The Lord wants us to live out of a pure holy heart as unto Him. This begins in the home with our spouse and family members. How we talk and treat other people reveals what is in our hearts. What we are in the home is our true self. The foundation for a healthy spiritual heart is based on the greatest commandment.
In Mark 12, we read Jesus’ own words when challenged to the greatest commandment. He repeated the commandment out of Deuteronomy 6 that we are to love God with our whole heart, soul, mind and strength. Then we are to love our neighbor (anyone in our lives) as we love ourselves. The definition of heart from Strong’s #3820 is “intellect, awareness, mind, inner person, inner feelings, deepest thoughts, inner self.” When you study the definition of soul and mind you find ‘heart, soul & mind’ all overlap into each other. If we are to love Him with our whole being, it means all of our thoughts, words and actions.
God is love. Romans 5:5 tells us “the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost.” If we are the temples of the Holy Ghost, which is God in us the hope of glory, we must allow His character traits to invade our actions and words. My heart is deeply disturbed by what I see in the church as I teach and counsel His Word nationwide. Many sitting on our pews are complacent about their relationship with God. They come to God in the power of a salvation experience of water and Spirit, but over a period of time they become casual about their relationship with God.
We either have a Godly heart allowing His Spirit to be on the throne of our heart, or our heart follows the world and our selfishness is sitting on the throne of our hearts. This is manifest by our words and actions. Paul was very direct in his letter written to the church in Galatia. True Christianity is living by the Spirit and not by our selfish nature. When we love God with our whole heart, soul, mind and strength, we will not be involved in the works of the flesh listed in Galatians the fifth chapter. There are 15 acts of sinful nature that includes sexual sins, idolatry, drunkenness, hatred, quarreling, envy, wrath and strife. Paul said if you do any of these things you shall not inherit the kingdom of God. That’s a strong truth! We cannot act sinful and expect to be glorified at His coming!
Over the past 21 years, I’ve counseled many in the church who have allowed anger, strife, bitterness, envy, sexual sins and jealousy to destroy relationships. Yet, they will come to church and put on their ‘spiritual’ face and think they are getting by with their worldly actions. We cannot serve God and our humanness at the same time. Our sinful nature must be put to death by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Love, joy and peace happens in a marriage, family and friendships when we are longsuffering, gentle, good, faithful, meek (having your strength under God’s control) and display self-control. I call this being Holy Ghost controlled. It’s living in a God-conscious state of mind at all times. It is refusing to allow our emotions to control what we do. We submit our emotions to God and allow the Fruit of the Spirit to reign in every area of our lives. I know this is possible because my parents were saved as teenagers and allowed God to be the center of their lives when they married at 19 and 23 years of age. They enjoyed almost 62 years of marriage before death separated them. I was raised in a home with love, joy, peace and respect toward one another.
God gives everyone a choice. We can choose to be Holy Ghost controlled if we submit to God instead of our selfishness. Jesus taught with His own words in Matthew 15 that it is not what goes into our mouth that defiles us. We are defiled by the words that come out of our mouth. The words we speak from the heart—that’s what defiles us. From the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, all sexual immorality, theft, lying and slander. These defile us.
In Matthew 12, Jesus teaches that a tree is identified by its fruit. For whatever is in our heart determines what we say. A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart and an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart. We all must give an account on judgment day for every idle word we speak. Our words will either justify us or condemn us. WOW! That’s a powerful statement.
Luke 6:45 states, “For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.” So our mouth/words reveal what is in the heart – either good or evil. If we follow the heart of God (God is Love) then we will fulfill I Corinthians 13:4-7, NLT – “Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.”
If we are following the heart of God, we will be holy as He is holy in our spirit and actions. We will not hurt other people with a cruel, critical tongue. We will not be selfish and allow anger and jealousy to control our attitudes. We are to reflect the glory of God in all that we do. I am determined to follow the heart of God.
© Carol Clemans – September 2013 – Call (636) 448-0121 to schedule speaking or counseling by phone/Skype. www.carolclemans.org, carol@carolclemans.org