In The Garden Part 2

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

Heart Ministries, and I welcome you today with exceedingly abundantly and overflowing joy.

Well, it's a glorious summer day, and so I want to talk about

in the garden again. So this is part two. Last week we talked

about landscaping the garden of your heart, and I really felt the need to

talk about that subject again because it's so very, very important. Our heart

is a very vulnerable organ. It's the seed of our emotions, and so

many experiences in our life that are bad or painful can cause the heart to

be hardened. Abuse as a child, whether verbal, physical, or sexual,

can cause the heart to become like cement. There can be loss of

a parent through death or divorce that causes a child's heart to ache. As

people grow, if they haven't successfully dealt with that loss, they may choose

to soothe that pain with alcohol, drugs, or food, and their garden

ends up looking like a trash heap instead of a beautifully manicured garden. Now

why am I focusing on children, Well, because at one time we were

all children, and you see, these things really do, really do come

from the beginnings of our life. We don't suddenly develop all these issues as

an adult. No, it's it's from these experiences as a child, and

as we do certain things like to protect our heart, like children who lash

out and certain other behaviors are all a result of this broken heart. So

we have to look at it from the time when we were young children.

What experiences did we have as children that possibly and probably causes to be the

person we are today as an adult. So that's why the focus tonight is

looking at the heart from the time you were a child and to see what

vulnerabilities there were then that still exists now because of certain circumstances that you experienced

as a child. Now we have. There is not a child, there

is not a child on the planet who has had a perfect childhood. That

doesn't exist. We all have baggage that we carry from our childhood into our

adulthood, and that's merely a result of life and life's experiences and many many

times it's not our fault. But what happens is people do not know how

to cope with overwhelming circumstances, and they may not have the support of family

and friends to overcome it. Oftentimes parents are oblivious to the pain that a

child might have with regard to loss of a parent or divorce or abuse,

and the parent doesn't even know how to cope with that themselves, so they

don't know how to navigate this child or their children through the experience to bring

healing to them. And then let's think about children who've been totally orphaned.

They've lost both parents in a car accident, or they've lost both parents in

an airplane crash or on a ship that goes down, and children take that

feeling of rejection wa Hay into childhood. Rejection is probably the number one issue

that we try to deal with as adults because of so many of these other

issues from childhood. So maybe you can relate to some of the things I'm

sharing. I'm sure you can. As they said, there's no one,

there's not a child, a human on the planet that has has not had

some kind of experience, whether that be with parents, whether that be with

relatives, neighbors, school children, school teachers. But all of those things

come into play with regard to what issues we deal with in our heart as

adults. So I know that everybody listening tonight you could pinpoint, you could

actually go back and look at things in your life and say, yep,

that happened, and as a as a result, I'm still dealing with it

in this way. Now. Many of you maybe are not that insightful of

your own self, and you don't even see it. You don't even have

a clue that you have these issues that's sometimes are very glaring to other people,

but you can't see them. And it's just too painful to go back

and look at the past to try to bring healing to the present. Now,

the disciples kind of carried on with Jesus about these little children, and

boy, oh boy, did he rebuke them. He said, suffer not

the little children to come to me. You say, Jesus had a particular

focus on the children, and his love for them was very intense. It

says that Jesus and Mark chapter nine. I'm sorry, Mark chapter ten.

It said, Jesus said, assuredly, I say to you, whoever does

not receive me, excuse me, whoever does not receive the Kingdom of God

as a little child, will by no means enter it. And he took

them up in his arms and laid his hands on them and bless them.

And then he said in Mark chapter nine, verse forty two, he said,

about whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to stumble,

it would be better for him if a millstone or hung around his neck

and he were thrown into the sea. So Jesus has some harsh words for

people who caused children to stumble, caused children any kind of harm. We

are living and I'm extremely sad to say, we are living in a time

where children are being sexually abused at an alarming rate. And do you know

that the United States is a number one leader in sexually trafficked children in the

whole world. So there are some grave issues. This one is very dear

and near to my heart, and it bothers me very very much when I

see what's happening to children. We've talked about at the transgender movement, of

mutilating children, of causing children such distress and forcing pronouns, and just that

whole movement is so out of kilter with the Kingdom of God. It's just

so out there, and it's so harmful to children, and yet we are

being led to believe that we have to support this. It's the greatest things

in sliced bread. This is the most horrible evil being perpetrated on children today.

