Healing The Heart

Good evening. Welcome to Voice in the Wilderness. I'm Don Noble,

Pure Heart Ministries, and I welcome you today with exceedingly

abundantly and overflowing joy. Tonight I'm talking about the heart,

healing the heart. Now, what better subject is there than

to talk about the heart. You know, the heart is

the center of all things. In fact, Proverbs four twenty

three says keep your heart with all diligence, for out

of it spring the issues of life. So everything that

we deal with in life, every circumstance, every situation, every occasion,

every really every detail has to do with what's in

our heart. Because what's in our heart is going to

determine how the issues of our life proceed, how they unfold.

So everything is going to spring out of your heart.

That's why we have to keep our heart with all diligence. Now,

there are many ways and things that we need to

do to keep our heart with all diligence. Right, we

need to pray, We need to read God's word, We

need to be faithful to the things of the Lord

and the Lord's house. We need to be diligent to

really seek truth and wisdom. Truth and wisdom. Now, truth

and wisdom obviously are found in God's word. But to

keep our heart with all diligence means that we are

we're like a prepared watchman. We're always watching over our

heart to make sure that first of all, we're not

letting any kind of junk into our heart. And we

surely want to make sure we're not letting any junk

flow out of our heart, because scripture says out of

the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. So if

your mouth is speaking some things that aren't really in

alignment with God's words, and they're just like just not

really good words, nice words, then obviously that's what's in

your heart. So there are times when we need to

do a heart check, and maybe maybe some of you

need to do a heart check every day. Just check

your heart, what's growing in there. We're in a season

right now, this is well, we've kind of here and wheeling.

We've sprung from almost like winter to summer, not much

spring because it got really hot early. But everything starts

to blossom in the spring. Everything pushes up out of

the ground, and so you know, this is a time

for a gardener to go get all the weeds, get

all those little weeds, because if you don't tend to

the weeds now, they're going to become big weeds. In

the same regard, we have to tend to the garden

of our heart because weeds will grow if you let them.

So when you see that there's some weed in your heart,

something that's some thoughts, some action, some whatever is rolling

around in your heart, time to get the spade and

dig it out, which really means repent thinking about it,

repentive thinking about it, and you know, sometimes we can

find a scripture just to replace that specific thing in

our heart. So we want to keep our heart with

all diligence. It's just like tending a garden. I'm a gardener,

so I have to pay close attention to my I

have many gardens. I like many, many many gardens, so

I have flower gardens, I have vegetable gardens. I have

gardens that have shrubs and trees, and I have to

be diligent about those things. So the one thing that

I mostly have to be diligent about is weeds. Same

thing with your heart and my heart, boy, oh boy,

we've got it. Really pay attention to that and get

the weeds out of the garden. Of our heart, pluck

them out as soon as they come up. I often

had people help me working out on my property because

I've got a lot of property, and I would tell

them if you if you ignore those little weeds, pretty

soon they're going to be big, big weeds, and then

it's going to be very hard to get the whole

root out of the soil because as the weed grows,

it's putting its tap root deeper and deeper and deeper

into the ground. And some of these plants have a

taproot that are at least nine inches deep, so it's

hard to get it out. So whenever you see these

little weeds in your heart, now, they could be all

kinds of things. They could be wrong thoughts. So you're

having an issue with someone at work and you're just like, ugh,

you know. I'll give a perfect example. I went to

have my teeth cleaned recently, and the gal who was

cleaning my teeth never said hello, never said good morning,

never even addressed me, just started pulling out her instruments

and puts a little napkin thing around my neck and

away she goes. Well, she with that those instruments, which

are very sharp, she hurt my gum and I went ouch,

and she didn't say she was sorry. She just kept

on moving. Well, she did it two more times that

I had to just go ooh, and she didn't say

anything like, oh, I'm so sorry. Then then they scorched

your mouth with water to you know, they rinse the

inside of your mouth, the inside of your mouth, and

then suction it out. Five times. She squirted water her

on my neck that went down into my shirt, and

you know, never once said anything to me as she

watched me try to dab the water. So I was

getting very irritated. I can tell you that the thoughts

I was thinking was I don't like you and I

don't ever want you to clean my teeth again. And

I was just harboring these thoughts in my heart. I'm

telling you, I was so agitated. And then I just really,

I just really I heard I could hear the spirit

of the Lord speak to me, and I was going

to say something to her, and he said, every outle

word you speak, you're going to account for it, and

whoop wow. I mean to tell you, I was stopped

in my tracks and I began to think, Okay, you know,

I'm just gonna I'm not gonna think anything bad. I'm

not gonna think bad thoughts about her, you know. Just

I needed to calm myself down and you know, really

get my heart straightened around, right, because I heard the

Lord and I was about to say some things to her,

like I had planned in my head that when we

were done, I was going to stand up and like

kind of tell her off. Huh. Well, the Lord had

a whole nother plan, thank God, because he knows what

we're thinking, right, and he he knew exactly what I

was planning in my head and actually was planning in

my heart. Uh. And so the spirit of the Lord

said to me, every idle word you speak, you're gonna

stand before me and you'll be accounted for that. So

I thought, Wow, that little plan I had is going

right out the door. I'm not going to do that,

and so we are not. You know, we all face

situations where we come in contact with people and they

can rub us the wrong way. They can actually do

harm to us, do wrong to us. You know, they

can cheat us. They can you know, say nasty things

that are not true about us. They can pass judgment,

they can gossip about us, and it really you know

it takes some what would be the word, It takes patience,

and it takes just getting yourself calmed down and realizing, Okay,

I don't want to keep those things in my heart

because they are weeds, and if I continue to feed

them and fertilize them with more thoughts, they're going to

grow deep inside my heart and I don't want that,

and I don't think you want that either, So we

have to be careful about keeping our heart with all diligence,

because out of that will spring the issues of life.

