We all have a heart. Our hearts beat and pump blood throughout our bodies, providing oxygen and nutrients. Without our hearts, we would not be alive. In our culture you can be hard-hearted, cold hearted, broken-hearted, good-hearted, etc. The list goes on and in English, we think of the word "heart" as the center of emotion and kindness. The Hebrews, however, had a broader meaning for the word "heart". It goes beyond the Western cultural idea of it being the center of emotion and kindness to including a person's thoughts, reason, and logic, in essence, the "mind" is included with the word "heart". So a heart can think, understand, and be intentional. A heart can be a storehouse for God's word. It can be full of deceit. It is capable of love and hate, joy and sorrow. Here is a word study on these aspects of the word "heart" in God's word.The heart is capable of understanding:
"Since you have closed their hearts to understanding, therefore you will not let them triumph." Job17:4 (ESV)
"For wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul." Proverbs 2:10 (NIV)
The heart is where you can store scripture:
"Only be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them slip from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after them." Deuteronomy 4:9 (NIV)
"Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee." Psalm 119:11 (KJV)
The heart is capable of deception:
"'How long? Is there anything in the hearts of the prophets who prophesy falsehood, even these prophets of the deception of their own heart, who intend to make My people forget My name by their dreams which they relate to one another, just as their fathers forgot My name because of Baal? The prophet who has a dream may relate his dream, but let him who has My word speak My word in truth. What does straw have in common with grain?' declares the LORD." Jeremiah 23:26-28 (NASB)
"The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?" Jeremiah 17:9 (KJV)
The heart can be intentional:
"When he arrived and saw the evidence of the grace of God, he was glad and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts. Acts 11:23 (NIV)
"The anger of the LORD will not turn back until He has performed and carried out the purposes of His heart; in the last days you will clearly understand it." Jeremiah 23:20 (NASB)
"For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart." Hebrews 4:12 (NASB)
"Obey them not only to win their favor when their eye is on you, but like slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart." Ephesians 6:6 (NIV)
The heart is capable of love and hate:
"Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart." 1 Peter 1:22 (NIV)
"He turned their hearts to hate his people, to deal craftily with his servants." Psalm 105:25 (ESV)
The heart is capable of joy and sorrow:
"A joyful heart makes a cheerful face, but when the heart is sad, the spirit is broken." Proverbs 15:13 (NASB)
"But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart." John 16:6 (NASB)
"Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. John 14:27 (ESV)
In closing, we want to have the heart of God within us as it says in Exodus 34:5-7, "The LORD, the LORD God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations."(NASB) And we need to be ever conscious of the fact that our hearts reflect who we are. "As in water face reflects face, so the heart of man reflects the man." Proverbs 27:19 (ESV) And we need to be aware that God looks not at our outward appearance but at our hearts. "But the LORD said to Samuel, 'Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.'" 1 Samuel 16:7 (NIV)
Dear Lord, We ask that You shape and mold our hearts. Let our hearts be as Yours, full of kindness and compassion, slow to anger, abounding in lovingkindness and truth.
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