Monthly posts from 2023 | The Shoe Ministries

How to have great relationships

I heard a woman say that she cannot wait to grow old so that she no longer has to consider other people. Then she could be as rude as she likes, do and say what she likes. If this is also your point of view, please understand that we are supposed to become better and not worse.

We are all bad, we all have the same sinful carnal fleshly nature. God’s plan for us is that we would die to the old nature and live in the Christ nature. We should become a new creation. We do this by renewing our minds and becoming a living sacrifice. Rom.12:1-2. In the same way Jesus laid down his fleshly nature, we lay down our sinful nature by doing what Jesus did. This is the only way we can become better people, by partaking in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

The sinful nature is the reason why we have so many problems in the world. Partnerships hardly ever have a successful outcome because we never deal with our sinful nature but rather force it onto our partners. We expect people to accept us the way we are, we say: “All of my family members are impatient and ill-mannered!” That’s just ridiculous, that is not how we should treat others. They should become more and I less. That is what love is, love is a verb!

Years ago, a man wanted to be my partner in building our property. He was an elderly sincere gentleman. I asked him what a partner should be and he replied that a partner is someone you care more about than yourself. This was the attitude of Jesus who showed how we should love one another by washing his disciples’ feet. He said that we should be servants of all.

This subject of the sinful nature was on my mind as I listened to my children telling me how many marriages they have conducted and only one present of these couples remained married. I have listened to how they told of how the other person’s character changed completely and they had to divorce because of it. We are all subject to character changes if we are going to allow the sinful nature to take over our character. Our role model is Jesus. He showed how to die to the flesh and rise in the spirit. I remember that my wife and I were building a house by the coast and because we were by ourselves and working hard, I stopped using communion regularly. I eventually slipped into an uncharacteristic depression without realizing it. I remember laying in the bath tired, worn out, and depressed and Yvonne (My wife) served me communion right there in the bath as she prayed for me I was immediately out of depression. I learned a lesson I will never forget, just because you are not under attack from the outside world doesn’t mean that you are not under attack from your inside darkness.

As I listened to the stories of failed relationships and partnerships, I started inquiring if they used communion, but it’s always something they forgot to do, the same as I did.

The only way to die to the flesh is by applying the blood of Jesus to the conscience. The conscience is the division between soul and spirit, or flesh and spirit.

We do introspection and ask the Holy Spirit to show us what sin is and deal with it at the cross. Pride, fear, depression, anxiety, despondency, and slothfulness to name only a few is sin in the heart. We deal with sin by following Jesus dying daily to the flesh and rising in the Spirit to rule over sin when we are in Christ. We help each other deal with sin when we help each other guard the heart.

There is no point in blaming the devil for failed relationships. The problem is always in us.

We were a family of six children and the house was always full of people when I was small.

My mother was the spiritual one and she relied heavily on the power of the blood of Jesus. Whenever something went wrong in the family, I would hear my mother applying the blood of Jesus as she prayed. She did not even understand the blood, she simply used it and it never failed. Nothing bad ever happened to our family because of the blood of Jesus. It is the only way to deal with the sinful nature. Don’t let the spoilt sinful nature ruin your life. Deal with it at the cross.

Click here to download a free booklet, explaining how to use the cross daily and becoming Christ Minded.

What do you think of this subject? Tell us in the comments below.

How to Crucify Problems

I have recently noticed how people who have been on the cave tour still do not use the cross in the correct way. Please give me the opportunity to explain it in the simplest possible way.

I have explained that the Lord taught me to see the conscience as the surface of a lake when it is wind-still and calm. The conscience, like the water surface, reflects heaven, like a mirror. All of us have been this calm many times in our lives, it is when we are in contact with God. However, the phone rings, and as the problems appear, our calmness disappears. The water surface becomes stormy and our hearts become troubled. This is a sinful heart. Jesus walked on the storm and calmed it with a spoken word. With this miracle, He showed me that he would give his life so that he could bring peace in our hearts and this is why they called Him the Prince of Peace.

