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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