“Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life.”

— Proverbs 4:23

Have you had a heart exam recently? I don’t mean the kind in which a doctor listens to the physical health of your heart through a stethoscope. I mean an examination in which the Holy Spirit determines the spiritual state of your heart.

The Bible always addresses sources of things, and as shown in Proverbs 4:23, Scripture recognizes that people are more frequently moved by their emotions than by their intellect. Our emotions influence our intellect more than our intellect affects our emotions. We do base our faith on rational thought, but faith is not without emotion or passion. Indeed, the very heart of our faith is the Passion of Jesus Christ.

Why do we need to understand the relationship between the heart and the head? Because Jesus said that out of the heart proceeds all manner of evil: adultery, murder, theft, and so on. Out of the heart “springs the issues of life.” Therefore, we need to watch our hearts very carefully.

What kinds of “heart disease” do we need to watch for? The heart can become inflamed by passion and lust, so we need to watch its “temperature” and not allow such things to start. Unfortunately, the temperature of the heart often reaches high degrees quickly, and if left unchecked, all sorts of immorality can break forth. The Bible clearly communicates that Christians must check evil at the very first impulse. No one can imprison us for our thoughts, but our unchecked thoughts may very well land us in Hell because evil thoughts testify to an evil heart.

The Scripture says that we need to bring every thought into captivity to Christ. To do that we need to set a guard, a watchman, over our hearts in the same way the Bible tells us that we should place a guard at the door of our lips to watch what we say.

Do you have a guard over your heart? If you don’t, invite the Holy Spirit to take that post today, examining your heart regularly to keep you in tiptop spiritual condition.

“Private victories precede public victories.”
Stephen Covey

“But he who endures to the end shall be saved.”

— Matthew 24:13

Do you have stick-to-itiveness? When you come up against an obstacle, do you push through to the end? Persistent effort pays off. Paul tells us in Galatians 6:9, “And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.”

What makes people decide to quit? Sometimes people quit because they feel their efforts have brought little or no success. Once, a man determined to find gold, spent time and money digging a mine shaft. But after digging down one mile, he gave up and sold the mine. The person who bought the mine dug down only three more feet and struck gold. People also quit because of setbacks in their health, finances, or other arenas of their lives. Criticism by others, especially the criticism of a spouse, parent, or friend has caused many people to give up. The ingratitude of those they have tried to help has discouraged others.

But we can’t let lack of success, devastating setbacks, criticism, or ingratitude hinder us from pursuing worthwhile goals. The first time Benjamin Disraeli spoke before the English House of Commons, the members laughed at him. But instead of throwing in the towel, Disraeli vowed that one day those people would listen to him. He went on to become a great orator and the first Jewish prime minister of England. William Carey, a missionary to India, faced devastation, but he never gave up even though a fire burned his house and, with it, many years of Bible translation work. Instead of quitting, he reworked his translations, and when finished he believed his second translations were better than the first.

We can persevere, even when times get tough. But we can’t do it alone. Isaiah 40:31 says, “But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.” As we wait on God, He gives us the strength to endure.

Are you about to lose heart? If you want to quit a work the Lord has given you to do, ask God to strengthen you so that you may continue. As He gives you strength, take hold of your goal and never let go.

“A lot of impulsive mistakes are made by people who
simply aren’t willing to stay bored a little longer.”
Frank Clark

“I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.”

— John 15:5

When you were a child, did you look forward to growing up? Perhaps your mother or father marked your physical growth on a wall, charting your progress toward adulthood.

Just as we anticipated physical growth when we were children, we need to pursue spiritual growth daily. Repeatedly the Scriptures speak of spiritual growth. A psalmist declares that when we meditate on God’s Word, we become “like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season” (Psalm 1:3). Jesus explains how we must be like branches grafted into the vine, growing to produce fruit. We are told to grow into the fullness of the stature of Jesus Christ. God has most definitely designed us to grow spiritually.

How can we tell if we’re growing according to God’s plan? One of the signs will be the fruit of graciousness, becoming like the all-gracious God, having an unselfish love and concern for others’ needs. Another sign is joy. As we grow in grace, we’ll rejoice in everything life hands us, good or bad. Conversely, if we grumble and complain about everything, continually sad and dejected and depressed, we’re clearly not growing in grace. Those negative attitudes reflect our spiritual immaturity. Consider the great admonition of the Bible: “Rejoice in all things.” We can fulfill that command only when we’ve grown in grace.

