Spiritual Heart Checkup
Author: Cynthia Greene
We are the masterful Creation of the Almighty God who said that everything He had made was “very good” (Genesis 1:31). All God created was good in the beginning. However Adam and Eve choose to trust and follow the lies of Satan and eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. This choice caused them to be banished from the Garden of Eden and sin entered the world.
In scripture we read about the state of man’s heart now:
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; Who can know it? (Jeremiah 17:9)
Does this contradict God calling His creation “very good” in Genesis? Not at all. In earlier verses in Jeremiah 17 we see an explanation of why the heart is called “deceitful above all things”. In verse 5 it says, “Cursed is the man who trusts in man…whose heart departs from the Lord”. This contrasts what we read in in verse 7, “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord…” These verses depicted a time God’s people had followed their own strength and wisdom turning their hearts to deceit and wickedness.
Ever since Adam and Eve, ……We also turn away from God and can have a deceitful and wicked heart when we do not obey and follow Him.
Physical & Spiritual Heart
A physical heart check involves evaluating blood work, eating habits, physical activity and family history.
Biblically speaking, a “Spiritual Heart” refers to the place where our feelings, emotions, and desires originate. In the book of Mark we read that evil comes from the heart of men (Mark 7:21-23). This is why God has to remove our “fleshly” heart and replace it with a new heart. Repentance is only possible when we have a change of heart because then we can see things as God does (1 John 1:9). We are called to examine our self:
But each one must examine his own work… Galatians 6:4, LSB
A Spiritual Heart Checkup involves evaluating our inner thoughts, emotions and motives and comparing them to God’s Word. What is the health of your Spiritual Heart?
How to do a Spiritual Heart Checkup
- Ask God to reveal our heart.
In Psalm 139 David, a man after God’s own heart, asks God to show him the condition of his own heart. He was willing to take an honest look as his inner thoughts and motives and ask God to lead Him into His Truths.
Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me, and know my anxieties; And see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. Psalm 139:23-24
There is nothing hidden from God, He already knows our inner thoughts and desires (Daniel 2:22). We can ask Him to show us any bitterness, offenses, pride, or anger (Ephesians 4:31) we have inside so we can repent and put those things away.
- Stay rooted in God’s Word.
As a Christian, we are to be thinking, standing, sitting, and walking in ways that align with God’s Word? We can ask ourselves if what we are watching, reading, and listening to are edifying and uplifting? Are we spending time with people who encourage us to obey and follow God’s ways? Are the things we see and hear feeding Godly responses, thoughts and actions.
Blessed is the man that walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he does shall prosper. (Psalm 1:3)
We see this mentioned again in Jeremiah:
Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose trust is the LORD. He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit. Jeremiah 17:7-8
These verses are describing a man who is planted by the “water”, which is a reference to the ultimate source of eternal life, God (John 4:14). The Fruits of the Spirit (Galatians 5) will be evident in our lives as stay firmly rooted in God’s Word.
- Ask God to cleanse our heart.
We read in John 15:5, “…for without me ye can do nothing”. It is God that can cleanse our hearts through the washing of His word.
Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. (Psalm 51:10)
That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word. (Ephesians 5:26)
- The Holy Spirit is needed for a new heart.
God sent His Holy Spirit as the Helper (John 14:25-26). The Holy Spirit works in us to transform our hearts and guide us into Godly desires, responses and actions (Philippians 2:13). It is God’s Power through the Holy Spirit that changes our heart and creates a new spirit within us.
New Heart
Our Spiritual Heart determines the Fruits (Galatians 5) we bear in our lives. God desires that we put our complete faith, trust, obedience and reliance on Him and then we will we truly live (2 Corinthians 1:9). We can be encouraged knowing that God desires to give us a new heart and a new spirit.
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
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Song: Create In Me A Clean Heart