Sometimes we forget that Jesus came to save us and give us peace.

He saves us from the storms so we can live in peace. Jesus gave his life on the cross so that we can be saved. There is no other religion where someone gave his life so we can live in peace in a Christ mind. Bad things have happened to all people, and we have compassion with people, but did you know you can be saved from those bad things?

Yet we still choose to look at the problem. We pray about the problems and we even try to give it to God, but after our prayer time we talk about the problem again and allow our frustrations to rule us, we have no peace. All the while Jesus died so that we can have peace, in the hearts of God’s loving children.

I use the word ‘children’ because if you are still praying this childish way it’s time to grow up and become a son and daughter of God. We are supposed to rule in the earth. We do not talk about the problem, we tell it to throw itself in the sea! We lay hands on the sick and they shall recover. We do not listen to our feelings and emotions, we tell the feelings and emotions how they feel.

So come let’s use the cross. In the morning draw a line across the middle of a page and place the cross right in the middle. Below the line, you wright down those things that must be crucified. Now enter your prayer closet and close the door behind you. Get your communion elements ready and ask the Lord to bless the bread and the wine and say: “I WILL DIE TO THE FLESH AND RISE IN THE SPIRIT IN THE SAME WAY JESUS DID.”

Inside your heart room is calvary, you can see the blood footprints of Jesus going up the hill to the top. If you look around you will see an old cross laying in your heart garden, go and pick it up and follow Jesus. We are going to Luke 9:23.

Luk 9:23: “Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.”

The teaching is that we must lay down our life—daily! In Romans 12:2 we become a living sacrifice so that our minds must renew.

As I do introspection I know which things must be crucified. If the problem is a person, then crucify the person and name the things in the person that are offending you. If the problem is a person with an unruly tongue like a ship on the ocean without a rudder then crucify that tongue. If it is pride, then imagine what they look like when they are proud and arrogant and crucify them. If it is a sickness in the body then crucify that part of the body. Give these things a lot of thought. Let the Holy Spirit point out the things that are stealing your peace. Do this while you are eating the communion bread.

While crucifying in this way you are doing Galatians 5:25. If you struggle with the flesh crucify it!

Do not leave the cross until you experience a release in your spirit. Then drink the wine and now (Heb 10:22) let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. You need this washing!

When we drink the blood of Christ we are saved from the problems. The blood is a seal for our conscience and falls on the surface of our hearts, cleansing and sealing us, causing a division between flesh and spirit. You are now saved to live in the above, in the spirit. We now live in Christ. We are saved, we have the helmet of salvation. Continue to put on the rest of the armor of Ephesians 6. You are now above the problem, in Christ. You are seated with Christ in Heavenly places (Eph 1:3) and the problems are under our feet. It is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me. (Gal 2:20)

All of this happened in the outer court. When you leave the outer court close the door behind you, sealing it with the blood of Jesus, just like the Israelites had to seal their doors in Egypt. The work of Calvary is sealed in your heart. The problem is crucified, God and all of heaven will sort it out. Now we enter into the Holy Place, where we stand in thanksgiving before our Father. Thank you, Father, you have saved me! You are now saved and the rest of your day is spent giving thanks to God who saves His people. YOU ARE FREE IN CHRIST!!

If it should happen that the problem comes back into your mind today then speak to it in the same way Jesus spoke to the devil. Say it is written, and in this way fill your mind with the Word of God. Find all those scriptures that give you authority over the works of the enemy and memorize it and fill your mind with life. Tomorrow morning ask the Holy Spirit to show you what you forgot to crucify.

This is the way we guard the heart. Prov 4:23

When we enter in, correctly we can stand in the presence of God every day, where we can take up our authority and speak to the mountain in every area of our lives daily. Here is the link to the Twelve Room Prayer that will guide you further into praying with authority about every area of your life.

Leave your comments below! We love to know your thoughts on this topic!

Until next time!

Praying the Word of God – Blessings and Curses

This month our letter is also available in Afrikaans. Click here for your Afrikaans version.

