Jeremiah 17:9 (NLT)
The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is?
It STARTS with the HEART
You can’t have Godly VALUES without a Godly HEART.
Proverbs 15:13 (NIV)
A happy heart makes the face cheerful, but heartache crushes the spirit.
Proverbs 17:22 (NIV)
A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.
Proverbs 4:23 (NIV)
Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.
Matthew 19:3-8 (NLT)
Some Pharisees came and tried to trap him with this question: “Should a man be allowed to divorce his wife for just any reason?” 4 “Haven’t you read the Scriptures?” Jesus replied. “They record that from the beginning ‘God made them male and female.’ 5 And he said, ‘This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.’ 6 Since they are no longer two but one, let no one split apart what God has joined together.” 7 “Then why did Moses say in the law that a man could give his wife a written notice of divorce and send her away?” they asked. 8 Jesus replied, “Moses permitted divorce only as a concession to your hard hearts, but it was not what God had originally intended.”
Matthew 12:33-35 (NLT)
“A tree is identified by its fruit. If a tree is good, its fruit will be good. If a tree is bad, its fruit will be bad. 34 You brood of snakes! How could evil men like you speak what is good and right? For whatever is in your heart determines what you say. 35 A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart, and an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart.
What comes OUT is a result of what’s already IN.
What has MARKED your HEART?
PAIN can PARALYZE us and keep us from God’s PROMISED PURPOSE.
Genesis 11:27-28 (NIV)
This is the account of Terah’s family line. Terah became the father of Abram, Nahor and Haran. And Haran became the father of Lot. 28 While his father Terah was still alive, Haran died in Ur of the Chaldeans, in the land of his birth.
Genesis 11:31-32 (NIV)
Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, the wife of his son Abram, and together they set out from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to Canaan. But when they came to Haran, they settled there. 32 Terah lived 205 years, and he died in Haran.
God can’t HEAL what you won’t REVEAL.
Psalm 139:23-24 (NIV)
Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me…
Romans 8:26-28 (NLT)
And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. 27 And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God’s own will. 28 And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.
How to have a HEALTHY HEART:
- CHECK your HEART.
Hebrews 12:15 (NLT)
Look after each other so that none of you fails to receive the grace of God. Watch out that no poisonous root of bitterness grows up to trouble you, corrupting many.
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Psalm 119:11 (NLT)
I have hidden your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.
- REPENT of your SIN.
Psalm 51:10-12 (NLT)
Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a loyal spirit within me.11 Do not banish me from your presence, and don’t take your Holy Spirit from me.12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and make me willing to obey you.
Psalm 51:16-17 (NLT)
You do not desire a sacrifice, or I would offer one. You do not want a burnt offering. 17 The sacrifice you desire is a broken spirit. You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God.
There is a difference between saying SORRY and Godly SORROW.
REPENTANCE is what leads to RENEWAL.
- RECEIVE God’s LOVE.
Psalm 139:13-16 (NIV)
For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. 14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. 15 My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. 16 Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.
Psalm 86:5 (NLT)
O Lord, you are so good, so ready to forgive, so full of unfailing love for all who ask for your help.
- SURRENDER your HEART.
Proverbs 13:12a (NLT)
Hope deferred makes the heart sick.