As a Man Thinketh in His Heart
Beloved, as I opened my heart to The LORD this morning, I found myself saying, “I am all ears, Father and I am willing and ready to honor your heart as you use me to speak what is on your heart. I desire to be a vessel of honor for you”.
As I presented myself before The LORD, I waited in silence asking HIM to show me my heart and when HE did, I realized HE was highlighting something in me that I had seen in someone else but never thought the reason HE kept bringing it up was HE was more interested in my seeing myself than my being disturbed by someone else’s actions.
When The LORD shone HIS light into my heart, it showed me that what I had been calling ‘double minded’ simply was seeing the heart motive that was totally different than the actions before me. Or as one might say “wearing a mask” to hide our true feelings.
Another way to say it is always trying to present a “good image” while never changing the lie we believe or the heart attitude that is self centered.
My mother always put it this way, “Sandra Lynn, actions speak louder than words”.
She always used my double name when she wanted to make a point. She had many “pet sayings” that I recall like “straighten up and fly right”.
Simply put, God’s way is the road is narrow and those who find it are few.
I never realized back then that she was endeavoring to impart wisdom to me in her own way.
We too, have our own unique way of presenting what we are imparting. God knew that there is always “somebody” that we will listen to, i.e. someone we esteem or put another way, “someone who speaks our language.” AMEN?
The LORD also loves me so much that HE too calls me by name when He “means business” or should I say wants me to embrace truth.
Beloved, I believe HE is calling us out, calling our name to “get a new heart” in relationships and be a true carrier of HIS heart to the world in this very chaotic hour we find ourselves in today.
I hear voices echoing daily, “Help me find where I am supposed to be,” or “I am just not sure what The LORD wants me to do or what He has for me.”
My answer to the last one last night is simply, “What is your passion? What sets your heart on fire? How do you see yourself?
Beloved, I have learned that The LORD always answers me with a question in order to show me my heart and set me on the same page with His purpose and plan for me.
As I examined the The Passion Translation (TPT) version of Proverbs 23:6-7 today, The LORD opened up my heart to REAL truth once again.
Here it is…
“Be sensible when you dine with a stingy man and don’t eat more than you should. For as he thinks within himself, so is he.
He will grudgingly say, “Go ahead and eat all you want,” but in his heart he resents the fact that he has to pay for your meal.”
AS ALWAYS, this was so timely and so appropriate for what HE found searching my heart today. Isn’t HE wonderful?
The Hebrew in Proverbs 23:6 here literally means “an evil eye,” which is a metaphor for a stingy man, or “Don’t crave his delicacies.”
In Proverbs 23:7, The Aramaic, the Septuagint, and a few Hebrew manuscripts read “Eating with him is like eating with someone with a hair in his throat — his mind is not with you!”
I asked Him long ago to break my heart with the things that break HIS heart and His heart is breaking for our divided hearts and the division that is taking place all over the world.
Just as the good shepherd left the 99 and went after the one, He is reaching down to each one of us personally to be the one who will make a difference instead of a division.
Interestingly enough, this is not a new lesson for me. Suddenly, I realized I was caught up in the “blame game” I have been interceding about in the world. The very thing I hated was finding a place in me.
Sometimes the very thing we “hate” in others is buried in us even though it is not being acted out in the same fashion. It has become a stronghold in our mind and our thinking has been dominated by satan’s lies.
Sometimes, we then, step up and become “an adviser” to that one we are standing on the edge of “passing judgement”.
That is the one moment when we must capture that thought and listen to that “advise” of the true adviser and let The LORD show us the root of what is in our hearts lest it become a “bitter root judgment” by which many are defiled.
You might say this is a small thing but beloved, it is the “little foxes” that we must take captive.
The LORD says it is the hidden man of the heart, the inner thoughts of a man that determines how we live and who we become. SELAH.
I love a quote from Derek Prince posted on a picture from Derek Prince Ministries.
“The condition of your heart is going to determine the condition of your life.
Guard it with all your strength.
Don’t let any evil in.”
I challenge you today to hit the pause button and think about these things.
Better still, become a meditator on God’s Word. Just 15 minutes a day will change your life.
It is a KEY to a changed heart that can be part of changing a world.
Proverbs 23:7 is such an important Scripture. It says, “As [a man] thinks in his heart, so is he.”
~ Sandi Holman
Sandi Holman of Matters of the Heart website was called to the nations as an End-Time Handmaiden in 1984 with Gwen Shaw and served with YWAM Singapore and YWAM Charlotte in missions. Sword of The LORD Ministries came from a divine encounter with The LORD when He came into her prayer room and said, “I have come to put a sword in your hand and was given special instructions on how and when to use it.” She is an author, Prophetic Intercessor and Seer, Chaplain, Teacher, Speaker and Equipper, and Blogger who has also served as a Pastor Online with Beyond the Veil Ministries.
Beautiful.