So yes, life can be hard, and life can be devastating,

and life can be very much life altering. But Jesus, I thought we

could take just a quick look at jesus heart. What was his heart like?

I think it's pretty simple. But he had a pure heart right because

he was sinless. We know that he was extremely compassionate because he was always

praying for the sick, as I mentioned, already wanting the children to come

so that he could lay hands on them and bless them. He was compassionate

about those who were full of demons and who were suffering under mental mental anguish.

Jesus was gentle, like a lamb. That's why they call him the

Lamb of God. That's what John called him. Behold the Lamb of God.

Patient. Jesus was very patient with the disciples, and they were a

really tough bunch, I mean to tell you, And many times they were

arrogant and willful and he had to gently, patiently bring them into line.

Jesus was dedicated. He was dedicated to bring the truth the kingdom and dedicated

to do what he was ultimately committed to do, and that was to be

on the cross, to shed his blood for the removal of sin and transgressions.

He was committed to the cause, no doubt about that, And many

times he brought that up and talked about it, and the disciples just could

not wrap their brain around it. Jesus was kind. He was kind.

He was kind to those who were hurting and in need. He was not

necessarily kind to the Pharisees for good reason. Jesus was sincere, He was

honest. He was he was full of truth. He was and is the

truth. Jesus was peaceful. He said, come to me, all you

who are burdened and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Jesus

was joyful. He had a heart filled with the joy of the Lord.

And he was full of love because he actually is love, the embodiment of

what love is. Jesus. So we can see from jesus heart. We

can look at his heart and we can say, okay, ultimately, we

want our heart to be like Jesus. Now, Jesus was able to keep

the garden of his heart like a fruitful flower filled with the fragrance of heaven,

and one reason is is that he kept in close union to the Father.

He reflected the character and nature of God. Now Hebrews one, verses

one through four expresses that concept. Well, I'm going to read that too

out of the New King James's version. It says, God, who at

various times and in various ways spoke in time pass to the fathers by the

prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by his son, whom

he has appointed heir of all things, through whom also he made the worlds,

who, being the brightness of his glory and the express image of his

person, and upholding all things by the word of his power. When he

had by himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the

Majesty on high, having become so much better than the angels, as he

as by inheritance, obtained a more excellent name than they. So we can

see that Jesus came to do the Father's will, and he did it perfectly

and exemplified the nature and character of his Father. Jesus also said many times

and explicitly carried on quite a long dialogue about he and the Father being one.

In the Gospel of John Let's take a look at the heart of other

people in the Bible. David. David had a heart after God. The

Bible says he was a man after God's heart. And yet we know that

David didn't always represent God well, especially when he committed adultery and had another

had that woman husband murdered m Then there's Daniel, and the Book of Daniel

says that he was of an excellent nature. So we see in Daniel's heart

we see purity and we see devotion to God. Let's look at Moses.

Bible says he was a meek man. That means he had a very humble

heart, and he recognized the awesomeness of God, and he never ever forgot

that. He kept that in the forefront. Deborah, Deborah, the prophetess

Deborah had a strong heart. She had a willingness to do what was right,

no matter what. I like Deborah. Then there's Isaiah. The prophet.

Isaiah had what I call a repentant heart. He said in his in

the chapter on Isaiah written by Isaiah, he said, woe is me,

for I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips. And

then later in the Book of Isaiah, he talked about having a broken and

a contrite heart, and he said, this is the one that God looks

upon, this kind of heart, this broken and contrite heart. Then there's

Ruth, Yo, Ruth, she had a very committed and a faithful heart

to Naomi and ultimately got to marry Boaz and a great story. Joshua had

an obedient heart. I mean to tell you he served Moses faith and he

obeyed God always. I mean to tell you this, Joshua. I mean

that's why he was hand picked to be moses next in command. So as

Christians, we need to cultivate the landscape of our heart. Some of us

need special healing for the abuses of life, and that's okay. Seek inner

healing and deliverance. It's usually a very beneficial thing. Proverbs thirteen twelve says

hope deferred makes the heart sick. I know about that. I know about

that a lot. When our dreams die, our heart can become sick.

I know many times my heart became sick. I had hope deferred. And

that's okay for a moment, but it's not okay over the long haul.

