His Heart, My Home

HAPPY LOVE-DAY!

We humans sure are funny! Every year, about this time, we give millions boxes of pastel colored candy hearts to those we love.

Those little hearts are individually printed with humanity’s deepest and most profound sentiments about love, including “BE MINE”, “SAY YES”, and “KISS ME!”

Let’s pop the corks on countless bottles of bubbly! Let’s joyfully drown ourselves in a sea of red roses, and chocolate-covered strawberries! It’s time for our annual trek to the peak of Mount Ecstasy! Once again, it’s Valentine’s Day!

(And I love you, Grace!)

Our Heavenly Father truly has a wonderful sense of humor. He must especially enjoy watching us at this time of year, laughing out loud at our silly, yet endearing Love-Day traditions. After all, He also knows a little about love since He is… you know… LOVE!

So when it comes to understanding the capacities and capabilities of our hearts, He  has the credentials. He is, without a doubt, the “Subject-Matter-Expert”, the “Go-To-Guy”, for all heart-related inquiries.

The Bible tells us He designed and created the human race, and expertly engineered and crafted us in His own image and likeness. One translation says He made us to be “an exact duplication in kind”. (Genesis 1:27)

God individually and uniquely created each of us. He made us to display His glory, as an incredibly intricate “living tri-unity”, each part of us (spirit, soul, body) independent, yet fully interfaced with the others.

THE HEART OF THE MATTER

Consider the human heart, produced by our Father’s creative genius, and unparalleled master craftmanship.This vitally important organ pumps life-giving oxygenated and nutrient-rich blood throughout our bodies on a very precise schedule.

In a normal person, the heart beats about 70 times a minute, 100,000 times a day, 40 million times a year!

During a single day, it pumps approximately 11,000 quarts of blood, or 265 million quarts in a lifetime.

Over the course of an average lifetime, the heart beats an estimated 2.5 billion times.

The body’s blood vessels, laid end-to-end, would stretch over 60,000 miles.

Incredible! But now researchers are learning that this marvelous little machine, the size of a fist, and weighing less than 10 ounces, also possesses a “level of intelligence” they are only beginning to understand.

NEW DISCOVERIES ABOUT THE HEART

Scientific evidence has begun to show that the heart plays a greater role in our mental, emotional, and physical processes, than previously thought. Actually, they could have learned that a long time ago just by reading their Bibles!

“The heart is a sensory organ and acts as a sophisticated information encoding and processing center. Incredibly, it possesses the ability to learn, remember, and make independent, functional decisions,” HeartMath Institute Director of Research Rollin McCraty wrote in the paper, The Energetic Heart: Bioelectromagnetic Communication Within and Between People.

THE HEART’S ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELD

The heart, like the brain, generates a powerful electromagnetic field, McCraty explains in The Energetic Heart. “The heart generates the largest electromagnetic field in the body. The electrical field measured in an electrocardiogram (ECG) is 60 times greater in amplitude than the brain waves recorded in an electroencephalogram (EEG).”

Studies show this powerful electromagnetic field can be detected and measured even several feet away from a person’s body.

Researchers also noted that “when people touch, or are in close proximity to each other, a transference of the electromagnetic energy produced by the heart occurs.”

These discoveries are no real surprises for believers! Jesus told us to lay hands on the sick and we do, in faith and obedience.
(Mark 16:15-18 and James 5:14-15)

And it seems science is finally beginning to understand why.

Biblically, in addition to the heart’s role as our blood-pump, it is actually the core of our being, the “control center” for our inner life, encompassing our mind, will, emotions, conscience, and desires. It is the place where our motivations are revealed and our most important decisions are often made.

When we choose to embrace forgiveness, understanding, mercy, and compassion as expressions of God’s nature within us, our hearts “transmit” healing, wholeness, joy, peace, and love to others and receive the same back from God.

DILIGENTLY KEEPING OUR HEARTS

(Jesus) answered, and said, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” (Luke 10:27)

Our hearts are the wells, the artesian springs, the fountains of our character, our creativity, our courage, and our compassion.

They are vitally important “plug-in ports”, enabling us to connect with God and with others.

Therefore, our hearts must be carefully and continually protected. Here’s how we can do that. Please note these three translations of Proverbs 4:23:

“With all watchfulness guard your heart; for out of it flow the actions of life.” (Spurrell)

“Guard your heart more than any treasure, for it is the source of all life.” (NEB)

“Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life.” ( NKJV)

Let’s dig a little deeper into two key words found in the NKJV of our verse:

● The word diligence comes to us from the Hebrew word, “shamar” meaning “to guard, keep, watch over, or preserve.” This word also has a secondary meaning that is very interesting. It can also mean “to uproot and remove briers and thorns from the soil”.

● The second Hebrew word we want to examine is the word “yatsa“, translated as issues. This word can refer to “that which comes forth and grows from the soil.”

GUARDING THE GARDEN

These two words (shamar and yatsa) are used in Genesis in this way:

● “And the earth brought forth (yatsa) grass, the herb that yields seed according to its kind, and the tree that yields fruit, whose seed is in itself according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.” (Genesis 1:12)

● “Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep (shamar) it.” (Genesis 2:15)

Now let’s put it all together. God gave Adam the responsibility for keeping, guarding, and protecting the Garden.

We may imagine that Adam and his wife patrolled the perimeter of Eden with sticks, ready to beat back any snakes they found slithering into their paradise, but I somehow doubt that’s how God expected them to  keep and protect the Garden.

The “Garden” that Adam and Eve needed to protect “watchfuly” and “diligently”, “more than any other treasure” was the Garden of their hearts!

THE INTRUDER INTRUDES

That’s the territory that satan coveted and successfully conned from our first parents… their hearts…the place where he could plot, plant, propagate, and proliferate his evil, destructive plans for all God’s creation, perverting the character, nature, and destiny of mankind.

Questions for Reflection:

● How do you think God felt after man’s fall? Do you imagine He felt broken-hearted? Why or why not?

● How does sin sin affect our heart-to-heart fellowship with the Father? How can that fellowship be repaired and restored?

OUR FOREVER-HEARTS

You know the next part of the story. Through His death, burial, and resurrection, the Lord Jesus “neutralized what the devil had done”. (1 John 3:8, Wand Translation)

Though we were already “dead on arrival” at Holy Spirit’s Hospital, He performed a heart transplant on us… taking out our stony spiritually-dead hearts, and giving us Jesus’ heart… forever beating with His eternal life!

“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.” (Ezekiel 36:26)

With our new heart we have a new lease on life. Now our hearts are the rich, fertile soil that God designed them to be, soil that is receptive to the seed of God’s Word.

But they will only stay that way if we guard our “garden” and keep it free from the intrusive influences of sin, selfishness, and satan.

If we ask for Holy Spirit’s help He will roll up His sleeves and work right beside us, as we diligently remove the thorns, briers, and stones, from the soil of our hearts, so we produce much fruit, and bring great joy to our Father’s heart!

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Once again, Grace and I would like to ask all of you to please pray and give generously to
Student Life Organization, Inc to help them reach the precious people of the Philippines with the gospel of Jesus Christ.

SLOI provides educational opportunities to the many physically disabled and financially disadvantaged children of Cebu City, both declaring and demonstrating God’s to them and their families.

Would you please give today? If so, please use this link: paypal.me/anaferuiz

Thank you! May God’s richest blessings be upon you as you give generously in Jesus’ name!