Pacemaker Review

[HKHaugan]

You'll see this is the same as my letter but I wanted to record it in the blog as well.

Reviewing My Pacemaker and Why I Never Stop Learning

The ongoing lesson in my pacemaker experience is this: I was created to think spiritually but when physical circumstances overtake me my mind is consumed with me and my body's needs. We are so conditioned by the world to seeing everything in a secular perspective (personal opinion and past trial and error experience) that the unseen, the spiritual, takes a backseat. Not to belabor my pacemaker implant but it is just another example of how we are called to read everything spiritually and how it takes awhile after some events like this to get that point.

Yes, I have been praying and know others have been doing that for me as well. What is the learning I've been given by it? What can I share that might be meaningful to others? I know the healing process is guided by the Lord but the physical and emotional demands in the recovery period are constant. I remember that from my post bypass surgical time ten years ago. I find it extremely interesting that as a Bible teacher and disciple in training (aren't we always?) my maladies have been heart related? Isn't that what the Lord Jesus was and is so deeply concerned about, the condition of our hearts (Mk.7:17-23)? Am I really paying attention? Of all the scriptural parallels it is the condition of the heart that stands out in both the Old and New Testaments. “The Lord says: “These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is based on merely human rules they have been taught (Is.29:13).”

So, how do I see my physical heart and its treatment in spiritual reality? Is there a spiritual parallel between my pacemaker and the Lord's concern for my heart and your heart? How in the world does a pacemaker have spiritual significance? Paul was very clear on this when he said that everything seen has a spiritual parallel (Rom.1:20). It's takes the retraining of the mind using God's Word. Follow me on this.

What a pacemaker does is to give the physical heart the proper electrical impulse to keep it in a balanced beat. My heart rate was slowing down due to a fading natural beat. Now it is beating at what the cardiologist believes is best for me. As I progress he can change it by decreasing or increasing it with another electronic device according to my individual need. He has encouraged me to return to my usual physical exercise which may increase the beat but it will never go below the prescribed beat.

Having said that, how does it jibe with our spirituality? Think of it this way. The Holy Spirit is our spiritual pacemaker. He moves as the Lord Jesus directs in each person according to their individual needs. He works in three ways.

First, when we accepted the Lord He gave us His Holy Spirit to restore our heart from sin's attempt to block its intended beat (John 16:12-15). When our heart beats properly then our mind and spirit work in balance with the Lord. The Holy Spirit sets the pace according to the Lord's direction. That means the Lord Jesus is the ultimate cardiologist. See what I mean?

Second, no matter how we may deviate from what He wants from us, the Holy Spirit will always be there with the right beat. If we are thinking about taking control of our heartbeat either through temptation's prod or self indulgence He will send a corrective impulse. But, and this is important, sin will be there to try and block that impulse. What happens next will depend on our faithful response. It's going to be either the fading natural beat brought on by trying to be in control or obedience to God's Word and open to being given the right beat.

Third, the Holy Spirit will give us insights as we meet others to discern what is taking place in both their hearts and ours. This is again where Scripture comes in. It not only informs us as to what is a consistent response to God's will, it is the Spirit's guarantee of His presence giving us the right response. Further, there is an exercise structure the Scripture presents to offset our secular conditioning. It involves worship, discipleship, ministry and mission (Acts 2:42-47). Each challenges us to exercise the faith we were given. And each works with the other to strengthen a spiritually born again heart that lasts eternally. Further, it is all done in the context of the Lord's spiritual family; gifted, filled and motivated by the eternal pacemaker, the Holy Spirit.

There is no experience in this world that exists apart from the spiritual reality to which it points.

Think Scripturally which develops our belief for the mind. The more we know about Jesus will deepen our personal knowledge of Him (2Cor.4:6).

Trust spiritually in Whom we believe for the heart's growth. It is one thing to believe and yet another to trust. Trust works the heart (John 14:1-4).

Act spiritually by exercising our trust in the presence of the Spirit's beat in every next event calling us to reach out to others. Faith is how we exercise our trust. Faith is the key that brings our heart out into the open. That reaching out measures where we are. Is our personal beat fading or is it allowing the “Pacemaker” to bring eternity, the Lord Jesus, into the present?