Guard Your Heart!

 

Proverbs 4:23

"Keep your heart with all diligence, For out of it spring the issues of life."

The bible talks about the heart so much from Genesis to Revelation, God our Creator wants us to understand that the heart (inner, spiritual one), not the organ, is the most important part of a human soul. 

God Himself said to His prophet Samuel in 1st Samuel 16:5-7

"And he said, “Peaceably; I have come to sacrifice to the Lord. Sanctify yourselves, and come with me to the sacrifice.” Then he consecrated Jesse and his sons, and invited them to the sacrifice. So it was, when they came, that he looked at Eliab and said, “Surely the Lord’s anointed is before Him!”

But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

I can tell you from my own life, that if your heart is hard for whatever the reason, it will keep you from truly loving anybody, even your own self! A hard heart will also keep you from receiving love from others as well. Eveything will just be 'meh', and 'whatever', when people do their best to love you and help you. 

Jesus said that out of the heart the mouth speaks!

Matthew 12:33-35

“Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or else make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for a tree is known by its fruit. Brood of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things."

Matthew 15:16-19

"So Jesus said, “Are you also still without understanding? Do you not yet understand that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and is eliminated? But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies."

Jesus made it so clear for us to understand how important it is to have a clean and pure heart!

"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God!"

In Christ,

Tyrone

No Man Can Come To Me!

 

John 6:41-44, 64-65

"The Jews then complained about Him, because He said, “I am the bread which came down from heaven.” And they said, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How is it then that He says, ‘I have come down from heaven’?” Jesus therefore answered and said to them, “Do not murmur among yourselves. No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day."

"But there are some of you who do not believe.” For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who would betray Him. And He said, “Therefore I have said to you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted to him by My Father.”

I can remember when I was drawn by God to my wife. We met on Christian Cupid dot com, when it was still a bit taboo to meet someone online, let alone date them. How fast times have changed right? Now if you're not on the internet you're seen as strange! 

It's amazing to me how some people can see the light and others can not. Some feel led to change their lives and be different, others feel the same leading but don't respond to it. They turn their backs on God, they blank out and walk away, and many don't feel anything at all!

Those who do come to Christ always have a testimony of what God did for them, how he drew them to Himself, or what they were doing when something happened they couldn't explain. Many cry out to God and say, 'God if you are real then do this or that and I will believe.' 

The first disciples Jesus called were drawn to Him because it was granted to them by the Father in Heaven!

Matthew 4:18-22

"And Jesus, walking by the Sea of Galilee, saw two brothers, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. Then He said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” They immediately left their nets and followed Him. Going on from there, He saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets. He called them, and immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed Him."

How is it possible that Jesus being a total stranger to these four fishermen, could call them out of their jobs, their family, their lifestyles, and they listened! The scriptures tell us that the four men IMMEDIATELY left their nets, their boats, their jobs, even their own father and followed Jesus!

That is a perfect example of what it means to be drawn by God!

The same thing happened when John the baptist started calling the people to repentance. The scriptures say that people came from all around to be baptized by John. How was that possible, John being another total stranger coming out of the desert?

Mark 1:1-8

"The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. As it is written in the Prophets: “Behold, I send My messenger before Your face, Who will prepare Your way before You.” “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; Make His paths straight.’ ”

John came baptizing in the wilderness and preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. Then all the land of Judea, and those from Jerusalem, went out to him and were all baptized by him in the Jordan River, confessing their sins."

People of the whole land of Judea and Jerusalem went out to him! And then they got baptized and while they were being baptized, they were confessing their sins, outloud! No secret chambers, no priest in a box, no church building! The people were out in the open air confessing their sins and getting baptized by John in the Jordan River!! That's what you call a supernatural drawing and manifestation of the power of God working through His prophet!!!

Something similar happened to Paul too when he was preaching.

Acts 16:11-15

"Therefore, sailing from Troas, we ran a straight course to Samothrace, and the next day came to Neapolis, and from there to Philippi, which is the foremost city of that part of Macedonia, a colony. And we were staying in that city for some days. And on the Sabbath day we went out of the city to the riverside, where prayer was customarily made; and we sat down and spoke to the women who met there. Now a certain woman named Lydia heard us. She was a seller of purple from the city of Thyatira, who worshiped God. The Lord opened her heart to heed the things spoken by Paul. And when she and her household were baptized, she begged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay.” So she persuaded us.

You see that the Lord had to OPEN THE HEART of Lydia so that she could listen to what paul was saying! The word of God being spoken through His anointed and appointed is spiritual, it can't be understood by those with carnal minds and hard hearts! 

What about the other women who were there? We see that God only opened the heart of Lydia to understand Paul's message, and then she and her whole household were baptized! The ways of God and His choosing is beyond our understanding, only He knows the hearts of all men!

This is why it's so important to pray for the Father to open your heart, and your mind so that you can be drawn to Christ and receive Him when He comes to visit you!

In The Lord's Army,

Tyrone

The Time Of Hirelings And Hypocrites Is Ending!

 

God said my people perish for lack of knowledge! God's people also perish because of the lack of spiritual discernment too! But God allows all of this to happen to fulfill His word!

Paul said that there must be factions among you, so it can be revealed who is approved of God! And then Paul had to deal with false brethren and false Apostles too! This all happened two thousand years ago and the same thing is happening right now! History repeats itself, over and over.

1st Corinthians 11:17-19

"Now in giving these instructions I do not praise you, since you come together not for the better but for the worse. For first of all, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you, and in part I believe it. For there must also be factions among you, that those who are approved may be recognized among you."

