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Friday, October 30, 2009

The Gateway to the Human Heart - Pt II

Have you ever wondered why you are not demonstrating the power of Jesus Christ in your life through manifestation of answered prayer? This is the test that all of God’s people must face at times; even the great ones: Abraham; Job; King David; John the Baptist; Apostle Paul; and many others had moments of weakness, doubt or disobedience during periods of need. But one thing these men all had in common during those episodes of drought in their lives; they never gave up on the promises of God, and stood steadfast until deliverance came, or in the case of John the Baptist and Paul…death.


If we could examine the spiritual life of the great patriarchs of the past, and even the great spiritual leaders of the present, we would see that in most instances during times of unanswered prayer, they had a weakness in their life that hindered their walk with God: Abraham battled doubt; Job struggled with fear; King David suffered severely because he was unable to control his sexual appetite; John the Baptist also experienced doubt’s wrath; and ironically, Paul disobeyed God’s Word, forbidding him to go to Jerusalem. These spiritual parasites that we all struggle against for time-to-time; some to a greater degree than others, are the handy work of satan.


Over the millenniums the satanic forces have choreographed very cunning plans to strip us of our destiny; which is to operate in a realm that reflects the image and likeness of God Almighty. Many of us have fallen prey to the devious, satanic scheme to disrupt our Christian walk. The despot forces of darkness had good reason to interfere with Abraham’s walk, Job’s walk, and King David’s walk. However, these forces have more motivation to keep you away from your destiny than they did with the patriarchs before us, because we are armed with the name of “Jesus,” and that name, used properly, will do more damage to satan’s kingdom than anything Abraham, Job or King David could have thrown at him.


Since the beginning of Christianity, satan has crept into the Church and has been held up in a place where he is doing much harm. In fact, during Paul’s missionary journey through Asia, he lamented as he prepared to depart for Jerusalem that “grievous wolves” would come in and not spare the flock:


28.Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. 29.For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. 30.Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them. 31.Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears (Acts 20:28-31).


Just as satan said that he would ascend above the heights of the clouds and be like the most high in Isaiah 14, he has said many things that are not recorded in God’s Word. No doubt, much of his venomous tirades have to do with keeping you and I away from abilities that could adversely affect his kingdom. When Paul and Silas were in Thessalonica in Acts 17 teaching in the synagogues, the religious leaders persuaded a group of lewd men to spread dissension throughout the city that Paul and Silas had “turned the world upside down.” The opposition was so intense against Paul that the elders sent him to Berea for his own safety; however, when the word reached the Jews of Thessalonica that Paul was in Berea, they came to inflame the Bereans against him as well:


1.Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where was a synagogue of the Jews: 2.And Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three sabbath days reasoned with them out of the scriptures, 3.Opening and alleging, that Christ must needs have suffered, and risen again from the dead; and that this Jesus, whom I preach unto you, is Christ. 4.And some of them believed, and consorted with Paul and Silas; and of the devout Greeks a great multitude, and of the chief women not a few. 5.But the Jews which believed not, moved with envy, took unto them certain lewd fellows of the baser sort, and gathered a company, and set all the city on an uproar, and assaulted the house of Jason, and sought to bring them out to the people…10.And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea: who coming thither went into the synagogue of the Jews…13.But when the Jews of Thessalonica had knowledge that the word of God was preached of Paul at Berea, they came thither also, and stirred up the people. 14.And then immediately the brethren sent away Paul to go as it were to the sea: but Silas and Timotheus abode there still (Acts 17:1-5, 10, 13-14).


[satan] staged a constant vigil against Paul and the apostles to keep them from doing further damage to his kingdom. In II Thessalonians, Paul referred to this satanic offensive as the mystery of iniquity (click here for the 5-part series that I did on the Mystery of Iniquity). Just as satan has surreptitiously entered the church, doing much harm, he has furtively laid traps for all of God’s people; particularly those who seek to have a closer walk with Jesus.


I believe that the most effective move that satan has made to keep God’s people from equaling the effectiveness of the apostles was to rob us of our ability to believe with our heart. A quick look at any lexicon will demonstrate that God speaks about the human heart on scores of occasions, but ironically not one verse of Scripture is devoted to the virtues of the brain! This is no coincidence, but it requires me to consider how the world evolved from seeing the heart as the seat of cognition during the ancient age to believing that the brain is our seat of intelligence today.


The notion that the brain was the seat of intelligence was foreign to the ancients. It was the Egyptians who believed that the all knowledge and wisdom lie on the heart, and in fact, the heart is an organ of perception that we as a civilization of people no longer use as such. Most Western theologians advance the notion that when the Scripture refers to the heart, it is talking about the spirit of man. Perhaps it is in a few instances, but the majority of times that the Bible talks about “feeling” within the heart, “believing” with the heart, “sinning” with the heart, it is referring to that biological pump that circulates blood throughout the body. Social scientists have determined that the average person only uses about 10-12 percent of their brain capacity. Perhaps that is because the brain was never designed to take on a full load of cognitive (or spiritual) activity, and was primarily designed to control all of the body’s involuntary biological functions.



…to be continued

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