Recently our neighbors, an elderly couple were murdered in a cruel and awful way. They were wonderful, kind, and soft people. I may say, too soft and without authority. It was a cowardly act; they were completely defenseless and old.

This incident left the women in our valley afraid and the men were filled with rage and hate, more than ever.

Up until now hate has not helped us in this country nor has fear. The government and police force are more corrupt than ever, as our country is falling into despair. Municipalities don’t know how to repair the infrastructure and I do not think that I have to go into further detail as we all know what is wrong in our country. Mashishing is our closest town with some of the worst roads in the country. I don’t go there often but when I do, I am angry at the municipality. They are wicked and lazy with no integrity. They just don’t care. Every time I go to town, I have to practice self-control, we know that it is the fruit of the spirit. We grit our teeth and know we can’t do anything except pray. It is a miserable way to live and see how our country falls apart.

After this murder occurred so close to my doorstep, I turned to the Lord. I asked:

“Lord, when are you going to do something? The Bible teaches us that You placed this government in control and we must obey!”

Immediately I heard that small voice: “I am not going to do it, you are going to do it!”

So, the Lord led me to Psalm 1 which says we are the blessed because we are the ones who meditate on the Word of God and that we are like a tree planted by streams of water, and that whatever we do will prosper. But not so for the wicked; they shall be like chaff in the wind.

Psalm 1: 1-4: “Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.
But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.
And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.
The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away.”

I asked: “But how must I deal with the wicked Lord, I can’t go and shoot them!”

Then I had to read Psalm 2. The heathen and their kings have set themselves against the anointed of the Lord. But the Lord will laugh and He will set His king upon the hill!

Psalm 2:5 and 6: “Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure. How will He do it? Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion.”

Psalm 2:9: “Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.”

Please read Psalm 2. I think you might get what I am trying to say by now.

We are the sons of God and we stand upon the Holy Hill with a rod of iron. The rod of iron is the Word (Two-Edged sword of the Word of God) and we speak the Word. God is not doing it anymore; His Words are written in the Bible and we activate it by speaking it. This is the way God created the earth and everything in it. He spoke it into existence. Jesus is not speaking anymore. If we are in Christ, we do the same works He did, and we must speak life by speaking the Word. The Word is a two-edged sword. It has two sides. It has a blessing side and a curse side. I have prayed half a prayer all my life. I have only blessed. The sword has another edge, and we must use it!

I like to read the blessings of Deuteronomy 28, but I never read the curses because I don’t want the curse and most certainly don’t want to curse anyone. When you read it, it is very similar to the blessings except they are the opposites of the blessings and the curses are more than the blessings. I encourage you to go and read the blessings and curses of Deuteronomy 28. You must read it! The curses are also the Word of God. I have never used them in my ignorance.

After the murder, I was filled with anger against the murderers. The Bible is very specific. If you do not obey the commands of God and love the Lord you God and your neighbor as yourself, CURSED SHALL THOU BE when you come in and when you go out. Cursed shall you be in the basket and in the store. When you murder the sons of God and steal and lie you are not obeying the commandments of the Lord your God. Cursed shall thou be!

I have been to our town, Mashishing, since receiving this revelation, I had a wonderful constructive day speaking God’s Word under my breath while sitting in the cues and ducking the potholes. The Lord told me He is gathering His armies against the wicked and I am pleased to be part of it. From this day we will begin to see changes in our country if we will speak the Word. But speak all of it!

If you don’t fix the potholes, you do not love the Lord your God! Not fixing them causes fatal accidents, therefore you do not love your neighbor as yourself. If you steal, kill, murder, and destroy – cursed are you when you come in and when you go out. Your conscience will condemn you; you will turn upon yourselves, and your body will break out in sores.

Deut 28:20: “The LORD shall send upon thee cursing, vexation, and rebuke, in all that thou settest thine hand unto for to do, until thou be destroyed, and until thou perish quickly; because of the wickedness of thy doings, whereby thou hast forsaken me.”

