HEART CHECK - WHAT IS THE TREASURE OF YOUR HEART?
What we say is a reflection of our hearts.
Matthew 12:35:
“A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil things”
Luke 6:43-45:
“No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thorn bushes, or grapes from briers. 45 A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.
What is the treasure in your heart? What is in your heart that is flowing out of your mouth?
February is a month of love and I think it is time for a HEART CHECK!
We so often try to control what comes OUT of our hearts (treasure stored) but what about what we allow INTO our hearts! (Treasure deposited). What we allow in is what creates the state of our heart, and determines what treasure we have, and thus what is coming out of our mouth.
We must guard what is the treasure in our hearts! If we control what goes in, we control the state of our hearts and what flows out!
Our confession is then, a by product of what is in our hearts!
Last Sunday, Pastor Michael talked about guarding our hearts and being careful what we love. He touched on loving God First!
Well, we know that God is His Word!
John 1:1-5 says:
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. 4 In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend[a] it.
How that translates for me is God IN=God OUT in my own life. The more God and His word I put in, the more it comes out. That is my goal, that this becomes the treasure of my heart!
I got to thinking/meditating on that and I thought of a beautiful garden (my heart)…
As you know, this past year has been a lot about me reinventing ME, pruing ME and starting over. Now, I love to garden. I love to plant and tend and watch the flowers grow and bloom. I wait expectantly for the blossom and then for it to open! I love all kinds of flowers and gardening and am super excited that I moved back to Northern California because in Vegas NOT ONE THING WILL GROW…lol. So, the environment was really important to the plants I want to harvest like sweet peas and daffodils, and bulbs like that as well as impatients. I can’t wait for SPRING!!!!!!!!
Well, I know, just like everyone who gardens, that with the plants will come some weeds and so, part of gardening is pulling up the weeds so they don’t come along and have the chance to choke out the flower seeds before they can grow strong, right?
Well, my life and heart is just like that garden…in fact we are like soil, right? And I spent some time letting my garden go and letting weeds grow up and get bigger and bigger. They (the cares of the world) overtook my dreams and desires of my heart that I KNOW were from the Lord. I started to give up or to really believe all those lies (the weeds) and I even started to say it “I am not ever having a relationship again” “I am not a good choice….I can’t pick any good ones.” That is what was in my heart. I put it there.
Is that happening to you? It did to me and I then made up stories to justify it…I don’t DESERVE a Godly husband….I am NOT good enough….get the idea?
Mark 4 outlines the parable of the seed and the sower. We know this parable, right…sower sows seed, different ground types, we are the soil or the ground, the seed is the word, right?
Look in Mark 4 beginning at 14:
14 The sower sows the word. 15 And these are the ones by the wayside where the word is sown. When they hear, Satan comes immediately and takes away the word that was sown in their hearts. 16 These likewise are the ones sown on stony ground who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with gladness; 17 and they have no root in themselves, and so endure only for a time. Afterward, when tribulation or persecution arises for the word’s sake, immediately they stumble. 18 Now these are the ones sown among thorns; they are the ones who hear the word, 19 and the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things entering in choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. 20 But these are the ones sown on good ground, those who hear the word, accept it, and bear fruit: some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred.”
What chokes the seed in this explanation? The cares of the world, deceitfulness of riches, desires for other things!!!! Is that a foundation for “evil treasure”? I wonder (just my opinion but something to think about, no?) But more importantly, WHO comes to TAKE AWAY THE SEED IN THEIR HEARTS????
Satan………he comes and tells us about the cares of the world, the deceitfulness of riches, etc.
So what causes the sidebar of focus being distracted? What shows us the things of society and the world? Magazines….music….radio…television? What is it for you and what do we do with it all?
OK, so let’s change the FOCUS!!!!!
Let’s focus on what the TRUTH says!!!!
Philippians 4:8-9: "Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you"
Philippians 4:6:7: “Do not be anxious about anything. Instead, tell your requests to God in your every prayer and petition-with thanksgiving. And the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.”
What guards our hearts: PEACE OF GOD
How do we get it: Thinking on….Phil 4:89
OK, so one part it is what we think. How do we deal then with what we put into our brains that causes us to think?
Well how about when we realize the lies we are saying, we stop ourselves and edit what we are allowing by feeding it back to ourselves correctly?
Here is one I came up with:
Lie: God has forgotten me.
Truth: God will never forget me
Isaiah 49:15-16
15 “ Can a woman forget her nursing child,
And not have compassion on the son of her womb?
Surely they may forget,
Yet I will not forget you.
16 See, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands;
Your walls are continually before Me.
