The Heart of the Matter!

Ephraim's Heart: Local doctors have given a clean bill of health to Ephraim's heart.....YES! Some concerns had been raised in Ethiopia about his heart from a local hospital, but no serious issues were discovered during his evaluations yesterday.....THANK YOU for praying for our smiley Sports Minister's HEART from Addis!

Talking about the heart......

The heart is the engine for our desires, motivations, and ambitions. According to Scripture: The heart is above all else evil and wicked. Jeremiah 17:9-10 says, "The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? I the Lord search the heart and examine the mind, to reward a man according to his conduct, according to what his deeds deserve."

Our only hope for our heart is found in a redeeming relationship through Jesus Christ which brings about the transforming power ignited by the power of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is a cleansing agent which can bring healing to our wounded hearts, and purity to our actions through. The fruit of the work of the Holy Spirit upon our hearts is found in bringing about love (for God, and the things that matter most to God i.e. caring and loving others like the youth in Ethiopia) which manifests itself in joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and self-control towards others.. The heart can only be fulfilled when our desires, ambitions and motivations are focused on the purposes of God. We need to have a good heart for this work. Therefore, we need to examine our hearts regularly to check on the condition of our heart:

1. inpurities that have gotten in through our blood stream (worldly influences that come in from our culture, from TV, movies, books, etc. -like clogged arteries from fatty issues which can lead to death)

2. hardness of a heart - Example: When we don't forgive someone for something. An unforgiving heart turns into anger, bitterness, hate and sometimes revenge. God's Word can't take root in a hardened heart/ Jer. 4:3

3. fleshly desires that have damaged the heart (not functioning at capacity and/or death is near -like a stroke or heart attack!)

Heart Scriptures for our next examination:

a. Benefits of a right heart/Deut. 10:16-19

b. the need for a pure heart and spirit/Psalm 51:10

c. spiritual heart transplants/ Lk 1:17

d. Jesus requires a willing heart/mt 5:20

e. God knows our true intentions/Mt 21:30

Have a Great Day and Please pray for our training conference today. Thank you. brian