Read the curses and ask the Lord to teach you to pray. We are not saying what we say, we are speaking to the mountain of problems in our wicked government in the same way Jesus spoke to the fig tree.

It’s all very fair. The curses make you aware that you do not have the blessing and you have an opportunity to bow the knee to the Almighty God before he kills you and your corpses lay in the field with no one to bury you. In this way, we release the Blessed to go and rule in our government. We release the Blessed to work with the money and not steal it. The Blessed rebuilds South Africa, saves lives, the Blessed will build and run hospitals, and so forth. But not so for the cursed, they are cursed when they steal and murder and lie, and they will not rule in this country. This is the Word of THE LORD!

By praying in this way, we are basically doing spiritual warfare. And by this, I must add that if you want to stand in authority and you want to pray this way you have to be sure that you put on the Armour of God (Ephesians 6) every day and be sure to stand in your position of authority in front of the Throne of God by entering in through the cross, which is the open-door Jesus created with His blood for those who love the Lord their God with their whole heart. We can only stand in God’s presence with a pure heart and a clean conscience.

I know this subject of blessings and cursing can be a very controversial subject if not understood correctly. We urge you to leave your comments or send us an email if you have any questions. We have been talking about the subject of guarding the heart the whole year. Click here to read more on this topic.

We are here to equip the body of Christ. So please reach out if we can help you to start taking up your God-given authority.

We are the Blessed and we should rule this country!

Do you know God’s desire for you?

As a child, I gave my heart to God as my mother told me Bible stories. I remember how boring it was when the Israelites did not trust God. God did all these incredible miracles that we long to see with our eyes! yet they just could not believe. The miracle of the opening of the Red Sea, a Pillar of fire at night, and a cloud overshadowing them at day physically indicating to them that God was present. Manna fell out of heaven and birds came to them to be eaten, water came out of a rock. They saw the presence of God at Mount Sinai yet they worshiped a golden calf.

However since I have learned about the sinful carnal mind that is present in all people I know that we do the exact same things those people did. We say we do not worship idols yet we allow the idol of fear to live in our hearts in the form of worry. We allow irritability into our hearts. This causes impatience and impatience leads to anger and rage. We still see the miracles of God’s presence daily, as the sun rises, the rain comes in season, and as we eat our daily bread. We live in houses and sleep in comfortable beds. We are partaking of God’s miraculous supply as it sometimes seems as if we cannot pay all the bills this month and yet we always do. God’s supply is still miraculous! We always make it, God supplies wonderfully.

I know from experience that He loves us more than we will ever realize.

Then we grow one step higher in our spiritual growth, we start to desire to please God by living by faith. God has given us an opportunity to live on the earth for a short while so we could learn to do things with our faith in the same way Jesus did. (We are supposed to be like Jesus)

Hebrews 11 is the Faith chapter of the Bible which says: “By faith, we understand that the entire universe was formed at God’s command. That which we now see did not come from anything that can be seen.”

If you want to please God you must live by faith.

To make it easier God placed a purpose inside each one of us, a divine destiny. There is something that each one of us has to do for God. You know what it is, it is something that only you can do with your particular background and talents. It is something that comes naturally to you. If you are one of those people who are still struggling to find out what it is you have to do, then learn to guard your heart. You must have a clear conscience and then learn to die to self. I have written about this in the previous two letters of this year. (Click here to go to this year’s list of letters)

Pride must be done away with. The first thing we do for God is to become a living sacrifice as Romans 12:2 says. We are required to die to self and place God at our very highest, the forefront of our mind. We are to love God with all our heart. Social Media is not our first priority. God is number one. Get up early in the morning and honor God by spending time with Him. Read the Word and speak His Word. Begin to look at things that are not seen. God has given us great promises in the Bible, but they will never be yours- if God is not first in your life!

Let God’s desire become your desire!

In this way the desire of your heart will begin to align with God’s desire for you, and you will be filled with your calling and you will start to pursue it with all your might. Your mind must be single as you look only at what you must do for God. This will produce God’s blessings in your life. God will bless the things you do, as you do them for Him.