If I hadn't heard the Lord, the spirit of the

Lord speak to me, I probably would have kind of

told her off when I got up, because I was

tired of being sprayed with water. I was tired of her,

you know, hurting my gums with a sharp instrument, and

the fact that she was just so rude and it

didn't never even addressed me. So ah, yes, you see

what would have sprung issues of life would have sprung forward.

I would have said things, I would have regretted it.

I would have had to repent of it, and thank

God that the Lord spoke to me before I you know,

engaged in that. So yeah, you know, it's it's a

it's a serious, serious thing to check our heart. Check

our heart daily, check your motives. Why are you doing

what you're doing? Is that for your benefit? Is that

for you to get accolades? Is that for you to

get promoted? Is that for you to for people to see,

to see you and patch you on the back. Check

the motives of your heart, particularly when you are doing

or engaged with whatever activity the Lord has you involved in.

And let me tell you that can be that can

especially be doing church activities. It's important because the spirit

of pride is such a wicked spirit. I know about

that spirit had I've struggled with that spirit, and many

of you have struggled with If you'd be honest, you

would say I have struggled with that because every Christian

at some point in time, and probably many points in time,

operate in pride. Now maybe you're not aware that you're

operating in pride, but that's why you want to check

your heart. See you want to go to the Holy

Spirit and say, what's the deal here? Am I? What

am I operating in? What's you know? Are my motives

out of alignment here with the Lord? You know? Am

I operating out of pride. Lord, I don't want to

do that. Am I operating out of presumption? So yes,

this checking our heart is a big deal. It's important

because the issues of life are going to spring right

out of your heart and right out of your mouth.

They will come. Now the heart. There's so many things

about the heart. There's a scripture in Proverbs thirteen twelve.

It says, hope deferred makes the heart sick, but when

the desire comes, it is a tree of hope. And

I can tell you that I lived in hope to

ferd for for a period of time, and hope deferred

comes when you know you're hoping to see something happen.

You're hoping to see a loved one saved. You're hoping

that your healing comes you know soon. You're hoping that

your financial situation changes. You're hoping that you get a

better job. You hope that you can find a better

home to live in. So there are many things in

life that we can hope for. You're hoping for a

scholarship to college. You're hoping that you'll pass your acts

with flying colors. So hope deferred when it is deferred,

in other words, it doesn't come it's deferred, it makes

the heart sick, and it literally makes the heart sick.

You will feel physically sick. How do I know. I've

been there. I had hope deferred over several issues in

my life, and they were long time issues, long time.

And so what happens is if you don't recognize and

I didn't see I didn't recognize it for quite a

long time. When you don't recognize it, then the heart

gets sicker and sicker and sicker. And then when the

heart gets sick, you're in trouble because you're not going

to be able to function well as a Christian when

your heart is sick. Just as in the natural, when

a person's heart is sick, maybe they have a cardio myopathy,

maybe they have a valve problem, maybe they have coronary

artery disease. But the heart is sick in one way

or another. Physically, they don't do well right, they don't

feel well, they don't do well. So as it is

in the natural, it's the same in the spiritual. So

hope deferred makes the heart sick. But the rest of

the scripture says Proverbs thirteen twelve, when the desire comes,

it is a tree of hope, hope when whenever, whatever

it is you're hoping for, let's just say it's let's

say it's a loved one that you have been praying

for for a long time and you're believing for their

salvation and you don't see anything changing. Just yeah. And

by the way, I was I quoted that scripture wrong.

But when the desire comes, it is a tree of life,

not hope. Sorry about that. I thought I was saying

that wrong because I know that scripture, that scripture or

very well. So, but when the desire comes, it's a

tree of life to us. So you know, you're praying

for someone that you love and you're hoping that they

come to faith in Jesus, and you know a year

passes and two year passes and three year passes and

nothing changes, nothing has changed. Then if you don't pay attention,

you're going to have hope deferred and your heart's going

to become sick. So what do we do in that

particular situation, Well, we stand on scriptures. For instance, Jesus

said Mark eleven. I'm going to turn there. I'm in

the New King James. What I'm reading out of today,

everything I'm reading out of is in the New King

James version of the Bottom. So this is Mark eleven

and verse twenty two. I'm going to start with verse

twenty two. Jesus said, have faith in God. So that's

number one. That's the first thing we have to do

to fight this hope deferred. Have faith in God. Okay,

now I talked about Mark eleven, twenty three, and twenty

four not too long ago. I'll just share them again.

