What is The Heart?

"I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a tender heart."  

(Ezekiel 36:26)

In my last entry, "A New Heart of Love" http://marriage-miracles.blogspot.com/2013/01/a-new-heart-of-love.html I shared on the New Covenant promise God makes to believers—to those who now are in Christ.

He said He will take the hard, heart of stone out of us and replace it with a tender new heart.

And from that article, many interesting, and at times spirited, discussions have ensued.

I have been shocked though, to learn that not everyone believes that God gives us a new heart. But instead, some think that even though we as Christians are "born again" our hearts are (supposedly) still desperately wicked. (See Jeremiah 17:9).

Being faithful to write what I believe God led me to write, I spent a lot of time and study of the Bible, and made a case for why I emphatically believe that God has in fact, given us new hearts, just as He promised.

And in some of the discussions I had with other people, at times it seemed like we were mostly on the same page, but were often saying things using some very different terminology.

But for all the years I have been a Christian, it never seemed to be at all logical or true that God would come to indwell a heart that He did not first purify and make new. It doesn't bear witness with my spirit today that I could possibly love God, or love my neighbor as myself, or love my wife as Christ loved the Church, if my heart were in fact still desperately wicked. 

So I prayed and asked the Lord for His wisdom and revelation on, "What does it mean to be born again?" And, "What is the heart?"

Here is just a snapshot of what the Bible says about our heart: 

1.  Christ dwells in the hearts of His people:

“That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man,  that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love…” (Ephesians 3:16-17)

2.  Our heart is the inner, or "hidden" person within us:

“Let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God.” (1 Peter 3:4)

3.  God has purified our hearts:

“So God, who knows the heart, acknowledged them by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He did to us,  and made no distinction between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith.” (Acts 15:8-9)

4.  It is with our heart that we believe in God for salvation:

“For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” (Romans 10:10)

5.  As children of God, He has sent His Holy Spirit in our hearts:

“And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!” (Galatians 4:6)

6.  Out of a new heart that believes in Christ, will flow Rivers of Living Water:

“He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” (John 7:38)

7.  God gives us understanding of His Word in our heart:

“The Lord opened her heart to heed the things spoken by Paul.” (Acts 16:14)

8.  God pours out His love into our heart by His Spirit:

“Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.” (Romans 5:5)

9.  God places the good news of His Word in our hearts:

“The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith which we preach).” (Romans 10:8)

10.  Our hearts must be guarded:

“Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God;  and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” (Ephesians 4:6-7)

11.  We worship God with singing from our heart:

“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.” (Colossians 3:16)

12.  God writes His laws on our heart:

“For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.” (Hebrews 8:10)

13.  We can freely draw near to God because our hearts have been cleansed:

“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.” (Hebrews 10:22)

14.  Being born again, we can now love one another with a pure heart:

“Love one another fervently with a pure heart—having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever.” (1 Peter 1:22-23)

15.  By our love for one another we know that our hearts are assured before God:

"My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth. And by this we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before Him.” (1 John 3:19)

16.  Jesus has given us new hearts to love each other just as He has loved us:

“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.  By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:34-35)

17.  Because God has purified our hearts, we shall see Him:

“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” (Matthew 5:8)

18.  God removed our hard, stony heart and gave us a tender new heart:

"I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a tender heart." (Ezekiel 36:26)

19.  Because we love each other from a new heart, we know we are saved:

“We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren.” (1 John 3:14)

20.  We know God lives in us and we abide in Him because He gave us His Spirit:

“By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit.” (1 John 4:13)

For any follower of Jesus who may have doubts about God giving you a new heart, I want to encourage you to read all these passages from the Bible and pray about them. Search the scriptures to see if these things are so. Ask God to give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation about your heart. Ask Him did He really promise to give you a new spirit and a new heart, as it says in Ezekiel 36:26? Ask Him if your born again heart is still desperately wicked? 

Ask God this question,

      "Father in Heaven—what does it really mean to be born again?"

May the Lord bless you as you draw near to Him and seek His face.

—God is Love, and Love Never Fails.

*For an essay on the old nature -vs.- the new nature, and about what the "flesh" is, please read my article entitled "A New Heart of Love." http://marriage-miracles.blogspot.com/2013/01/a-new-heart-of-love.html