Heart Keepers 06
6. The realizing of God's presence with us and setting the Lord always before us.
God is always with us. The Holy Spirit indwells us. All this is true but do we intentionally set that in the forefront of our minds and the center of our hearts?
Are we desirous of being obnoxiously aware of and desperately desirous of His being always and all ways before us?
Without the practice of the disciplines of the faith, without partaking of His means of grace and His mercies this will never never be the case. We are but babes in holiness (in many ways but especially in terms of separation from the world). As babes we need goood food and good exercize. Without both we will not grow or we will grow poorly.
But we have too much to do. Too much to worry about. Too much of too much. So we nibble a breakfast bar of faith thinking it will provide the nutrition we need for our daily walk. We crave spiritual fast food and just the occassional healthy meal and think we will be OK.
We set God before us when we are in need; not accepting that we are always in need. Prosperity and comfort keep us fat, sassy and lost.
Keeping the heart takes work - focused and diligent work - but who has the time? Who makes the time? So we stubble along bringing ridicule to the name of God by our shallow, ignorant and intermitant faith. We violate the first line of the model prayer since we do not "hallow" His name as it should be hallowed.
We do not keep our hearts and so our lives are warped and twisted all the time we claim to be serving the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
Jesus made it very very clear that it is our hearts that are the source of evil and it is our hearts we must keep. It's not a feeling, its facts. It's not a disposition, it's discipline. It's not neat, it's necessary.
Showing posts with label heart keeping. Show all posts
Showing posts with label heart keeping. Show all posts
Monday, March 10, 2014
Saturday, March 8, 2014
Heart Keepers 05. 030914
Heart Keepers 05
5. A constant and holy jealousy over our own hearts.
This is a tough one. "Jealousy," isn't that a sin? And yet shouldn't we be jealous of anything that would woo us away from the Lord?
Think of the power (albeit evil) of sinful jealousy. It's the Great Green Monster. It sparks anger and bitterness, even fury and odd behaviors. Shouldn't anything that comes between our hearts and God be seen as an interloper, a seducer, a harlot attempting to lead us into adultery?
"My heart is God's, leave it alone!" "It is His do not intefere!" Even, "I hate you for trying to come between God and I!" Should not this be our stance? Should we not pray for this holy jealousy over our hearts?
Indeed God is jealous for our hearts. He responds mightily when anything seeks to woo or win us. He hates - yes hates - that which would come between you and Him. We see it over and over again in the history of Israel. God is a jealous God and will not tolerate our having any others.
Exodus 34:14 NASB
--for you shall not worship any other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God--
Deuteronomy 4:24 NASB
"For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.
Psalm 78:58 NASB
For they provoked Him with their high places And aroused His jealousy with their graven images.
1 Corinthians 10:22 NASB
Or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? We are not stronger than He, are we?
James 4:4-5 NASB
You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. [5] Or do you think that the Scripture speaks to no purpose: "He jealously desires the Spirit which He has made to dwell in us"?
We need to be just as jealous for God as He is for us. I know it seems odd and is quite a tough nut to crack but we need to pray that the Holy Spirit will give us insight.
These are His eyes, you may not enter.
These are His ears, you may not sound.
This is His mind, be ye gone.
This is His heart, there is no place for you here.
ms
5. A constant and holy jealousy over our own hearts.
This is a tough one. "Jealousy," isn't that a sin? And yet shouldn't we be jealous of anything that would woo us away from the Lord?
Think of the power (albeit evil) of sinful jealousy. It's the Great Green Monster. It sparks anger and bitterness, even fury and odd behaviors. Shouldn't anything that comes between our hearts and God be seen as an interloper, a seducer, a harlot attempting to lead us into adultery?
"My heart is God's, leave it alone!" "It is His do not intefere!" Even, "I hate you for trying to come between God and I!" Should not this be our stance? Should we not pray for this holy jealousy over our hearts?
Indeed God is jealous for our hearts. He responds mightily when anything seeks to woo or win us. He hates - yes hates - that which would come between you and Him. We see it over and over again in the history of Israel. God is a jealous God and will not tolerate our having any others.
Exodus 34:14 NASB
--for you shall not worship any other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God--
Deuteronomy 4:24 NASB
"For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.
Psalm 78:58 NASB
For they provoked Him with their high places And aroused His jealousy with their graven images.
