Train Your Heart
“So train your heart to listen when I speak and open your spirit wide to expand your discernment— then pass it onto your sons and daughters.” Proverbs 2:2
Train your heart to listen. This word train is an action word. It means to develop or form the habit, thoughts or behavior. When an athlete has a competition, they do not show up without first training. In this training they are focused on one thing. Everything they eat. Everything they drink. Everything they do is for one thing. In order to train our hearts to listen for the voice of Yahweh we must be diligent about one thing. Our hearts can get off track so easily and in subtle ways we almost don’t recognize it happening.
The Kingdom demands exclusivity. In marriage you would not be ok with your partner having any other lover, but we think it’s ok to have multiple lovers inside our covenant with Yahweh. If we are not intentional about protecting the sanctity of our covenant with Him, we can find ourselves eating and drinking from multiple things to our own determent. Pastor Tim shared a story from Luke 14 where Jesus was inviting people to the feast. When they received the invitation, they sent back word with what we would call ridiculous excuses to not attend the feast, yet we too will find excuses why we cannot attend the feast He has laid out for us.
“The church has spent so much time telling you what you should avoid and not do because they cannot tell you how great the feast is. If we can demonstrate in our own lives how great he's been to us and that He is our only lover, then people will be attracted to Jesus. People are attracted to things they don't have. They will be attracted to the presence and goodness of the King in your life, and they will want it for themselves and their children. The only way to have increased measures of the presence of Jesus is to dismiss other lovers. Pastor Tim
The Kingdom demands exclusivity. The word Peripoiesis in English means weird, but the original word means one belonging exclusively to Him. This does not happen by chance. It is an intentional pursuit daily. Moment by moment. If you have been in a relationship with Jesus for any length of time and are not exclusive to Him, you have missed the point of this relationship. When you are exclusive to Him you are training your heart to listen for His voice. He speaks wisdom, life and instruction for each day that is laid out before you. Think about this…if you are training your heart to listen it means eventually every step is not a mishap or mistake you have to seek redemption for. It becomes a walk of glory to glory.
He then gives us the instruction of open your spirit wide to expand your discernment. We are learning when we openly turn our hearts to the Holy Spirit, He is able to reveal matters of the heart to us. Every time we come into agreement with what He is showing us it expands our understanding, and we are able to discern matters according to His Spirit in us. I don’t know about you, but I can’t imagine telling Jesus, “No, thanks, I don’t want your wisdom.” If we are honest, it is what we do when we refuse to train our hearts to listen. It is dishonor. We cannot and will not receive from the Kingdom when operating in dishonor.
“Such amazing mysteries are found within every miracle that nearly everyone seems to miss. Those with no discernment can never really discover the deep and glorious secrets hidden in your ways.” Psalm 92:6
Without honor we have no discernment and without discernment we miss out on mysteries and miracles. This glorious life with Jesus is meant to be a LIVING DISPLAY OF HIS GOODNESS.
