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Prov 4:23 "Above all else guard your heart for it is the wellspring of life"

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"Sticks and stones will break my bones, but words will never hurt me"  Yeah right!

Peoples' comments and judgements toward us hurt very much and hinder our walk with the Lord and with others, but the Lord would say this morning from Proverbs 4:23 to "guard our heart for it is the wellspring of life."

God judges very differently than man and we see in the story of 1 Samuel 16 where the Prophet Samuel is called to anoint a new King and in verses 6&7  "Samuel saw Eliab and thought, 'Surely the Lord's anointed stands here before the Lord'.  But the Lord said to Samuel 'Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him.  The Lord does not look at the things man looks at.  Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart."
How quickly we judge by what we see and hear, but the Lord calls us not to do that, but to look at the heart.

Psalm 139:23-24  "Search me, O God and know my heart, test me and know my anxious thoughts.  See if there is any offensive way in me and lead me in the way everlasting"
This has been and continues to be our journey with the Lord.  One way the Lord has shown me over the past few years of the state of my heart, has been through dreams.  I would have a dream that would show I was frightened in a situation, show that I was hurt by something or show some sort of attitude. In these dreams and the processing of these, he would show me the truth that needed to be there instead.  For instance "His perfect love casts out all fear" so I would question, why was I afraid and then speak God's truth to the situation.  If His perfect love casts out all fear then I needed a deeper revelation of His love for me and the truth of what the love looked like.  If I was anxious about something then I would ask myself, 'why was I anxious?'  1 Peter 5:7  "Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you" so I would learn that I needed to give him the things I was anxious about trusting that he would look after those things as I surrendered them to him.  Phil 4:6  "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your request to God.  And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus".

Prov 25:2  "It is the glory of God to conceal a matter; to search out a matter is the glory of Kings.  As the heavens are high and the earth is deep, so the hearts of kings are unsearchable".
We don't know the true state of our heart sometimes, but if we are willing to test out our hearts, then the Lord will show us.   Sometimes like the verse above we need to search out what the Lord is trying to say.  Dreams can be one way where the Lord is speaking to us in a way we can understand - like a parable - but then we need to search for the deeper hidden things; the gold.  As I have searched out what the Lord has been saying and have been learning to speak the truth which sets me free into it, the Lord has brought greater and greater freedom into my life and especially from the mindsets and words that come from man.

Psalm 51:10-12  "Create in me a pure heart, O God and renew a steadfast spirit within me.  Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me.  Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me."

The Lord is wanting to take us from glory to glory and for that to happen we need to ask the prayer above - to be willing for the Lord to create in us a pure heart.    Matt 5:8  "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God".

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