1 Corinthians 10:22 NASB
Or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? We are not stronger than He, are we?
James 4:4-5 NASB
You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. [5] Or do you think that the Scripture speaks to no purpose: "He jealously desires the Spirit which He has made to dwell in us"?
We need to be just as jealous for God as He is for us. I know it seems odd and is quite a tough nut to crack but we need to pray that the Holy Spirit will give us insight.
These are His eyes, you may not enter.
These are His ears, you may not sound.
This is His mind, be ye gone.
This is His heart, there is no place for you here.
ms
Thursday, March 6, 2014
Heart Keepers 04 030614
Heart Keepers 04
4. Imposing strong engagements upon ourselves to walk more carefully with God and avoid the occasions whererby the heart may be induced to sin.
Most of us know where danger lies. We know, or should know, what tempts us and where we are weak. Flavel makes the point here that we have to set clear and sound boundaries for ourselves if we indeed want to keep our hearts.
Knowing what "engagements" we need to set is critical and if more subtle than we think. I can think of no better example that TV as a place where we need to engage ourselves to greater caution. It is so easy to become numb to the world and its philosophy than TV.
We used to watch a detective show in which there was some romatic tension between a female detective and a writer of mysteries. All was well until we the two main characters had begun sleeping together in the same house as the writers teenage daughter.
Even though there were no graphic love scenes we became concerned that we had not been concerned about the "fornication" that was implied by the show. Here we were watching a show where sin was not only taking place but being celebrated as a good thing and we had missed that somehow.
Well, we had to set a boundary. Why? Because we had been so enamoured with the show that we were allowing the blatant sin to go unaddressed. In being fans we were, in the privacy of our own home, somehow endorsing the illicit relationship between the two characters. Not being sensitive to this, being so slow to be convicted by this concerned us for our hearts and how they had been numbed or even hardened to what we were watching.
Can you see Flavel's point in this? We can not affort to allow our hearts, or consciences for that matter, to become numb or hardened. We need sensitive hearts and consciences so we may not be led into heart sins.
OK, it may seem hokey but the question is, "Would I be doing this if Jesus was with me?" What you would n't do in His physica resence we shouldn't do period. It may seem sillly but that's a very simple way to impose upon your heart that which will keep your heart.
4. Imposing strong engagements upon ourselves to walk more carefully with God and avoid the occasions whererby the heart may be induced to sin.
Most of us know where danger lies. We know, or should know, what tempts us and where we are weak. Flavel makes the point here that we have to set clear and sound boundaries for ourselves if we indeed want to keep our hearts.
Knowing what "engagements" we need to set is critical and if more subtle than we think. I can think of no better example that TV as a place where we need to engage ourselves to greater caution. It is so easy to become numb to the world and its philosophy than TV.
We used to watch a detective show in which there was some romatic tension between a female detective and a writer of mysteries. All was well until we the two main characters had begun sleeping together in the same house as the writers teenage daughter.
Even though there were no graphic love scenes we became concerned that we had not been concerned about the "fornication" that was implied by the show. Here we were watching a show where sin was not only taking place but being celebrated as a good thing and we had missed that somehow.
Well, we had to set a boundary. Why? Because we had been so enamoured with the show that we were allowing the blatant sin to go unaddressed. In being fans we were, in the privacy of our own home, somehow endorsing the illicit relationship between the two characters. Not being sensitive to this, being so slow to be convicted by this concerned us for our hearts and how they had been numbed or even hardened to what we were watching.
Can you see Flavel's point in this? We can not affort to allow our hearts, or consciences for that matter, to become numb or hardened. We need sensitive hearts and consciences so we may not be led into heart sins.
OK, it may seem hokey but the question is, "Would I be doing this if Jesus was with me?" What you would n't do in His physica resence we shouldn't do period. It may seem sillly but that's a very simple way to impose upon your heart that which will keep your heart.
Wednesday, March 5, 2014
Heart Keepers 03 030514
Heart Keepers 03
3. Earnest supplication and instant prayers for purifying and rectifying grace when sin has defiled and disordered the heart.
Two things here are worthy of notice. The first is "earnest supplication." When we go to God in prayer we need to go with a full acknowledgement of the curruption that yet abides in our hearts. Our prayers must reflect the fact that we are still battling self-love and the fear of man and that even our best prayers are susupect.
