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Lord,
make my heart soft, so that it can stand the pressure
God
is looking for soft hearts. David was a man after the heart of God,
because he had a soft heart. Jesus was able to go to the cross, because
His heart was soft. If He would have had a hardened heart, He couldn’t
have been able to bring this sacrifice for us. Therefore our prayer must
be: “Lord make my heart soft, so that it can stand the pressure.”
With
a soft heart God can go every way with us, and it also makes you much
happier. Every hard spot is a stumbling block for Him to help us to make
it to our destiny.
The
most important causes of a hardened heart are:
1.
Damage
Most
of the hard spots in our hearts are there because of damage. You can
compare it with the causes of a heart attack. A heart attack begins
because one or more veins silt up, for instance because of an unhealthy
lifestyle. Then the heart gets less oxygenated blood and will be destroyed
little by little. We call that hearts attack. This causes a scar, in the
area where the heart is damaged. You have to respond very quickly and go
to the hospital; otherwise it can be too late.
Spiritually
that also happens. Because of the negative things that happen in our lives
the gate to our spiritual heart blocks. Then scars grow the structure of
your heart changes and that can be fatal, spiritually seen. Negative
things that we don’t handle well hardens your heart, makes that your
heart will be covered with scars. They heart still beats, but it will have
much more problems to keep pumping the blood around. That makes it
difficult for God to penetrate deep into your heart.
Usually
the causes of these damages are caused by people close to you.
Results
of this pain can be:
-
Indifference
-
Bitterness
-
Separation
-
Perfectionism/insecurity
-
Depression
-
Fears
A
hardened heart doesn’t only influence your life, but also the lives of
people around you. If you want to reach out to the people around you, it
will be much more difficult because your heart is hard. You cannot share
the whole Gospel from your heart, because on some places you haven’t
received God’s goodness and healing completely.
“Lord
make my heart soft, so that it can handle the pressure.” If you give Him
room to heal your wounded heart, a world of healing will open up for you.
You will notice that you do things with pleasure and joy again. You will
receive rest and peace and God can also do new things through you. Things
you could not have done with your wounded heart. Jesus wants to soften
your heart again, because it’s so painful for Him to see His children
walking around with pain in their hearts. Whatever happened in your life,
give room to Jesus to heal you!!!
2.
Stubbornness
Another
cause of hardness of heart is stubbornness. Next to damages by pain your
heart can be attacked if it continually hardens itself against warnings,
rebukes and confrontations. If somebody gets some speed tickets, and he
continues to drive far too fast, one day his drivers’ license is taken
from him. God warns us, again and again, from His Word, by His children,
in daily life (sometimes we think that only a pastor is allowed to
confront us, but daily life, when God is leading us into situations, can
learn us a lot).
Sometimes
stubbornness can be a result of a mistake you made and that you don’t
want to admit. At that moment you shut the door to restoration from that
mistake for God and for yourself. Every mistake we make has consequences,
and only together with the Lord you can find a solution.
Proverbs
29:1 He
who is often rebuked, and hardens his neck, will suddenly be destroyed,
and that without remedy.
Stubbornness
can bring you in a lot of big problems and therefore is it good to think
good every time you get a warning. Is the warning true? If you get the
same warning, rebuke or response more than once, it is time to search
yourself well. Many people don’t see their own stubbornness!
Here
are a few characteristics concerning hardening:
-
It
doesn’t stop by itself, but gets worse. Because the devil that goes
round like a roaring lion, is looking for hearts that his may devour (1
Peter 5:8). Satan will try everything possible to increase the hardness of
a heart.
-
It
pulls others with it. Birds of a feather flock together. One will
strengthen the other, and there will be no more room for restoration.
-
It
hinders you to have a healthy circulation of the blood, spiritual you get
less and less oxygen and die spiritually.
Therefore
our prayer must be:”Lord, make my heart soft, so it can handle the
pressure.”
A
hardened heart that cannot handle the pressure anymore will:
-
respond wrongly to circumstances, because of pain or stubbornness.
-
make choices based on the damages or stubbornness, and not based on
spiritual insight and wisdom.
Jesus
said: “Come
to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in
heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My
burden is light.” (Matthew 1:29-30).
Jesus
was a human being, lived, worked, talked, has eaten, and had sorrows, as a
human being. He was angry, disappointed, rejected, mocked at, tortured,
mutilated, crucified and finally died and rose for us. In all
circumstances His heart remained soft. If you read about the last week in
the earthly life of Jesus you see that He:
-
was welcomed as a King when He entered Jerusalem
-
a
couple of days later He had a supper with His disciples, including the one
who would betray Him
-
was
alone in His last hours, although He had asked some of His friends to be
with Him
-
Despite
His fear he kept on praying. He said: “Not My will, but Yours will be
done”
-
a
disciple who first said he wanted to die with Him, denied Him three times
in the same night
-
Was
betrayed with a kiss.. a kiss on His cheek was equal to a knife in His
back
-
most
of His guests at the last supper seemed to be invisible later
-
was
falsely accused, had a show trial, nobody was there to defend Him,
although He had done so many good things, so much healings, deliverances,
had given hope, food and so much more
-
was
tortured, beaten, mocked at, although He never had done anything wrong
-
Finally
by Romans, ordered by His own people, he was crucified, the most painful
death.
-
And
even when He was at the cross, He was mocked and ridiculed
-
And
even then, He forgave them, and promised one of the other crucified that
they would be in paradise together
He
didn’t harden His heart, it remained soft. During the three years of His
earthly ministry He was angry. He was angry with the Pharisees, with the
money changers in the temple, and He was very sad because so many people
didn’t understand Him.
This
shows that Jesus was a man, with normal human feelings, the same we have.
Although everything He was going through, His heart didn’t change. He
went to the Father with all His pain, sorrows and problems and His heart
remained soft. Forgive, forgive, forgive and pray, pray pray: “Lord make
my heart soft, so that I can go to the cross, not because You force Me,
but because I want to. Not because of stubbornness or pride, but out of
love, for all these people, whose heart needs to become soft again.”
The
only thing Jesus did was going to the Father with all the pain and
rejections. He decided to forgive others, and He also asked the Father to
forgive them. He was angry, sad, left alone and lonely but it never
influenced the choices He made.
Don’t
let your choices be influenced by a hardened heart.
Be
healed, in Jesus’ Name.
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