Article of Faith: Guarding our hearts (1), By Femi Aribisala

God gave you two sets of eyes.

What is the worst thing that can happen to you?

The worst thing that can happen to you is not if one of your relatives dies, or if your house is burnt down, or if you are diagnosed with a terminal illness, or if you are robbed of all your money in cash and in the bank.

The worst thing that can happen to you is if the Holy Spirit leaves you.

The Holy Spirit is the special gift of God. He is the most important thing in your life. Indeed, He is your life.

He is the Spirit of wisdom and understanding that you need. He is the Spirit of counsel and might that you require. He is the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord without which you cannot receive eternal life. (Isaiah 11:2)

He is the riches of the glory of God that is in you. He is: “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” (Colossians 1:27).

He who does not have the Holy Spirit does not have God. 

The Holy Spirit is the One who marks you as God’s property. Therefore, He is the most important thing in your life.

He lives in the heart of the born-again Christian. Therefore, “Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life.” (Proverbs 4:23).

When you leave home, you lock your door. When you leave your car you lock it. Which part of your body do you protect the most? Probably, your sexual organs. You see footballers putting their hands over their privates when trying to defend against a free kick. Women do something similar by always crossing their legs.

But your sexual organs are not the most important parts of you by a long shot. The most important part is your heart, which refers to your mind, will, and affections.

Heart Central

God searches the heart and the mind: “The word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” (Hebrews 4:12).

He defines a man by his heart: “The Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” (1 Samuel 16:7).

Solomon says: “As in water face reflects face, so a man’s heart reveals the man.” (Proverbs 27:19). “As he thinks in his heart, so is he.” (Proverbs 23:7).

Your heart determines your well-being: “A merry heart makes a cheerful countenance, but by sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken.” (Proverbs 15:13). “The spirit of a man will sustain him in sickness, but who can bear a broken spirit?” (Proverbs 18:14).

Two Sets of Eyes

God gave you two sets of eyes. One set is designed to control the other set. But in most men, the set of eyes designated to control the other set is often the one being controlled.

We have eyes on our heads and we have eyes in our hearts. That is why Paul says: “I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which (God) has called you.” (Ephesians 1:18).

For the unbeliever, the eyes of his heart are darkened, and only Jesus, the light of the world, can enlighten them. “For with (Him) is the fountain of life; in (His) light we see light. (Psalm 36:9).

Solomon says: “The hearing ear and the seeing eye, the Lord has made them both.” (Proverbs 20:12).

The eye of the heart is the seeing eye. The eyes in your head are blind eyes.

Because they have eyes in their heads, most people think they see but they do not. Their eyes impede their sight.

Bartimaeus was blind, but he had the seeing eye, the eye of the heart. So, he recognised that Jesus was the Son of David, the Messiah promised in the scriptures. “When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, ‘Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!’” (Mark 10:46)

The Pharisees, on the other hand, were not blind. They had eyes but the eyes they had were blind eyes. They could not see Jesus as the Messiah, the Son of David.

Jesus said to them: “‘For judgment I have come into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may be made blind.’ Then some of the Pharisees who were with Him heard these words, and said to Him, ‘Are we blind also?’ Jesus said to them, ‘If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you say, ‘We see.’ Therefore your sin remains.’” (John 9:39-41).

Seeing But Blind

When Jesus called me to ministry, He said to me:

“l speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. And in them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says: ‘Hearing you will hear and shall not understand, and seeing you will see and not perceive; for the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, so that I should heal them.’ But blessed are your eyes for they see, and your ears for they hear.” (Matthew 13:13-16).

God opened my eyes, and I saw in plain sight the demon who had been pressing down on me in nightmares ever since I was a child. Jesus opened my eyes and I saw demons in my bedroom, hundreds of them. He opened my eyes and I saw how he kept Jonah alive in the belly of a great fish.

And so, I believe this charge of Jesus applies to me: “I now send you, to open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me.” (Acts 26:17-18).

Eyes of the Heart

The eyes of our hearts are designed to control what we see with the eyes of our heads. But unfortunately, most people do not use the eyes of their heart. They only use the eyes of their head.

As a result, Peter saw the glory of the refurbished temple in Jerusalem but Jesus saw the vanity of the temple:

“Jesus went out and departed from the temple, and His disciples came up to show Him the buildings of the temple. And Jesus said to them, ‘Do you not see all these things? Assuredly, I say to you, not one stone shall be left here upon another, that shall not be thrown down.’” (Matthew 24:1-2)

The eyes on your head are blind although you can see with them. But all you see with them is vanity and rubbish. You only see worthless and useless things according to God’s eternal scheme. You only see temporal things that will soon pass away forever.

It is the eye of the heart is the seeing eye. With it, you can see both the spiritual and the natural. With it, you can see God and the things of God. But God has closed our seeing eye. To see with it, He has to open it to open it, and He only does this by His grace.

Jesus says: “(God) has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, lest they should see with their eyes, lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, so that I should heal them.” (John 12:40).

The blind eyes distract you from the seeing eye. The blind eyes are focused only on the physical. They distract your seeing eye ensuring that you cannot see spiritual things. They enable you to see the glory of men but prevent you from seeing the glory of God.

The natural glory of King Uzziah prevented Isaiah from seeing the glory of God. He only saw the glory of God in the year that king Uzziah died. For this reason, Isaiah made a prophetic declaration:

“Every valley shall be exalted and every mountain and hill brought low; the crooked places shall be made straight and the rough places smooth; the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.” (Isaiah 40:4-5).

That is why you only connect with the spiritual when you are sleeping. You only connect with the spiritual when you close your physical eyes or are not using them.

But the seeing eye connects you with the spiritual at all times.

With your natural eyes, you can see men. With your heart, you can see God. God communicates with us through our hearts. So, do not follow your blind eyes. Follow your heart. Do not allow your heart to follow your eyes. Let your eyes follow your heart.

But there is a problem here: the heart is deceitful. CONTINUED.

Faribisala@yahoo.com; www.femiaribisala.com