Scripturally, the word “heart” is what is known in the secular world as “mind.” One will notice that both words are used in the various translations of the Holy Bible. Examples of the dual-worded meaning of the same entity is shown in this series on several occasions. “As a man THINKS in his HEART, so he is” reveals that the heart is the instrument with which one thinks. In English we say that we THINK with our Mind. In God’s mind/heart both are correct. We will continue to use both words interchangeably as does the Lord.

There is nothing about the human being that God cannot control totally if it suits His purpose. He can control one’s mind with or without one’s knowledge or one’s permission. For example, before He called the people of Israel out of Egypt He turned the Egyptians’ hearts against them. Later, when Moses returned to lead Israel out of slavery God made Pharoah’s heart hard against them (Exo. 4:21). Without these two factors, Israel would not have been able to leave Egypt. We must understand that God’s ways are not our ways. God knows the ending from the beginning; He sees and knows things we can neither see nor know. Prophecy is all about that Truth. God knows the future; prophecy is His foretelling of the future. What happens in the future is normally dictated by what happened in the past. In Deuteronomy 2:30 and Joshua 11:20 we find the Almighty arranging certain outcomes by affecting the hearts of the people in the present.

Just as the Lord can harden the heart, He can also soften it. In Proverbs 21:1 it is written: “The king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord; as a river of water, He turns it whithersoever He wills.” Following Judah’s defeat and enslavement at the hands of the Persians, God arranged for some of the Jews to return to Jerusalem in order to rebuild the Lord’s temple. It is written that God “put such a thing as this in the king’s heart” (Ezra 7:27). In prophecy concerning a time to come in our near future, we are told that a world-ruling “beast” will be “ridden” (controlled) by a “woman” (church) and that ten kings within the beast’s domain will turn against her. The Apostle John, when seeing this event in the spirit, wrote that “God has (will) put it in their hearts to fulfill His will ….” (Rev. 17:17). They will not know why they are turning against the church, it will simply be the “right thing to do.” They will unknowingly yield to almighty God in whom they will not believe exists.

In order to “walk in agreement with God” and live in obedience to Him we must YIELD our hearts (wills) to Him. In this way He can mold our will to match His. This is what is meant by having the mind of Christ Who did nothing on His own power or initiative. The key to arriving at this spiritual apex is that HE DID NOT WANT TO OPERATE UNDER HIS OWN POWER; HE WANTED (WILLED) TO BE CONTROLLED BY GOD. WE MUST HAVE THAT SAME WILL/MIND/HEART. What He did, said, etc. was always fluid and without hesitation. He operated as if He was in charge and was not being directed from afar. According to His statements, this was not the case. JESUS DID AS HE WAS TOLD AND SHOWN. He SEEMED TO OPERATE ACCORDING TO HIS OWN WILL AND WITHOUT INPUT FROM ABOVE. This was because He lived in constant contact with the Father. He was constantly “hearing” God’s voice and “seeing” His actions. In this way He was always on “automatic.” God’s will and his will operated according to the “hand-in-glove” example described in the previous posting. This is God’s will for all mankind. Jesus said only a few would choose to become a symbolic “glove” relative to God’s “hand.” Let us be such “gloves” by choice. That takes the hand of God orchestrating our lives. The decision is ours. We decide whom we want in control.

We must yield our heart to God’s Holy Spirit which is the medium through which we communicate with the Lord and visa versa. Because Jesus was a man like all other men, Father-Son communication was of the same type–by way of the Holy Spirit. Only those who are led by God’s Spirit are true sons of God (Rom. 8:14). Jesus was no different. At the time of His walk on the earth He was the ONLY Son of God. He said that there would be other such sons. Let us be among this small contingent.

If one is truly converted one has God’s Holy Spirit dwelling within one’s heart. One retains his conversion by yielding one’s will to the Lord’s will. One who does so “to the end will be saved” (Mat. 10:22). Recall that in the parable of the ten “virgins” (Christians–Mat. 25), the five foolish virgins “knew” that they would be allowed to marry the Prince upon His return even though they had “run out of oil,” meaning that they no longer were being led by the Holy Spirit. They were wrong–dead wrong.

Our hearts must become and remain oriented (in tune with) God’s will so that He can fulfill His will in our lives relative to His desires for us. Our part to play in this spiritual phenomenon is to YIELD every aspect of our existence to Him. We have the power of choice. The ten virgins all had the same choice, as did Adam and Eve who initially yielded to God and lived as royalty in the paradise God created for them. Then they yielded their wills to the will of the serpent. The rest is both ancient and current reality as their spiritual descendants continue to make the same choices and for the same reason–the desire for self-rulership. Adam and Eve, as did the five foolish virgins, believed that they were in good standing with Him even as they partook of the forbidden fruit. The same error holds true in the church’s final (Laodicean) era. Jesus describes the modern church in Revelation 3:14-18. Her will is not in tune with His will.

King David was a good example of a man whose heart was “after the heart of God.” God said that of him, noting that he would “fulfill all My will.” (Acts 13:22). David actively sought after and pursued God’s heart in order to join his heart to God’s heart with God’s heart (will) being in the command position. In Psalm 53 David cried out to the Lord, asking Him to: “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me (vs. 10). In verse six he proclaimed: “Behold, You desire Truth in the inward parts (mind/heart), in the hidden part You give me wisdom.” In verse 12 David asks the Lord to sustain him by giving him a willing spirit. David wanted to be willing to submit his will to God’s will, but knew that he could not do so by his own power. He needed God’s power to make that happen. David was a wise man.

Being human, we might not actually want to overcome a problem, such as when one is addicted to a pornography, or something more universal such as the desire to be accepted by other people. We all want to be viewed in a positive light, to be liked and appreciated. We are promised the opposite if we obey the Lord. Therefore we must go to the Father for help in overcoming such a need/desire. We must ask Him to help us OVERCOME as did Jesus who, like us, wanted to be liked and appreciated. If we go to Him with an honest and overwhelming desire to be one with Him He promises to grant us that desire. To be at one with the Lord makes all other desires pale into insignificance. L.J.