal spirit within me.

Our spiritual problems are often rooted in our failure to examine our hearts everyday.

Every time I detect something in my heart that I know is destructive in my spiritual life, I immediately expose it in the presence of God.

Psalm 139:23 Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.

2. Always guard your heart.

It is our responsibility to guard our own heart.

This is not the responsibility of your Pastor or your church.

I do not know what you allow in your heart after you step out of this place.

We are the gatekeepers of our hearts.

It is not God’s responsibility,

nor can we blame the devil, for our heart problems.

Jesus declared that we should love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. (Mark 12:30)

When describing the kingdom of God, Jesus revealed the things that come out of the heart defile a man (Matt. 15:16-20).

He also taught, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Luke 12:34).

The apostle Paul prayed for the saints that “the eyes of your heart may be enlightened” (Eph. 1:18).

The heart is a mysterious spiritual reality that allows us to experience the fullness of life.

It includes emotion, but the heart is not limited to emotion.

According to Scripture, the heart can be grieved, troubled, broken, pierced, divided, and joyful.

Dr. Charles Ryrie defined the heart as “the very core of life.” Our heart is the truest expression of who we really are.

Guarding your heart includes seeking God, putting away perverse speech, looking straight ahead, and choosing good paths.

Guarding our heart is our partnership with the Holy Spirit.

There is nothing more important than the resource of your heart. If it gets corrupted, everything else will suffer:

Your heart is a vital resource, and it must be protected at all costs.

3. Always expose it to the word of God.

Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

“For the word of God is living and powerful.”

The word translated “powerful” (energes in greek) is the word from which we get energy and energetic. The word literally means “at work.”