Watch over your heart with all diligence, For from it flow the springs of life. (Pro 4:23 NASB)
Last session we spoke about living water and connected it to the voice of God. Today I want to go a little deeper and talk about activating the voice of God in our heart. Proverbs 4:23 tell us to watch over our heart with all diligence because this is where the springs of life flow.
What are the springs of life? In Hebrew the term implies a place where a boundary exists between one territory and another, like a border crossing. The phrase is Totzot Chayim. Chayim means living or life like Mayim Chayim, living water. Totzot comes from the root Yatza, which means to exit. If you were in an Israeli movie theater or in a mall, there would be signs using this word to point you to the exit. So, the heart is a border place where life can either exit as in death or enter as in being born again. It is also a portal, a border crossing from the realm of Spirit into our life.
It is the place where the living water flows, the Holy Spirit who speaks to us and counsels us. The heart is the place of our innermost being.
"He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, 'From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.'" But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive; for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.(Joh 7:38-39 NASB)
You can see from this, why Solomon tells us to watch over our heart with all diligence!
We live in a culture that exalts the mind and reasoning. During the period of time, we refer to as the pandemic, which is a false label but unfortunately widely used, we were instructed to follow “the science” or follow reasoning. The problem with reasoning as strategy is that it is built on logic not truth.
When logic has a faulty assumption such as the supposed danger of an invisible microorganism, then logic can take down paths of deception which seem logical but are NOT true. This is one of the many problems of a culture that lives out of its mind and minimizes the heart. It can make us vulnerable to what is put forth as truth but is in fact a deception.
In contemporary Hebrew, the word for mind is “moach,” which shares the root with the word for strength, “koach”. The idea being that the mind is a place of strength. In Biblical Hebrew the words that are translated as mind are lev, heart, ruach, spirit, and nephesh soul. There is no biblical concept of mind as we think of it today. This tells me that how we think about thinking is NOT biblical, at least not in the original Hebraic worldview.
It is however in the Greek scriptural references. We see it played out in Romans 7. The Apostle Paul describes his struggle between what he wants to do and what he finds himself actually doing:
“For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do.” (Rom 7:15, NKJV)
How many of us can relate? We want to make a change in our lives, but we find ourselves sabotaging the very change we want. Maybe we know we need to lose weight, but we can’t seem to stop eating sweets or just eating too much. How many have made New Year’s resolutions of new fitness goals or to stop some “bad habit”?
This dilemma reveals the conflict between our intentions in our minds and the ability to execute which lives in our hearts. Returning again to Proverbs 4:23 which tells us:
“Keep your heart with all diligence, For out of it spring the issues of life.” (Pro 4:23, NKJV)
The word translated to Keep or to watch is the Hebrew word Netzer. Netzer means literally a branch or a stump where new growth comes from. Using this word in the context of watching over or keeping a diligence over our heart tells us that our heart is a fertile growing aspect of ourselves that will sprout based on what is planted there as an idea or a desire.
Think of those pesky weeds we have to pull every year. They require no input, no planting. They just appear and compete for nutrients with the plants we want to cultivate in our garden. Think of thoughts like that. How often have we had a thought which captivated our attention and often led us astray from what we knew in our heart. This is why Paul tells us to bring our thoughts captive to the obedience of Christ.
We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ, (2Co 10:5 NASB)
The word “Christ” is the word for the anointing. The anointing, which is the tangible reality of the Ruach HaKodesh, the Holy Spirit leads us into truth.
“But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him.” (1Jn 2:27, NKJV)
Back to Romans 7, the Apostle Paul is describing the impact of this and the conflict he is feeling with trying to do the right things. He continues:
“I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.” (Rom 7:21-23, NKJV)
This is an excellent description of the war between the heart and the mind. In our logical western culture, we “think” we can reason and live our lives following science or whatever is in style in our culture. This is a very slippery slope. Take, for example the recent debate about gender. Clearly the scripture tells us that we were in created in love by God as reflections of His image and likeness, and that image is male and female. He also tells us that we are to love and honor our mates. Men are created to love and honor or cherish women and women return that love and honor. This is the heart condition and is designed to reflect the image of God.
