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CULTIVATING A LIFESTYLE OF THANKSGIVING

Part Five - The Pitfall of Hardness of Heart

Volume XIII Number 5                                                                                                                                      March 26, 2010
 

Thanks be to God who ALWAYS gives us the overwhelming victory - 2 Corinthians 2:14

                                                                                                                                             

Greetings in the name of Christ Jesus!

 

Previous newsletters in this series have discussed the power of THANKSGIVING to connect us to GRACE which is most often defined as God's UNMERITED FAVOR or EMPOWERMENT. The main point we're making is that the Bible is full of scriptures instructing us to make GIVING THANKS a way of life because it's for our own good. Take a look at the previous articles in this series to find 12 of the main scriptures in the New Testament about this subject that will surely convince you of the power and necessity of THANKSGIVING.
 
Now we've previously talked about that the only reason our holy God has made His FAVOR available to us sinful people is because He loves us and because Jesus has already paid for all our sins: past, present and future (Hebrews 10:14). God makes His GRACE available to EVERYONE believers and non-believers alike because the payment Jesus made was for the sins of the whole world (1 John 2:2). God has made the GRACE available but each of us has to RECEIVE it; we have to accept it. That's what happens when we get born again; we take the first step to RECEIVE the GRACE of God by FAITH and start trusting in Jesus (Ephesians 2:5). God's part in this process is making the GRACE available; our part is to RECEIVE it by FAITH. Unfortunately some folks just refuse to do their part and won't even take that first step; as a result they'll never be able to access His free gift and they'll never be a part of the Kingdom of God. That's how it works.
 
After that first step there's ongoing GRACE available to help us overcome the challenges of life. But a lot of Believers look at ongoing GRACE as an EMPOWERMENT that God turns off and on depending upon how we act. If we're bad, sinful children then He takes away His EMPOWERMENT and we have to walk around for a time in defeat and spiritual impotency until our "time out" has been completed. But that's NOT what the Bible says. No, the Bible says clearly that God's GRACE is UNMERITED. There's nothing we can DO, no work we can perform, to RECEIVE it or not receive it. The truth is we don't deserve it but God has chosen to make it available to ALL people who'll RECEIVE it by FAITH. If we can't seem to connect to it from time to time, the problem has to be something on our side of the equation. All we need is FAITH and we can have it. So whenever it seems like we've become disconnected from God's FAVOR, it's most likely some kind of FAITH problem we have to work out on our end and then the sense of EMPOWERMENT will be restored.    
 

Understanding Hardness of Heart

 

Now one of the things that disrupts our FAITH sometimes is something called "Hardness of Heart." And, even though it's mentioned a number of times in both the Old and New Testaments and Jesus Himself even talked about it, most Christians don't seem to have a real awareness of it. Nor do we take particular note of the fact that most of us suffer from "Hardness of Heart" and that we need to correct it because it's cutting many of us off from God's GRACE. So, the focus of this article is to bring understanding about this subject so we can learn to increase our ability to produce fruit for the Kingdom of God.

 

The first thing we need to know about this subject is that the words translated "heart" from both the Hebrew and Greek actually mean "thinking" or "mind." It's not a literal "heart" but the inner part of us that could also be translated as "soul" or that part of us that contains our mind, our will, our emotions and our conscience. A "hardened heart" then is better translated as a hardened mind or hardened thinking.

 

The second thing to know is that God is NOT the one who HARDENS our hearts. He DID harden Pharaoh's heart when He was preparing for the Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt; but that was during a previous Covenant and under the New Covenant He no longer has to do those kinds of things, not because we're so great but because Jesus has already paid for all our  sins for all time. As a result the responsibility for the condition of our mind and soul has been transferred through Christ back to mankind.

 

To really begin to understand what "Hardness of Heart" is, we can look at several of the instances in scripture where it's discussed and draw some conclusions. One example is when the Israelites went into the wilderness after God had miraculously delivered them from bondage. Even though they'd seen God perform miracle after miracle, they started to grumble and complain within a few days after their miraculous escape. The Bible says their complaining and ingratitude (the opposite of THANKSGIVING) demonstrated "hardness of heart" which developed because of their sin and unbelief (Hebrews 3:13, 19). They had witnessed first hand the miracles God had worked for them but they couldn't believe for the next miracle. Their "hardness of heart" had totally cancelled out their FAITH and their willingness to trust God    

 

Another example is just after Jesus fed the 5,000 men (Mark 6:44), which was probably more like 20,000 people in total, with 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish. The disciples were "astonished" to see Him later that same evening walking on the water to get to their boat. The Bible says they were "astonished" in that they had not gained any insight from the incident of the loaves because their hearts were hardened (Mark 6:52). In other words, having just seen a humongous miracle performed that fed all those people, how was it possible that they were "astonished" to see Him merely walking on some water a few hours later? The Greek equivalent is that the disciples had not CONSIDERED the spiritual aspects of the "miracle of the loaves."

 

And yet a third example can be found in Mark 8:1-21 after Jesus had performed another miracle of feeding the 4,000 with 7 loaves and a few small fish. After having seen the second feeding miracle, the disciples just a few hours later were discussing among themselves their concern that they had no bread to eat for dinner. Jesus overhearing their discussion asked them why they would be discussing such a thing after what they had seen with their own eyes and He asked them the following questions: "Do you not yet see or understand? Do you have a hardened heart?"

