139. The Condition of Your Heart

Are you aware of the importance of stewarding your own heart? The reality is we all have aspects of our heart that have hardness in them. But if leave our heart in a hard condition, scripture tells us that we will not be able to understand the truth from God’s Word. Not only that, the Word of God won’t be able to take root in our lives. Tune into this episode as I share about the parable of the sower and the importance of stewarding the condition of your heart.

Show Notes

Bible Verses:

Matthew 12:34: “For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.”

Proverbs 4:20-23, NIV: “My son, pay attention to what I say; turn your ear to my words. Do not let them out of your sight, keep them within your heart; for they are life to those who find them and health to one’s whole body. Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.”

Proverbs 4:23, TPT: “So above all, guard the affections of your heart, for they affect all that you are. Pay attention to the welfare of your innermost being, for from there flows the wellspring of life.”

Luke 8:10 “Later his disciples came to Jesus and asked him privately what deeper meaning was found in this parable. He said, “You have been given a teachable heart to perceive the secret, hidden mysteries of God’s kingdom realm. But to those who don’t have a listening heart, my words are merely stories. Even though they have eyes, they are blind to the true meaning of what I say, and even though they listen, they won’t receive full revelation.

Luke 11:34 “The eyes of your spirit allow revelation-light to enter into your being. When your heart is open the light floods in. When your heart is hard and closed, the light cannot penetrate and darkness takes its place.”

Mark 6:52 “for they had not understood about the loaves; their hearts were hardened.”

Luke 8:4-10: a large crowd was gathering and people were coming to Jesus from town after town, he told this parable: “A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path; it was trampled on, and the birds ate it up.Some fell on rocky ground, and when it came up, the plants withered because they had no moisture. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up with it and choked the plants.Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up and yielded a crop, a hundred times more than was sown.”

11-15 “This is the meaning of the parable: The seed is the word of God. Those along the path are the ones who hear, and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. Those on the rocky ground are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root. They believe for a while, but in the time of testing they fall away. The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by life’s worries, riches and pleasures, and they do not mature. But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop.

Topics Discussed:

Hardness of Heart

All of us have some areas in our spiritual hearts that are hard and clogged.
Hardness of heart comes from grief, pain, discouragement, etc.
There are dangers that come from having a hard heart.
A hard heart dulls your ability to understand the truth.
A hard heart turns God’s truth into just stories.
A hard heart allows darkness to penetrate.
Unbelief, doubt and fear are all conditions and symptoms of a hard heart.
The parable of the 4 soils. The soils are metaphors for the condition of your heart and the seed is the Word of God.

FOUR TYPES OF SOIL

1 –Hard Heart

The seed falls but unable to grow because ground is hard. Heard the word, but never applied it or put it into practice.

They refuse the word and reject the word, which is in turn leads to rejection of God. Because the word hasn’t taken root the devil snatches and takes it away. The devil has power if we give it to him

2- Hollow Heart

They follow Jesus, calls himself a Christian, believes his message, but doesn’t do anything about it. Their faith is temporary and shallow.

3- Thorny Heart

They identify more with the cares of this world and they are contaminated by distractions from the world. Identifies more with fear, stress, anxiety, worry, etc. They will never fully mature or be fruitful like God intended.

4 – Healthy and Whole Heart

They follow Jesus no matter what the cost. They cling to the word and live by the word, persevere in the world, and they will meditate on the word. The person who has a healthy heart is ready to receive God’s word at all times and in all seasons. They will produce a great harvest.

Practically ways to steward your heart

Salvation
Inner Healing
Plant the right kind of seed. Plant the Word of God.
Realize it’s a process.
Make a sacrifice.
Realize that you are responsible. You are responsible of tending to your own garden. You need to do the work. In addition, you can’t live off of someone else’s soil meaning you can’t live off someone else’s revelation of what the word says.
You must protect yourself from the wind, other people, who will try to steal your seed. A big part of this is you can’t be worried about what the world or what other people think.
Forgive Others and Live Unoffendable

Powerful Quotes:

“Your words indicate the condition of your heart.” – Caroline

“Our hearts cannot function when they are clogged.” – Caroline

“The devil has power if we give it to him.” – Caroline

“The only heart that the Word of God can take root in is the healthy, healed heart.” – Caroline

“As you pursue healing in your heart, the outcome of your life will look different.” – Caroline

“You can’t live off of someone else’s relationship with Jesus.” – Caroline

“I am here to obey the Lord. Not to please people.” – Caroline

“If you want to have a healthy heart, you have to protect yourself.” – Caroline

“Everything you do flows from the condition of your heart.” – Caroline

“You need to steward the condition of your heart because if not, God’s Word will be just stories to you.” – Caroline

“When your heart is hard, the Word of God can never take root in it” – Caroline

“A hard heart will dull your ability to understand truth.” – Caroline

“The condition of your heart is up to you.” – Caroline

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