Into this conversation comes an attempt to rationalize gender as not being biologically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually created but instead it is reasoned that gender is purely a matter of identification and choice.
It seems kind of obvious that this is strategy to harden the heart of man against the love of God. Intimacy and trust with God is traded for a rationalization rooted in the pits of hell.
The devil has always wanted to corrupt the image of man by causing confusion over what the truth is and more importantly where the truth is.
This began in the Garden of Eden where he convinced Adam and Eve that they did not need a relationship with God to know truth but could be “like” God and themselves be the source of knowing good and evil. This one action severed the source of absolute goodness and love from man and replaced Him with man’s own truth and the truth given by the devil, which of course is no truth at all but a system of lies designed to destroy the true image of God in the earth.
"You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.” (Joh 8:44 NASB)
To return to truth God made a way through the cross and when we receive Him we receive the Holy Spirit which opens up our heart again to the truth.
This was always what God desired that we would have a restored intimacy born out of trust. Yeshua told us about this relationship:
"But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come.” (Joh 16:13 NASB)
Where does this happen? In our heart.
and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. (Rom 5:5 NASB)
This is a love relationship and it like all love relationships is based on communication. I find most theological questions can be answered by returning the person asking to the heart and love. Right versus wrong is Not the proving ground. That is the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. That is where pride and defensiveness live and where people fall out of love with a God who is love and fall into deception rooted in the mind and rationalism. What is really tragic is when the church goes down this path and, in its attempt, to be the guardian of truth becomes actually the enemy of love.
Activation: Mark Virkler teaches a 4 step pattern to practice hearing the voice of God. First is to quiet ourselves. Second is to tune to Jesus. See Him with your eyes of your heart. Third tune to the spontaneous flow of thoughts that come from Him and 4th Journal what you receive. So let’s use this and ask Him who am I to you Lord and write. Here is Mark Virkler's 4 step teaching
Behold, I Am Coming Soon!
“Behold, I am coming quickly! Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.” - Revelation 22:7, NKJV
The New Jerusalem
“Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.” (Rev 21:2, NKJV)
The Marriage Supper of the Lamb and the Battle of Armageddon
“After these things I heard a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, saying, "Alleluia! Salvation and glory and honor and power belong to the Lord our God! For true and righteous are His judgments, because He has judged the great harlot who corrupted the earth with her fornication; and He has avenged on her the blood of His servants shed by her."” (Rev 19:1-2, NKJV)
Who is Mystery Babylon?
Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age? And Jesus answered and said to them: “Take heed that no one deceives you. For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many. - Matthew 24:3-5 NKJV
The Seven Vials of God's Wrath
And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous, seven angels having the seven last plagues (vials); for in them is filled up the wrath of God. - Revelation 15:1
The Two Witnesses
And I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.” These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth. - Rev 11:3-4
The Seven Trumpets (Shofars)
So the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound. - Rev 8:6 NKJV
666 - The Mark of the Beast
“And he causes all, the small and the great, the rich and the poor, and the free and the slaves, to be given a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads, and he decrees that no one will be able to buy or to sell, except the one who has the mark, either the name of the beast or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for the number is that of a man; and his number is six hundred and sixty-six.” (Rev 13:16-18, NASB)
The Antichrist and the False Prophet
Let no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God. (2Th 2:3-4)
End Times: The Holy Roman Empire Reborn
"You, O king, were looking and behold, there was a single great statue; that statue, which was large and of extraordinary splendor, was standing in front of you, and its appearance was awesome. "The head of that statue was made of fine gold, its breast and its arms of silver, its belly and its thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. "You continued looking until a stone was cut out without hands, and it struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and crushed them. "Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold were crushed all at the same time and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away so that not a trace of them was found. But the stone that struck the statue became a great mountain and filled the whole earth. (Dan 2:31-35 NASB)