 

"Hardness of heart" is an important enough matter that it provoked God to wrath at the Israelites (Hebrews 3:8-11) and frustrated Jesus to see it manifesting among His own disciples (Mark 8:17-21) because it PREVENTED them from understanding the significance of His miracles. In all three of these examples, Believers had witnessed the miracles of God first hand but were unable to trust Him to repeat those acts of provision for their own needs. Their FAITH had not grown and they had failed to UNDERSTAND the meaning of those miracles. They could not see beyond the physical results in the natural to a supernatural Kingdom that operates by FAITH. And as already pointed out when FAITH is not working, we'll have trouble taking possession of God's GRACE which means we'll have real difficulty overcoming our problems.

 

Dealing with Spiritual Dullness

 

As Jesus asked His disciples rhetorically in Mark 8:17 if they had hardness of heart, He explained what He meant by asking them several accompanying questions in verses 17 and 18: "Do you not yet see or understand?... Having eyes, do you not see? And having ears, do you not hear? And do you not remember (the feeding miracles)?

 

What's described in these verses are the main characteristics of a "hardened heart" when it has encountered events in the supernatural:

 

1.     Lack of understanding

2.     Spiritual blindness

3.     Spiritual deafness

4.     Inability to remember

 

People for the most part operate on a carnal level which means we're pretty much limited to the five physical senses of the Flesh in evaluating the events of our lives. But God does NOT connect to the Flesh. He is Spirit (John 4:24) and He operates Spirit to spirit. The five physical senses are of no use in perceiving things of the Spirit that operate in the SUPERNATURAL. Therefore, a "hardened heart" is one that's DULL to the things of the Spirit (Acts 28:27) and this is what Jesus was pointing out to His disciples. He wanted them to have spiritual ears and spiritual eyes so they would be able to connect His miracles on a spiritual level to the Kingdom of God through FAITH. Therefore, "hardness of heart" in its simplest sense is the tendency of relating more easily to the natural realm than the supernatural. That's why the disciples were "astonished" when they saw Jesus walking on the water. Had their hearts been softer to the things of the Spirit, they would have EXPECTED the Lord to do such a thing and would have certainly not been surprised.

 

Remember that a "hardened heart" is really a mind that's unable to perceive spiritual things; and the truth is our minds and  thoughts are going to be dominated by what we focus on. So if we focus on carnal things, our minds will be limited to the physical senses; if we focus on the spiritual our heart-minds will become more sensitive and able to work beyond the physical senses. This is where we want to get to because GRACE and FAITH operate in the supernatural; they are spiritual and CANNOT be understood in the natural.

 

So here's the bottom line today: if we focus on the things of God by GIVING THANKS continually as we're instructed to do in scripture (Ephesians 5:20, Hebrews 13:15 and many others) and by meditating on the Word instead of on all our problems that come from the world and people and our own bad choices and from the devil, then our minds will begin to soften and be more interested and attentive to spiritual things. When we GIVE THANKS by FAITH, then we're totally beyond the realm of the five senses and spiritual DULLNESS will have to flee. Don't be surprised the next time God performs something supernatural in your life because that's the way He works. Don't miss God's miracles in your life by focusing on your problems!    

 

Some Final Thoughts

 

Hardness of heart is something most Christians haven't thought about too much. We arrive in the Kingdom of God the moment we're born again walking almost totally in the Flesh, with hard hearts/minds that are limited to the perceptions we can derive from the 5 physical senses. God wants us to change, to be transformed, and the way we do that is by studying the Word so we can RENEW our minds, by getting away from the World (Romans 12:1-2) and by developing our spiritual perceptiveness. Jesus said He didn't do anything He hadn't SEEN the Father doing (John 5:19) meaning He was able to accurately perceive by FAITH with His spiritual eyes the things of the Kingdom of God. Give THANKS to God for all He's done and stay connected to His GRACE and EMPOWERMENT.

 

Thanks for reading PLN today and we'll be looking for you again in three weeks on Friday, April 16. In the meantime, may God overwhelm you with the fullness of His love and spiritual blessing as you seek to cultivate a lifestyle of THANKSGIVING!

 

Sinners' Prayer

 

If you've never invited Jesus to be the Lord of your life, you can do so today just by saying the following simple prayer:

 

Jesus I declare today with all my heart that I believe in you and that God raised you from the dead. I receive forgiveness for my sins and I ask you to come into my life today and be my Lord and Savior. Thank you for salvation and eternal life.

 

If you were sincere as you prayed this prayer, God has already come into your life and you are a new creation, a totally new species recreated in His image. Now ask the Lord to lead you to a good faith-based, bible-teaching church where you can be equipped to fulfill your potential in the Kingdom of God.

 

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Prayer Requests

 

If you have a Prayer Request, please click on the following Link which will take you to the input page on the CFC web site. The PLN staff members pray over Prayer Requests every Tuesday morning promptly at 10:00 AM eastern time. We agree for your victory (Matthew 18:19).

 

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