Jesus said, after he said have faith in God, he said,

for assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this

mountain be removed and be cast into the sea, and

does not doubt in his heart, but believes those things

that he says will be done, he will have whatever

he says. Therefore, I say to you, whatever things you

ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and

you will have them. And that's one of the keys.

So you're praying for a better home, You're praying for

a scholarship award because you don't have enough money to

start college. You're praying for a loved one to get saved. Well,

Jesus said, here, whatever things you ask when you pray,

just believe that you receive them and you will have them.

That is a scripture that you should write down and

post it everywhere. Post it in your car, posted in

the kitchen, posted in the bathroom, so that you see

that scripture every day. Whatever things you ask when you pray,

believe that you receive them and you will have them.

That's number one. Having faith in God and believing that

you receive. Leave whatever you ask for in prayer. Key,

these are key things I'm giving you here. Let's turn

to Romans twelve and Romans twelve ten through twelve. Paul

is writing to the Roman Church. He says, be kindly,

affectionate to one another, with brotherly love, in honor, giving

preference to one another, not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit,

serving the Lord, rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing

steadfastly in prayer. All right, there's three more keys, rejoicing

in hope. So you just begin to rejoice in the Lord,

the joy. The Lord is my strength. Lord, I rejoice

in you. I know that You're for me and not

against me. I know that whatever I ask in prayer,

believing I'm going to receive. So you have to begin

to speak the word back as you pray, speak the

words speak you know, it says, be patient and tribulation.

What is tribulation? Tribulation are pressures of life. So you

don't see your loved one coming to salvation. In fact,

they're acting even worse than you ever could imagine. All right,

but no, we're going to be rejoicing in hope. We're

going to have faith in God. We're going to believe

that whatever we ask in prayer we're receiving and these

and continuing, lastly, continuing steadfastly in prayer. Now here's the

key that sometimes we forget continuing steadfastly in prayer. So

we take that prayer to the Lord, and then every

day we thank the Lord for answering that prayer, every day,

thanking him for the answer every day, thanking him again

for the answer every day, Thank you Lord that you're

answering my prayer, being steadfast in your prayer, you know,

rejoicing in the Lord. Yes, Lord, you're my strength, you're

my hope, You're for me. So it's all of these

things working together to heal your heart and keep it

from being sick. Let's look at Philippians. Philippians four and

Versus four through seven. Paul, writing to the church at Philippi,

he says, rejoice in the Lord always. Did he say

sometimes just sometimes rejoice, Let's just rejoice once a week,

maybe rejoice once a month. No, Paul writes, rejoice in

the Lord all ways, and again I will say, I

will say, rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to all men.

The Lord is at hand. Be anxious for nothing, but

in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving. Let your

request be made known to God. And the peace of

God verse seven. And the peace of God, which surpasses

all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Now these four scriptures again, I'm giving you. I'm giving

you the whole recipe here. I'm giving you all the

ingredients that make up the recipe to keep your heart

from being sick, so that when the desire comes, it's

going to be a tree of life. And Paul says,

rejoice in the Lord always. And again I will say, rejoice.

Let your gentleness be known to all men, For the

Lord is at hand. Talk in that sweet gentleness. Don't

get yourself riled up. Don't let other people get you

riled up. Just stay in that flow of gentleness with

all men, all people, be anxious for nothing. Okay, well,

that's not being fretful, not being stressful, not being hyper

be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and

supplication with thanksgiving. And I mentioned just a few minutes

ago about thanking the Lord every day for the answer

to your prayer. So everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving,

with thanksgiving, very critical. Let your request be made known

to God. And then what happens when you do all that?

You're rejoicing, You're walking in gentleness, you're not being anxious.

The peace of God verse seven, and the peace of

God which surpasses your understanding. You can't figure it out.

How's this gonna work? Well? Because the peace of God

surpasses all of that crazy thinking, and the peace of

God will guard your heart and will guard your mind

through Christ Jesus. Now, these are incredible keys. These are

all fabulous keys to help you not have a sick heart.

And if you follow these things that I've shared with you,

your heart will be healed, and you won't you won't

be walking around with this heart. And then when the

desire does come, the desire is what you asked for

in prayer. Boy. When it comes, man, it's going to

be a tree of life to you. Oh, that will

be so good. So I'm going to just conclude by saying,

follow the recipe. I've given you all the ingredients. Follow

the recipe so that hope deferred doesn't make your heart

sick and that you can walk in around with a

healed heart because you're keeping your heart with all diligence. Amen. Well,

this is Don No. Well. You can go to www

dot your heart dot today to listen to this message again.

You can download the iHeartRadio app, go to podcasts Pure

Heart Ministries podcast and listen twenty four to seven. You

can email me all over case letters don at Dawn

at pureheart dot today. And I certainly would love if

you would sow a seede. You can mail that to

Pure Heart Ministries po Box eighty five. That's Valley Grove

towards West Virginia two six zero six zero, and continue

to pray for this ministry. It's greatly appreciated. Trust me,

it is. So. This is Don Noble saying, shalloam, shalloam,

Peace be unto you