End Times: Israel God’s Centerpiece - Part 2
Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week; But in the middle of the week He shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate, even until the consummation, which is determined, Is poured out on the desolate." (Dan 9:27 NKJV)
End Times: Israel the Centerpiece
“On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your descendants I have given this land, From the river of Egypt as far as the great river, the river Euphrates:” (Gen 15:18, NASB)
World War 3
“And the four angels, who had been prepared for the hour and day and month and year, were released, so that they would kill a third of mankind.” (Rev 9:15)
Final 3 Seals - 5th, 6th and 7th
“I saw in the right hand of Him who sat on the throne a scroll written inside and on the back, sealed up with seven seals. And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and to break its seals?”” (Rev 5:1-2, NASB)
Who Are the Main Players? The Four Horsemen
“I saw in the right hand of Him who sat on the throne a book written inside and on the back, sealed up with seven seals. And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, "Who is worthy to open the book and to break its seals?" And no one in heaven or on the earth or under the earth was able to open the book or to look into it. Then I began to weep greatly because no one was found worthy to open the book or to look into it; and one of the elders *said to me, "Stop weeping; behold, the Lion that is from the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has overcome so as to open the book and its seven seals."” (Rev 5:1-5)
New World Order
“And the dragon stood on the sand of the seashore. Then I saw a beast coming up out of the sea, having ten horns and seven heads, and on his horns were ten diadems, and on his heads were blasphemous names. And the beast which I saw was like a leopard, and his feet were like those of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion. And the dragon gave him his power and his throne and great authority.” (Rev 13:1-2)
Revelation: The Keys to the Kingdom
“When I saw Him, I fell at His feet like a dead man. And He placed His right hand on me, saying, “Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last, and the living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades.” (Rev 1:17-18, NASB)“When I saw Him, I fell at His feet like a dead man. And He placed His right hand on me, saying, “Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last, and the living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades.” (Rev 1:17-18, NASB)
Understanding the End Times
He said, "Go your way, Daniel, for these words are concealed and sealed up until the end time. (Dan 12:9 NASB)
Brit בְּרִית, The Covenant
"Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah— not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the LORD. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more."” (Jer 31:31-3NKJV)
Bereshit בְּרֵאשִׁית, The beginning and the End
“All who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” (Rev 13:8, NKJV)
Trust, Betach בָּטַח
“The LORD is my strength and my shield; My heart trusts in Him, and I am helped; Therefore, my heart exults, And with my song I shall thank Him.” (Psa 28:7, NAS95)
Meekness, Canah כָּנַע, Anah עָנָה
“He has told you, mortal one, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you But to do justice, to love kindness, And to walk humbly with your God?” (Mic 6:8, NASB)
Integrity, Yashar יָשָׁר
“And He said, “If you will listen carefully to the voice of the LORD your God, and do what is right in His sight, and listen to His commandments, and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have put on the Egyptians; for I, the LORD, am your healer.”” (Exodus15:26,NASB)
Image and Likeness Bearers Tzelem צֶלֶם and Demoot דְּמוּת
Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. (Gen 1:26-27 NASB)
Succoth - The Mishkan - Tabernacle
““Have them construct a sanctuary for Me, so that I may dwell among them. “According to all that I am going to show you as the pattern of the tabernacle and the pattern of all its furniture, so you shall construct it.” (Exo 25:8-9, NASB)
Yom Kippur: Alignment
“That they may all be one; just as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me. “The glory which You have given Me I also have given to them, so that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and You loved them, just as You loved Me.” (Joh 17:21-23, NASB)
Yom Teruah, Day of the Shout of The King
“"He has not observed misfortune in Jacob; Nor has He seen trouble in Israel; The LORD his God is with him, And the shout of a king is among them.” (Num 23:21, NAS95)
Zachar To Remember
“And I will remember My covenant, which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and never again shall the water become a flood to destroy all flesh. “When the rainbow is in the cloud, then I will look at it, to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.”” (Gen 9:15-16)
Grace and Light
And from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. (John 1:16 ESV)
Enayim, Part 2
“I set My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be for the sign of the covenant between Me and the earth.” (Gen 9:13, NKJV)
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