Guard Our Heart With All Diligence?

General Faith
1

Let’s talk about the heart. When we say I felt that in my heart, what does that mean? It wasn’t a chest-pain so it had to be…?…a spiritual thing? This has always been vague to me. We say, I love you or I love you with all my heart. Now you can’t really see Love am I right? There is no surgery for a broken heart. So what is this mysterious Heart of ours and how does it work?

Better yet, what does the Word of God have to say about the Heart? Does it give a Biblical definition of what a Heart is? No, I looked and looked and can’t find a so called Definition, but scripture sure uses the word Heart a lot so I kept reading…and I think I figured it out? Or some of it? ?? Scripture does mention the heart a lot so what I did was take quite a few verses which when combined together tell us the function of the heart. Tell me if I am right, or did I miss something? (THX)

The Heart is a Composition of all 3 components of the soul (Intellect/Will/Emotions) PLUS the most important part of our spirit which is our Conscience.

Right? Wrong?

All 4 aspects of the Heart work together. I believe I can show you with scripture how all 4 parts of us do this.

Matthew 9:4

**4 **And Jesus knowing their thoughts said, Wherefore think ye evil in your hearts?…/KJV

Thinking is the Intellect, a part of our soul.

Acts 11:23

**23 **Who, when he came, and had seen the grace of God, was glad, and exhorted them all, that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord…./KJV

If we purpose our heart to do something, we are using our Will.

John 16:22

**22 **And ye now therefore have sorrow: but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you…./KJV

A heart which feels both Sorrow, and Rejoicing? That would be our Emotions, right? So there you have proof that (so far) our Heart consists of our mind/will/emotions, right?
Now I will tie in the spiritual part of us, our spirit so you can see it works with the soul.

Hebrews 10:22

**22 **Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water…./KJV

**22 **let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting him. For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water…./NLT

I posted that one from 2 different translations, I think the NLT explains it very well. Basically it says to me to keep a pure Heart or else my Conscience will have to e sprinkled with Christ’s blood (Confess, ask forgiveness) but our Conscience is a part of our spirit but it works with the soul in the Heart.

Do I have that right? I think my logic is spot on. What do you think?

2

Proverbs 4:23

**23 **Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life…./KJV

**23 **Guard your heart above all else,
for it determines the course of your life…./NLT

1 John 3:20

**20 **For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things…./KJV

**20 **Even if we feel guilty, God is greater than our feelings, and he knows everything…./NLT

So our Heart can condemn us. It says, Don’t do that! It’s Wrong !! Right? So the Conscience is definitely part of the Heart.

Romans 10:9

**9 **That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved…./KJV

So, and shalt believe in thine Heart that God raised Him from the dead you will be saved. BUT!!

I’m used to glossing over that like it’s just spiritual language or something. But it is saying something very real and we should take note of it !

Or, am I all wet on this?

3

Love this Bible.

The Orthodox Jewish Bible (OJB), published in 2002 by Dr. Phillip Goble and Artists for Israel International (AFII), is an English translation that incorporates Yiddish and Hasidic cultural expressions, specifically tailored for Messianic believers.

1Jn 3:20 That if our levavot condemn us, Hashem is greater than our levavot, and He has da’as of all things.
1Jn 3:21 Chaverim, if our levavot do not bring us under the gezar din (verdict) of ashem (guilty), we have bitachon before Hashem.
1Jn 3:22 And whatever we request, we receive from Him, because we are shomer of His mitzvot and the things pleasing before Him we practice.
1Jn 3:23 And this is the mitzvah of Him, that we have emunah b’Shem of the Ben HaElohim, Yehoshua, Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach, and that we have ahavah one for another, as He gave mitzvah to us.
1Jn 3:24 And the one being shomer of His mitzvot makes his ma’on in Him and He makes His ma’on in him; and by this we have da’as that He abides in us, by the Ruach Hakodesh whom He gave to us. [Yn 14:23,21; Ro 8:9,14,16]

Rom 10:9 Because if you make hoda’ah (confession) “with your PEH” of Adoneinu Yehoshua, and have emunah “in your LEV” that G-d raised him from the Mesim, you will be delivered.
Rom 10:10 For with the “heart” one has emunah unto being YITZDAK IM HASHEM and with the “mouth” hoda’ah is made unto Yeshu’at Eloheinu.
Rom 10:11 For the Kitvei Hakodesh says, “Everyone who has emunah in Him shall not be put to shame” [YESHAYAH 28:16].
Rom 10:12 For there is no distinction between Yehudi and Yevani [cf 3:9], for the same one is Adon Echad l’chulam (one L-rd over all), rich to all who call upon Him.
OJB.

