The Perfect Heart
Download MP3The Perfect Heart
Summary:
If our hearts are not ready and good ground for the seed of the Word, the Word will not produce in our life what God wants it to produce.
“You lust, and don’t have. You murder and covet, and can’t obtain. You fight and make war. You don’t have, because you don’t ask. 3 You ask, and don’t receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures.” James 4:2-3 World English Bible
The Parable of the seed and the sower is found in Matthew 13:1–23, Mark 4:1–20, Luke 8:4–15.
Let’s go back and look at part of this account in Matthew.
10 Then the disciples came and said to him, “Why do you speak to them in parables?” 11 And he answered them, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. 12 For to the one who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. 13 This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. 14 Indeed, in their case the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled that says:
“‘“You will indeed hear but never understand,
and you will indeed see but never perceive.”
15 For this people's heart has grown dull,
and with their ears they can barely hear,
and their eyes they have closed,
lest they should see with their eyes
and hear with their ears
and understand with their heart
and turn, and I would heal them.’
People can have a dull or hard heart and though they hear the Word, they will not understand.
The Scripture also talks about having a hard heart.
Mark 8:17 ESV
And Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why are you discussing the fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive or understand? Are your hearts hardened?
There’s also a perfect heart. Perfect as used in Scripture means compete. A perfect heart is a heart completely yielding to and desiring God.
2 Chronicles 16:9 KJV
9 For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him.
What we can have a right heart by accepting his Word and acting on it in faith believing God will do a work in us.
Are you asking God and believing he is working in you to give you a willing heart to do his will?
God says He will do a work in our hearts. We must trust Him to do it.
Jeremiah 24:7 ESV
I will give them a heart to know that I am the Lord, and they shall be my people and I will be their God, for they shall return to me with their whole heart.
Ezekiel 36:26 ESV
And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.
Deuteronomy 30:6
6 And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live.
Prayer:
Psalm 51:10 ESV
Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.
Psalm 139:23-24 ESV
23 Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts!
24 And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!
Philippians 2:13 ESV
for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
Blessings in Christ,
Tim Dumas
Hope for Healing, Faith for Living
Summary:
If our hearts are not ready and good ground for the seed of the Word, the Word will not produce in our life what God wants it to produce.
“You lust, and don’t have. You murder and covet, and can’t obtain. You fight and make war. You don’t have, because you don’t ask. 3 You ask, and don’t receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures.” James 4:2-3 World English Bible
The Parable of the seed and the sower is found in Matthew 13:1–23, Mark 4:1–20, Luke 8:4–15.
Let’s go back and look at part of this account in Matthew.
10 Then the disciples came and said to him, “Why do you speak to them in parables?” 11 And he answered them, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. 12 For to the one who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. 13 This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. 14 Indeed, in their case the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled that says:
“‘“You will indeed hear but never understand,
and you will indeed see but never perceive.”
15 For this people's heart has grown dull,
and with their ears they can barely hear,
and their eyes they have closed,
lest they should see with their eyes
and hear with their ears
and understand with their heart
and turn, and I would heal them.’
People can have a dull or hard heart and though they hear the Word, they will not understand.
The Scripture also talks about having a hard heart.
Mark 8:17 ESV
And Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why are you discussing the fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive or understand? Are your hearts hardened?
There’s also a perfect heart. Perfect as used in Scripture means compete. A perfect heart is a heart completely yielding to and desiring God.
2 Chronicles 16:9 KJV
9 For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him.
What we can have a right heart by accepting his Word and acting on it in faith believing God will do a work in us.
Are you asking God and believing he is working in you to give you a willing heart to do his will?
God says He will do a work in our hearts. We must trust Him to do it.
Jeremiah 24:7 ESV
I will give them a heart to know that I am the Lord, and they shall be my people and I will be their God, for they shall return to me with their whole heart.
Ezekiel 36:26 ESV
And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.
Deuteronomy 30:6
6 And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live.
Prayer:
Psalm 51:10 ESV
Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.
Psalm 139:23-24 ESV
23 Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts!
24 And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!
Philippians 2:13 ESV
for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
Blessings in Christ,
Tim Dumas
Hope for Healing, Faith for Living
