God’s River Flows From The Sanctuary Of Your Heart!

Our last post was “There Are Deeper Waters In God!” We talked about going on in God’s river until we are carried away with it. One statement I made was “The more affected your heart is by God’s presence, the deeper the river gets. The deeper the river, the greater the manifestation of Jesus.” If I prayed and didn’t see God’s kingdom manifest in the situation yet, I don’t ask “Why?” Rather, my attitude is to keep going in God’s river so the manifestation of His glory increases. Look at what Jesus said:

John 7:38 (AMPC) He who believes in Me [who cleaves to and trusts in and relies on Me] as the Scripture has said, From his innermost being shall flow [continuously] springs and rivers of living water.

We often want God to do what is our responsibility. Many people blame God when they don’t see His kingdom and peace manifest in a situation instead of taking responsibility for cultivating what is in their own hearts. The church has often complicated what is simple and often expects God to do what is our responsibility. Because of this, the teaching often lacks the very foundational truth that power is in the gospel and flows out of walking in communion with God. The manifestation of God’s glory, including miracles, healing, and prophecy, is simple.

Proverbs 4:23 (AMPC) Keep and guard your heart with all vigilance and above all that you guard, for out of it flow the springs of life.

In Genesis, God gave mankind a garden to cultivate. Eden was God’s garden. The first Adam sinned, but the second Adam, Jesus, brought redemption and restored us to God’s garden and full access to God’s presence. What is it about those who are always experiencing great things in God? It’s not nearly as complicated as it gets made out to be. They have cultivated something in their heart and entered a “new normal.”

Your Internal Reality Changes Your External Reality!

Two years ago, the Lord said to me “I have a new normal for the church-that should have been normal all along! It’s a ‘normal’ in which the church does the works of Jesus!”

At the end of the last post, I shared a picture of a few boxes of Bibles. I bought them with a donation after a mentally ill lady asked for prayer and I felt like God told me to encourage her to read the Bible because the Holy Spirit would continue to work in her life through that. I saw God healing her mind as she read the Bible. God manifest His glory and ministered peace as we prayed, but His work would continue as she read the Bible.

Then I found out she didn’t have a Bible-and neither did most of the ladies there. So I told her I would get her a Bible. And someone told me she didn’t know how to read. Well, I felt that God spoke to me so I decided to get her a Bible in faith and figured that she could learn to read.

Well, guess what? We took the Bibles there last Thursday and I gave her the Bible, opened it, and she read it! Even though she had difficulty even speaking very well! I don’t know if the person who told me she didn’t know how to read was mistaken, or if it was a miracle, but we brought her the Bible in faith and she read it!

Then other ladies asked for prayer. Many had already been healed but wanted prayer again. Several felt dizzy as I prayed and then it passed and they felt relieved. Deliverance. God’s power rooted up weeds and now we were bringing them Bibles so they could plant something else in the place where the weeds had been.

One lady said she could barely see with her right eye and couldn’t hear anything with her left ear. And her left eye had poor vision tool. Partially blind in one eye and completely (or almost completely) deaf in one ear. Before we went I had cried out to the Lord. “Jesus, help! Here is my body. I yield to You. May it be like You are visiting this recovery house today.” I prayed and snapped my fingers in the ear that was deaf. She heard me. I asked her to cover her good ear and spoke softly in the other one. She responded. I snapped in both ears at the same time and asked if the volume was the same. It was.

I asked her to check her vision and she said she could see a sign that she could only previously see from a closer distance. But it was still not perfect. We prayed again and this time she read another sign with smaller letters and said “I never knew what that sign said! I could never read it!”

Then I realized that I had prayed for her before, the last time when I was there with the group. Most of the other ladies who needed healing had received it, but she didn’t notice any difference in her healing. And I was going to pray more but then I think she went to her room. And now she was healed!

What if I had remembered that and been focusing on that or striving? “We prayed last time and there was no difference…” What if I had disappointment growing like a weed in my heart? But no. I was so focused on the testimonies and what God was doing that my heart was bursting with praise. And now…she is hearing!

I’ve been sharing so many such testimonies. They have become normal for me. But for years I longed to experience such things! What happened? Did God just suddenly decide to do miracles for me, as if He wasn’t before? No! My “normal” changed as I got into the virtuous cycles of testimonies, praise and thanksgiving, and miracles! The seed of God’s word grew in my heart and began to multiply. All I have experienced has grown in my heart so that just a memory and I am in tears because of what I’ve seen Jesus do. And it just increases.

