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PROSPERITY SCHOOL 101
           Part Twenty Nine - The Problem of a Hardened Heart                

  

Beloved I pray above all things that you might PROSPER - 3 John 2

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By: Dr. Bill Miller                                               Volume XVI Number 16                                                      April 21, 2013
  

Greetings in the Name of Jesus and welcome to the PLN Sunday Night Bible Fellowship:

 

PROSPERITY is not a bad word. It's a Bible word and it's mentioned there in one form or another more than 90 times in a positive context. It always has been something God wanted Believers to have and He still does. Nothing has changed, the Word is still the TRUTH and God is still the same yesterday, today and forever (Malachi 3:6 and Hebrews 13:8). God blessed Abraham with among other things financial PROSPERITY (Genesis 13:2) and then later on when you and I were born again, we were connected in Christ Jesus to that same Blessing (Galatians 3:13-14). To be sure some of the teaching about PROSPERITY over the years has been wrong, but in proper context and meaning true bible PROSPERITY is a good thing. God has purpose for it and needs for us to take possession of it so His purposes on the earth can be achieved.       

 

The PROSPERITY of God is NOT about acquiring riches to consume on ourselves. It's NOT about laying up treasure on earth instead of relying on God. It's NOT about trusting in assets and money instead of trusting in God. It's not about using the World financial system to appear more successful than our neighbor. It's NOT about putting personal enrichment ahead of seeking the Kingdom of God. It's NOT about hoarding things instead of sharing what we have with widows and orphans and the poor and Christian ministries and local churches and family and friends and neighbors and each other. It's NOT materialism and it's not consumerism. It's NOT acquired by the Flesh and it does NOT come because we deserve it or because we worked for it. No friend, PROSPERITY is about establishing the New Covenant Kingdom of God on the earth and it's time we all just accept it for what it is because this word PROSPERITY has a special anointing on it that needs to be sought after and protected.

 

Understanding Hardness of Heart

 

In part, protecting our PROSPERITY means to watch over our access to it so we don't do things in life that HINDER our ability to connect to it. Indeed as we've discussed in previous articles, even though the PROSPERITY of God was made available to the Body of Christ more than 2000 years ago by GRACE through FAITH, most of us have had some trouble figuring out how to connect to it. And since PROSPERITY is in reality a supernatural spiritual concept, the things that HINDER it often have to be learned about by studying the Word. That's because they're fundamentally different than what we might expect from our experiences in the natural world where everything is discerned by the five physical senses.  

 

Now one of the MAIN things that can obstruct God's PROSPERITY 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 hindering many of us from accessing the fullness of God's GRACE and PROSPERITY. Therefore, the focus of this article is to bring understanding about this subject so we can learn to deal with it.

 

The first thing we need to know is that the words translated "heart" from both the Hebrew and Greek actually mean "thinking" or "mind." It's not a literal "heart" but rather it has to do with 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 are so great but because Jesus has already paid for our EXODUS from sin 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 demonstrated "hardness of heart" which developed because of their sin and unbelief (Hebrews 3:13, 19). They had witnessed firsthand the miracles that God had worked for them but they couldn't trust Him for the next one. Their "hardness of heart" had almost totally debilitated their FAITH and it takes FAITH to please God (Hebrews 11:6).    

 

Another example is just after Jesus fed the 5,000 men (Mark 6:44), which was probably more like 15,000 people including women and children, 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" because they hadn't gained any insight from the incident of the loaves and 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 by 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 their own dinner. Jesus overhearing their discussion asked them why they would be discussing such a thing after what they had just seen with their own eyes, and then He asked them the following key 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  it 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 into a supernatural Kingdom that operates by FAITH. And when FAITH is not working, we'll have trouble PERCEIVING God's GRACE which means we'll have real difficulty in connecting to His PROSPERITY.

 

Dealing with Hardness of Heart

 

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 are described in these verses are the main characteristics of a "hardened heart"  when it encounters 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 Him to do such a thing and not been so 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're spiritual and CANNOT be fully understood in the natural.

 

So here's the bottom line: if we focus on the things of God and His Kingdom by working on our relationship with Him, by remembering all the wonderful things He's done for us, by developing a prevailing attitude of being grateful and humble and loving, and by focusing on the Word of God instead of on all our problems, then our heart-minds will begin to soften and be more interested and attentive to spiritual things. Eventually we'll arrive at a place that's beyond the limitation of the five physical senses and at that point spiritual DULLNESS will have to flee. Maybe we can reach the point where we're not so surprised the next time God performs something supernatural in our lives. If we were more closely tuned in to Him, wouldn't we be EXPECTING those things to happen even as at the same time we're overwhelming grateful for them?  

 

To conclude tonight, God's PROSPERITY is His supernatural provision that comes by GRACE through FAITH. If we focus on the things of God and His Kingdom instead of on the World and all the problems we think we have to deal with, our hearts will soften and we'll understand, see, hear and remember how to connect to His provision. We won't be surprised when His PROSPERITY shows up to take care of all our needs with a surplus left over to do the work of the Kingdom. We'll be expecting it to show up because our FAITH is strong from focusing on the Word so much. And we'll know exactly what to do with it because the Spirit of God will lead and direct us (Romans 8:14) every step of the way.

 

Thanks for dropping by tonight. We'll be looking for you again next Sunday evening, April 28 and we hope you'll join us each week as we continue studying the subject of bible-based PROSPERITY. Until then may God bless you and your family with the total PROSPERITY of Christ!

 

Sinners' Prayer

 

If you've never invited Jesus to be the Lord of your life, you need to and you can do it today just by saying out loud 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 acknowledge that my sins have been forgiven and I ask you to come into my life today and be my Savior and Lord. 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.

 

And, when you get a chance have someone help you look up the following scriptures because they confirm what you've done by saying this prayer today and believing what you said:

 

Romans 10:9

2 Corinthians 5:17

Ephesians 2:8

 

Prayer Requests

 

If you have a Prayer Request, please connect to the Link below and follow the promptings. The PLN staff members pray over Prayer Requests every Tuesday morning at 10:00 AM eastern time. Agree with us for God to answer your petition.

 

http://www.creditcounseling.net/prayer-request.aspx

 

Donations

 

If you've been edified by Prosperous Life Newsletter, you may want to consider making a SEED FAITH offering to support the Ministry (Galatians 6:6-7). God has instructed us to simply provide folks with an opportunity to sow seed into good ground so in due season you'll be eligible to reap a harvest and the rest is up to you as the Spirit leads. For your information PLN is a nonprofit gift to the Body of Christ so your financial offerings will usually be tax deductible (consult your tax advisor). Just go to the secure Shopping Cart on the Cornerstone web site by connecting through the following link. We appreciate your support and generosity.

 

http://www.creditcounseling.net/shop/item.aspx?itemid=1

 

 

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