And of course my Hebrew Bible’s and LXX.

J.

1 Like
4

καρδία
kardía; gen. kardías, fem. noun. Heart. The seat and center of human life. In the NT, used only figuratively.

(I) As the seat of the desires, feelings, affections, passions, impulses, i.e., the heart or mind.

(A) Generally (Mat_5:8), “the pure in heart” meaning those whose center of life has been made pure by Jesus Christ. See Mat_5:28; Mat_6:21; Mrk_4:15; Luk_1:17; Jhn_14:1; Act_11:23; Rom_2:5; 1Co_4:5 for the counsels or dispositions of the heart or inner man. See also 2Ti_2:22; Heb_3:8, Heb_3:12; Heb_10:22; Sept.: Psa_51:12; Pro_31:11.

(B) In phrases as ek (G1537), out of, or apó (G575), from, kardías, out of or from the heart, meaning willingly (Mat_18:35; Rom_6:17). Ex hólēs tḗs kardías and en hólē kardía meaning with the whole heart (Mat_22:37; Mrk_12:30; Sept.: Deu_6:5; Psa_119:34).

Hēkardía kaí hē psuchḗ (G5590), soul, meaning one’s heart and soul, and referring to entire unanimity (Act_4:32).

With enthuméomai (G1760), to ponder, remember (Mat_9:4); with dialogízomai (G1260), to think deliberately, when preceding en taís kardíais, meaning as they deliberately considered in their hearts (Luk_3:15); with sumbállō (G4820), to consider or ponder in mind (Luk_2:19), with anabaínō (G305), to arise, to come up in or into one’s heart (Luk_24:38; Act_7:23; Sept.: Isa_65:17; Jer_3:16); with bállō (G906), to place or put into one’s heart, to suggest (Jhn_13:2); with dídōmi (G1325), to give or place, and epí (G1909), upon, meaning to put upon or into the hearts (Heb_10:16). To have in the heart, meaning to love, cherish (Php_1:7).

To be in one’s heart meaning to be the object of his love (2Co_7:3). A man after one’s own heart, meaning like-minded and therefore approved and beloved (Act_13:22). The inner man (1Pe_3:4).

(C) Used for the person himself in cases where values, affections or passions are attributed to the heart or mind in Jhn_16:22, “your heart shall rejoice [chaírō {G5463}]”; Act_2:26 “my heart rejoiced {euphraínō {G2165}]” (a.t.). See Act_14:17; Col_2:2; 2Th_2:17; Jas_1:26; Jas_5:5.

To say in one’s heart means to think (Mat_24:48; Rom_10:6; Rev_18:7).
(II) As the seat of the intellect meaning the mind, understanding (Mat_13:15; Mrk_6:52; Luk_24:25; Jhn_12:40; Rom_1:21; 2Pe_1:19). In Eph_4:18 (TR) dianoía (G1271), with the understanding; Sept.: Job_12:3; Job_34:10; Isa_6:10. To place (títhēmi [G5087]) and to keep (diatēréō [G1301]) in the heart means to lay up or keep in one’s mind (Luk_1:66; Luk_2:51). In the sense of conscience (Rom_2:15; 1Jn_3:20-21).

(III) In the NT the heart represents especially the sphere of God’s influence in the human life. It is in the heart that the natural knowledge of God has its seat (Rom_1:21), and there also in the light of His knowledge, the glory of God shines in the face of Jesus Christ (2Co_4:6).

In the heart faith springs up, dwells, and works (Act_15:9; Rom_10:9), and unbelief in the heart draws men away from belief in God (Heb_3:12).

