Kingdom's Keys Fellowship
Where God's Kingdom Meets Man's Heart.
Christmas 6 Reshaping the Heart
Christmas 6 Reshaping the Heart
To reshape the heart we have to recognize it starts with the mind. As Paul said, “…transformed by the renewal of your mind.” The mind is where we believe, where we analyze on the basis of what we believe. What we believe determines how we arrange our thoughts about life, God, people and existence. The mind is a reservoir of ideas, concepts and principles we choose to diagnose our experience. The stuff of life is processed by the mind and conclusions are made in the mind. This is why He gave us His Word. It is the only place, and grasp the imperative here, the only place we can trust to find the mind of God actively at work as we take part in His recovery plan. The bottom line for the mind is that our mind is an image of God’s mind made for Him as is our heart.
The mind of God is alive and real and that out of which the concept of the universe and our place in it was conceived. It is a spiritual mind, a perfect mind, a personal mind, a conceptual mind, an orderly mind, a logical mind, a moral mind, a Holy mind and a righteous mind. Thus we know that the heart of God is the same. It is our heart that is the problem. Again Jesus points this out in Mark 7:21-22, “For from within, out of men's hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly.” All are spiritual deviations. Our heart needs reshaping to return to the image of God’s heart as He intended.
The heart is where we trust the choices our mind makes, where we really find our motivation. We have expressions to describe it like, “Is your heart really in it?” “What do you feel deep within?” “Have a heart!” “You gotta have heart, all you really need is heart, when the odds are saying you’ll never win that’s when a grin should start, all you really need is heart (song from the musical ‘Damn Yankees’).”
If the heart is the seat of motivation then we have to ask what motivates us to act at any given moment? This is where the issue of temptation emerges. It is temptation that plagues the heart especially if it self-centered, self- indulgent and self-serving. From Jesus’ description above it is quite apparent all of us are tempted at any given moment to follow the perceived need of the moment. What is our first impression in meeting someone, our first reaction when we face rejection, our first impulse when we see something we want but can’t have, our first response when irritated, our initial feeling when something doesn’t go our way, our assessment when we think about our fears, our aloneness in them and especially when we can’t control our circumstances? This is the stuff of the heart. Here the final question is, ‘Can we trust ourselves or do we need someone from the outside we can trust to help, someone who understands the heart and the mind, someone who is there when we need him most?’
A person we can believe in with our mind, trust with our heart, that’s it isn’t it? In ‘our heart of hearts’ this is our deepest need, a person we can trust with our mind and heart. What clearer image can we have than that distant figure on a Cross? The one who died and then rose from the dead because He met the ultimate requirement of trust------death once and for all conquered, the power of sinful self-centeredness and lonely fear defeated in the moment-by-moment temptation to go it alone. That was the heart of God in Jesus born in Bethlehem. In His heart He trusted His Father’s will in the power of the Holy Spirit. That is the heart above every heart, the trust base where we take our hearts to be reshaped from within. His goal for us? To have our hearts reshaped in His image by the trust He gives us.
Christmas? Every day we can experience the meaning of a Heart born in our heart, a Mind born in our mind, a Spirit born in our spirit. This is a world of darkness as was Bethlehem on that pivotal night 2000 years ago. But, as the carol rings out the good news, ‘In thy dark streets shineth the Everlasting Light, the hopes and fears of all the years are met in Thee tonight.”
Jesus said, "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am (John 14:1-3).” Next, reshaping our spirit, stay tuned……..
To reshape the heart we have to recognize it starts with the mind. As Paul said, “…transformed by the renewal of your mind.” The mind is where we believe, where we analyze on the basis of what we believe. What we believe determines how we arrange our thoughts about life, God, people and existence. The mind is a reservoir of ideas, concepts and principles we choose to diagnose our experience. The stuff of life is processed by the mind and conclusions are made in the mind. This is why He gave us His Word. It is the only place, and grasp the imperative here, the only place we can trust to find the mind of God actively at work as we take part in His recovery plan. The bottom line for the mind is that our mind is an image of God’s mind made for Him as is our heart.
The mind of God is alive and real and that out of which the concept of the universe and our place in it was conceived. It is a spiritual mind, a perfect mind, a personal mind, a conceptual mind, an orderly mind, a logical mind, a moral mind, a Holy mind and a righteous mind. Thus we know that the heart of God is the same. It is our heart that is the problem. Again Jesus points this out in Mark 7:21-22, “For from within, out of men's hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly.” All are spiritual deviations. Our heart needs reshaping to return to the image of God’s heart as He intended.
The heart is where we trust the choices our mind makes, where we really find our motivation. We have expressions to describe it like, “Is your heart really in it?” “What do you feel deep within?” “Have a heart!” “You gotta have heart, all you really need is heart, when the odds are saying you’ll never win that’s when a grin should start, all you really need is heart (song from the musical ‘Damn Yankees’).”
If the heart is the seat of motivation then we have to ask what motivates us to act at any given moment? This is where the issue of temptation emerges. It is temptation that plagues the heart especially if it self-centered, self- indulgent and self-serving. From Jesus’ description above it is quite apparent all of us are tempted at any given moment to follow the perceived need of the moment. What is our first impression in meeting someone, our first reaction when we face rejection, our first impulse when we see something we want but can’t have, our first response when irritated, our initial feeling when something doesn’t go our way, our assessment when we think about our fears, our aloneness in them and especially when we can’t control our circumstances? This is the stuff of the heart. Here the final question is, ‘Can we trust ourselves or do we need someone from the outside we can trust to help, someone who understands the heart and the mind, someone who is there when we need him most?’
A person we can believe in with our mind, trust with our heart, that’s it isn’t it? In ‘our heart of hearts’ this is our deepest need, a person we can trust with our mind and heart. What clearer image can we have than that distant figure on a Cross? The one who died and then rose from the dead because He met the ultimate requirement of trust------death once and for all conquered, the power of sinful self-centeredness and lonely fear defeated in the moment-by-moment temptation to go it alone. That was the heart of God in Jesus born in Bethlehem. In His heart He trusted His Father’s will in the power of the Holy Spirit. That is the heart above every heart, the trust base where we take our hearts to be reshaped from within. His goal for us? To have our hearts reshaped in His image by the trust He gives us.
Christmas? Every day we can experience the meaning of a Heart born in our heart, a Mind born in our mind, a Spirit born in our spirit. This is a world of darkness as was Bethlehem on that pivotal night 2000 years ago. But, as the carol rings out the good news, ‘In thy dark streets shineth the Everlasting Light, the hopes and fears of all the years are met in Thee tonight.”
Jesus said, "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am (John 14:1-3).” Next, reshaping our spirit, stay tuned……..
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