“Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.” {Proverbs 4:23}
So many of us let our heart rule us instead of us ruling our heart. The problem with this is found in Jeremiah 17:9 which tells us that the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Jeremiah tells us no one can know the heart except the Lord:
I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings. {Jeremiah 17:10}
We all love to believe we’re pretty good. Okay there might be some flaws somewhere, but over all we’re pretty good. Who likes to believe he is evil? No one I’m sure. But if we’re not always talking to the Lord and always asking for His counsel, we can come to believe and do things that appear to be right and good, but when seen in the light of God’s word and His Holy Spirit, they’re not good. It is so important to have the Lord come and shine a spotlight in the soul of our hearts so He can guide us and lead us to His truth. Not to our own truth or to the truth that we hear and see in this world, but to God’s truth. Because when it is all said and done and this life is all over for us, the only thing that is going to be left and that is going to matter in the end is the Lord.
I like what apostle Paul wrote in Corinthians 11:31-32:
For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.
In other words,
“Some men’s sins are open beforehand, going before to judgment; and some men they follow after.” {1 Timothy 5:24}
Our goal is to do God’s will and be found in Him faithful and true. We want to confess our sins now to the Lord rather than be judged and be found wanting later. We want to stand before the throne of the Lord someday and hear Him say,
“Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.” {Matthew 25:23}
This life we’re living in is very temporary. It doesn’t matter if we live up to 100 years old, it is still very short. What we do here for the Lord we are doing for ourselves, our own favor, our own eternity, and not for anyone else. We might think we’re doing God a favor when we do things for Him, but in reality it is for our own good. We are saving our own selves so we can end up in eternity with Him and not be in damnation forever. Remember the Lord owns heaven already. He is already there. He doesn’t need anything. We are the ones that need to go there. What we do here for Christ, we do for ourselves, not for anyone else. It is by His grace and mercy that He calls us to repent and to come to Him. It is because of His great love for us that we are saved, not because He needs us.
We do not just exist here to pass time and serve our own selves. We might choose to do that. But everyday, every decision we make, every goal we set, is going to determine our eternity with God – whether we will spend it with Him or not. I know we don’t want to live this life in fear of what’s going to happen to us in regards to our future, but the sad thing is if we don’t determine in our hearts to follow the Lord today, we will end up following what our hearts dictate. We know already what the Bible says about our hearts: it is deceitful, it will lead us to do things we could end up regretting later. How many of us can relate to that? Doing something we want to do because its what our hearts told us to do at the moment, but soon we find ourselves wishing we didn’t listen to our hearts so quickly. How many relationships have we come to terminate because it wasn’t the right partner or friend for us, but at the moment it seemed and felt right? There have been so many decisions made and regretted simply because they felt good at the moment, they even felt right at the moment. But in the end, if we can turn back time we would do it so differently.
Oh, the heart, if we would only but rule it instead of it ruling us, how many sorrows we would have spared ourselves from? How many tears we would have not shed?
We don’t have to keep living and reliving our lives in regret. There is a quick and simple answer to all of this: rule the heart and talk to the Lord. Let Him help us make the right decisions. Let Him help us overcome our carnal desires, our covetous desires, and our lust for the things of this world. He alone can change us because we could never do it ourselves. If it’s left up to us we definitely will let our heart rule us instead of us ruling our heart. The beautiful thing about letting the Lord come and reign in our hearts, is that He will come and put desires and burdens in it that will be pleasing before Him. Even if at the beginning it seems impossible to do, if we let the Lord become the King of our hearts and always defer to Him for every little thing we do, say and desire in this life and obey Him, we will soon find ourselves doing the things that make us happy.
Again and again I am amazed at the changes the Lord has brought to my heart after all these years simply because I talk to Him. I try to make a conscious effort to bring every thought captive to Him. It is always important to me to bring my heart to talk to Him, and not just my lips or my mind. I must always make an effort to come to Him with my heart. This makes it possible to always connect with the Lord. Apostle Paul tells us that we need to be:
Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. {2 Corinthians 10:5}
The wonderful thing is, the Lord has promised us that He will make a covenant with us. He will come and write His laws and His desires in our hearts if we will but let Him do it:
But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. {Jeremiah 31:33}
Seriously, the things I used to love and obsessed over and thought I couldn’t live without are now things I couldn’t care less about. I’ve stopped caring over them. I know this is not my doing. I know it’s the Holy Ghost in me blessing me, because I responded to His nudging in my life to talk to Him, to bring every thought to His scrutiny. I talk to the Lord all the time because I have learned that talking to Him brings me peace. It brings me joy in this life. It brings me comfort and rest. There is something wonderful about rededicating my heart to the Lord again and again, whether in my morning prayer or in my evening prayer or throughout the day when I am talking to Him. My prayer always is, “Lord let me never stop talking to You. Let me never stop loving You. Please help me to always set my heart and my affections upon You and not upon the things of this world.” I know on my own I cannot always love Him or always think of Him. I know on my own I will definitely fail. But with the Lord, He makes it possible. It doesn’t even matter how many times I will fail, as long as I get back up and talk to Him again. In doing so, I have endured. I have succeeded. As long as I can again open my heart to Him, have Him come in again and live through me, I don’t have to be in fear of being alone with my heart. It is a scary thing to be alone with my heart. But if I allow Him, He within me can rule my heart. He within me will triumph and overcome, because if He is for me and I am for Him, there is nothing I cannot overcome.
“I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.” {Philippians 4:13}
“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.” {Ezekiel 36:26}
Prayer
Father, I thank You with all of my heart that You are faithful. I thank You that no matter what time or day we decide to come to You, in whatever situation or circumstances we find ourselves in, You are always there with an open heart for us.
I pray Lord that You would indeed help us to come to You with our hearts, open and unashamed to You, knowing that You love us so much. Help us Father to have You come live through us and be the King of our hearts. Oh, Jesus, help us to believe in Your love for us. Let us not fear and doubt Your love for us because You always do what is best for us. Let us believe You all the way. Help us to come to You with so much confidence of Your love that no matter what we’ve done or said that might not have been pleasing before You, we know that if we come again with true repentance You will forgive us and welcome us back again.
Help us Lord Jesus, to forgive as well and give to others as You have given to us. Let us not hold grudges and resentment against anyone but with love and confidence surrender ourselves to Your will and allow You to change us. Please Father, take over our hearts and change us. Help us to love those and forgive those that have hurt us.
You know what is best for us Lord. You know what is good for us. Help us to do Your will today that we may see Your wonderful face when You return for us someday soon. Rule in our hearts Father today, I pray, in Your most wonderful and precious name, Jesus. Thank You Father. Amen.
