The seat of Your life ..part 1

The seat of who you are: Navigating the Complexities of the human heart

What a topic to write about especially in our postmodern, fast paced, millennial 21st Century! The humankind has managed to come up with most sophisticated innovations in history. It’s amazing how many inventions we have had in history which has changed the course of million and Billion of lives. Its however worth taking note that of these inventions , none has been made to deal with the human heart and hence improving the quality  of his life. We may have state of the art equipments and infrastructure but no invention has been made to help man deal with stress , solve issues of crime or decrease rate of divorce and suicide,etc.

We may enjoy all that technology has to offer but not unless we deal with the issues that really matter, i.e Heart issues then our lives have not necessarily improved.

Proverbs4:23 Guard your heart with all vigilance, for from it are the sources of life. (NET)

Proverbs 4:23 And keep watch over your heart with all care so you will have life.(BBE)

Proverbs 4:23 Keep thy heart with all diligence for out of it are the issues of life. (Kjv)

Proverbs 4:23 , Keep your heart with all diligence for out of it is the wellspring of life. (WEB)

If the heart is the source of everything that we experience in life and if the heart is the platform upon which human experiences and behavior happens, we must pay a little more attention to it. The bible implores us to guard our hearts with all diligence. If you have something from which your survival springs from then you will surely guard that resource with all your heart.You will probably employ all your energies towards safeguarding that resource.

and Hey ! If you have something to which everything depended on it how would you handle it?

Think of this: Every life experience that you have ever had has been processed through the heart.

Dr James B Richards says in his book ‘Moving your invisible Boundaries’ The heart is the inner path to the kingdom of God.[1] He reiterates that what we need today is more than information. We need to learn to live from the heart. We will highlight the attributes of the heart in part one of this series

·         The heart is the real you. You can’t escape from who you really are. We live in the age of superficiality where people make faces and really hide from who they really are. Its important to always stay in touch with who you are because you cannot become anything else than who you really are.

Proverbs 23: 7 for he is like one who is inwardly calculating.

“Eat and drink!” he says to you,

but his heart is not with you.

Have you ever come across people who will say one thing but you can actually tell that they mean otherwise from the heart? It can be frustrating right? What about someone who you approach for help and he tells you that he cannot come to your aid but you know he or she has what it takes to help you.

Even though you can manage to hide behind nice, soothing words, what is hidden in your heart will eventually come out in the open for the heart is the real you. It’s important to live from the reality of who you are for there can never and will never be a better version of who you are than who you really are. You are not who you are on the outside more than who you are on the inside.

·         The heart is the seat of your being.

   The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil. (Mat 12: 35)

Good and bad are brought from the heart. Who you are on the inside can never be in contrast with who you are on the outside. The heart is the seat of your being. Your emotions that define you are processed in your heart. You cannot be who you are without your heart.

Jesus taught that it’s what comes from within that corrupts a man.( Mark 7:20-23) This he said.

The heart is the citadel of your being. If the physical heart if the engine of the body, then the heart is the engine of life.

  The heart is the real you.

 Someone said you are who you are when no one is watching.

Proverbs 23:7 Do not eat bread from a stingy person. For he is like one inwardly calculating “eat and drink” he says to you but his heart is not with you.

 You can cheat people for long. Eventually the real you will come out.

It’s amazing how some people may appear to have nice words on the outside while utterly bitter          , angry and wicked on the inside.One of the experiences which usually troubles me is finding out how indifferent people may seem to be other than what they portray.

-          The human heart is complex, capable of loving and hating at the same time. Capable of rescuing and murder at the same time.

-          The bible says the heart of man is desperately wicked. Who can know it? Off course this is so when a human heart has not been transformed by the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. The human heart is capable of literally anything when the light of the gospel illimunes on it, it can love to the uttermost, anything apart from this means the heart can plunge into the depths of darkness, become the craftiest thing and literally an engine of evil.

  The Lord relates with you according to your heart

1^st Samuel 16:7

We learn an important lesson through Prophet Samuel and the lesson God taught him as he went to anoint David the next king of Israel.

Man looks on the outside appearance while God looks at the heart

Romans 10:9 if we confess with our mouth that Jesus is lord and believe with our hearts we are saved.

If the heart is the center of everything, we must pay attention to the voice of God calling us to have an intimate relationship with him

A lot of people pay a lot of attention to the outside appearance while ignoring the inside. The inside is where real life happens.

You can change clothes, money, cars etc. but the transformation that happens in your heart lasts forever.

Let your heart be transformed by Gods love. Hear his voice calling you from the deep, ease your heart and listen to his voice. He says come let us reason together. Though your sins are as red as scarlet, I will make your heart as white as snow.

Hope you have been blessed , In our next sermon we will examine how to examine your heart. How we write things and make them stick to our heart. We will examine on how to train our heart rather how God trains our heart to follow after him.

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[1] Dr James B Richards,Moving your Invisible Boundaries: True Potential Publishing(ReachTheWorld),Travelers Rest SC ,2013.