WHAT’S IN YOUR HEART?
A Two Part Teaching
Kevin Martin
The impetus for this two part teaching came from a prompting I sensed from the Lord to look at verses 6 and 7 of each chapter of the book of James. I noticed four separate heart issues in four of the chapters in or about those verses. I believed the Lord’s purpose for me was to study, understand and release this teaching at a time like this.
I encourage you to trust the Holy Spirit to search your heart and reveal the difference in your life during times of stress; comparing times fear ruled your choices, to times you consciously chose to trust the Lord. What was the result in your life, revealed sometimes soon after, and other times a while later. What does He want us to learn about His faithfulness?
In Part 1: When Facing A Storm When Facing Persecution
In Part 2: When Facing Any Trial While Waiting For The Lord’s Return
Part 2
When Facing Any Trial
- What’s Your Source?
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding;
6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.
Proverbs 3:5, 6 NKJV
When you are in trouble, what or who is your source of protection, provision and protection? When you need guidance where do you turn?
- Submit to God.
6 But he continues to pour out more and more grace upon us. For it says,
“God resists you when you are proud
but continually pours out grace when you are humble.”
7 So then, surrender to God. Stand up to the devil and resist him and he will turn and run away from you. Move your heart closer and closer to God, and he will come even closer to you.
8 But make sure you cleanse your life, you sinners, and keep your heart pure and stop doubting. 9 Feel the pain of your sin, be sorrowful and weep! Let your joking around be turned into mourning and your joy into deep humiliation. 10 Be willing to be made low before the Lord and he will exalt you! James 4:6-10 TPT
(Also 1 Peter 5:6-10)
When facing any trial your first choice is: either submit your heart and your response to God or rely upon your own wisdom or another person’s strength. Resisting the devil in your own strength results in either being fooled into relying more and more on your own wisdom and pride until the cost is greater than you can handle. The other outcome is immediate or short term suffering. The enemy laughs either way.
God will not force you to come close to Him and follow His direction. But when you come in humble submission, He pours out His grace continually to empower you over the enemy and to experience His abiding presence and joy.
While Waiting For The Lord’s Return
7 Meanwhile, brothers and sisters, we must be patient and filled with expectation as we wait for the appearing of the Lord. Think about the farmer who has to patiently wait for the earth’s harvest as it ripens because of the early and latter rains. 8 So you also keep your hopes high and be patient, for the presence of the Lord is drawing closer. James 5:7, 8 TPT
You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.
James 5:8 NKJV
Establish = resolutely set your hearts in one direction. Where is your focus?
11 Now may our God and Father Himself, and our Lord Jesus Christ, direct our way to you. 12 And may the Lord make you increase and abound in love to one another and to all, just as we do to you, 13 so that He may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints. 1 Thessalonians 3:11-13 NKJV
Why would James urge believers to establish their hearts as farmers would wait in patience through several seasons? Did he have a time in mind in which no one will know the season or the date but the Father, as Jesus told them before He ascended?
6 Every time they were gathered together, they asked Jesus, “Lord, is it the time now for you to free Israel and restore our kingdom?” 7 He answered, “The Father is the one who sets the fixed dates and the times of their fulfillment. You are not permitted to know the timing of all that he has prepared by his own authority.” Acts 1:6, 7 TPT
8 So, dear friends, don’t let this one thing escape your notice: a single day counts like a thousand years to the Lord Yahweh, and a thousand years counts as one day. 9 This means that, contrary to man’s perspective, the Lord is not late with his promise to return, as some measure lateness. But rather, his “delay” simply reveals his loving patience toward you, because he does not want any to perish but all to come to repentance. 2 Peter 3:8, 9 TPT
The Scriptures above were not referring to AD70. Concerning that year, Jesus said the generation who heard Him would see the events He prophesied in Matthew 24:2-34 and Luke 21:5-33. Approaching AD70 the disciples could see what was on the horizon. That coming destruction was even more obvious to the Christians when the Roman army first approached Jerusalem in November AD66. Then in AD70 beginning at Passover and through the summer months, until the temple was destroyed on August 30; Jerusalem was surrounded by an army of 60,000 Roman legionnaires. No one in Jerusalem was leisurely eating and drinking or planning their future. Since May they had been fighting each other for every scrap of food.
Contrast that to the focus of James and Peter above, the coming or return of the Lord, referred to in Matthew 24:35-44; a day that would come as a thief in the night. That future day will come suddenly when no one will foresee it. Life will be quite normal, eating and drinking and planning their future with such certainty as to marry or give their daughters in marriage.
The question then, is for us. What’s in our hearts as we face present circumstances? Do we trust the Lord to be about the business of the Kingdom? Or do we focus on protecting what we have?
James instructed those then and us now to plant seeds of faith and wait patiently expecting a harvest of souls. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. Whether He comes shortly or a thousand years from now, resolutely set your hearts in one direction. Let Him focus your attention on the task He has prepared in advance for you. And if He comes during your lifetime, let Him find you about His business. How do we establish our hearts?
SEARCH YOUR HEART
The spirit of a man is the lamp of the Lord, searching all the inner depths of his heart. Proverbs 20:27 NKJV
21 He also gave them this parable: “No one lights a lamp only to place it under a basket or under the bed. It is meant to be placed on a lampstand. 22 For there is nothing that is hidden that won’t be disclosed, and there is no secret that won’t be brought out into the light! 23 If you understand what I’m saying, you need to respond!”
