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

Last week we looked at a list of possible HINDRANCES that impede the full development of POWER in our lives, POWER that is available to us from the Word of God. One of those HINDRANCES is called in Scripture HARDNESS OF HEART, or in other places and translations DULLNESS of Heart. Jesus talked about it extensively because it can severely reduce our ability to PERCEIVE and UNDERSTAND the Word.

Until we know what it is, the natural tendency for most of us would be to say, "I don't have hardness of heart. How could I? I'm a child of God." The truth is though almost all of us have some degree of HARDNESS OF HEART and we don't realize it. And that "condition" is interfering in our ability to PERCEIVE the Word of God so that we can enjoy the fullness of God's GRACE.

Previously we talked about what it means to PERCEIVE. Do you remember the illustration? Two Believers can be sitting in any given assembly on Sunday morning listening to the Pastor's teaching and one will come away with a rooted understanding of the message while the other just won't get the point. Both Believers received the teaching with their five physical senses and let's assume they both heard the entire message with their physical ears without being distracted. Maybe even both of them took notes. But only one actually PERCEIVED it and was changed by what he/she heard. Only one was listening with the sincere purpose in MIND of UNDERSTANDING what was being presented. Only one was listening with spiritual ears.

Defining Perception

Now when I'm trying to understand something in the Word, I often go to Webster's Dictionary to find out what the World thinks it means. And then I compare that to what God says it is in the Bible. Just making that comparison launches me into acquiring an understanding that I'm less likely to lose down the road because I'll be able to recall what the difference was. One of the approaches that's needed in meditating the Word is to study it from different angles so we don't forget it so easily later on. Many Christians though just quickly gloss over the words they read in the Bible without trying to understand what they really mean and that's one reason we forget so quickly and let Satan snatch them away (Matthew 13:19).

Well the dictionary says that the verb PERCEIVE means to become aware of or take notice of or observe something directly through the physical senses particularly by seeing and hearing. It means to achieve an UNDERSTANDING of the something we've taken notice of. Keep in mind that the World is limited to the five physical senses (including hearing and seeing), but the Kingdom of God operates beyond those limitations in the SUPERNATURAL. So let's see now what the Bible says about PERCEPTION so we can make the comparison.  

In Mark 8:17-18 as the disciples were complaining about not having any bread to eat, Jesus quoted the Old Testament as He rebuked them for not understanding the significance of His miracle of feeding the 4,000 just a few hours earlier:

Why do you reason because you have no bread? Do you not yet PERCEIVE nor understand? Is your heart (still) hardened? Having eyes, do you not see? And having ears, do you not hear? And do you not remember?

The disciples had certainly seen with their physical eyes what Jesus did in performing that miracle and all the others they had seen before that. And they were right there the whole time and heard every word He said with their physical ears. Jesus knew all that so the bible definition of PERCEPTION has to be different than the World version that's limited to the physical senses. Biblical PERCEPTION is something beyond the five physical senses and has to do with UNDERSTANDING by the SPIRITUAL senses. When Jesus said "He who has ears to hear, let him hear" (Mark 4:9), He was talking about understanding on a supernatural level with the SPIRITUAL senses where the Holy Spirit operates.

The ability to PERCEIVE spiritually comes by the renewing of the MIND so that eventually we'll be able to comprehend everything that's good and acceptable and perfect, which is the will of God (Romans 12:2). Renewing the MIND comes by APPLYING the knowledge we've learned from the Word into our lives and as we're renewed we come to know by the spiritual senses what's right and wrong, the choices we ought to make, which direction we should go and how the Holy Spirit is leading (Romans 8:14). We can hear with spiritual ears and we can see with spiritual eyes (Matthew 13:14-17). We "become aware" that our carnal physical senses don't understand what's happening on a spiritual level and we begin to pursue UNDERSTANDING by our spiritual senses so that we can experience the things that are real and ETERNAL (2 Corinthians 4:18).

