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Thursday, February
7, 2008
Heart
Transplant
Ezekiel 36:26-27 A new heart
also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take
away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of
flesh. (27) And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in
my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them. (KJV)
Now keep in mind that this
heart transplant is referring to the spiritual realm, so in order to
operate in it we need a new heart. Once you receive this new heart you will
then be able to receive the things of God and walk in the realm of faith. A
new spirit will open the eyes of our understanding and allow us to see the
things of God.
Ephesians 4:22-24 That ye put
off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt
according to the deceitful lusts; (23) And be renewed in the spirit of your
mind; (24) And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in
righteousness and true holiness. (KJV)
Our old man was having heart
attacks, unable to ward off the virus of sin which was corrupting him, and
eventually would lead to death if not dealt with. So in order to restore
spiritual health one needs to take out the old stony heart and its hardened
arteries and replace it with a new heart which will renew the mind and keep
the new man healthy. The old stony heart is like the old tablets that the
Ten Commandments were written on which were heavy and hard to deal with.
The new heart is like one of clay which the potter, our Lord, can mold and
shape a lot better than the stony one. Our old heart was limited to the
things of this fleshy realm and unable to see beyond it. The new heart is
one of the Spirit and gives us access to the spiritual realm of God, one
that is able to receive and give us an understanding into the things of
God.
Thayer’s definition for
the heart:
2588 kardia- the heart
a) that organ in the animal
body which is the center of the circulation of the blood, and, hence, was
regarded as the seat of physical life
b) denotes the center of all
physical and spiritual life
a) the vigor
and sense of physical life
b) the
center and seat of spiritual life
1) the soul
or mind, as it is the fountain and seat of the thoughts, passions, desires,
appetites, affections, purposes, endeavors
2) used of the understanding, the faculty and seat of the
intelligence
3) used of the will and character
4) used of
the soul so far as it is affected and stirred in a bad way or good, or of
the soul as the seat of the sensibilities, affections, emotions, desires,
appetites, passions
c) used of the middle or
central or inmost part of anything, even though inanimate
Our new heart is able to take
the life changing things of God and pump them through our body and into the
mind so that we can keep ourselves renewed and reminded of who we are in
Christ. A spiritual man requires a spiritual heart so that they can come to
an understanding of how to live in the Spirit and no longer be in bondage
to the things of the flesh. I think of the heart as being similar to a
distributor in a car, it takes all the electrical energy and distributes it
to the headlights and other electrical parts so that the driver can have a
clear view of the path in front of them. Though many Christians still try
to comprehend God from their own thinking, with limited head knowledge,
it’s only those that serve Him from the heart, with a new heart, that will
be able to see and understand how to walk effectively in this realm of the
Spirit.
Matthew 13:15-16 For this
people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and
their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes,
and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and
should be converted, and I should heal them. (16) But blessed are your
eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear. (KJV)
Thayer’s definition for
wax gross:
3975 pachuno-
1) to make thick, to make
fat, to fatten
2) metaphorically, to make
stupid (to render the soul dull or callous)
An interesting definition for
the phrase wax gross. When the heart and its arteries thicken, it begins to
slow or stop the life giving flow of blood to the rest of the body which
eventually will lead to the body shutting down, thus requiring a
transplant. Unless there is a flow of the word of God continually going
through your spiritual man you to will find the heart hardening, cutting
off the flow from it also. Many people today still push and promote head
knowledge and Bible memorization, thinking that will draw them closer to
the Lord. But unless one has a change of heart and allows the word of God
into their heart, they will not come to an understanding of who God is and
what their place in the body of Christ is either.
Proverbs 28:26 He that
trusteth in his own heart is a fool: but whoso walketh wisely, he shall be
delivered. (KJV)
When one trusts in his/her
own heart, they are leaning back to their own understanding and are about
to fall. When one walks wisely in the wisdom of God they are able to keep
the body in subjection to the Spirit and continue in the will of God, which
is being delivered from this present evil world and not entangled with the
affairs of it.
Ephesians 3:17-19 That Christ
may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in
love, (18) May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth,
and length, and depth, and height; (19) And to know the love of Christ,
which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of
God. (KJV)
Without faith, the ability to
hear the message delivered by Christ, you will not be able to come to an
understanding or comprehend the love of God which is being shed abroad in
your heart. Without faith it is impossible to please God, because rather
than allowing Him into the heart you are still trying to comprehend and
operate according to the old carnal fallen nature which will leave one on
the outside instead of a partaker of His love. This love of God and the
fullness of it go above and beyond anything we could ever ask or think; and
once you have truly experienced it for yourself, it is not something you
ever want to let go of or neglect.
Psalms 37:4 Delight thyself
also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. (KJV)
With a new heart will come a
new desire; not for the things of this life but for the things of God.
These are the desires God will give to those that love Him with all their
heart, mind and soul. Where your treasure is this day, right now, is where
your heart will be and will get rooted and grounded in, whether it is the
things of God or the things of the world. Do you desire to partake of the
new spiritual treasure that God has for His people? Then it will require a
new heart with a whole new way of thinking in order to access this eternal
treasure of the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
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