The Gateway to the Human Heart - Pt III

NOTE: This series began as a three-part teaching on believing with the heart; however, in order to keep this final article at a reasonable length, I’ll need to publish a fourth article.

From the Garden of Eden, mankind had direct access to God Almighty, but after the fall of Adam and Eve our relationship with Him was severed, and our access limited. However, as we examine the lives of the patriarchs, prophets and other followers of the past, we note that access was not eliminated. Ironically, Cain had access to God and had garnered His favor even after murdering his brother Abel. Noah had a relationship with God that was so profound that He used him to transplant civilization on this side of the antediluvian period. Moses was one of only a handful of people who saw God. And the Prophet Elijah’s relationship with God was so profound that He took him away from the earth in a chariot of fire.

There is one thing that all great patriarchs of the past have in common; they understood the concept of believing with their heart. How is it that the ancient architects of knowledge, wisdom and spirituality understood the heart to be the seat of cognition and the gateway to the spirit, and our modern age has lost the art of perceiving with the heart? In fact, I wonder how modern society has come to see the brain as the seat of intelligence. I believe that it is significant that the Bible never mentions “brain” one time, but there are scores of instances where the “heart” is used, and most of those occasions imply that the heart is an organ of perception that has cognitive ability. A few examples:

H And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually (Genesis 6:5);

H Then Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, Shall a child be born unto him that is an hundred years old? and shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear (Genesis 17:17);

H ^3.But know that the Lord hath set apart him that is godly for himself: the Lord will hear when I call unto him. ^4.Stand in awe, and sin not: commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still. Selah (Psalm 4:3-4);

H I will praise thee, O Lord, with my whole heart; I will shew forth all thy marvellous works (Psalm 9:1);

H But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart (Matthew 5:28);

The heart is central to our existence; obviously because of its biological responsibility, but also because it is the seat of our sentient being. Consider the incredible, human ingenuity of the magicians of Egypt who were able to convert their rods to serpents as Aaron did. Now don’t permit these men’s mind over matter ability to be lost on you because Aaron’s serpent ate theirs. Over the years, Western theologians have diminished their extraordinary mental prowess that gave them the ability to convert one molecular structure to another. These men were bumping up against the upper limits of human ability. However, they were only able to attain such incredible heights of achievement, because they believed that human determination could accomplish anything that the heart believed.

My favorite verses of Scripture that embodies the concept of believing with the heart is in Mark 11. Jesus and his disciples were returning from Jerusalem and the disciples were astonished to see that the fig tree that Jesus cursed the day before had dried up at the roots. Jesus, ever the sage, used this incident to give one of the most profound lessons on faith and human ingenuity in the Bible:

^12.And on the morrow, when they were come from Bethany, he was hungry: ^13.And seeing a fig tree afar off having leaves, he came, if haply he might find any thing thereon: and when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves; for the time of figs was not yet. ^14.And Jesus answered and said unto it, No man eat fruit of thee hereafter for ever. And his disciples heard it. ^15.And they come to Jerusalem…^19.And when even was come, he went out of the city. ^20.And in the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots. ^21.And Peter calling to remembrance saith unto him, Master, behold, the fig tree which thou cursedst is withered away. ^22.And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God. ^23.For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith. ^24.Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them (Mark 11:12-15a, 19-24).

There is a duality of lessons in these verses of Scripture: First, Jesus buttressed all of His examples on faith with a profound demonstration of what happens when you speak with unwavering confidence; and second, He advances the notion of believing with the heart. However, this lesson has its roots in a sequence of events that transpired the day before. As we see in verse 12, Jesus was looking for something to eat as He and His disciples left Bethany, and He noticed a fig tree that didn’t have any figs on it, because the time of figs was not yet. Despite the fact that figs were out of season, Jesus cursed the tree so that it would never bear any fruit (see verse 14 above), and then they continued to Jerusalem.

The next day as Jesus and His disciples passed the fig tree that Jesus had cursed the day before, they were astonished to see that the tree had dried up from the roots. Jesus simply says to them, “Have faith in God.” The remedy for all of our ills is to have faith in God; however, many of us struggle with receiving from God, because we don’t demonstrate faith in God. We exercise faith everyday: from believing that once we devote a week’s worth of labor on the job, the company will give us a paycheck to riding across a bridge and not doubting the integrity of the structure’s ability to hold up under enormous weight. Yet, we wrestle with trusting God. This paradox was foreign to the patriarchs.

When God spoke a word to the patriarchs of old, although there were moments when doubt had to be overcome, they enjoyed much more victory than most Christians do today. This is the result of satan’s cunning ability to control enough of what we consume spiritually to disrupt our faith. I spoke at length in the five-part series titled, [s]atanic Obstacles to Human Ingenuity, on satan’s need to keep us from fulfilling the destiny that God has placed within each of His children. Since he could not be like God, satan yearns to prevent us from being like God as well.

If we study what Jesus said about our potential, we will understand our position of authority in the earth. On one occasion, Jesus advised us that if we believed on him, the works we did would be greater than the works that He did: Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father (John 14:12). This is a very profound truth that is spoken by Jesus, and for reasons that are clear to some but cloudy to others, many in the modern culture have missed it.

There has been a theological debate over whether Jesus was referring to mightier miracles being wrought by our hands when He said we should do greater works than He, or whether He was referring to the preaching of the Gospel. There is a very influential group of ministers who believe that Jesus was referring to the preaching of the Gospel. These men typically do not embrace the idea that miracles have survived beyond the original 12 Apostles; consequently, they have robbed themselves, along with those who follow their teaching, of demonstrating God’s AWESOME ability and power in the earth. But make no mistake; Jesus was referring to our potential to perform greater miracles than He ever did.

…to be continued