“The glory which You have given Me I also have given to them, so that they may be one, just as We are one;” (Jhn 17:22, NASB)

The heart is the seat of our affections.

“Keep your heart with all diligence, For out of it spring the issues of life.” (Pro 4:23, NKJV)

The Hebrew word that is translated as issues here is the word Toxaah, which is from the same root at the common word for an exit. An exit or a border is a territorial designation marking an exit from one authority structure and the beginning of another. The picture I come away with is the heart is the location of territorial crossroads.

 We know that it is the heart where the conversations that are critical to our lives occur. With our heart we receive our salvation and then validate it with our outward conversation.

 “for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.” (Rom 10:10, NASB)

 Believing is another word for trust. It is a surrender of control to the Word of another. In this case, our trust is the Word of God, what we call the gospel, or good news.We trust in Yeshua as our Lord and savior and then confess that trust and thereby are translated from one authority structure, our own control unto another surrendering to the King of Kings. This authority transformation occurs in heart, the intersection of our affections.

 Paul declares this as: “For God, who said, “Light shall shine out of darkness,” is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.” (2Co 4:6, NASB)

 From this we see that in the heart we receive a revelation through the language of the heart of the knowledge of the Glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

 This revelation is transformative. Through it we are born-again into a new reality, a new authority structure called the Kingdom of God. With this comes the new language of the heart.

 This language is first and foremost a language of truth. Lies are of the fallen kingdom of the world. This is the domain of the fallen being known as Satan.

 ““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 tells a lie, he speaks from his own nature, because he is a liar and the father of lies.” (John 8:44, NASB)

 From this statement we can see the connection between the desires that a person has and the language of the heart they are tuned to. Lies produce the desire to cover up for the lies. Living in the conversation of lies is double-mindedness. James described it:

 “Submit therefore to God. But resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come close to God and He will come close to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.” (Jas 4:7-8, NASB)

 Then the question has to become: How do we submit to God??

 This is the place of covenant, of becoming one. When we become one with the Lord through the covenant vows we open the door to freedom. Through covenant intimacy we manifest who we truly are, what the Bible calls our glory. Yeshua spoke:

 “The glory which You have given Me I also have given to them, so that they may be one, just as We are one;” (Jhn 17:22, NASB)

 Because of much spiritual confusion about the word “glory”, it is hard to really understand this verse. What I believe the Lord is speaking about is the covenant identity. When we become one with the Lord we become His bride. As the bride, our “glory” comes from Him. We come into a fullness which reflects His nature.

 Think of it like the full moon. The moon doesn’t actually have any glory. It offers no light of its own. But when the moon fully faces the sun, it reflects fully the glory of the sun and we see it as a “full” moon. It is actually no more “full” than any other time but is seen as full because it is fully reflecting the “glory” of the sun.

 In a similar fashion, when we turn fully our heart and our mind to the Lord, we reject the fullness of that turn.

 Moses reflected this when he went to the tent of meeting.

 “But whenever Moses went in before the LORD to speak with Him, he would take off the veil until he came out; and whenever he came out and spoke to the sons of Israel what he had been commanded, the sons of Israel would see the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses’ face shone. So Moses would put the veil back over his face until he went in to speak with Him.” (Exo 34:34-35, NASB)

 This is the result of a face to face encounter. The glory of God is reflected in the face of the believer!

 The Apostle Paul tells us:

 “But if the ministry of death, engraved in letters on stones, came with glory so that the sons of Israel could not look intently at the face of Moses because of the glory of his face, fading as it was, how will the ministry of the Spirit fail to be even more with glory?” (2Co 3:7-8, NASB)

 This is the power of covenant expressed as oneness.

 You see there is an intimacy that comes from total heart trust that allows for a speaking that can come no there way.

 There is vulnerability, as we spoke of a trust with weakness that allows for the truth to come forth and bring healing.

 This reality of the power on covenant oneness was spoken of Israel’s restoration and the giving of the new covenant by the prophet Jeremiah. Listen to this and let it minister truth to all of our hearts:

 “‘Behold, I am going to bring to it healing and a remedy, and I will heal them; and I will reveal to them an abundance of peace and truth. ‘And I will restore the fortunes of Judah and the fortunes of Israel, and will rebuild them as they were at first. ‘And I will cleanse them from all their wrongdoing by which they have sinned against Me, and I will forgive all their wrongdoings by which they have sinned against Me and revolted against Me. ‘It will be to Me a name of joy, praise, and glory before all the nations of the earth, which will hear of all the good that I do for them, and they will be frightened and tremble because of all the good and all the peace that I make for it.’ “This is what the LORD says: ‘Yet again there will be heard in this place, of which you say, “It is a waste, without man and without animal,” that is, in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem that are deserted, without man and without inhabitant and without animal, the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the groom and the voice of the bride, the voice of those who say, “Give thanks to the LORD of armies, For the LORD is good, For His mercy is everlasting,” as they bring a thanksgiving offering into the house of the LORD. For I will restore the fortunes of the land as they were at first,’ says the LORD.” (Jer 33:6-11, NASB)

 This is the power of the covenant oneness and the healing language of the heart.

 Activation: What has become desolate in your life? Where has the dream died? Do you experience a waste land? It’s time for a resurrection! Ask the Lord to return the joy of the bride and the bridegroom!