A Change of Heart

Does God change our hearts, or do we change our hearts? From what I understand, in scripture both truths are expressed.

"Cast away from you all the transgressions that you have committed, and make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit! Why will you die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Lord GOD; so turn, and live." Ezekiel 18:31-32 ESV

"Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh." Ezekiel 36:26

"Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me." Psalms 51:10

"Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause." Isaiah 1:16-17

"Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad, for the tree is known by its fruit. You brood of vipers! How can you speak good, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil." Matthew 12:33-35

"Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded." James 4:8

Remember, one of the scriptural premises or assumptions of this entire blog is that we can be as close to God and like God as we choose to be. God will not make us draw near to Him or be like Him. Jesus compares the heart to a tree and words/actions to fruit. The heart has to do with our ultimate intent, whether we be centered on God's will or self-will. So, when we submit our wills to God's truth, God changes our hearts (thoughts and intents) by empowering us with the desire and ability to do all of His will, as Paul said to the church in Phillipi:

"Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure." Philipians 2:12-13

So WE work out OUR salvation with fear and trembling. God does not work out or salvation for us. But He works in us who are working out our salvation. When we do our part by faith, God does His part. For as James said, "Faith without works is dead."

So lets make this practical:
A husband has been committing adultery. He feels convicted. But he "loves" the adulteress and doesn't "feel" like breaking off the adulterous relationship. So he prays as the psalmist prayed, saying to God, "Create in me a clean heart and renew a right spirit in me. Change my adulterous heart to a faithul heart. I just don't 'feel' love for my wife, but i do 'feel' love for the adulteress." Now, of course, the husband should want to genuinely feel love for his wife and to genuinely feel like ending adultery. But what is he to do? Or does God have to change his heart first? Does he have to wait for God to "change his heart," before he stops committing adultery? We all know the answer. Whether he is "struggling" with adultery or not, we rightly expect him to stop committing adultery, and we believe that he can actually do that, that he doesn't need a miracle supernatural spiritual heart transplant before he can be faithful to his wife. Would his wife accept this need for a change of heart from God while the man continues in adultery? Would she accept these words from him:

"Honey, I know I'm supposed to love you, but I just don't. I just don't feel love for you. But I do feel love for another woman. I try to not love her, and I struggle to love you, but I just can't do it unless God changes my heart. I am struggling with my desire to continue to have sex with another woman. I try not to have sex with her, but I keep doing it." We all know the answer to this. He is to love his wife, whether he feels it or not, and to stop committing adultery, whether he wants to or not. Indeed, he can pray for God to change his heart, but he cannot ignore the scriptures that command him to change his own heart as well. He can pray that God cleanses his heart, but cannot ignore the scriptures that tell him to purify his own heart. He can ask God to give him the desire and abilty to flee sexual immorality, but he cannot ignore the fact that HE IS COMMANDED TO FLEE SEXUAL IMMORALITY! HE IS NOT COMMANDED TO FEEL LIKE FLEEING SEXUAL IMMORALITY. AS A MATTER OF FACT, IT IS ASSUMED BY THE WORD "FLEE" THAT HE IS DOING SO AGAINST HIS DESIRE TO STAY!

If you are struggling to do what you know God wants, indeed pray for Him to give you the desire and abilty to do His will. But by faith, DO IT, believing that He will supply the needed desire and abilty. Don't wait fo feel like doing God's will. DO IT. Don't focus on FEELING like doing God's will. DO IT. We do not control our emotions directly, but indirectly, for emotions are responses to objects that arouse or inspire emotion. The adulterous man focuses his attention on the adulterous woman, focusing on her body and her personality. As a result, he feels aroused or desire. She is the object. His emotions are in response to her as the object of his attention. This is why he must flee her, avoid her, stay away from her, according to scripture:

"My son, be attentive to my wisdom; incline your ear to my understanding, that you may keep discretion, and your lips may guard knowledge. For the lips of a forbidden woman drip honey, and her speech is smoother than oil, but in the end she is bitter aswormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword."

"Keep your way far from her, and do not go near the door of her house..."

"Let your fountain be blessed, and rejoice in the wife of your youth, a lovely deer, a graceful doe. Let her breasts fill you at all times with delight; be intoxicated always in her love. Why should you be intoxicated, my son, with a forbidden woman and embrace the bosom of an adulteress?"
Proverbs 5:1-4, 8, 18-20

Notice Solomon's appeal to the passions AND actions of his son, describing intoxication in relation to the son's wife verses intoxication towards the adulteress. The son is commanded in the context of wisdom to stay far way from the adulteress, to not go near her house. These are actions. Solomon then tells his son to rejoice in his wife, calling her lovely. Solomon encourages his son to be fulfilled by his wife's body (breasts) and intoxicated by his wife's love, NOT THE BODY AND LOVE OF THE ADULTERESS. Do you see this? Do you see that the son's passions are connected to his actions, according to the object of emotion THAT HE CHOOSES: EITHER CHOOSING THE INTOXICATION OF THE ADULTERESS OR CHOOSING THE INTOXICATION OF HIS WIFE. CHOICE.

