Dear People Who Keep Company With God,

At the beginning of my ministry I had a close friend and his wife sit me down one day and give me some counsel that everyone should hear. Basically, this is what they told me, “If you want to succeed you are going to have to be your true self, not who you want to be, but who you already are.  Who you want to become may develop over time, but not until you find who you already are.” That is counsel for a healthy life.

Your true self is who you are in your heart (Prov. 23:7). I am not aware of any checklist or step-by-step instructions we can follow to be our true self, but I have found some things we can do that nurtures, protects and enables us to be healthy in our hearts so we can be our true self.

 

Because we do have to modify our behavior in certain situations, by default, we become experts at modifying our outward behavior and ignoring our hearts. When your outward behavior becomes too far removed from who you are in your heart, you start getting in trouble (Matt. 15:8). When I find myself doing this I go back to the love of God because His love heals and empowers us to be real and transparent (Phil. 1:9-11).

Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life. Proverbs 4:23

Your heart is like a reservoir, fed by the rivers of living water resident in your spirit. Like a dam in the natural we must learn to regulate the opening and closing of the floodgates of our heart. One of the ways we do this is to be careful of what and whom we allow into our hearts. Even nature has watershed boundaries that determine what enters a body of water.

I do not feel that I have to tell or should tell everybody everything about my life. You can be authentic and honest without airing your best or worst thoughts, feelings or secrets. Having healthy boundaries protects your heart and actually enables you to have and maintain healthy relationship with others.

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matthew 6:21

Your heart condition determines the things you most value in life, they go together and are inseparable. Busyness of life, work, ministry, sickness, sin and the desire for other things tend to harden our hearts over time. When our hearts are hardened toward God, it’s like we are spiritually blind and deaf—we can’t see spiritual truth or hear the Lord speak to us. We even struggle remembering how wonderful the Lord is and what He has done for us (Mark 8:17-18). It is like a dead man walking.

One of the best things we can do to maintain a healthy heart is to use the eyes of our heart to stay in touch with the invisible realm where our true greatest treasure is located (2 Cor. 4:16-18).

Many Blessings, BW

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