The reality in your heart will manifest around you. So tend your heart.

How To Take Care Of Your Heart

Plant God’s word in your heart by reading and meditating on scripture. Are weeds growing in your heart? Rip them up! Aggressively confront lies and beliefs that are contrary to God’s Word. Be ruthless in confronting unbelief! Sow in prayer! You will reap a good harvest if you don’t give up. Be deliberate and disciplined about praising and thanking the Lord in every circumstance. Don’t watch junk on TV but instead fill your heart with life. Keep going over testimonies. Remind yourself of what God has done in your life and what you have seen Him do for others. Write it down!

Philippians 4:4-9 (NIV) Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

Heaven’s reality is the reality of God’s presence, and your heart is the inner sanctuary where you commune with God. If you commune with God, heaven is in your heart. We read in Ezekiel about God’s river flowing from the sanctuary. So set your mind on things above, not on things of this earth, and God’s river will flow through you!

Colossians 3:1-2 NIV Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.

How Will You Name The Animals You Encounter?

As I was talking about tending the garden of our hearts in Brasilia, I remembered that God also gave Adam the responsibility of naming the animals. We can see that as symbolic of the way that we respond to situations. Some things we face in life spring directly from what we have cultivated in our hearts. Other things we face come at us externally. We are not responsible for what happened in those situations, but we are responsible for how we respond to them. We are responsible for the perspective we choose of how we look at those situations.

We choose to give thanks to God in all circumstances or to complain and take the posture of victims. Joseph was sold as a slave, but God brought good out of what was meant for evil. God does not do evil so that good may result, but He does take what was meant for evil and turn it around for good. People can go through the same trial and one person comes out bitter and angry, but another comes out loving more deeply and with a tenacious faith. This becomes quite evident when considering people who have been through a concentration camp, war, or other traumatic situation. When we look from heaven’s perspective, we see the Holy Spirit at work in the situation to bring redemption, just as Jesus’ crucifixion turned into Satan’s defeat!

Be Persistent And Persevere!

You will reap a harvest if you don’t give up. Sometimes you have to persevere in sowing. You don’t always see results right away. I had to persevere for a long time. But I now reap the benefits of sowing God’s word in my heart when I was a child and teenager. I reap the benefits of filling my heart with testimonies and meditating on the mighty works of the Lord. Even when I am struggling in some way or having a bad day, my heart often very quickly goes right back to the place of being completely overwhelmed with God’s love, of crying aloud to the Lord and knowing He hears me, of trusting in Him! What’s the secret of the miracles? My heart goes to a place where God’s river flows and I just completely give up on my own strength and yield to Him! Cultivate a heart that cries out to God and relies on Him! My heart goes to a place where I am more aware of God’s presence and impressed with his goodness than I am of any problem! Cultivate a heart of worship.

If we want to lose weight, change our bodies, or gain muscle, it doesn’t usually happen in one exercise session! We persevere to reap the benefits. Tending the garden of our hearts is similar. It takes persistence!

It can be hard work changing the state of things when your heart is full of weeds. But don’t get discouraged! As you cultivate the garden of your heart, even disappointment and pain turn to gold because God’s redemption comes in and even what Satan meant for evil gets turned around for good.

Often people are trying to pull up weeds but they keep sowing more weeds and they don’t plant much good. They want help but go back to watching horror films and shows full of sexual immorality and people screaming at each other. Instead of opening their Bible, they turn on the TV. Then they feel like victims, but they are reaping what they planted in their hearts. Having worked with youth, I’ve seen that so many teenagers listen to music with suicidal, depressed, angry lyrics and say “I just like the music and I don’t pay attention to the lyrics.” Then they become angry, suicidal, and depressed. Many people say they need help but they don’t want to change what they are planting and cultivating in their hearts! And then ask “Why hasn’t God delivered me?”

If you need a change in your life, I want to encourage you to be diligent and deliberate about tending the garden of your heart. It may take patience to begin to see many of the results. But you will reap a harvest if you do not give up.

James 5:7-8 NIV See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop, patiently waiting for the autumn and spring rains. You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord’s coming is near. 

Galatians 6:9 NIV Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.

James 3:18 NIV Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness.