The Issues of the Heart

“Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.” (Prov 4:23)

In the King James Version the word “wellspring” is “issues.” We can have good things in our heart, which flow out from us, or unresolved and sometimes hurtful things, which we call issues. When hurtful events happen to us in our childhood, fears develop over time. As important as the contents of our heart are, they can remain illusive to us. It is the domain of the Holy Spirit to search our hearts out and to help our own spirit discover its contents (1 Cor 2:10-11). Today I will talk about having unresolved hurts, and the different fruits the issue of fear can eventually bear in us.

When adults or other children hurt children, trust is lost. Children do not have the skills to process words and events and gain understanding from them. Hurt children can develop a sense of inferiority based on the bad things that happen to them. This opens the door for the enemy of their soul to intimidate them with feelings that others are watching them. Once a child believes others are watching him, he feels they are criticizing him, leading to feeling set apart from others, and finally rejected. The fruit this season in a child’s life will bear is to see others as “them”, different from himself. The child will never perceive the enemy’s part in this thinking, for he is a child.

Once a child feels rejected by other children and/or adults, he still has a choice. Yet it takes maturity to realize that there is a choice to be made. 1) he can love and forgive those who have hurt him, and those he has perceived to have rejected him, or 2) he can resist the people who have hurt him and those he perceived to have rejected him. The fruit from choice #1 is intercession, and works of love. The fruit from choice #2 is criticizing and labeling others, no intercession or love, and a perceiving that God is unjust, leading to building one’s trust in one’s self. Also, a person choosing #2 will begin to build his own image up into something admirable and powerful to counteract the intimidation he has felt all his life. The person that chooses #2 does not see the work his enemy is doing in his heart nor does he believe that having love is more important than being someone special. (see 1 Cor 13: 1-3). Yet the person that chooses #1 becomes formed into the priestly image of Christ, and a sweet aroma goes up with his prayers to God.

The person that has chosen to criticize and label others, who does not pray for them, nor trust God, and who builds up his own image to counteract the intimidation of his enemy, advances to a self-concept that is deluded and not built upon truth. This person will lose discernment about himself, others, and spiritual matters. He will gravitate to scriptures that support shunning others, and receive personal prophecies that support his belief that others are not the same as himself. Therefore, he depersonalizes people, and he sees them as types, with labels. The terms “Jezebel spirit” and others are used by this man because he does not sense the personal investment of Christ on behalf of all Mankind, and therefore he will not invest the efforts of his own heart towards those he perceives as inferior to himself. This season of the man’s life will bear the fruit, therefore, of depersonalization of others, lack of prayer for others (sometimes justified by the man as being refused by God because of the sins of the people), and a trust in himself as the source of justice.

This differs from the person who is being formed into Christ’s image, who begins to see that injury by others causes him to become a sacrifice, wounding his flesh yet giving his spirit wings to soar with God in prayer, intercession, and works of redeeming love. He becomes a type of a “savior” (Obadiah :21), yet never loses sight of the fact that He is God’s servant and is not great in himself. Besides powerful answered prayer and a personal knowledge of the One he partners with, this man will bear the fruit of deep trust in God, and his faith will leap by bounding steps (Mal 4:2).

The man who refuses to be molded into Christ’s image will enter into the stage of being deceived. He will not only lose discernment about good and evil, but will advance to the stage of putting evil for good, and darkness for light (Is 5:20). He is no longer letting the Holy Spirit minister to him about the contents of his heart, but thinks he knows better. He will believe that his anger and hatred are agents of good and use them as tools to exalt himself above others. The fruit this stage of the man’s life will bear is that he will receive messages from satan instead of from God; he will become formed into the self-righteous, man-hating image of satan; and he will twist the scriptures to justify himself and condemn others.

The man who let his life become a sacrifice will become a friend of God, for the Lord can trust him with matters close to His heart. The Lord will share His heart with this man, and they will walk together. Because this man lost his life, he will find it in Christ.

Issues of our hearts can take us in different directions, causing us to bear different fruit. We have the scriptures to bear witness to our fruit, whether it is good or bad. Simply put, let us examine ourselves to see if we bear the fruit of love and forgiveness. If not, the Lord will be faithful to lead us to healing and restoration. At any time we can stop bearing bad fruit, turn (repent) and follow He who knows and loves us. Amen.