Especially when under trials or afflictions our prayers can be mercenary to say the least. We want relief for our pain and struggle so badly that we will often find ourselves bartering with God for His provision. We are so focused on the immediate need that we can often hinder our own prayers by not praying fully and wholly.
Fully and wholly? There is so much to pray for, so many needs of the Kingdom and its citizens - so many brothers and sisters in distress. There is the church to pray for, those whose needs we know to pray for and in our distress and concern for our situation it is easy - all too easy - to just pray for ourselves without regard to the broader picture.
We can also find ourselves praying, "If" prayers. You know, "God if You will just X I will Y." This is bartering with God, trying to strike a deal. This hinders the effectiveness of our prayers by it's assumption that God "barters" His blessings and provision. This sullies and minimizes our prayers making them shallow and , well, wrong.
Secondly we need to be sensitive to the needs for "instant prayers," or timely prayers. These are prayers in and of the moment especially when it comes to heart sins. I know I have gone to God with my needs and failing to recognize the heart sins yet needing to be dealt with I have prayed ill and been sticken because of my shallowness and self-love.
Sin defiles and disorders our hearts to a greater extent than we see, so our prayers must seek His cleansing and ordering of our hearts. I would suggest that this needs to be the first part of our prayers. Praying about praying may sound strange but if our hearts are not in the right frame we will pray amiss.
Praying for purifying and rectifying grace may well need to precede any if not all our prayers. If you have ever (and I assume you have) been under affliction and in pain you know how the corruptions of the heart can twist your thinking and affect your praying. Taking time to pray about praying is one good way to discover and root out this sins that would hinder and hamper your prayers.
When you find that your heart is not right, when it is struggling with heart sins, there are always the Psalms that you can pray. The writers of the Psalms experienced the difficuties of life much as we do. They felt abandonded by God as we do. They felt overwhelmed by affliction as we do. They felt all was hopeless as we do. And yet they always return to trusting the Lord even when the motivation is that there is no one else to turn to (which asctually there isn't). They struggled with the same ehart sins we struggle with and their guidance in our rpayers can be a great blessing and instruction.
Heat sins will always be a struggle for God's people here. However we can not allow their commonness to go unaddressed. Keeping the heart is nowhere more critical than in the areqa of prayer. Prayer is fundamental to our relationship with God and we need for that relationship to be open and whole from our side as it is from His. Heart sins, an unkept heart, will hinder and disorder our prayers which in turn will hinder and disorder our walk and witness.
3. Earnest supplication and instant prayers for purifying and rectifying grace when sin has defiled and disordered the heart.
Two things here are worthy of notice. The first is "earnest supplication." When we go to God in prayer we need to go with a full acknowledgement of the curruption that yet abides in our hearts. Our prayers must reflect the fact that we are still battling self-love and the fear of man and that even our best prayers are susupect.
Especially when under trials or afflictions our prayers can be mercenary to say the least. We want relief for our pain and struggle so badly that we will often find ourselves bartering with God for His provision. We are so focused on the immediate need that we can often hinder our own prayers by not praying fully and wholly.
Fully and wholly? There is so much to pray for, so many needs of the Kingdom and its citizens - so many brothers and sisters in distress. There is the church to pray for, those whose needs we know to pray for and in our distress and concern for our situation it is easy - all too easy - to just pray for ourselves without regard to the broader picture.
We can also find ourselves praying, "If" prayers. You know, "God if You will just X I will Y." This is bartering with God, trying to strike a deal. This hinders the effectiveness of our prayers by it's assumption that God "barters" His blessings and provision. This sullies and minimizes our prayers making them shallow and , well, wrong.
Secondly we need to be sensitive to the needs for "instant prayers," or timely prayers. These are prayers in and of the moment especially when it comes to heart sins. I know I have gone to God with my needs and failing to recognize the heart sins yet needing to be dealt with I have prayed ill and been sticken because of my shallowness and self-love.
Sin defiles and disorders our hearts to a greater extent than we see, so our prayers must seek His cleansing and ordering of our hearts. I would suggest that this needs to be the first part of our prayers. Praying about praying may sound strange but if our hearts are not in the right frame we will pray amiss.
Praying for purifying and rectifying grace may well need to precede any if not all our prayers. If you have ever (and I assume you have) been under affliction and in pain you know how the corruptions of the heart can twist your thinking and affect your praying. Taking time to pray about praying is one good way to discover and root out this sins that would hinder and hamper your prayers.