We have a choice, direct influence over the state of our hearts. We can yield our hearts to God to change them and purify them, and we can change and purify our own hearts by our choice of intent or focus. The adulterous husband can repent, turn from unfaithfulness to faithfulness, stop focusing on the adulteress and start focusing on his wife. By changing the intent of his focus, he changes his heart. And in doing this by faith, God will empower is emotions and actions with needed continual motivation. But we cannot blame God for not changing our hearts if we are unwilling to change them. Surely the adulterous husband finds something pleasing about his wife's body and personality. Something caused her to be attractive to him. Something! Surely there must be one desirable physical trait, one desirable personality trait, at least. Surely he can focus on these. "But you don't know my wife or my situation," the man may say. Indeed, but God clearly did when He inspired the scriptures. He wouldn't command a man or woman to love their spouse if it were absolutely impossible to do so with some feeling, if some feeling is required. If the husband is required to feel like breaking off the adulterous relationship before he does it, but he absolutley cannot do so "in his own strength," then both God and the wife should cut him some slack. Try as he might, the man just can't do it! He just can't muster up enough "feeling/motivation" to be faithful. But we know this is not so.

So here we are before God and each other, called upon by God to change our hearts, that He might change them also. What will we do? What will WE DO?

Where is God? Part 3: The Temple of God

(Part 3 of 6)
And John bore witness:"I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, 'He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.' And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God." John 1:32-34 ESV

God, who sent John the baptist to baptize with water, told John that Jesus would have this distinction: The Spirit of God would descend upon Him and remain upon Him. Indeed, Jesus was born of the Spirit, and John knew Him as the One who would baptize with the Spirit. Please keep these truths in mind.

For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. Romans 8:14

Jesus is THE Son of God.
Those who believe in Him are sons of God. (Though the term "son" is masculine, it applies to believing men and women, just as the term "the bride of Christ" refers to the church, consisting of both men and women. My wife is a son of God, and I, her husband, am a bride of Christ. Yet as her husband, I represent Christ, and she represents the church. These are spiritual truths that must be discerned spiritually.)

What distinguished the Son of God and each son of God is the Spirit of God.

Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? I Corinthians 6:18b-19a


Where is God? He is in His temple, the body of each believer of Christ. This is the very distinction of God's children. Again, the presence of God with a child of God is what distinguishes the child of God.

Observe:

• Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him. Genesis 5:24
• Noah walked with God. Genesis 6:9
• The LORD was with Joseph, and he became a successful man, and he was in the house of his Egyptian master. His master saw that the LORD was with him and that the LORD caused all that he did to succeed in his hands. Genesis 39:2-3
• But the LORD was with Joseph and showed him steadfast love and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison. And the keeper of the prison put Joseph in charge of all the prisoners who were in the prison. Whatever was done there, he was the one who did it. The keeper of the prison paid no attention to anything that was in Joseph’s charge, because the LORD was with him. And whatever he did, the LORD made it succeed. Genesis 39:21-23
• Saul was afraid of David because the LORD was with him but had departed from Saul. So Saul removed him from his presence and made him a commander of a thousand. And he went out and came in before the people. And David had success in all his undertakings, for the LORD was with him. I Samuel 18:12-14
• But when Saul saw and knew that the LORD was with David, and that Michal, Saul’s daughter, loved him, Saul was even more afraid of David. I Samuel 18:28-29

It was seen and known that God was with Joseph and David. The presence of God with them distinguished them and gave them supernatural success.

What distinguishes a child of God is the Spirit of Christ in him.

What distinguishes a person of God is the presence of Christ upon her.

Where is God?
He is in a child of God, for the body of God's child is His temple, His literal dwelling place. Believe in Jesus, and become a temple of the living God. And if you are a child of God, revere God who is in you, and follow Him. (to be continued...)

Where is God? Part 2: The Secret Place

(Part 2 of 6)
"Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him. And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying:" Matthew 5:1-2 ESV

These are the words of the Lord Jesus, from what is called the "Sermon on the Mount." After these two verses come "The Beatitudes," and then a series of teachings.

Please notice. Though crowds were present, when Jesus saw the crowds He didn't go to the crowds, but rather separated Himself, slightly. And notice again that his disciples "came to Him." They didn't stay in the crowds which were slightly below the place on the mountain. This is a reoccuring theme seen in the Gospels. Jesus teaches and serves the crowds, yet He speaks some things that have to be sought out, keeping the intimate truths for those who really want them, and thus really want Him.

Remember what I said about cell phones and email addresses. You don't give everybody your cell number and email address. And more importantly, you don't tell everyone your deepest secrets. You share your innermost thoughts with those who want them and value them. So the first answer to the question, "Where is God?," can only be understood if you are not among the crowds who follow Jesus from a distance, but rather you are one of His disciples; one who has left everything and everyone to follow Him, even if this means rejection, suffering, or death. For to be rejected, to suffer, and to die is what Jesus means when He tells His disciples they must "take up their cross" and follow Him. Jesus reveals where God can be found to those who follow Him.

Listen to His words:
“And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly." Matthew 6:5-6 NKJV

Where is the God? He is in the secret place of prayer, when no one knows or sees you are praying. God is there, and will make it known to you that He was there by responding openly to what you said to Him secretly. Some of the religous teachers of Jesus' day would pray, or fast, or give to the poor in such a way as to draw attention to themselves from people. God did not and would not respond to this because they really didn't want God's response. They were satsfied with people thinking highly of them.

But if you want to meet God, two very specific things are required, as specific as a cell phone number or email address:
1. You must be a follower of Jesus, one who believes that He is the Son of God and that He died for your sins and rose from the dead; one who made God supreme in your life, whether people accept you or reject you.
2. Go to Him and speak with Him in a place only you and He know about, whether it is your room, or some other secret place, a place where you can be totally alone with Him. Talk to Him and Him alone in the secret place you choose to meet with Him. And Jesus Himself promises that God, who is in the secret place of prayer, who sees in secret, will reward you openly, proving that He was with you there, in the secret place of prayer.

Until we next connect,
Peace.