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 THE WORD IS YOUR SOURCE OF POWER      
               How to OVERCOME Hardness of Heart                     
     
Thanks be to God who gives us the VICTORY through Christ - 1 Corinthians 15:57 

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 By: Dr. Bill Miller                             Volume XVIII Number 12                                 March 22, 2015

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

 

For a number of weeks now we've been discussing the subject of HARDNESS OF HEART. It's relatively unusual to come across a teaching on this topic and in fact, most Christians probably don't know much about it unless they've been reading this newsletter. Question: why are we spending so much time discussing this subject since so many other folks don't seem to want to talk about it very much? The simple answer is that it's a really, really important subject and the enemy has successfully diverted us away from it when it ought to be a major concern.

 

Why? In the FIRST place it was so important to Jesus that He REBUKED His own hand-picked, personally-trained disciples for their HARDNESS OF HEART on several occasions (Mark 8:17-21, 16:14 and others). If it was important to Jesus, it should be important to us. Indeed, it's mentioned (along with DULLNESS OF HEART) more than 15 times in the New Testament. When subjects are mentioned that many times in the Bible it's because the Holy Spirit wanted to put us on alert to be mindful of an important spiritual matter that could interfere in our ability to achieve the purposes of God.

 

In the SECOND place, keep in mind that this series is about recognizing that the WORD OF GOD is intended to be a SOURCE of GREAT power in the lives of Believers in Christ. God has set up His Kingdom that way. It's NOT His intention that Believers live weak lives in tribulation and defeat all the time, so He has given us His WORD as a RESOURCE that makes available real POWER that can change circumstances and produce VICTORY in every area of life: spirit, soul and body. Therefore, we want to be alert to anything that could come along and diminish the flow of that POWER.

 

From studying and writing about this subject, I have come up with a brief summary of the most relevant reasons for making HARDNESS OF HEART an important study topic in the Christian community:

 

> It makes it difficult to perceive and understand the WORD.

> Jesus considered this subject to be important, so we should too. In fact, it made Him angry and

   seemingly frustrated.

> It disconnects us from the things of God.

> It reconnects us to the World.

> It deprives us of wisdom and judgment.

> It makes us depend on the five carnal (physical) senses instead of FAITH.

> It hinders the process of MIND renewal which Scripture calls TRANSFORMATION.

 

HARDNESS OF HEART is a serious condition in the Body of Christ and our churches would do well to spend some time bringing it to the attention of their people. The truth is, a LOT of folks these days are walking around in defeat and spiritual apathy not realizing that they're being bogged down by a spiritual condition that THEY have to overcome so the WORD OF GOD can produce the VICTORY ALL Believers have been created to receive. It's a simple fact: if we're walking around in HARDNESS OF HEART, we'll NEVER manifest the VICTORY in life God has intended for us to have. And along with that, we'll NEVER be effective in helping expand the Kingdom of God until it covers the whole earth.

 

What to do about It

 

Now, under the New Covenant, God doesn't put HARDNESS OF HEART on people, which He occasionally did in past times, which is why Jesus could complain about it to His disciples. Rather, HARDNESS OF HEART is a human condition that we can control. In fact, it's our RESPONSIBILITY to do something about it in our own lives. We've done this to ourselves and we have to be the ones that set in motion the process for getting out of it. Everyone has some degree of HARDNESS OF HEART. We can beg and plead with God to do something about it, but He already has: Jesus went to the Cross so that we could, among other things, overcome HARDNESS OF HEART ourselves by FOCUSING on the written WORD which He also sent along with its TEACHER, the Holy Spirit. It's our responsibility to do something about it, to overcome it so the Word of God can produce the renewal in our MIND that we need. We have to take the initiative and then the Holy Spirit will be there to teach us ALL things (John 14:26) in response to our desire to change things and get the victory.

 

HARDNESS OF HEART comes about because we've CONSIDERED or FOCUSED ON the wrong things (Mark 6:52 KJV). The Bible says that the disciples had not CONSIDERED the works of Jesus which made them HARDENED to those things. Whatever we do NOT "consider" we become HARDENED to and conversely we become SOFTENED to the things we DO focus on. What do we put our MINDS on regularly? What do we think about and evaluate and mediate on most of the time? The things we do NOT give attention to are the things we become HARDENED to. If we don't FOCUS on the WORD we become HARDENED to it. If we DO focus on what's going on in the World, we become softened to the things in the World systems. Whatever we FOCUS on is what we come to UNDERSTAND.

 

In sum, we have HARDNESS OF HEART about spiritual things because we don't CONSIDER them enough. We're HARDENED to the Word of God because we neglect it. When we're hardened to the Word the result is that our FAITH is weakened. The only way I can receive God's GRACE is by FAITH. His GRACE is my empowerment so I won't be able to overcome life's trials and problems if my FAITH is weakened. But I can reverse this by giving more quality attention to the Word. Why do so many Christians try to get by in life with just the minimum effort to read and meditate on the Word? It's a fruitless exercise and the result is ALWAYS defeat through HARDNESS to the Word.

 

We're also HARDENED to the supernatural where the things of God operate because we've only CONSIDERED things by the natural carnal (physical) senses. Either we're going to assess things by the natural senses or by FAITH. If you can see or taste or feel something, you don't need FAITH. But FAITH is required to please God (Hebrews 11:6) and FAITH is required to receive GRACE. And FAITH is required to live in the supernatural. You overcome your HARDNESS to the supernatural by trying to live by FAITH instead of by the natural senses. Choose to agree with the Word of God instead of only what your natural senses can confirm. Consider the supernatural as something superior to the natural and ask the Holy Spirit to help you operate there. He will help you and as you CONSIDER the supernatural instead of disregarding it, you'll become more sensitive to it and HARDENED to the things that have only been confirmed by your natural senses.

 

In sum, we have to keep our MINDS stayed on the Lord instead of on the World. There are just NO options: to put your MIND on the Lord is to disconnect from the World. But to put your MIND on the Lord is to become HARDENED to the things of the World because you're no longer CONSIDERING it. You want to become HARDENED to the World so you can become softened to the Word and to the things of God because out of the things of God come the favor and the GRACE we need to produce the victories.

 

Giving commitment and effort to UNDERSTANDING the Word of God creates the means for FOCUSING on the Lord, for FOCUSING on Jesus instead of on your problems, for acquiring the PEACE that passes all understanding instead of living in fear and frustration. FOCUSING on all the things God has already done for you instead of dwelling on the things He hasn't done yet softens you to the supernatural and draws you away from the World. You FOCUS on what God has already done for you by developing GRATITUDE for those things. You develop gratitude by speaking out your THANKSGIVING. It's impossible to simultaneously enter into THANKSGIVING and focus on the things that God has NOT yet done for you. By THANKSGIVING you become softened to the things of God including His Word, which is to say UNDERSTANDING of the Word is increased in relation to our genuine gratefulness. If you aren't hungry for the Word, which most Christians are NOT, then ask God to help you, to cause you to hunger for it because He will definitely answer that prayer and by your hunger will come the commitment to UNDERSTAND it and by your pursuit of that, you'll be softened to the things of God and increase the ability of the WORD to release its POWER into your life.

 

Thanks for joining our discussion tonight. We'll be looking for you again NEXT Sunday night on March 29. 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.

 

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

 

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