How can we pursue spiritual growth? Think of Olympic weight lifters, who need just the right food and exercise to build strength. In a similar way, we as Christians grow by taking in the spiritual food of God’s Word, prayer, and our consistent devotional lives, then by exercising ourselves in the faithful performance of Christian duties such as works of mercy and evangelism. As we engage in these spiritual disciplines, we grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Where are you along the “wall” of spiritual growth? I encourage you to chart your progress today. Then set your sights on a higher mark, and commit to at least one spiritual discipline that can get you there.

“All growth that is not towards God is growing to decay.”
George Macdonald

“… Behold, this Child is destined for the fall and rising of many in Israel …”

— Luke 2:34

Whoever you are, you cannot avoid Jesus Christ, either in this life or the next. He is the Lord of lords and the King of kings. He is the One “with whom we have to do.” I once heard about a secular talk-show host who flippantly remarked, “Jesus means absolutely nothing to my life.” How wrong she is, for one day, like all of us, she will stand before Him in judgment.

The Bible teaches us that we can experience Jesus Christ as either a steppingstone that raises us to new heights or a stumbling block over which we trip and fall. Christ is as salt— permeating, penetrating, and seasoning all with which He comes in contact. You cannot avoid His influence. You cannot avoid the working of Christ any more than you can avoid the working of fire—stand before the fire, and it shall warm and comfort you; thrust your hand into it, and it will burn you.

An Eastern fable tells of a magic mirror that remained clear when the pure-hearted looked into it. But when the glance of a vile, unholy person fell upon it, the mirror clouded over instantly. Thus, the owner of that mirror could immediately tell the character of his visitors as they glanced into it. In the same way, Christ reveals our true natures to others, to God, and—if we pay attention—even to ourselves. Notice the reactions to Christ when He first came into this world: Mary and Joseph loved Him; the innkeeper was too busy for Him; the shepherds worshiped Him; Herod hated Him; both Anna and Simeon in the Temple praised God for Him. And so, Jesus Christ reveals our true character when we come into contact with Him.

What do you discover about yourself as you look into His face?

“Whoever you are, the Gospel must be
to you a savour of life or of death.”
Charles Spurgeon

“… learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart …”

— Matthew 11:29

The four Gospels present four rather different pictures of Christ from different perspectives, from different backgrounds, and through different events. As we read those Gospels, a character rises up from the pages, a character unique and altogether lovely. We begin to see a face and hear a voice, a voice that speaks with a music and a poetry never heard before. His message? “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest . . . learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart.”

Have you heard and responded to that message?

That voice has reverberated through the centuries. Ah, the skeptics have come with their scissors and their paste, cutting up the Gospels and pasting them back together anyway they’ve wanted. Still that character stands and speaks an everlasting message. The invitation still comes, the music still sounds. “Learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart.”

Antagonists have attempted to refute Jesus’ claims. Nietzsche condemned Christ, mocking His humility and dubbing Him a slave. Nietzsche died in a madhouse, but the voice of Christ still resounds. Hitler, following in Nietzsche’s footsteps, declared that he, as a pure pagan, would uproot Christianity from the earth. Hitler became a charred cinder, his name a byword for one who does evil. But the voice of Christ continues to resound throughout the world. The Communists tried to kill just about every Christian they could get their hands on. But today in those lands more people follow Jesus than follow Karl Marx.

So it goes that Christ, whose message has outlasted all his detractors, criticizes His critics and becomes the final Judge of all His judges, and all the while His voice still exhorts, even today, “Learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”

Today let that lasting message reverberate through your heart, encouraging you in all you do.

“Jesus shall reign where’er the sun
does his successive journeys run.”
Isaac Watts

“I and My Father are one.”

— John 10:30

Have you ever really thought about some of the things Jesus Christ said about Himself? Have you ever pondered the fact that Jesus Christ made claims that today would put someone in a lockup?

Jesus said He was the “light of the world.” Talk about delusions of grandeur. (But only if the claim weren’t true.) Jesus also claimed an eternal origin—He said, “Before Abraham was, I AM.” His hearers, the Jewish leaders of His day, knew that those words were a claim to deity. (Recall that, in Exodus 3:14, God identified Himself to Moses as “I AM.”) Jesus also claimed the power to forgive sins, something only God can do. As well, Jesus presented Himself as equal to God when He said, “I and My Father are one.”