The Key is to do something! You have to do something so God can bless it! Now that you are living by faith you are pleasing God.

WHAT COULD BE GREATER THAN THIS?

Getting Answers from God

The slightest bit of sin that is not dealt with has a deadening effect on the garden of the heart. Paul’s famous words in Romans 8:6 says: It is the flesh and it is death.

What is this death?

The death we are talking about is not a physical immediate death; it is like a garden that is being choked with thorns. The garden cannot bring forth life. Before we were born into the earth God placed a particular purpose in the hearts of all people, something that only you can do for God. I once heard the Holy Spirit say that there are things in heaven that can only come into the earth via a pure heart. He (the Holy Spirit) complained that he struggles to find a holy heart into which these plans and ideas can be sowed that the earth needs for us to keep up in an ever-changing world.

The Heart Garden

We see so many people struggle and even go to bed cold and hungry. All because the fundamental principles of the Kingdom are not kept. Jesus told many parables and all of them had something to do with a garden. His parables revealed the secrets and the rules of the Kingdom of God. He said things like a good tree can not bear bad fruit. He told the parable of the Sower where the type of soil the seed fell in determined the harvest. What you sow is what you reap. Our hearts are the soil. Good soil produces a good harvest. Thorns and rocks in the soil represent worries and fears. These worries and fears cause us to think bad thoughts and become sick and negative. This is what the Bible calls sin, or the sinful nature which produces death in our soul and our body. We are all dying slowly.

How do we clean our hearts?

The blood of Jesus is the ever-cleansing power that sanctifies us and gives us a clean heart and a clear conscience before God and Man. By daily submitting our thoughts, mind, and body to God we can take part in the finished work of the Cross. We place all our cares and worries on the cross and abandon our own selfish, soulish nature at the cross. By hanging our cares on the cross the blood of Jesus now cleanses and seals us from an evil conscience and we are represented to the Father without spot or blemish. How to use the cross is explained in detail in our free booklet, “The Twelve Room Prayer”.

If we make it a priority to invite God to search our hearts and take all sin away, He can teach us how to guard the heart against the sin in the fleshly nature. He will teach us to transform our thoughts by becoming a living sacrifice. (Rom 12:1-2)

Getting answers from God

To do this we learn to take thoughts captive, we do introspection, and open our hearts, so God can search the heart and show us which part of our soulish natural self is causing destruction in the heart garden. We must give God time to search us. It is important to give time to God daily. To give time to God is as good as seeds that are being sown. Because the heart garden is always bringing forth what we sow in it. If you give God time, you get time. It is important to give more time so we can get to know God who is the source of all life. God wants us to know him intimately. In fact, God wants us to know all things.

1 John 2:20: “But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things.”

Although the Bible teaches that we can ask God for anything, very few of us get answers. This is when we give up and don’t ask anymore. All the promises of the Bible are wonderful but will only function if we guard the heart. The conscience must be clear before the Almighty God. We must keep the garden free from sin. If the conscience is clear we have confidence that God will answer our prayers. This is why we must use communion because the blood of Jesus is for the cleansing of the conscience. It seals the spirit from the soul.

In this way we can live by the spirit and not the flesh. It is the only way! This is why Jesus died on the cross so we can rule over the flesh and stay in the spirit.

The moment we allow sin in the heart is when Murphy’s law set in. This is when things begin to go wrong and we expect it, because we have a guilty conscience! In fact, we allow bad things to happen with the power of our minds in the same way Job said that the thing he feared happened to him. The conclusion of the lesson Job learned is that he knew about God but he did not know God.

If we continually strive to keep our conscience or our heart pure, we can be confident that God will provide all our needs according to His riches in Christ Jesus!

Do you agree? Write your comments below!

Why does God allow bad things?

Guard the heart!

All people have free will and this is the reason why some may choose to be as evil as they like and God allows it. Some people are senselessly killing maiming and slaughtering the animals of the earth, yet God allows it. With the present-day Russian-Ukrainian war, we see this same kind of cruelty, yet God allows it. We see how women and children are mistreated and left for dead and many other cruelties too numerous to name. These things cause intellectual people to ask: why does God not stop it?