It may become the haunt of unclean lusts that make men blind to the truth of God (Rom_1:24), but it is into the heart that God sends the Spirit of His Son (Gal_4:6) and in the heart that Christ Himself takes up His abode (Eph_3:17). This life of the heart is a hidden life (1Co_4:5; 1Pe_3:4), but it lies clearly open to the eyes of God who searches in private (Rom_8:27; 1Th_2:4).

The most important thing in anybody’s life is the necessity of having a heart that is “right in the sight of God” (Act_8:21). Such a heart can be obtained only through faith (Act_15:9; Rom_10:10; Eph_3:17) and as a gift from God Himself (cf. Ezk_36:26, “A new heart also will I give you”). This is achievable by virtue of a new creation in Jesus Christ (2Co_5:17), whereby a heart that is hard and impenitent (Rom_2:5) is transformed into one in which the love of God has been shed through the Holy Spirit (Rom_5:5).

(IV) Figuratively the heart of something, the middle or central part, i.e., the heart of the earth (Mat_12:40; Sept.: Ezk_27:4; Jon_2:4).

Deriv.: kardiognṓstēs (G2589), heart- knower, heart-searcher; sklērokardía (G4641), hardening of the heart, stubbornness.

Syn.: psuchḗ (G5590), soul, the very center; noús (G3563), mind; súnesis (G4907), understanding, prudence; phrónēsis (G5428), prudence.
Word Study.

J.

5

Wow, that’s cool, I like it.

So I am on the right track.

6

We can go deeper, but this should suffice.

J.

7

Suffice? I hit the jackpot Brother. You already gave me so much more to think about that, I’ll still be at it tomorrow, lol.

I thought I might be missing something and it’s a lot, the Heart is a major thing for us. A lot of the scriptures that you posted confirm what I was saying, Mind-Will-Emotions (soul) and Conscience (spirit) you can tell how these different conponents work even if it doesn’t give an actual definition. That shines a lot of light on the Heart.

Thanks Brother!

1 Like
8

That’s why I am here, to assist.

Shalom achi/brother.

J.

2 Likes
9

These are Emotions, part of the soul.

This would be the Will.

Which includes the rational logical mind, a part of the soul.

This could be talking about the spirit man of which the Conscience is the most important part of it (?) and so all these together makes a Heart. Most people don’t even know themselves and how they were designed to work.

So in other words, do not harden your heart against your conscience. WHen we rationalize our conscience to how it will still be ok if I do this…that hardens our heart. Do that enough times and presto no conscience.

?? I disagree here. This is a literal thing within us. Just because they can’t x-ray it doesn’t mean it’s not real.

10

The Holy Spirit convey spiritual truth to us, not physical.

Ever done a study on the heart, spirit and soul?

J.

11

Some. That’s kind of what we’re doing right now.

12

You are not the only one who argues that the Spirit speaks in an audible voice, but Scripture itself remains closed. So this does not come as a surprise to me.

J.

13

You misread that what I meant in the other thread. My scripture does not stay closed.

14

No problem, it appears you are treating personal experience as a confirmation of Scripture.

J.

15

No. I’m treating it like a confirmation of a voice. You must have cessationist leanings and I do not agree with those. I know better. It’s easy to hear the voice of God once you tune in to it. It takes effort beyond denying it.

16

John 10:27

**27 **My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:…/KJV

This scripture? Yes I would say yes then. I’m not making it up, I heard it.

17

  1. “My sheep hear my voice,” (ta probata ta ema tes phones mou akousin) “My sheep hear or heed my voice,” pay attention and obediently respond to my voice. These are those who have come to, believe in, and are following me, Joh_10:4; 2Ti_1:12; Joh_8:47; 1Jn_4:6.

  2. “And I know them,” (kago ginosko auto) “And I know (recognize) them,” I acknowledge them before the Father, Joh_10:14-15; Luk_12:8; Rev_3:5.

