"As in water face reflects face; So the heart of man reflects man" - Proverbs

27:19

"This People Honors me with their lips, But their heart is far away from me,"

Matthew 15: 8

When Jesus was saying these words before some Pharisees and Scribes, He

seemed to be saying, it is not enough to memorize the commandments, teach

them and reason in your mind on how to uphold them. You need to keep the

commands of God in your heart.

"...there is no good tree which produces bad fruit; nor, on the other hand, a

bad tree which produces good fruit," Luke 6:43. This spells a very bad

condition, but I wonder, what was Jesus trying to say when He said these

words. He proceeded with the build up to the very core of His subject. He

was talking about the heart. No, not the biological organ that sends blood

all over your body, but the seat of your passion or emotions. Some would

rather call it, the core of the human being, and some simply call it the

spirit. Whatever impression we have of the heart, its contents are expressed

by the body. Desires are born in the heart, and so does hate, anger and

rebellion.

From within the heart

Mark 7:21..."For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil

thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, deeds of coveting and

wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride and

foolishness." All these evil things proceed from within and defile the man.

Defiles the man?

Oh, pollutes the man, now we all know what polluting is. In its simplest

term, it is 'to make dirty', no wonder God says it is far away form Him. God

is a Holy God, 2 Corinthians puts it this way, "...Come out from their midst

and be separate," says the Lord. "And do not touch what is unclean; and I

will welcome you." God says BE SEPARATE , in other words be set aside for my

use only, be absolutely obedient to My word, be godly, "BE HOLY, FOR I AM

HOLY" 1Peter 1:16. Notice, the bible says "Do not Touch what is unclean; and

I will welcome you." that sounds like asking us not to be POLLUTED (Defiled).

God has principles for human living, He made man, so He has guidelines on

how we should use the life in us. Just like any good manufacturer will print

a user's manual for his products.

Jeremiah 17:9 "The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately

sick;"

If the Heart is a sick thing it needs to be looked at, you know, examined to

find a possible way of healing it.

Jeremiah 19:10 "I, the LORD, search the heart,.." No wonder God can't trust

man easily, He knows us too well. "Jesus, on His part was not entrusting

Himself to them, for He knew all men, and because He did not need anyone to

bear witness concerning man for he Himself knew what was in man" John

2:24-25. Once, the Scribes and Pharisees were mumbling to themselves

concerning Jesus and He asked them, "Why are you reasoning in your hearts?"

Luke 5:22. Apart from all the wicked things listed down in Mark 7:21, we can

reason in our hearts....!

If God searches and knows our hearts, then, He must have a remedy for the

sick state of the heart. What plan has He got to take care of this problem

once and for all.

How does one know what is in the heart?

Jesus is able to tell what is in our hearts, but there is a may we can tell

what is in our hearts. Jesus said "You will know them by their fruit "

Matthew 7:16

1. What we say :- Things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart,

and those defile the man (Matthew 15:18)

2. What we do :- A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree

produce good fruit (Matthew 7:18)

What does God want?

Deuteronomy 10:12-13, "What does the Lord your God require from you, but to

fear the Lord your God , to walk in all his ways and love Him, and to serve

the Lord your God with all your HEART and with all your soul, and to KEEP

THE LORD'S COMMANDMENTS."

The reason why God says we are far away from Him is because, what is inside

our hearts prohibits God from drawing us close to Him. He wants to welcome

us, in James 4:8, it says, "draw near to God and He will draw near to you."

"Who may ascend into the hill of the LORD? And who may stand in His holy

place? He who has clean hands and a pure HEART" Psalm 24:3-4, "Cleanse your

hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double minded" James 4:8

Pure hearts? We can actually have pure hearts?

What can we do about this :"...Love the Lord your God with all your Heart, and

with all your soul, and with all your mind Matthew" 22:37

What will God do about this?

"I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse

you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. Moreover, I will give

you a new HEART and put anew spirit within you; I will remove the heart of

stone form your flesh and give you a heart of flesh." Ezekiel 36:25-26, But

is that all? No, v.27 says, "And I will put My Spirit within you and cause

you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances."

This was the biggest problem the Israelites had, to keep the Laws of God in

their HEARTS, they rebelled, and unfortunately we too have this problem. But

God, well God knows how to do things and do them right. He decided He was

going to put the laws in the HEART, the problem area, to overwrite the

things that defile us. He said " I will put My laws upon their HEART, and

upon their mind I will write them" Hebrews 10:16. Why does God insist on

putting the law on our hearts? Well, Hebrews 4:12 says it is ABLE TO JUDGE

THE THOUGHTS AND INTENTIONS OF THE HEART. Having the law of God in our

hearts is like being washed with water. Getting rid of all the ways and

practices of the world.

Pure in Heart

Will enable us to have a closer walk with God, being separated, He will

continuously use us, further more the bible, in

Matthew 5:8, says "Blessed are the pure in Heart, for they shall see God."

We need to be Pure in HEART for the sake of drawing near to God, else He

will keep His distance and we will never see Him. We should be alert, and be

concerned with the state of the Heart, it is 'desperately sick'. We have a

healer we can run to, but it is not entirely up to him. We have to desire to

have a pure Heart, we can either submit or rebel. But James seemed to have a

good idea on what we ought to do, in Chapter 4 and verse 7, he says, "Submit

therefore to God ..."

Some helpful things to do

1. Accept Jesus as Lord of our lives :" ...Whatever you do in word or deed,

do all in the name of the Lord Jesus"... Colossians 3:17. ..."And because you are

sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying

"ABBA! Father!"... Galatians 4:6 and John 14:23 says; "If anyone loves Me, he

will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him, and

make Our abode with him." Luke 6:46, "And why do you call Me, Lord, Lord,"

and do not do what I say?" If truly, Jesus is the lord of our lives, we

will obey His word.

2. Purpose in our hearts to seek God :..."Set your heart and soul to seek

the LORD your God"...1Chronicles 22:19

and 1Chronicles 16:11 says, "Seek the LORD and His strength; Seek His

face continually."

3. Meditate on His word :-"His delight is in the law of LORD, And in His law

he meditates day and night " Psalm 1:1-2 and again in Psalm 4:4 it

says, " Meditate in your heart upon your bed, and be still."

4. Guard the Heart :- "Watch over your heart with all diligence. For from it

flow the springs of life" Proverbs 4:23

"...Speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and

spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart

to the Lord" - Ephesians 5:18 -19.

You may say to me, But we are not under law, but under grace- Romans 6:4.

See, Jesus said "If you love Me, you will keep my commandments" John 14:15.

You may say, But Jesus is not here. Yes, but The Holy Spirit is, and Jesus

said ," ...the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name,

He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said

to you" and again in 16: 13, "...When He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He

will guide you into all truth ." We need to obey the Leading of the Holy

Spirit Who lives in us. Why else would sin be called 'Lawlessness,' if we

didn't have any law to follow.

"The wise heart will receive commands" Proverbs10:8

Blessed are the pure in heart.

God Bless

All scripture, unless otherwise mentioned, is taken from the New American

Standard Version

Friends - 1998

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