Pastor Seyi Osanyinbi
[biblegateway passage=”Genesis 6: 1 – 5″ display=”Genesis 6: 1 – 5″]
The battle between the flesh and the spirit has been from the beginning of time. Every man here on earth is either living in the flesh or in the spirit. Satan was the first person to become flesh before Adam when he sinned. The struggle we are engaged in as believers is with the flesh and the only antidote to the flesh is to walk in the Spirit.
[biblegateway passage=”Proverbs 4: 23″ display=”Proverbs 4: 23″]
We are warned to guard our hearts with all diligence because it is from the heart that all issues that determine life outcomes emanate from. So the problem of man is not in his spirit as many have erroneously thought; the root of man’s problem is the heart. Every evil thought emanates from the heart. Everything that will determine our lives starts from our heart. If our heart is wrong, everything will be wrong. The same reason God had issues with Israel; they confessed God with their mouth, yet their heart was far from Him.
[biblegateway passage=”Colossians 4: 6″ display=”Colossians 4: 6″]; [biblegateway passage=”Proverbs 18: 21″ display=”Proverbs 18: 21″]
The major thing that defiles our hearts is our thoughts. In the spiritual realm, Spirits of all kinds hear our thoughts and not our speech. Our thoughts are capable of making us unrighteousness. How and what we hear is very important because the things we hear go straight into our heart to build up as thoughts. If the words we receive into our hearts are not carefully processed, they form the wrong thoughts in us. We should also be careful with the things we say; our words can either kill or give life.
[biblegateway passage=”Luke 8: 5 – 11″ display=”Luke 8: 5 – 11″]
Everything that propagates itself has a seed; even what we call “eternal life” is a seed. God didn’t warn Adam because of the fruit from the tree but because of its seed. When Adam ate the fruit, the seed of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was planted in his heart. The word of God is also a seed that is of another kind of knowledge. If we spent time nurture it in our hearts, it will grow into a mighty tree, bearing its own kind of fruit.
Just as God planted different species of trees in His own garden, He expects us to plant different kinds of seeds in our own garden which is our heart. If we don’t watch over our heart, our garden will be unfruitful. It is our personal responsibility to take care of our heart; we need to pay attention to what grows in there. The way to tender our heart is to walk in the spirit.
Words and sights are key in determining how our heart is conditioned. Certain kinds of songs and videos have the ability to contaminate our heart or desecrate our temple. When we watch and feed our hearts with the wrong sights, we sow the wrong seeds in it and they grow in our heart to contaminate it. We must be observant enough, to guard our heart and be careful about the kind of seeds that is being planted and who is planting it.
[biblegateway passage=”Joshua 1: 8″ display=”Joshua 1: 8″]
God has given us all things that pertain to life and godliness, how we make use of them is up to us. For every situation we find ourselves in, there is an appropriate seed that should be planted in our heart.
[biblegateway passage=”2 Corinthians 10: 1 – 5″ display=”2 Corinthians 10: 1 – 5″]
Our ways, lifestyles, thought-patterns, value systems and philosophies are channels through which our hearts are influenced. We are supposed to take the word of God and plant it as seeds in our heart to serve as wind-breakers against winds of destructive tendencies.
[biblegateway passage=”1 Timothy 1: 19″ display=”1 Timothy 1: 19″]
Our conscience cannot afford to be bad too. Our conscience is responsible for permitting or rejecting a particular thought pattern. If we have a bad conscience, we will not be able to correctly judge. And, if our conscience is not built with the right kind of knowledge, we will manifest what is wrong.
If we are going to deal with the problem of the flesh, then we have to start from its root, which is the heart. If we do not deal with our hearts, we will end up in the wrong location. We can go to church and be faithful in doing God’s work but if our heart is not right, we will never get to our destination. That we are born again doesn’t automatically make our heart right; we need to trust God work on our heart constantly ([biblegateway passage=”Isaiah 55:6 – 7″ display=”Isaiah 55:6 – 7″]).