I was following my heart as I visionwrote or journalized this morning and look what came out! I hope it blesses you as it did me. (I’m in the Prayer Class with a group of wonderful ladies here in Abilene, KS.) The Scripture verses for today were as follows.
One only is the Lawgiver and Judge Who is able to save and to destroy [the One Who has the absolute power of life and death]. [But you] who are you that [you presume to] pass judgment on your neighbor? Come now, you who say, Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a city and spend a year there and carry on our business and make money. Yet you do not know [the least thing] about what may happen tomorrow. What is the nature of your life? You are [really] but a wisp of vapor (a puff of smoke, a mist) that is visible for a little while and then disappears [into thin air]. You ought instead to say, If the Lord is willing, we shall live and we shall do this or that [thing]. But as it is, you boast [falsely] in your presumption and your self-conceit. All such boasting is wrong. So any person who knows what is right to do but does not do it, to him it is sin.
James 4:12-17 (AMP)
Lord, why was it NOT in your will that man study the difference between good and evil in the Garden of Eden?
Jaque, because the mind that studies differences is endlessly polarized by doing so. There is no escaping duality when the mind uses its perceptions to judge and condemn. Your heart, on the other hand, always knows what is right; it holds My answer and never needs to study what is naturally organic to it. The mind, on the other hand, can never know true goodness.
So any person who knows what is right to do but does not do it, to him it is sin.
Jaque, those who don’t follow their hearts will invariably produce evil. Presumption is evil. “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a city and spend a year there and carry on our business and make money.” To state a thing will be “thus and so” without having your true ‘heart’ invested in it is presumption, or sin. The heart guided by love never tries to manipulate tomorrow; it just is.
So Lord, if I feel my heart condemning me is it because it is dominated by my mind?
Yes. Before you were enlightened in new birth your heart indicated evil in that it was dominated by Satan’s mind from the fall. Satan used lies to usurp Adam’s God-indwelt heart, stealing his prize inheritance; every person since, in losing heart dominance, lost possession of the Promised Land. Salvation is the recovery of your heart Jaque; it is Me getting you back where you belong. Every time you repent you return from mind dominance to heart recovery. When the mind is in ascension you feel driven to ‘figure out’ the difference between good and evil. You can easily recognize these times because you feel pushed, condemned and captive to the tyranny of guilt. Heart recovery is the release (letting go) of mind domination; here you are free to simply “be” the love that you are. So you see Jaque, there’s never anything to “figure out.” You know My will by abiding in My tangible, very present love.
Then what is the purpose of the mind?
The mind is good for doing physical calculations, but it cannot provide answers for the heart. It provides the heart a means of expression; it is the servant of the heart. The heart is above calculation, intellectualism, and even ethics. What is doesn’t have to ‘figure out’ what it is. Jaque, love never fails because it is content to simply BE what it is. So remember; your heart guides your conscience by love, and love is the place of knowing that you know.
One more question please Lord: what is the result of mind dominance, and what is the result of heart dominance?
Mind dominance will eventually destroy the immune system. Love dominance can reverse the damage. Grace, grace, and more grace to you Jaque. Renew your mind in truth and reverse the damage. How? Follow My word; FOLLOW YOUR HEART.
Wow Jaque, thats deep! I love your flow of questions and answers and my favorite line is:
“Every time you repent you return from mind dominance to heart recovery.”
How wonderful it is that Love dominance can reverse the damage done in the Fall. Heart recovery sounds so good to my soul, what Hope there is from our God!
Love you
Sara
I love this post! The mind is so linear. It prefers cut and dry or black and white with no shades of grey. It calls for “either” “or” and chokes on the paradox of “both.”
Salvation is the recovery of the heart! Yes! To rest soundly in the mind of Christ is to see the natural mind rescued from its impulse to interpret or decode life. The mind’s insistence on true or false, right or wrong, or good or evil is being tamed and reclaimed so it can thrive as the heart’s happy helper.
You said, “To state a thing will be “thus and so” without having your true ‘heart’ invested in it is presumption, or sin. The heart guided by love never tries to manipulate tomorrow; it just is.”
This too is wonderful! Our true heart is invested…but we ought not assign an outcome to the event. We may “know” that we are to go “over there”, but God’s purposes may be far different from the meaning the mind (the presumptuous one) will ascribe. The heart hears the leading and the mind jumps in to say, “oh, He must be sending me there to bless me, make me happy, ease my hardship…” and therein lies the evil.
The only “outcome” we can be sure of (thank God) is the further emergence of CHRIST – living His life as mine. All else is the mind’s wishful thinking. The heart knows to go…and doesn’t try to manipulate tomorrow. It trusts God, rests in His goodness, and expects Christ…no matter what the process looks like!
Yes! This is something that I keep having to learn, Susan. You put it into words well:
“Our true heart is invested…but we ought not assign an outcome to the event. We may “know” that we are to go “over there”, but God’s purposes may be far different from the meaning the mind (the presumptuous one) will ascribe.”
Oswald Chambers says:
“God has to destroy our determined confidence in our own convictions. We say, “I know that this is what I should do” – and suddenly the voice of God speaks in a way that overwhelms us by revealing the depths of our ignorance.”
I often get my ‘mind’ around something my heart knows God is telling me to do and start to run with it when, bam!, God shows me again the depth of my ignorance and reins me in, back to the place where I remember that I am “empty handed but alive in His hands.” Step by step, He just doesn’t want us to move ahead in our minds or without our hearts invested. Only He can show us our true heart motives and give us that daily tweaking that we need in order to see from His perspective. I love that through this He keeps us humble and close to Him so we can just BE!
Jaque,
This is an awesome journal. I fell so blessd by it. Thank you for sharing.
I particularly like the thought:
“Salvation is the recovery of your heart Jaque; it is Me getting you back where you belong. Every time you repent you return from mind dominance to heart recovery. When the mind is in ascension you feel driven to ‘figure out’ the difference between good and evil. You can easily recognize these times because you feel pushed, condemned and captive to the tyranny of guilt. Heart recovery is the release (letting go) of mind domination; here you are free to simply “be” the love that you are. ”
I definitely need to get out of mind dominance to heart recovery. I tend to do too much thinking, and it does lead to polarization and sometimes even paralization. I am going to begin to pray for less mind time and more heart time.
Marji
That’s a great prayer to keep in motion Marji. I really think mind dominance “paralyzes” all of us, keeping us nailed to unbelief until something like desperation causes us to say, “The way I think isn’t working…” I love the fact that “people who get something other people don’t have–did something other people didn’t do.” In this case they ‘let go’ of mind dominance and let God recover their hearts.
Blessings,
Jaque