When you find that your heart is not right, when it is struggling with heart sins, there are always the Psalms that you can pray. The writers of the Psalms experienced the difficuties of life much as we do. They felt abandonded by God as we do. They felt overwhelmed by affliction as we do. They felt all was hopeless as we do. And yet they always return to trusting the Lord even when the motivation is that there is no one else to turn to (which asctually there isn't). They struggled with the same ehart sins we struggle with and their guidance in our rpayers can be a great blessing and instruction.
Heat sins will always be a struggle for God's people here. However we can not allow their commonness to go unaddressed. Keeping the heart is nowhere more critical than in the areqa of prayer. Prayer is fundamental to our relationship with God and we need for that relationship to be open and whole from our side as it is from His. Heart sins, an unkept heart, will hinder and disorder our prayers which in turn will hinder and disorder our walk and witness.
Tuesday, March 4, 2014
Heart Keeping 02 030414
Heart Keepers 002
2. Deep humiliation for heart evils and disorders.
Paul exposes himself and us in Romans when he speaks of his own struggle with sin. For some of us this is, well, embarassing. Paul, the author of 2/3 of the New Testament; a man to whom Christ revealed Himself after His ascention - this pillar of the faith had a constant and pernicious battle with heart eveils and disorders? Wow, do we even stand a chance?
Yes, we do! We most certainly do!
But we only have a chance if we desire a chance. What I mean is we must be motivated somehow to battle (with the aid of the Holy Spirit) each and every heart evil and disorder.
How can we be so motivated? Flavel uses and interesting term, "Humiliation." Not humbling but humiliation. This is a most uncomfortable idea. We work hard - very hard at never being humiliated and here it's presented as a necessary element in keeping the heart.
But can we be anything other than humiliated when we consider the cross? When we reflect upon the suffering both physical and spiritual that our Master was willing to endure for our sakes? Can we not find humiliation in our refusal to be humbled and made contrite? Can we not find humiliation in our failure to faithfully pursuer godliness and holiness in the face of the cost?
Humiliation requires exposure. Our deepest sins and secret desires must be exposed for us to have a sense of humiliation. It is not a casual thing not a common thing. We work very hard to resist and abait anything that might expose us to humiliation. We sneak and lie to avoid it. We critisize and complain to divert attention. We work very hard to fool others and ourselves.
Humiliation is hard to bear. But if the cost of not being humiliated is faithlessness, a hindered sanctification or a constant questioning of the veracity of our faith - isn't it reallly worth it?
Note though, it is not the sinful actions that Flavel calls us to humiliate - It is the sins in the heart. The deep deep recesses of our hearts need to have the light of the Word shone into them so that we may expose - to oursevles at least - the depth of our remaining depravity and disorder.
This is not to be done causally or lightly. It will be painful and irritating. You will suffer and struggle. But is we truly desire to live in the freedom Christ has bought us this must be done. Without it we remain wounded and bound, cheating ourselves of the freedom Christ paid for.
How? What are the "mechanics" of such a deep search and the resulting humiliation? I wish I had an easy answer, a simple "how to." But each of us much pray earnestly that God will first convict us of the need for such a search and will, by His Word, Spirit and perhaps the guidance of a godly mentor show us our "how."
I can only suggest some things. The first is, of course, prayer and not a short simple prayer. This is heart work and a great battle and demands great effort and submission. I have thought that actually stretching out of the floor in a postion of submission might be of help. Humbling ourselves physically can be an aid to humbling ouselves spiritually. Focusing on the target - a deep humiliation for heart evils and disorders - would be critical. Perhaps, should being prostrate on the floor not seem seemly to you, you could sit and write out your prayer for God to expose these twists in the heart.
Saturating yourself with the Word will be necessary. The Psalms are replete with prayers of this nature. Seek them out. Meditate on them. Ask God to make these prayers your prayers.
Foremost in all this is to beseach the Holy Spiriti to be the Holy Spirit in this. Claim the promise of His advocacy and His comfort. Demand - yes demand, that He work in your heart and your mind to bring the humiliation of exposure so that you may seek God's relief and release form these evils and disorders.
Paul was willng to "beat" his body daily to make it his slave and if he was willing to do that (figuratively) what are we willing to do that our hearts might know the blessed peace of Christ?