The Jewish leaders knew the meaning behind Jesus’ words, and they didn’t like what they heard. They recognized Jesus’ claim to deity and almost stoned Him for blasphemy.

If you really think about it, either Jesus was crazy, he was a deceiver, or He was telling the truth. C. S. Lewis, the great Christian writer, put it so well:

A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic—on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg—or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come up with any patronising nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to. — Mere Christianity (Macmillan, 1952)

Whenever you find yourself thinking about Jesus, take a moment to stop and consider Who He really is. He revealed His identity in His words, and He’ll back up His words by showing His power in your life.

“We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God,
eternally begotten from the Father, God from God, Light from
Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, one in Being
with the Father. Through Him all things were made . . .”
Nicene Creed

“. . . O Lord, revive Your work in the midst of the years!”

— Habakkuk 3:2

Today we’ll take our last look at revival. Particularly, we’ll look at some great revivals of the past.

Perhaps the most notable revival of the twentieth century happened in 1904 and 1905 in the tiny land of Wales. This revival started with a few people fervently praying. The prayers of these people had powerful results. Churches that had been one-fourth full of apathetic Christians began to come alive. The Spirit of God fell on various towns, moving everywhere. Within five months, over a hundred thousand people in that small land converted to Christianity. The bars in many towns had to shut down completely, and the jails were emptied and closed.

Another powerful revival happened years ago on the battleship North Carolina. While this battleship anchored in New York harbor, four young men out of a thousand got together. They could find no other Christians, but they asked for a room where they could meet and pray. They were assigned a little room way below the waterline, and day after day they faithfully met together to pray. They prayed that God would pour His blessing upon that ship. Finally one day the Spirit of God descended, the sailors’ hearts burned within them, and they knew that God was present. They began to sing praises to God, and their hymns of praise wafted up through the ship. Hearing the singing, rough sailors came down to mock the four men, but when these rough men entered the room, the power of God’s Spirit gripped them. These men fell to their knees. Eventually, hundreds converted to Christianity, and a great revival swept the entire ship. In fact, the revival carried from that ship to others.

The same God who changed these men, the same God who changed Saul of Tarsus into Paul the Apostle, can change anyone. Today pray that God will bring revival to our nation, especially to the people whom you’d least expect would give their lives to Christ. He can work through you as you faithfully pray.

“It [revival] is a sovereign act of God, whereby He
intervenes to lift the situation completely out of human
hands and works in extraordinary power.”
Jeffrey King

“… then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”

— 2 Chronicles 7:14

Yesterday we discussed our need for national revival. Today and tomorrow I want to continue with this theme.

Revival is a rebirth, a restoration of God’s power, and I believe that it can happen in America. God can yet change this land. He can stay the hand of chastisement acted out in our mean city streets and spreading into the countryside.

But to have revival, we must pay a price. God says, “If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray.” Revival begins with God’s people praying prayers of brokenness, of humility, of acknowledgment of our own sins. How often do we pray for the sins of others and neglect repenting of our own sins that prevent us from being effective witnesses for God? We need to fall on our knees and get our own lives straight with God.

God doesn’t do His work in unbelievers until His people renew their devotion to Him. But when that happens, watch out. He has promised that when we humble ourselves and pray and seek His face, He will hear, forgive our sin, and heal our land. The spiritual renewal of God’s children inevitably issues forth a tremendous outbreak of evangelism that has fresh power and works in ways never seen before. God can release His power to bring the entire nation to Him.

The Great Awakening in America began when a few people prayed, seeking God’s face, week after week, time after time, until finally God began to pour out His Spirit. Christians met to pray. They began to expect great things of God. And people became Christians. For years this revival went on. At its peak, fifty thousand people a week were born into God’s kingdom.

Will you join me in praying for national revival? Will you humble yourself before God and seek His face so that He might bring revival to this land through you? Let’s all do this so that we might not hinder God from drawing this nation to Himself.

“Take a piece of chalk, and draw a circle on the floor. Then step
inside the circle and pray, ‘Lord, send a revival inside this circle.’”
Gypsy Smith
(On Being Asked How To Start A Revival)