Galatians 2:1-5

"Then after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, and also took Titus with me.  And I went up by revelation, and communicated to them that gospel which I preach among the Gentiles, but privately to those who were of reputation, lest by any means I might run, or had run, in vain. Yet not even Titus who was with me, being a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised. And this occurred because of false brethren secretly brought in (who came in by stealth to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage), to whom we did not yield submission even for an hour, that the truth of the gospel might continue with you.

2nd Corinthians 11:12-15

"But what I do, I will also continue to do, that I may cut off the opportunity from those who desire an opportunity to be regarded just as we are in the things of which they boast. For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works."

This is why I continue to say over and over, that the church building IS NOT THE CHURCH! If you have a group of witches inside a church building, what will the building be full of? EVIL and DARKNESS!

If you have a church building full of true believers filled with the Spirit and Grace of God, what will you have? A building full of Light, God's presence, angels coming and going, people rejoicing and praising God!

The same holds true for your own house! Your house is just a building, and if you are full of darkness and evil spirits, what will your house be full of? EVIL! Even though you cannot perceive it or feel it, because it's spiritual! Unless you actually practice witchcraft in your house, then you will most likely see the evil spirits manifesting!

This is also why Jesus said beware of the wolve's in sheep's clothing! And the Hirelings, because many times they are the ones over the people! 

Matthew 7:15-20

“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you will know them."

John 10:11-13

“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep. But a hireling, he who is not the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them. The hireling flees because he is a hireling and does not care about the sheep."

So if you are sitting in a congregation that never grows, and there's no youth attending who are thriving and full of joy, you have to question the fruit of your leadership!

The man or woman who thinks that being in Ministry is a job that pays their bills and supports their lifestyle is a hireling! And if you woke up one morning and felt led to go to school to be a Pastor, you need to question whether or not you are really in the faith! There is nowhere in scripture that you see any man or woman being led to an institution to learn how to be an Apostle, Prophet, Pastor, Teacher, or Evangelist!

No man, woman, college, online or physical, can ordain, anoint and appoint any soul to be in the ministry of God, but God!!!

It's Jesus, the Lord Himself who gives ministry gifts to His body for edification and building up!

Ephesians 4:7-16

"But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift. Therefore He says: “When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive, And gave gifts to men.” (Now this, “He ascended”—what does it mean but that He also first descended into the lower parts of the earth? He who descended is also the One who ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things.)

And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ—from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love."

The scriptures in Ephesians 4 tells us what the real church should be! It tells us how God designed and desires His church (souls) to operate and function together as the body of Christ, in the midst of all the evil surrounding us everyday!

Without unity, without the Spirit of God in every soul, and without the ministry gifts that Jesus gave to the church, what do we have? A congregation full of hirelings, hypocrites, and evil! 

As Disciples of Jesus we cannot escape this world or the evil that's in it, we must live and grow together with the tares until the final Harvest! The only thing we can do is trust our God and come out from among them and be separate in our hearts and minds!

Matthew 13:24-30

"Another parable He put forth to them, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way. But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared. So the servants of the owner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?’ He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The servants said to him, ‘Do you want us then to go and gather them up?’ But he said, ‘No, lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.” ’ ”

The Lord Himself spoke to my wife and said, "The Small Will Be Great, And The Great Will Disappear"

In Christ,

Tyrone

Are You Kicking Against The Pricks?

 

Acts 9:1-6

"Then Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked letters from him to the synagogues of Damascus, so that if he found any who were of the Way, whether men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. As he journeyed he came near Damascus, and suddenly a light shone around him from heaven. Then he fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” And he said, “Who are You, Lord?” Then the Lord said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. It is hard for you to kick against the goads.” So he, trembling and astonished, said, “Lord, what do You want me to do?” Then the Lord said to him, “Arise and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”

Paul had no idea that he was persecuting the Lord Jesus by persecuting His people. Paul would never have known that what he was doing was wrong if Jesus had not appeared to him on the road to Damascus. He would have just kept rounding up Disciples and putting them in prison, he thought that what he was doing was right!

Jesus said that the day would come when men would kill disciples of Christ and think that they were doing God a favor!

Jesus had been talking to Paul many times before this road to Damascus experience, but Paul kept resisting God, His Spirit, and His anointed servants. Even when Stephen, the Lords first martyr was preaching, Paul stood there holding the cloaks of the Pharisees while they stoned him to death. 

Acts 7:51-53, 57-58

“You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you. Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who foretold the coming of the Just One, of whom you now have become the betrayers and murderers, who have received the law by the direction of angels and have not kept it."

"Then they cried out with a loud voice, stopped their ears, and ran at him with one accord; and they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul."

It's not that hard for many people to resist the drawing and calling of God, when you feel the pull of God's grace, all you have to do is pull away from it, draw back, and say no thank you, I don't want salvation. 

This is why the Spirit of God said, "Today if you hear His voice do not harden your hearts"

Hebrews 3:7-11

Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says: “Today, if you will hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, In the day of trial in the wilderness, Where your fathers tested Me, tried Me, And saw My works forty years. Therefore I was angry with that generation, And said, ‘They always go astray in their heart, And they have not known My ways.’ So I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not enter My rest.’ ”

When an anointed man or woman of God speaks, you can do two things, resist the word of God or accept it, and when it pricks your heart, humble yourself and repent, cry out for the mercy of God, ask for forgiveness and live! 

Acts 2:36-39

“Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.” Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?” Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.”

The Holy Spirit comes to convict the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment. So when you feel the prick of God's Spirit upon your heart, what will you do?

The Choice Is Yours!

In Christ,

Tyrone