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The mind is an amazing thing, but it is just part of the heart. Let me explain. When the Bible refers to the metaphorical heart it includes our mind, (our thought life), our desire (our emotions), and our will (our decision making). This makes up our character; who we really are. In this writing I would like to look at the heart of man and then the heart of God. The first three parts of this writing is based on three messages given by Charlie Fizer at the Hiawatha Bible Chapel in Wabasha Minnesota. I have added my thoughts to his teachings plus seeing his teaching was about the heart of man, I am adding a fourth part on the heart of God to round off his lessons on the heart of man. Charlie Fizer is retired from Emmaus Bible College and is now serving the Lord by traveling to small churches across the US and Canada teaching God's Word. He also holds a position as Chaplain in Dubuque, IA. Where he and his wife Darlene live. Charlie and Darlene also served as missionaries in Japan for many years. As we start to look at the heart of man we see something that happens over and over again in all mankind; and this includes men and women alike. When a person sins it happens like this. First the thought is conceived in the mind; we think about something like David did when he looked at Bathsheba and started to lust after her. Then that thought started to develop within, (the heart). It became a desire of the heart. Then by the will one acted on that desire so becoming an act of sin. This is the case for every sin we commit, or action we take whether good or bad. It starts in the thought process of the heart, which is called the mind. We are so programmed to think when we hear the word “heart”, we start to think about the organ in our chest that pumps the blood throughout our bodies. This is true but when we hear the word in the Bible it always mean, the most inner part of man's makeup, except for two places where it meant the organ that pumps blood. It is who you really are. It has to do with your intellect, feelings, your will, and all your desires. It also can mean the most center part of you. It is where everything in you comes from. Let us look at the way we use this word and some of the meanings; the idioms we use. First “at heart.” We use this in reality, fundamentally; basically. Then when we say “break someone's heart” we mean to cause someone to be devastated by sorrow or disappointment. If you say, “I can say that by heart.” you mean you can do it entirely from memory. There are so many more like this, “eat your heart out”, “have a heart”, “have one's heart in the right place”, lose one's heart to”, and this list can go on and on. All this idioms deal with what we are talking about here. If you don't think this subject is important, just think of this. The word “heart” is found 835 times and is in 775 verses in the New King James Bible (NKJV). (A side note: I did a search on BibleGateway.com and searched the entire Bible for the word heart in the New King James Version Bible and it is found 926 times). In any case it is found many time. Let me ask some questions. Have you ever questioned the motivation of your heart? Or have you ever thought yourself to be something? Then maybe you have never read verses like “For if anyone thinks himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself.” Galatians 6:3, or “If anyone among you thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one's religion is useless.” James 1:26. Maybe one last verse, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?” Jeremiah 17:9. Wow! This should make us question our hearts all the time, but the truth is not many of us do this. We trust our hearts even though the Bible tells us not to. This will lead us down the wrong path every time. Let us try to understand the heart of man by what the scriptures tell us about it. First the heart is the thinking aspect of man. We read in Proverbs 23:7 NKJV, “For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.” Then Jesus asks in the New Testament, “For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts.” And again he said “Why do you think evil in your hearts?” There are so many scriptures that tell us this, (Matthew 9:4; 15:19; 24:48, Luke 2:19) just to mention a few. Now the question is, Does it make a difference in the way I think? What does my eternal destiny have to do in the way I think? Or maybe to put it another way, Am I responsible for the way I think? I say a big “YES.” Again the scriptures tell us affirmative, “For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be.” (Romans 8:6 NKJV). (Remember the mind is part of the heart). Whatever things are true, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.” (Philippians 4:8 NKJV). I believe there is a lot said about our thought life because that is where sin starts. We have to remember because of the fall our heart changed. We need a heart transplant which we will talk about later. Now if our thought life is wrong it will now make our actions wrong. Even when we think we are doing good, sin enters in by way of pride, and pride is sin. Are we messed up or what? All right now, after we have wrong thoughts then our desires and will come into play. Our thoughts control our desires, (an emotion) which in turn controls our will, (our actions). With all this in mind, let us move on with this subject. We are going to start a three part study plus one on the heart, which I described above. Let us start with this scripture and Charlie Fizer's first message.