  3. “And they follow me.” (kai akolouthousin moi) “And they follow (toward) me,” my leadership they follow, as believers, as Simon Peter and Andrew and James and John, early disciples of His ministry and beginners in His new sheepfold fellowship or house, Mat_4:18-22; Joh_3:28-30; Joh_15:16; Joh_15:27; Mar_13:34-35; 1Ti_3:15; Heb_3:1-6; Eph_2:19-22; Joh_8:12.
    True sheep - believers, in salvation, are called to be followers of Him in His church, His one-fold-covenant-fellowship of laborers and worshippers, in. Act_1:8; Eph_5:1; 1Th_1:6; 1Th_2:14.

…and now…

Rom 8:12 Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh.
Rom 8:13 For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.
Rom 8:14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
Rom 8:15 For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.
Rom 8:16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:
Rom 8:17 And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.

Or possibly “with.” ExSyn 160-61, however, notes the following: “At issue, grammatically, is whether the Spirit testifies alongside of our spirit (dat. of association), or whether he testifies to our spirit (indirect object) that we are God’s children. If the former, the one receiving this testimony is unstated (is it God? or believers?). If the latter, the believer receives the testimony and hence is assured of salvation via the inner witness of the Spirit. The first view has the advantage of a σύν- (sun-) prefixed verb, which might be expected to take an accompanying dat. of association (and is supported by NEB, JB, etc.). But there are three reasons why πνεύματι (pneumati) should not be taken as association: (1) Grammatically, a dat. with a σύν- prefixed verb does not necessarily indicate association. This, of course, does not preclude such here, but this fact at least opens up the alternatives in this text.

(2) Lexically, though συμμαρτυρέω (summartureō) originally bore an associative idea, it developed in the direction of merely intensifying μαρτυρέω (martureō). This is surely the case in the only other NT text with a dat. (Rom 9:1).

(3) Contextually, a dat. of association does not seem to support Paul’s argument**: ‘What standing has our spirit in this matter? Of itself it surely has no right at all to testify to our being sons of God’** [C. E. B. Cranfield, Romans [ICC], 1:403]. In sum, Rom 8:16 seems to be secure as a text in which the believer’s assurance of salvation is based on the inner witness of the Spirit. The implications of this for one’s soteriology are profound: The objective data, as helpful as they are, cannot by themselves provide assurance of salvation; the believer also needs (and receives) an existential, ongoing encounter with God’s Spirit in order to gain that familial comfort.”
NET.

“testifies with our spirits that we are children of God”

As noted in Rom_8:13, one aspect of faith assurance is the believers’ changed and changing lives (cf. the NT books of James and 1 John). Another aspect of assurance is that the indwelling Spirit has replaced the fear of God with family love (cf. 1Jn_4:17-18). Note the RSV and NRSV translations and punctuation, “when we cry, Abba! Father! It is the Spirit Himself bearing witness with our spirits that we are children of God” (cf. Gal_4:6). This implies that the assurance comes when believers can call God, Father, by the Spirit.
The internal witness of the Spirit is not audible, but practical.

  1. guilt over sin
  2. desire to be like Christ
  3. desire to be with the family of God
  4. hunger for God’s word
  5. sense a need to do evangelism
  6. sense a need for Christian sacrificial giving

Hebrews 6 clearly teaches “once out, always out.” Human effort (good works) does not keep believers saved (cf. Gal_3:1-14). But good works are the goal of the Christian life (cf. Eph_2:10). They are the natural result of meeting God and having the indwelling Spirit. They are evidence of one’s true conversion.
Assurance is not meant to soften the Bible’s call to holiness! Theologically speaking, assurance is based on the character and actions of the Triune God.

  1. the Father’s love and mercy
  2. the Son’s finished sacrificial work
  3. the Spirit’s wooing to Christ and then forming Christ in the repentant believer
    The evidence of this salvation is a changed worldview, a changed heart, a changed lifestyle and a changed hope! It cannot be based on a past emotional decision that has no lifestyle evidence (i.e., fruit, cf. Mat_7:15-23; Mat_13:20-22; John 15). Assurance, like salvation, like the Christian life starts with a response to God’s mercy and continues that response throughout life. It is a changed and changing life of faith!
    "testifies"

This is another syn compound. The Spirit co-witnesses with the believer’s spirit. Paul uses this compound term in Rom_2:15; Rom_8:16; Rom_9:1.