That sick heart will need revived and it will need a fresh injection of hope

and purpose, and that comes many times it comes from another individual who sees

where we are and is willing to help us get up out of that rut.

Proverbs thirteen nineteen says a desire accomplished is sweet to the soul. So

the opposite is true of hope deferred makes the heart sick, because when the

desire is accomplished, it's sweet to the soul. But in the process of

getting to the desire accomplished, there can be many sick hearts. And so

through prayer, through others' help and support, and the Holy Spirit, we

can get up out of that. Marie Clay, and I can say amen,

because I did. Whatever state your heart is in any of the above

that I've mentioned this evening, there is one cure, Jesus returning to our

Lord with focus and realizing he can heal our heart. If you begin to

doubt, if you are so discouraged and you think there is no way out,

it's because the enemy is putting those ideas and thoughts in your head and

you're believing the lie. Satan is the father of lies, and he lies

continually. That's what he does, and he does it very well. And

if you believe the lie, then your heart will stay sick. You will

day sick. You have to come up out of the lie and into God's

truth and believe that he can and will and is very willing to bring healing

to your heart. I want to look at Second Corinthians two, verses fourteen

through sixteen. Again in the new King James version, it says, now,

thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ and

through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place. For we are

to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved, and among

those who are perishing. To the one, we are the aroma of death

leading to death, and to the other the aroma of life leading to life.

So that's why it's so imperative that we get a grip on the situation

of our heart. So if your heart is still sick, and it could

be more than just hope to third, but sick from past issues, rejection,

helplessness, abuse, et cetera, et cetera, then we are hard

to be a fragrance to those around us, and so we want to be

an aroma of life. That's what the scripture. We want to be an

aroma of life leading to life in other people because life isn't about us,

folks. I know, we get focused on ourselves, but only stay focused

on yourself enough to get your heart right and healed and healthy. Because we

have to be the aroma of life leading to life. And we are to

God. I mean many times we don't see this. We can't even I

mean we think really, but it says we are to God the fragrance of

Christ among those who are being saved, and we want to be a wonderful

fragrance. Let's look at Luke seven and verses forty three through forty five.

It says, for a good tree does not bear bad fruit, nor does

a bad tree bear good fruit. For every tree is known by its own

fruit. For men do not gather figs from thorns, nor do they gather

grapes from a bramble bush. A good man, out of the good treasure

of his heart, brings forth good, and an evil man, out of

the evil treasure of his heart, brings forth evil. So this is how

I see it. Just in conclusion, every heart has issues, and we

have an obligation to bring those issues into the light. Into the light of

the Gospel, into the light as we discuss these things with the Lord we

talked to him. Talk to your father about the issues, and then look

to scripture for answers. It's there now. If you need repentance, repent.

If you need healing, ask for prayer. If it's deliverance, seek

out a deliverance minister. If I can encourage you in one thing, Let's

try to get our hearts healed and well. We need healthy hearts so that

we are the fragrance of life leading to life. Let's get the landscaping looking

great, so that we have that fragrance of lavender roses, lilacs, lemon

ball balm, butterfly bushes. We've got the fragrance going. And as the

scripture says, there are many treasures in our heart that we need to give

out. God has created you with a treasure troph of wonderful plans and ideas

in your heart. He's put those dreams in there, and he wants the

dreams to come true. For sure. We want people to be drawn to

the fragrance of Christ, do we not. So let's do everything within us

to landscape our heart to be a healthy healed and well heart before the Lord.

Amen. Well, this is Don Noble. You can go to www

dot pureheart dot today and listen to this podcast again. I would encourage you

to do that because this is an important one to listen to, and you

can download the iHeartRadio app. Go to Pureheart Ministries and listen to this podcast

anytime. Twenty four seven. I'd love to hear from you. You can

email me at Dawn all lowercase letters, Dawn at pureheart dot today, Dawn

at pureheart dot today. Thank you for your prayers for the ministry and please

please please consider helping to support this ministry. You can senday check two Pure

Heart Ministries PO Box eighty five, Valley Grove, West Virginia, two six

o six Oh. That's Pure Heart Ministries PO Box eighty five, Valley Grove,

West, Virginia, two six o six Oh. I look forward to

being with you again next week. This is Don Noble saying, Shallom shalom

peace be unto you