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“But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.” 2 Corinthians 3:18

We have already seen what the heart is, and for a recap of our last briefing click here http://roberthammondministries.org/2011/11/issues-of-the-heart/.  For those of you reading this in our book form, please see chapter 1.

Our heart is unveiled to the Lord.  He sees it all.  Every thought, motive, every sin, etc.  It says in John 4 that God is a Spirit.  He sees in the spirit.  He lives in the world of the spirit.  This is an entire world my brethren that God dwells in.  I like to say it like this: it’s a world that exists just on the other side of a one-way mirror.  Proof of this world can be found in Luke 4:5 and of course Revelation.  They can see in (spirit, soul, and body), but we can’t see out; unless of course we began to walk where we live, positionally speaking.

Now, we are beholding in a mirror the glory of the Lord.  So then, what is this mirror?  The mirror is the Word of God (James 1:23-25 “For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.”).

God is looking at our heart, which in a sense is the mirror of who we are to him.  The problem is that a lot of our “mirrors” are scratched, fogged over, unclean, etc.  Your reflection to Him is therefore skewed.  Our hearts have to be clean before him (Psalm 51:10, Psalm 24:4, etc., etc., etc).

God is a Spirit and He sees in the spirit and your heart is in the spirit.  The bible says we are naked before Him.  Nothing is hidden from Him. The day and the night are alike to Him. HE SEES ALL!!!  What does He see when He really looks at you?  This should make us tremble with fear.  He cursed the fig tree for a reason my friends.  Is it a coincidence that we are referred to as fig trees throughout scripture? (Song of Songs 2:13, James 3:12, and over 15 more places for him who has eyes to see and a heart to receive).

Your living affects the condition of your heart.  This is why He said “Guard your heart.” Remember that the heart is made up of all 3 parts of the soul (mind, will, emotions) and 1 part of the spirit, which is your conscience.  What you allow to go into your soul will feed your heart (positively or negatively).

Let’s briefly touch upon this issue so that you can have a fuller understanding.  2 Peter 2:7-8 “and delivered righteous Lot, who was oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked (for that righteous man, dwelling among them, tormented his righteous soul from day to day by seeing and hearing their lawless deeds).”  So then, what we allow to go in our eye-gate & our ear-gate affects our “heart-gate”.  Can you see this?

Lot VEXED his “righteous” soul in what he allowed himself to see (watch) and hear (listen to). Are you vexing your own soul like Samson did (Judges 16:16)?  David said “I will set no worthless thing before my eyes.”  The choice of what you do with your heart is in your hands: “My soul is continually in my own hand” (Psalm 119:109).

“Brethren, let us not be children in our understanding (of these issues)…but let us be men in our understanding.” 1 Cor. 14:20.

Two things we are to possess: 1) we are to possess our vessel (body) 1 Thess. 4:4 {we will speak of this part another time}, and 2) we are to possess our souls. Luke 21:19.  These 2 things are OUR responsibility.  And this is what we shall be judged for; and that right quick!!

Your mind is a part of your soul. And your soul affects the heart.  And the heart deals with the conscience as we have already seen.  And the conscience is the reflection of the sum of your parts, and the voice of that which speaks before Him; as Paul our beloved brother with the wisdom given to him has so beautifully brought out in Romans, 1st Cor., 2nd Cor., 1st Timothy, Hebrews, and the best one being John 8:9 and 1 Peter 3:21 (notice the word “answer” in that verse).

So, if your mind is filthy, stained, spotted, or defiled (and most of you should know the verses for all 4 of these), then just how my brethren is our hearts supposed to be clean, pure, washed and rinsed (and most of you should know the verses for these 4 as well) before Him?  NO, first let us clean the inside of the cup and then the outside will be clean also.  In that order!!

If you will really search the scriptures (John 5:39), with an open and teachable heart and mind, you will find these things to be so, and a whole lot more.  These are very serious issues indeed.  And there is so much more to say, but some have grown dull of hearing.

I leave you with one final thought: Hear God’s Word on the matter of the vessel (because Paul spoke in Ephesians 2 of the sins of the body and the sins of the mind; so we know that one affects the other and vise-versa) and may He grant unto you wisdom to perceive and to receive, and may the capacity of your heart be enlarged to understand and may the sphere of who you are as a spiritual man before Him also be enlarged.  Romans 12:1 (keep in mind that it is Jesus who is really doing the speaking here and NOT Paul…so as you read it, know that it is the Lord Himself saying this to you personally). “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.”

“I (Jesus) beseech (am begging) you therefore, (because of what He just spoke about in the previous chapter, some of which is most frightening indeed and makes my physical body, let alone my spiritual body TREMBLE at its reading) brethren (He’s talking to us – His own Brothers and Sisters) by the mercies (there’s only 3 things greater then His mercies: His Word and His Person and His Name. So then Jesus is begging us by all Who He is or ever will be) of God, that YOU (you individually, the sole responsibility of it and the full judgment of it in that Great Day, and that right quick!!) present YOUR bodies a living sacrifice, (all of the sacrifices in the Old Testament were to be presented first to the priest to check for spots and blemishes) holy, (“unspotted” Eph. 5:27, 2 Peter 3:14, Job 11:15 & deals with the mind. Please see Ex. 28:36-38) acceptable (“unblemished” which deals with the body/vessel Lev. 22:19-21 & 1 Peter 1:19) to God (whom we WILL see but in a very brief moment from time to eternity) which is (make no mistake about it, it “IS” your responsibility) your (see very last comment) reasonable (not grievous or burdensome at all 1 John 5:3) service (this refers to the service of the priest in the temple offering the sacrifices. You are the temple of God [1 Cor. 6:19] and a priest of God [1 Peter 2:9].  Remember that a priest could be rejected “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God.” Hosea 4:6  God said it, not me.

“Father, take these truths and set them and seal them on the hearts of those who wish to receive and who also believe. Prompt them to search Your Word to see if these things are so, and in their searching may they find You there all along with so much more to say than any of us could say in a thousand lifetimes.”  Amen