The Hindrance of a Hardened Heart

Being able to PERCEIVE spiritually is certainly where we want to be. So why are so many Christians not there yet? As we've already seen, even Jesus' disciples had problems with PERCEPTION. Jesus asked them in the foregoing quotation (Mark 8:17-18) if their hearts had become HARDENED. Of course, He already knew the answer: certainly their hearts were HARDENED and that's why they hadn't understood His miracle. That same observation had already come up after a previous miracle in Mark 6:33-44 involving the feeding of the 5,000 men when on the evening of the same day Jesus walked on water. The Bible says the disciples were utterly astonished to see Him walking on the water because their hearts were HARDENED in that they had failed to CONSIDER the significance of the supernatural events earlier in the day. In other words, if they had PERCEIVED the significance of that earlier miracle when 5,000 were fed, they would not have been so astonished to see Jesus later that same day doing something else supernatural.

Now if Jesus' own disciples who He had hand-picked, who He had trained every day in the things of the Kingdom of God and who had seen Him working and healing on multiple occasions, if they had a problem with HARDENED HEARTS, what are the chances that we who have to receive all of these things by FAITH instead of being there physically at Jesus' side could also have a problem with the same HINDRANCE? A HINDRANCE is something that blocks the manifestation of the supernatural or acts as an obstacle to spiritual PERCEPTION. Let's just say then that the chances are about 100 percent: you and I are FREQUENTLY hindered by HARDNESS OF HEART. We don't hear the Holy Spirit as we would like to so we can be led (Romans 8:14) nor can we SEE what He's doing perhaps most of the time.

Probably many of you are asking why this has to be such a problem. You go to church every Sunday and you even remember a lot of what your Pastor teaches. You don't have victory in your life but neither does anybody else so you feel like you're okay. But what if we could identify a particular problem that prevails throughout the Body of Christ that can be largely corrected and could change your defeat into victory and that could help you begin to understand the profound concepts and principles in God's Word that up to now you've only grasped superficially? Would you want to make the change? Would you want to kick the HINDRANCE out of your life?

Reversing the Hardened Heart

In coming weeks we're going to be talking about this subject a lot more, looking at it from different angles. Hardness of Heart is reversible and you and I can actually become SENSITIVE to God and the things of God. We can actually become HARDENED to the World instead of to the Word. If we can understand how HARDNESS OF HEART starts and works as a HINDRANCE in our relationship with God, we can then stop and reverse it so we can go beyond the physical limitations in the natural into the SUPERNATURAL where we can hear and see the Holy Spirit.

Since renewing of the MIND comes by learning the Word, let's end the discussion this week with a couple of insights you may not have thought of that confirm the importance of dealing with HARDNESS OF HEART:

1. When the Bible uses the word "heart" it's usually talking about "thinking" and the MIND. So this subject is about HARDNESS in our thinking or HARDNESS in our MINDS. Therefore, the challenge is to change the way we're thinking so we can change who we are (Proverbs 23:7).    

2. Renewing the MIND is what helps us disentangle ourselves from the World. Until we do that we just can't really know what the will of God is for our lives so we can come into the things that are good and acceptable and perfect (Romans 12:2). Here's a flash: the things that are good and acceptable and perfect = personal VICTORY.

3. FAITH comes (or grows) by HEARING the Word (Romans 10:17). But the HEARING is NOT just physical HEARING. It has to be spiritual PERCEPTION. Many Believers have a lot of "head knowledge" and can quote Bible scriptures they've memorized; but they haven't HEARD the Word for the PURPOSE of having their thinking and their lives changed.

Be blessed today and let the Word of God transform you into the image of Christ.

Thanks for stopping by tonight. We'll be looking for you again NEXT Sunday night on March 1. In the meantime may the Lord bless you with every spiritual blessing (Ephesians 1:3), compelling you to PROSPER in every area of life!

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 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.

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.

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Donations

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