The reason why God does not intervene is because God has given the earth to man, and man has a free will to do with it what he likes.

Jer 17:9; “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?
Jeremiah 17:9

The heart is the conscience which is that place in us where God has written His laws, we all have a knowing of right and wrong. But whether we will choose to obey God’s laws is our own business

People who are stealing are not listening to the rules of the heart, they are not asking God for money they are making their own money regardless of who they are harming as in the case of the ANC government. The Russians are making money by killing and maiming just like the poachers are killing animals mercilessly.

The subject of Jeremiah 17 is that God wants to prosper man, He wants man to be like a tree.

Jer 17:8: “For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.”

Jeremiah 17:8

Because God wants to prosper us, he is always searching our hearts to see if we are guarding our hearts against inner evil. He wants us to trust Him, He wants to care for us but we have to love Him with all our hearts –all our souls and everything in us. While we are trusting Him it may be that bad things happen to us but this is how He can see if we truly trust Him and believe He will help us. The story of Job in the Bible is our story. God is always searching our hearts and finding ways to test us because he knows how deceitful the heart of man is.

Jer 17:10: “I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.”
Jeremiah 17:10

We must not be discouraged by what we see happening in the world. Never think that God has forgotten about you. Wicked worldly people have always been trashing the earth.

Isa 60:2 “For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the LORD shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee.”
Isaiah 60:2

I have been living by faith for 45 years and I have seen how true this is. This scripture above is for today.

Terrible things are happening on the earth but the glory of the Lord is rising on the Lord’s people. We will always be provided for. God will always make a way for his people; He will always provide for you if you prove that you trust Him.

What do you think? Please leave your comments below! We love to hear from you.

How to Keep the heart (Part 2)

I recently saw a video of a preacher encouraging people to have a clear conscience. He then left it there without telling them how to do it.

This is the second letter on how to guard the heart. Click here if you missed the first one.

Once you understand how the conscience works you will see that it is the subject of the Bible. The Bible uses physical things to explain spiritual things. Now you will understand that the Garden of Eden is the Conscience. Out of the conscience comes everything we have need of. It compares to the soil in the sense that it must be weed-free in order to bring forth good things. It must be planted in and then it must be watered and kept clean. (Just like the Parable of the Sower who sowed the seed in different kinds of Soil in Matthew 13)

The first time God spoke to man He said: “Keep the garden!”

Prov 4:23 Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.

God is the great provider; He will give you everything you need if you keep your garden.

God’s laws are written in our hearts, we know right from wrong, and we know the Ten commandments instinctively.

When we learn to deal with sin the way Jesus showed us, the provision of God is like a river of life. The moment we allow sin to enter the heart, the river dries up. Living this life of guarding the heart pleases God and will always feel as if you are living in a garden. The original meaning for the word Garden means “fenced”. It’s like having a fenced mind, being in a safe place where you can talk to God in the cool of the day. In the New Testament, this place is called the Kingdom of God.

We are told that if we find this Kingdom first all things will be added (Matt 6:33). It is very much the like the Promised Land. Those people who eventually entered the Promised Land were living in a type of heaven. Everything was provided for them in a supernatural way.

God lives in the heart of man, it is His property, and we gave the heart to God. We cannot give the heart to anything else. If we allow fear in the heart we have a fearful heart. The same place we gave to God belongs to everything else we decide to give it to. Many people do not think that it is bad to give your heart to your spouse or children. Perhaps we give our hearts to our goals or some people give their hearts to dogs. The subject of romance stories is broken hearts.

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul and everything in you.

Remember the first two commandments. As we spend our time reading the Word of God the Holy Spirit explains it all, and the Word becomes alive. Now, this life in Christ becomes a blessed life with new ideas and opportunities. The first Psalm says He who meditates the word of God is like a tree planted by streams of water bringing forth his fruit in season and whatsoever he does prosper.

