Reviewing Our Responsibility for Our Hearts
David W Palmer
(Mark 11:23 NKJV) “… and does not doubt in his heart, but believes. …”
(Proverbs 4:23 NLT) Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.
Our heart is our responsibility; so it’s up to us, not God, to get the doubts out of our own hearts. How do we do this? We annihilate dark doubt and unbelief when we allow the full light of God’s living word in. Obviously, as well as eliminating doubt, this will also expose everything else that’s in our hearts; sin will have to be dealt with, fears swallowed up in love, deceptions removed, strongholds demolished, pride and lofty thoughts pulled down, etc. Meanwhile, faith grows, and revelation illuminates until doubt simply is no more. To achieve this, we need continuously—day and night—to focus on God’s Living Word as our top priority:
(Psalm 1:1–2 NKJV) Blessed is the man … his delight is in the law of the LORD, And in His law he meditates day and night.
(Mark 11:23 NKJV) “… but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says.”
The next part of our responsibility regarding our own heart is to get it to the place of truly believing that what we say will actually happen. This particularly applies to desired outcomes that are naturally impossible—including walking in the benefits of our partnership with Jesus. We can get our hearts to this level of belief in two ways. The first is to ensure that we declare only what he says or shows us that he is going to do:
(Lamentations 3:37 NIV) Who can speak and have it happen if the Lord has not decreed it?
This, after all, is the way Jesus operated supernaturally in partnership with his Father:
(John 5:19–20 NKJV) Then Jesus answered and said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner. {20} For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself does; and He will show Him greater works than these, that you may marvel.”
The second way of getting the faith we need into our hearts is to meditate on the portions of God’s word that assure us of our blessing, harvest, benefits, privileges, and inheritance package. In other words, meditate on his precious promises. As we do, the assurance of faith will grow in our hearts until it overflows out of our mouths in explosive declarations of faith, and in bold actions in line with God’s living promises:
(2 Peter 1:3–4 MKJV) … His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who has called us to glory and virtue, {4} through which He has given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, so that by these you might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
This passage outlines the powerful truth that God has given us everything, but that it is accessed through his precious promises. In a different translation, the same passage confirms that these promises are our access to his “great rewards highly to be valued”:
(2 Peter 1:3–4 BBE) Because by his power he has given us everything necessary for life and righteousness, through the knowledge of him who has been our guide by his glory and virtue; {4} And through this he has given us the hope of great rewards highly to be valued; so that by them we might have our part in God’s being, and be made free from the destruction which is in the world through the desires of the flesh.
Finally, we have seen that our [tested and true] faith in God’s word and his promises is the “title deed” to our joint-heir ownership. God’s title deeds and his judgments—orders that grant us possession of our entitlements and declare the eviction of current occupiers—are infinitely superior to any worldly claims. But to enjoy the full privileges, we have to overcome and evict the illegal occupiers of what God has bequeathed to us; through our God-given spiritual armament and firepower, we have to enforce the eviction notice on the squatters; it reads:
(Numbers 33:52 GWT) “As you advance, force out all the people who live there. Get rid of all their stone and metal idols, and destroy all their places of worship.”
The Holy Spirit is the key; he reveals, enables, coaches, and empowers us in this whole process. Love him today; give him your time, energy, and focus. Live in a way that pleases him; be holy like he is so you don’t sadden or grieve him. Walk in step with his leading and calling. Pray, praise, confess the word, and speak in tongues (if you have received that amazing gift) until the Holy Spirit’s power clothes you, his presence guides you, and his anointing is upon you. Then put some “go” in your gospel partnership and …
“Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature …”
—Jesus (Mark 16:15–20 NKJV)