I don't believe there is any "magic means" to this goal. There is no formula, no recipe. But we have an arsenal of means for communicating with God and hearing from God that we may take up and use in this quest.
I have come to believe that if I take my faith seriously and truly desire to be conformed to His likeness that not only my mind but my heart must be renewed and renewed consistantly and constantly. I encourage you to pray earnestly for the conviction to seek that deep humiliation for the evils and disorders of the heart that as they are exposed and God addresses them we may be freed so we may remain free.
2. Deep humiliation for heart evils and disorders.
Paul exposes himself and us in Romans when he speaks of his own struggle with sin. For some of us this is, well, embarassing. Paul, the author of 2/3 of the New Testament; a man to whom Christ revealed Himself after His ascention - this pillar of the faith had a constant and pernicious battle with heart eveils and disorders? Wow, do we even stand a chance?
Yes, we do! We most certainly do!
But we only have a chance if we desire a chance. What I mean is we must be motivated somehow to battle (with the aid of the Holy Spirit) each and every heart evil and disorder.
How can we be so motivated? Flavel uses and interesting term, "Humiliation." Not humbling but humiliation. This is a most uncomfortable idea. We work hard - very hard at never being humiliated and here it's presented as a necessary element in keeping the heart.
But can we be anything other than humiliated when we consider the cross? When we reflect upon the suffering both physical and spiritual that our Master was willing to endure for our sakes? Can we not find humiliation in our refusal to be humbled and made contrite? Can we not find humiliation in our failure to faithfully pursuer godliness and holiness in the face of the cost?
Humiliation requires exposure. Our deepest sins and secret desires must be exposed for us to have a sense of humiliation. It is not a casual thing not a common thing. We work very hard to resist and abait anything that might expose us to humiliation. We sneak and lie to avoid it. We critisize and complain to divert attention. We work very hard to fool others and ourselves.
Humiliation is hard to bear. But if the cost of not being humiliated is faithlessness, a hindered sanctification or a constant questioning of the veracity of our faith - isn't it reallly worth it?
Note though, it is not the sinful actions that Flavel calls us to humiliate - It is the sins in the heart. The deep deep recesses of our hearts need to have the light of the Word shone into them so that we may expose - to oursevles at least - the depth of our remaining depravity and disorder.
This is not to be done causally or lightly. It will be painful and irritating. You will suffer and struggle. But is we truly desire to live in the freedom Christ has bought us this must be done. Without it we remain wounded and bound, cheating ourselves of the freedom Christ paid for.
How? What are the "mechanics" of such a deep search and the resulting humiliation? I wish I had an easy answer, a simple "how to." But each of us much pray earnestly that God will first convict us of the need for such a search and will, by His Word, Spirit and perhaps the guidance of a godly mentor show us our "how."
I can only suggest some things. The first is, of course, prayer and not a short simple prayer. This is heart work and a great battle and demands great effort and submission. I have thought that actually stretching out of the floor in a postion of submission might be of help. Humbling ourselves physically can be an aid to humbling ouselves spiritually. Focusing on the target - a deep humiliation for heart evils and disorders - would be critical. Perhaps, should being prostrate on the floor not seem seemly to you, you could sit and write out your prayer for God to expose these twists in the heart.
Saturating yourself with the Word will be necessary. The Psalms are replete with prayers of this nature. Seek them out. Meditate on them. Ask God to make these prayers your prayers.
Foremost in all this is to beseach the Holy Spiriti to be the Holy Spirit in this. Claim the promise of His advocacy and His comfort. Demand - yes demand, that He work in your heart and your mind to bring the humiliation of exposure so that you may seek God's relief and release form these evils and disorders.
Paul was willng to "beat" his body daily to make it his slave and if he was willing to do that (figuratively) what are we willing to do that our hearts might know the blessed peace of Christ?
I don't believe there is any "magic means" to this goal. There is no formula, no recipe. But we have an arsenal of means for communicating with God and hearing from God that we may take up and use in this quest.
I have come to believe that if I take my faith seriously and truly desire to be conformed to His likeness that not only my mind but my heart must be renewed and renewed consistantly and constantly. I encourage you to pray earnestly for the conviction to seek that deep humiliation for the evils and disorders of the heart that as they are exposed and God addresses them we may be freed so we may remain free.
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