“This is why the Holy Spirit says, “If only you would listen to his voice this day! Don’t make him angry by hardening your hearts, like your ancestors did during the days of their rebellion, when they were tested in the wilderness. There your fathers tested me and tried my patience even though they saw my miracles for forty years they still doubted me! This ignited my anger with that generation, and I said about them, ‘They wander in their hearts just like they do with their feet, and they refuse to learn my ways.’”
Hebrews 3:7-10 TPT

The Lord’s desire is that we experience the riches of the calling to which we have been called. That we would experience the fullness of what it means to know Him and walk with Him throughout every day of our lives. However, to experience the Glory of the Lord in every aspect of our lives, we need to be led by His voice. As the word of God says, we need to ensure that our hearts are sensitive and pure before the Lord for us to be single minded in pursuit of Him.

This portion of scripture talks of the Israelites that had been led out of captivity in Egypt. They had just experienced the hand of the Lord split the red sea, draw water from a rock to quench the thirst of 3 million people as well as their livestock, provide heavenly manner each morning, and rescue them from venomous snakes as they looked unto the bronze serpent. Moreover, even though they had just travelled so far and for such a long time, their shoes never wore out and there was not one sick nor feeble among them. This highlights the fact that the Israelites had just experienced the miracle working power of God yet when the Lord told them to enter the promised land, the land flowing with milk and honey, they were grasshoppers in their own sight. Fear entered their hearts because they had forgotten who their God was and what He had just done for them. Proverbs 23:7 says that “as a man thinks in his heart, so is he.”

Therefore, to experience the promised land, the very promises which God has spoken to us, we need to tend the garden our hearts. Proverbs 4:23 says, “So above all, guard the affections of your heart, for they affect all that you are. Pay attention to the welfare of your innermost being, for from there flows the wellspring of life.” In Matthew 5, the word says that those who are pure in heart shall see God. Psalm 23:2-4 says that those with clean hands and pure hearts will ascend the hill of the Lord or stand in His holy place. This means that as sons and daughters of God we should echo David as we pray that the Lord creates in us a pure heart and renews a steadfast spirit within us that we might know Him and enter every promise which He has stored up for us.

Guarding our hearts is a message preached about so often, yet it is often perceived in a manner of being defensive. However, guarding your heart does not refer to withdrawing from certain situations or hardening your heart to refrain from experiencing certain emotions. Instead, maintaining a pure heart involves fixing your thoughts unto Jesus, and meditating on His word and His promises day and night, keeping them in the midst of your heart, inclining your ears to His sayings and not letting them depart from your eyes. Hebrews 3:1 says, “And so, dear brothers and sisters, you are now made holy, and each of you is invited to the feast of the calling of heaven. So, fasten your thoughts fully onto Jesus, whom we embrace as our Apostle and King-Priest.”

This is emphasised by Philippians 4:6-8 TPT which states, “Don’t be pulled in different directions or worried about a thing. Be saturated in prayer throughout each day, offering your faith-filled requests before God with overflowing gratitude. Tell him every detail of your life, then God’s wonderful peace that transcends human understanding, will guard your heart and mind through Jesus Christ. Keep your thoughts continually fixed on all that is authentic and real, honourable and admirable, beautiful and respectful, pure and holy, merciful and kind. And fasten your thoughts on every glorious work of God, praising him always.”

Meditate on Jesus, always thanking Him, always praising Him, always standing on the word of God. Give the affections of your heart towards the Lord. That is when you recognise who you serve. That is when you recognise that you are in covenant with the living God. When you recognise this, you begin to thank Him, your dry bones begin to rattle, and the breath of life enters your lungs. When you delight yourself in the Father, He gives you the desires of your heart.

As long as we come to Jesus as a child, not to receive anything but to love Him and let Him love us, our hearts will know Him, and we will see his hand in our lives. Like the woman with the alabaster jar, who broke a jar worth a year’s wages over the feet of Jesus, give Jesus your whole heart. Remember, you may not seem to have a lot, but 5 fish and two loaves in the hands of Jesus is enough to feed over 5 000. Place your life in Jesus hands and He will do exceedingly, abundantly, above, all that you can think, ask or imagine. As long as you are like the widow that brought the empty jars to Elisha, empty yourself before Jesus, and He will fill you with an anointing more precious than silver or gold. Remember, “The eyes of the Lord range to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him.” Your heart will always be pure if it belongs to Jesus! We believe and pray that this truth will set you free and that the Lord will show Himself strong on your behalf as you give Him your heart and your whole life to.