What Feeds and Sustains you?

This is the first instalment in a series entitled The Heart of the Matter.

The human heart weighs less than 450 grams, it beats 100,000 times a day and over 2,5 billion times in the average lifetime. Without your heart your body would quickly cease to work, as it pumps life-giving blood all over your body to give and sustain life.

The heart is also a metaphor for the inner life. The word Jesus used means the seat of the physical, spiritual and mental life. The heart is the centre and the source of the whole inner life – thinking, feeling and willing.

God is concerned about your heart. In 1 Samuel 16:7, He said to Samuel “The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” This is your spiritual heart. (Nicky Gumbel)

The Heart:

1) Pumps life giving sustaining blood through the body feeding the cells and sustaining them. Topic: What feeds and Sustains you?

Sustaining is defined as ‘helping someone or something to stay alive”

Per Melissa Chu, there are 5 things you need to live well:

· Good quality Air (oxygen)

· Nutritious Food (not junk food)

· Movement (not necessarily exercise)

· Quality Sleep

· Purpose

Other authors believe you need the following to sustain your life:

· Simply Living = enjoying the air we breathe, the food we eat, nature around us, the roof over our heads, our clothing (basic needs).

· Creativity = this stimulates enjoyment and challenge, as you break out of societal moulds and boundaries.

· Build Community = as we lend support, we are supported. As we share in each other’s joys and sorrows, we cultivate closeness and authenticity. Knowing someone else cares and knows something meaningful about us makes us feel less alone in the world.

· Serving others, serving God. As you make time to serve others, you will feel rich inside.

· Love. Demonstrating love and compassion not only touches the hearts of those we care for, but transforms us too. Our hearts open more as we expand them to nurture others.

· Connect to something greater (God).

Every person at some point will let you down; Jesus will never do so; he will even treat you better than what you deserve.

Listening to the gospel pushes the reset button on our hearts, reminding us of what is most important. Your heart gets ignited again and again with passion for Jesus.

David discovered that his help, his sustainer, is not a what, but a Who.

God is my helper; the Lord is the sustainer of my life. Psalm 54:4

The Lord is a refuge for the persecuted, a refuge in times of trouble. Those who know your name trust in you because you have not abandoned those who seek you, Lord. Psalm 9:9-10

David learned to talk to God, to share the anguish of his soul and to ask for what he needed.

“Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous be shaken.” Psalm 55:22 NIV

Proverbs 4:23 advises “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.”

Five ways (per Nicky Gumbel) to keep your spiritual heart healthy:

1) Guard your heart (Matthew 5:28 teaches that adultery starts in your heart, and Proverbs 6:25 warns that lust starts in your heart). Proverbs 6:21 advises us to take these words of wisdom and ‘bind them upon your heart’”

2) Love Jesus with your whole heart (Mark 12:28-37) When Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment is, He replied ““Love the Lord with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength” The second is this: “Love your neighbour as yourself.”” At the centre of the message of Jesus is a love relationship with the Lord your God, which starts with your heart and overflows into a love for other people.

3) Focus on your heart (Mark 12:38-40). Don’t be a hypocrite and seek recognition. Remain humble and serving for the right reasons: to glorify God and uplift others,

4) Give from your heart (Mark 12:41-44). Jesus is not concerned about the size of your wallet. He is concerned about the size of your heart. What we give, and the way in which we give, reflects our hearts.

5) Keep your heart holy (Leviticus 13). The rules and regulations in the Old Testament were motivated from a desire to please God. The outward rituals were supposed to reflect the inner attitudes of the heart. Holiness is not a matter of outward appearance. It is a matter of the heart (your true intentions).

We are to learn from the mistakes of others so that we do not repeat them. Proverbs 21:11 “When a mocker is punished, the simple gain wisdom; by paying attention to the wise they get knowledge.”

We are to read the bible as the man source of our guidance and sustenance.

2 Timothy 3:16 “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,” Also, per Matthew 4:4 “Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.”

Proverbs 2:1-11 advises us to store up God’s Word in our hearts. You are to accept (v1), listen and apply (v2), call out (v3), and search (v4). It takes time and commitment, and we need the help of the Holy Spirit to do this. You will find therein knowledge of God (v5). God gives out wisdom and understanding freely (v6 MSG), victory (v7), protection (v8) and discretion (v11). Here David promises that God will ‘keep His eye on you.(V8 MSG) and protect you, and …guard you (VV8,11).

Psalm 19:7-11 contains clarification of the life-changing effects of reading the Bible. It

1. Revives your soul (v7a)

2. Brings you wisdom (v7b)

3. Gives joy to your heart (v8a)

4. Gives light to your eyes (v8b)

5. Warns you of danger (v11a)

6. Brings you great reward (v11b)

Forgive from the heart, not just from the lips. If you don’t, what can you expect in return? Be sincere and authentic.

Be in for a long and steady marathon of pleasing the Father. Getting onto the RUG. Receiving, Understanding, Growing in Jesus.

Deuteronomy 4:29 “Seek God with all your heart and you will find Him.”

Psalm 62:8 “Trust in him at all times, you people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge.”

Philippians 4:7 “And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”