However, the sinful nature lies at the door, always looking for an opportunity to slip a thought into the garden that can grow and cause a stronghold. The smallest thought can grow and cause the fall of mega companies. Lust can creep in, and if unchecked can cause adultery that can ruin the lives of many people. Greed can cause a country to be bankrupted while pride is blinding the eyes and the garden is closed to its occupants.

Learn to guard the heart. Learn to listen to the still small voice that will transform your mind and teach you to be a living sacrifice daily.

By daily doing introspection, taking thoughts captive, and crucifying the things of the flesh we are guarding our hearts.

Tell us what your garden looks like! We would love to hear your comments!

Until next month

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How to Guard the heart (Part 1)

Part one of How to Keep the Heart.

In Revelation 3:21 we are told that the ultimate goal that we achieve as believers are to be overcomers and to be seated with Christ in heavenly places. Most people believe this to be a future event.

In this first email of 2023, I would like to bring this overcoming in Christ into the here and now.

I believe that all people can have a heavenly mind or a hell of a mind, right here on earth. We don’t need an overcoming mind in heaven, there is nothing to overcome there. We need to learn to overcome here, on earth, daily -IN CHRIST!

This means that the troubles of the world are not our problem. Our problem is to keep our own minds and stay in the rest. This compares to having a Sunday every day.

We have authority in Christ, we can do what he did and even greater. This means that we can speak to our minds in the same way Jesus spoke to the earthly things. He walked on a physical storm and then calmed it by speaking to it. If we are in Christ we speak to the storms inside ourselves in His name. Because He did it we can do it.

Jesus is called the prince of Peace. He gave His life so that we can live in peace right here on the earth today.

Peace in the heart is God’s gift to all mankind. However, how will we keep this peace? Can anyone keep their mind free from the chaos outside there?

Firstly you must understand that God lives inside people. He lives in the heart of man along with all of heaven. The heart is the Kingdom of God. If you gave your heart to God He lives in you.

The ‘heart’ the Bible refers to, is not the physical heart in your chest, it is in the imaginations and thoughts of the heart. (Gen.6:5) The heart of man is the conscience. God comes to live in us when we give our hearts to God. That is the best day of our lives. However, we must now learn to guard the heart against sinful thoughts. God is in us, but so is our sinful nature. The sinful nature is called the ‘Flesh’ in the Bible, also carnality, the devil or Satan. Our problem is within us! (Mark 7:21)

As we learn to get to know God with our hearts we come under greater attack from our old nature. Our feelings begin to complain and want to go back into our thoughts to occupy our minds. Negative emotions become hard to deal with along with our intellect and our will. We must learn to die to these things that are in us. The Bible points to these things as being in the body. Paul calls it the Fruit of the Flesh in Galatians 5.

This is the reason why Jesus was crucified, hands and feet. When we use communion we eat the flesh of Christ and drink His blood. He overcome all mental anguish in the garden of Gethsemane and perspired blood. He overcame all the terrible things the priests and the Roman soldiers did to Him. Everything they did to Him was so unfair yet he never complained or cursed them, in fact, he prayed for them. He said they don’t know what they are doing.

He gave His back willingly to be torn apart at the whipping post so that we never have to be sick again and then He was crucified to die a criminal’s death. He did all this so we can follow him daily. We can take those bad thoughts that came into us yesterday and we can crucify them. I use my imagination, I know what I look like when I am angry, and Jesus helps me to crucify that bad part of myself. While doing this I eat the Body of Jesus (Communion). I can crucify anything that steals my peace and the Spirit of Jesus is there to help me. When I have dealt with my flesh and know what I am saved from, I drink the blood of Jesus and then He sprinkles my thoughts from an evil conscience. (Heb.10:22)

I never miss my daily appointment to have a clear conscience, in the way described above.

In this way, we overcome the enemy and go ahead and have a great day. If your conscience is clear you can pray to God with confidence that He answers prayers. Because sin has been dealt with.

Next month we will continue with Part 2, on How to guard the heart.

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Category: Monthly posts from 2023