Category Archives: spiritual heart

The Bible Book of the Month Club The Gospel if Mark — Mark 7:1-23

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Today is Mark 7:1-23 ❤️🙌🔥 for the “Bible Book of the Month Club — The Gospel of Mark”

“…These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.” (Verse 6)

Years ago there was a commercial for American Express credit card. It listed all the benefits of their card and ended by asking this question, “What’s in your wallet?” I keep thinking about these words this morning but changed slightly, “What’s in your heart?”

Jesus gives us a clear indicator of what is in our hearts. It is what is coming out of them. It is what is reflected in our actions and words each day. If we are angry, prideful, anxious, hateful, etc…, we can be assured that our hearts are full of anger, pride, anxiety, hate, etc. If we display the characteristics of Jesus — love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, and self control, our hearts are full of Him.

Jesus saw the religious people of His time. They were “doing all the right things”, obeying their man made rules. But their hearts displayed what was truly inside, evil. We do the same.

A few years ago, I went to church and tried to live morally right, but my heart had drifted far from God. This was because I refused to let Him have my heart, empty it of the sin inside, and fill my heart with Him. What came out of me reflected that.

What’s in your heart? It’s coming out of you — in all you think, do and say.

What is God showing you today? Post it below 👇👇👇

(Tomorrow’s reading is Mark 7:24-37)

The Bible Book of the Month Club The Gospel of Mark — Mark 3:1-19.

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Today is Mark 3:1-19 ❤️🙌🔥 for the “Bible Book of the Month Club — The Gospel of Mark”

In our reading today Jesus saw a man in the Synagogue, the place of worship, with a hand that needed healing. He also saw the religious leaders standing there looking for a reason to accuse Him. Verse 5 says “He looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts… “ The Greek refers to their hearts as being “hard”. The Webster’s 1828 Dictionary says hardness of heart is “ inflexible persistency in sin; obstinacy in wickedness.”

The thing that bothered Jesus was the hearts of those who would not yield to Him and His Word. The religious leaders had their ways and their traditions. Their hearts were far from God. They thought they were ok because the could put on a very good religious performance, but their hearts were inflexible towards God. They were not moved by Him. Their hearts were persistent in their sins of pride, independence from God, jealousy, and such. They were obstinate in their wickedness.

They had forgotten the most important law of all:

“And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength.”
‭‭Deuteronomy‬ ‭6‬:‭5‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Had they truly loved God, they would have recognized Jesus for who is and welcomed Him.

When our hearts are hard we do the same thing, we reject God and His goodness. May our hearts always be soft towards Him!

What is God showing you in our reading today? Post it below 👇 👇👇
(Tomorrow’s reading is Mark 3:20-35)

The Bible Book of the Month Club The Gospel of Mark (Mark 2:18-27)

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Today is Mark 2:18-27 ❤️🙌🔥 for the “Bible Book of the Month Club — The Gospel of Mark”

I love what Jesus is saying in verse 28 “So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”

The Pharisees thought they had God figured out. They had a list of laws with boxes to check off on that list. If they fulfilled it all they thought they were all good with God. They had “religion”…

Jesus came. He was Emmanuel — God with us. He came displaying God the Father to anyone who would pay attention to Him. Jesus walked and talked with the people who followed Him. He lived in relationship with them. His words He spoke and His call to follow Him literally changed lives. Relating to God was no longer a list of boxes to check off. Relating to God became a relationship — the very thing God wanted all along. Following the list of rules regarding the Sabbath was not what God was after all along. It was their hearts.

God wants our hearts as well. When we truly love Him with all our heart, soul, mind and strength, we will do the things that God desires. We do not need a list of rules regarding the Sabbath when our greatest desire is to love and obey the Lord of the Sabbath, Jesus.

Jesus will give us a new heart that desires to do what is right if we will only ask Him to.

Heart Problem

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“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 each person according to their conduct, according to what their deeds deserve.””
‭‭Jeremiah‬ ‭17‬:‭9‬-‭10‬ ‭NIV‬‬

“Listen to your heart”, “Follow your heart”, “Be true to your heart”… in our society, we hear messages like these almost every day. There is a problem with the common thought of our culture regarding our hearts…it is wrong. We are encouraged to follow our own truth and to see if what we are thinking about “feels true” to us. However, when we are left to our own devices we cannot even know the truth. This is because we have a “heart problem.”

Each and every one of us have been created with a spiritual heart. Our hearts are the most important aspect of us. It is in our spiritual heart that we are connected to God and experience relationship with Him. However, we are also born with spiritual hearts that are disconnected from God. Our hearts are sinful and full of sin. The spiritual heart we are born with is “deceitful and beyond cure.” Jesus described the condition of our spiritual hearts:

“He went on: “What comes out of a person is what defiles them. For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and defile a person.””
‭‭Mark‬ ‭7‬:‭20‬-‭23‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Each and every one of us needs heart transformation. We need a new heart. It is the only cure for our spiritual hearts that are far from God. God speaks of this new heart He longs for us to receive in His Word:

“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.”
‭‭Ezekiel‬ ‭36‬:‭26‬-‭27‬ ‭NIV‬‬

The message of “our culture” other wise known at “the world” is contradictory to what the Word says regarding our hearts. The results of lives lived “following our hearts” instead of following God and His Word are evidenced all around us. For those of us who are living with a spiritual heart that has not been made new by Jesus…the evidence is within us.

Look deep within yourself. Are you living with peace, joy, love, kindness, and true life? Or does your heart reflect the words of Jesus above, and is it filled with death, darkness, and destruction? If so, you have a “heart problem.”

There is only one cure… Jesus. Take your heart problem to Him. He alone can perform the transformation that our hearts need!