Ah!

J.

18

There’s so much more, but I shall move on to the next thread, God willing, dia Christ Jesus and the Ruach HaKodesh.

“To the Christian Reader” in the 1535 Bible.

“It shall greatly help ye to understande scripture, if thou marke not only what is spoken or wrytten, but of whom, and to whom, with what wordes, at what tyme, where, to what intent, with what circumstances, considering what goeth before, and what followeth.”

On resisting private distortion of the text, he warns.

“Se thou be not offended though dyvers thinges in the Scripture seme darke unto thee, for thou shalt understande them afterwarde, when thou hast exercised thy selfe therin.”

Miles Coverdale.

On the frontpage of my Bible.

Shalom.

J.

19

I think that mankind has always been intimidated by what they can not control. And they can not control the working of the Lord’s Spirit in the minds and hearts of men. Therefore they set forth rules, regulations, boundaries on His working with men.

I chuckle at those rules and seek out the solitary Shepard which adores me and wants my Obedience and Praise. Yes, this is the time of Joel…”I will pour out my Spirit on all mankind, and your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams. Your young men will see visions (Joel 2:28)

Order is important, otherwise you have chaos. But there are boundries even in order, one must not compromise the conscience of another soul or oppress them. The line is fine and difficult to balance because discernment is not keen in many places. People are condemned and silenced because discernment fails.

In these days before His coming, He is turning loose an unprecedented number of true believers (not that you are not), that they may have Christs mind and not the mind of men.

1 Like
20

It is true that the Spirit is sovereign and not subject to human control, and Scripture itself warns against quenching the Spirit while also commanding us to test all things ~1 Thessalonians 5:19–21.

NASB, NKJV,
NRSV “Do not quench the Spirit”
TEV “Do not restrain the Holy Spirit”
NJB “Never try to suppress the Spirit”
1Th_5:19-20 are present active imperatives with the negative particle, usually meaning stop an act in process. The Williams translation has “stop stifling the Spirit.” The five imperatives of 1Th_5:19-22 must go together. The first two negative imperatives of 1Th_5:19-20 set the boundaries for the three positive imperatives of 1Th_5:21-22. “Quench” means “to put out a fire.” Our actions affect the working of the Spirit (cf. Isa_63:10; Eph_4:30).

There’s your “boundaries”-right here, diametrically opposed to what you are writing.

But the New Testament never sets the Spirit’s work against doctrinal boundaries or the authority of Scripture. The same Spirit who is poured out at Pentecost in fulfilment of Joel 2:28 is also the Spirit who leads the church to devote itself to apostolic teaching ~Acts 2:42, and who guides believers into truth ~John 16:13.

Joh 16:7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.
Joh 16:8 And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:
Joh 16:9 Of sin, because they believe not on me;
Joh 16:10 Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more;
Joh 16:11 Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.
Joh 16:12 I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.
Joh 16:13 Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.
Joh 16:14 He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you.
Joh 16:15 All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you.

So biblical discernment is not human restriction of the Spirit, but submission to the Spirit speaking consistently through Christ and His Word.

The “mind of Christ” is not detached inner impression, but the cruciform pattern and truth of the gospel ~1 Corinthians 2:16.

1Co 2:10 But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.
1Co 2:11 For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.
1Co 2:12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.
1Co 2:13 Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
1Co 2:14 **But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. **
1Co 2:15 But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.
1Co 2:16 For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.

And remember…

“To the Christian Reader” in the 1535 Bible.

“It shall greatly help ye to understande scripture, if thou marke not only what is spoken or wrytten, but of whom, and to whom, with what wordes, at what tyme, where, to what intent, with what circumstances, considering what goeth before, and what followeth.”

On resisting private distortion of the text, he warns.

“Se thou be not offended though dyvers thinges in the Scripture seme darke unto thee, for thou shalt understande them afterwarde, when thou hast exercised thy selfe therin.”

Miles Coverdale.

Goodnight.

J.