The cleansing of the heart
Mercedes López-Miranda(Audio: Spanish)
SUMMARY:
The theme of the message is the cleanliness of the heart. The heart is an entity in the Bible and is the center of the personality where all actions of the human being take place. Christ came to redeem our entire being, and our salvation begins when we open our hearts to the Lord. God is a specialist in heart surgery, and he knows everything about us. We need to put our trust in God's purposes for our lives instead of following what our hearts dictate. Colossians 3 provides a description of the relational behavior of a child of God, which we can use as a diagnostic test to discern our actions compared to what the word says.
The passage from Colossians 3:9-17 describes the qualities of a person who has been clothed with the new man, has an awareness of their identity in Christ, and has the qualities of the fruit of the spirit. Everything they do, they do for the Lord. The heart has strategic importance as it is the seat of the will, passions, motivations, and intellect. Satan attacks our hearts, but God continually speaks to our hearts. Sin is born from the heart, so every change or transformation must also come from the heart. One reason we may struggle to overcome bad attitudes and behaviors is due to immaturity or ignorance.
The reasons why it's hard to change our behavior in relationships include immaturity, justifying bad behavior, selfishness, and being creatures of habit. We also have messages written in our hearts from past hurts that can interfere with healthy relationships. However, we have the authority to decide what enters our hearts and can guard it against harmful emotions. It's important to pay attention to our heart and be in conversation with it and with God. When faced with difficult situations, it's helpful to put them on a mental shelf and revisit them later with prayer and a calmer mindset.
The speaker shares how to take care of our hearts by accepting responsibility for our emotions, being proactive, seeking help from trusted individuals, and daily prayer and renewal. They also remind us to trust in God and His promises for healing our broken hearts. The message is based on Colossians 3 and emphasizes the importance of love, forgiveness, and unity in our relationships. The speaker shares personal experiences and encourages listeners to prioritize heart hygiene and to have conversations with their own hearts. They offer a final blessing for listeners to internalize and apply in their lives.
In the name of the Lord, a prayer is made to declare that the listener is a new person who has stripped away their old ways and put on the new. They will guard their heart, renew themselves according to God's image, and live with mercy, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. They will forgive and ask for forgiveness generously, and live in unity with others with the dress of love. The prayer asks for healing of relationships and for God to work in the listener's life. The prayer ends with asking for safe travels home and continued work in the listener's life.That the Lord, worth the redundancy, put in my heart is the theme of the cleanliness of the heart. And I chose that topic of cleanliness or heart healing, because I have realized that it is a great need in God's people, starting with me. I need the Lord to clean my heart frequently each day. And I know that each one of us needs the Lord to do that.
We, many times, are contaminated in our hearts and we also contaminate interpersonal relationships, that happens to you sometimes in our homes, even though they are Christian homes there can be discord, difficult moments, conflicts that are not resolved, wrong attitudes. And all these things are born from the heart and that is why seeing this need, because I see it, every day, not only in my life, in those who are close to me, in the world, in the church, I think that it is something that needs to be focused. here in the church.