24 Then he said to them, “Be diligent to understand the meaning behind everything you hear, for as you do, more understanding will be given to you. And according to the depth of your longing to understand, much more will be added to you. 25 For those who listen with open hearts will receive more revelation. But those who don’t listen with open hearts will lose what little they think they have!”
Mark 4:21-25 TPT
The Amplified Bible, Classic Edition makes this somewhat clearer, in my opinion.
21 And He said to them, Is the lamp brought in to be put under a [a]peck measure or under a bed, and not [to be put] on the lampstand?
Your spirit is the lamp of the Lord, lit up by the Holy Spirit. Now God wants people to see your spirit as a light to the world pointing to JESUS.
22 [[b]Things are hidden temporarily only as a means to revelation.] For there is nothing hidden except to be revealed, nor is anything [temporarily] kept secret except in order that it may be made known.
23 If any man has ears to hear, let him be listening and let him perceive and comprehend.
24 And He said to them, Be careful what you are hearing. The measure [c][of thought and study] you give [to [d]the truth you hear] will be the measure [e][of virtue and knowledge] that comes back to you—and more [besides] will be given to you who hear. 25 For to him who has will more be given; and from him who has nothing, even what he has will be taken away [[f]by force],
Mark 4:21-25 Amplified Bible, Classic Edition
The glorious truth is, in this New Covenant age, every believer gets in on a better covenant than the old one (Hebrews 8:6). In this New Covenant God gives us new hearts and new spirits and He also gives us His Holy Spirit which is joined to our spirits. (See Ezekiel 36:25-27 below). Holy Spirit is the source of the light that shines within us. Our lamp (our spirit) is brand new and lit by the presence of the Holy Spirit. So we shine in this world and are meant to be seen as the temple of the Holy Spirit to draw anyone with eyes to see to the Lord.
But when we listen to the lies of the enemy, our light is dimmed by a veil of dishonesty about who we are. This is a scheme of Satan to dull our lights, make us ashamed of who we really are and cause us to cover the light of His glory within. We need the Holy Spirit to use that candle to show us those lies, help us repent, renounce agreement with the liar and let the Spirit of Truth, joined to our spirits, shine forth the glory of God from within us. Then we will remember who we really are; glorious sons and daughters of the Most High God!
Can you allow God to show you what is in your heart?
9 The heart is deceitful above all things, (O.C. reality) And desperately wicked; Who can know it? 10 I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, Even to give every man according to his ways, According to the fruit of his doings.
Jeremiah 17:9, 10 NKJV
10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit,
17 A broken and a contrite heart—These, O God, You will not despise.
Psalm 51:10, 17 NKJV
David asked for something that he knew is normal in the New Covenant. David prayed, “Create in me a clean heart, O God”. Paul said this is exactly what God has done in the New Covenant through the shed blood of the Lamb of God – Jesus Christ. In this covenant He cleanses us from all filthiness. He removes hearts of stone, gives us new clean hearts of flesh, new spirits and even puts His Spirit within us. With these in place within us we become able to walk in His statutes and keep and do His judgments. It’s not hard at all!
25 Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. 26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; 27 I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them.
Ezekiel 36:25-27 NKJV
For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. Hebrews 8:10 NKJV
As a result of our ministry, you are living letters written by Christ, not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God—not carved onto stone tablets but on the tablets of tender hearts. 2 Corinthians 3:3 TPT
Now it’s time to find out what God has written on our new hearts and placed in our minds.
What Has God Written On Your Heart?
So these are his commands: that we continually place our trust in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and that we keep loving one another, just as he has commanded us. 1 John 3:23 TPT
What was the only New Commandment recorded in the New Testament just before Jesus shed His blood to establish the New Covenant?
34 “So I give you now a new commandment: Love each other just as much as I have loved you. 35 For when you demonstrate the same love I have for you by loving one another, everyone will know that you’re my true followers.”
John 13:34, 35 TPT
12 “So this is my command: Love each other deeply, as much as I have loved you. For the greatest love of all is a love that sacrifices all. 13 And this great love is demonstrated when a person sacrifices his life for his friends. John 15:12, 13 TPT
This New Commandment is not empowered by our will power to love others as we love ourselves. For it does not rely upon our love. It is empowered within us by the Holy Spirit, who is love, living now within our spirits. God Himself is the answer to our every weakness.
We love Him because He first loved us. 1 John 4:19 NKJV
Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us. Romans 5:5 NKJV
And this hope is not a disappointing fantasy, because we can now experience the endless love of God cascading into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who lives in us! Romans 5:5 TPT
God loved us first, poured it within our hearts and now empowers us to love others with His love. His love is natural to Him and now it becomes natural to us.
If you have received Jesus as Savior, this wonderful Holy Spirit now resides in your new spirit and His love is fully available to your new heart to give freely to anyone you choose to love, with His love. Do you understand how much He loves you? Just say:
“Jesus, I know You died to free me from condemnation and translate me into the kingdom of Your love. I know You rose from the dead to give me Your quality of life. Come now, live in my heart and fill me with the precious Holy Spirit of love. Thank You, Jesus, for doing immediately as I have asked. I praise Your Holy Name. Amen!”