quality of your life. This is why we are told in Proverbs,
“Keep and guard your heart with all vigilance and above all that you guard, for out of it flow the springs of life”
(Proverbs 4:23 AMP). Springs of death can also flow from the heart as well.
God conveys His will and His kingdom into our hearts through our spiritual ears. Paul wrote to the Corinthians that
“the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God…because they are spiritually discerned”
(1 Corinthians 2:14). The Spirit of God communicates with the spirit of man; however, because of circumstances or situations, we often may feel as if we really don’t want to hear God anymore. We are overcome by disappointment and can get discouraged, allowing our spiritual self to disconnect with our life source. This is when a person becomes indifferent and hopeless and despairing of life because it is the spirit that sustains and upholds us. David cried out in the Psalms,
“Grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me”
(Psalm 51:12 NIV), and Solomon taught in Proverbs,
“A man’s spirit sustains him”
(Proverbs 18:14 NIV).
God designed your being to be sustained by your spirit, and your spirit to be sustained by your hope in Him. Look what happened to the nation of Israel when they lost hope in God:
“We have become old, dry bones—all hope is gone”
(Ezekiel 37:11 NLT). And Proverbs tells us,
“Hope deferred makes the heart sick”
(Proverbs 13:12). Hope is a powerful force. It is an anchor and a lifeline. The writer of Hebrews put it this way:
“This hope is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls. It leads us through the curtain into God’s inner sanctuary”
(Hebrews 6:19 NLT). The Message gives this interpretation for the same verse:
“It’s an unbreakable spiritual lifeline, reaching past all appearances right to the very presence of God.”
And John added that
“everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure”
(1 John 3:3).
We have this hope because
“He has planted eternity in the human heart”
(Ecclesiastes 3:11 NLT). In other words, His eternal purpose for our lives and even for nations—everything in the world—is hidden in our heart. This hope protects and purifies because it brings with it a sense of expectation and purpose.
As a seed is hidden in the womb of a woman and is germinated and incubated there, our spirit holds the developing seeds of our destiny. Have you ever been at a point in your life when you just felt like giving up, where you were so tired and weak you felt you couldn’t continue exerting yourself? Yet somehow, at some point, you were able to push past that feeling—something on the inside pushed you past the discomfort, past the point of despair or discouragement, and past the pain of stretching and expanding your abilities.
As a mother pushes to give birth, ready to give up at any moment from sheer exhaustion, an irresistible force compels her to keep pushing. We are not always in tune with what God is doing in and through us as He is birthing His purpose for our lives. Nevertheless, a force greater than ourselves prompts us to press through that threshold, that invisible barrier, and then we are able to see the new life that has come forth from our trial.
This is what makes inventors, scientists, artists, authors, activists, entrepreneurs, educators, and heroes of every kind so profound. Where an ordinary person would have given up, they were able to tap into the divine assignment hidden in their heart. They had the drive and the fire on the inside of them that they could not shake off. Jeremiah said,
“His word was in my heart like a burning fire shut up in my bones; I was weary of holding it back, and I could not”
(Jeremiah 20:9). Jeremiah determined to never preach again, yet he could not keep from delivering the prophecy he was created to deliver. This is something God hides deep within your spirit. It is time sensitive and has a statute of limitations
“Keep and guard your heart with all vigilance and above all that you guard, for out of it flow the springs of life”
(Proverbs 4:23 AMP). Springs of death can also flow from the heart as well.
God conveys His will and His kingdom into our hearts through our spiritual ears. Paul wrote to the Corinthians that
“the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God…because they are spiritually discerned”
(1 Corinthians 2:14). The Spirit of God communicates with the spirit of man; however, because of circumstances or situations, we often may feel as if we really don’t want to hear God anymore. We are overcome by disappointment and can get discouraged, allowing our spiritual self to disconnect with our life source. This is when a person becomes indifferent and hopeless and despairing of life because it is the spirit that sustains and upholds us. David cried out in the Psalms,
“Grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me”
(Psalm 51:12 NIV), and Solomon taught in Proverbs,
“A man’s spirit sustains him”
(Proverbs 18:14 NIV).
God designed your being to be sustained by your spirit, and your spirit to be sustained by your hope in Him. Look what happened to the nation of Israel when they lost hope in God:
“We have become old, dry bones—all hope is gone”
(Ezekiel 37:11 NLT). And Proverbs tells us,
“Hope deferred makes the heart sick”
(Proverbs 13:12). Hope is a powerful force. It is an anchor and a lifeline. The writer of Hebrews put it this way:
“This hope is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls. It leads us through the curtain into God’s inner sanctuary”
(Hebrews 6:19 NLT). The Message gives this interpretation for the same verse:
“It’s an unbreakable spiritual lifeline, reaching past all appearances right to the very presence of God.”
And John added that
“everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure”
(1 John 3:3).
We have this hope because
“He has planted eternity in the human heart”
(Ecclesiastes 3:11 NLT). In other words, His eternal purpose for our lives and even for nations—everything in the world—is hidden in our heart. This hope protects and purifies because it brings with it a sense of expectation and purpose.
As a seed is hidden in the womb of a woman and is germinated and incubated there, our spirit holds the developing seeds of our destiny. Have you ever been at a point in your life when you just felt like giving up, where you were so tired and weak you felt you couldn’t continue exerting yourself? Yet somehow, at some point, you were able to push past that feeling—something on the inside pushed you past the discomfort, past the point of despair or discouragement, and past the pain of stretching and expanding your abilities.
As a mother pushes to give birth, ready to give up at any moment from sheer exhaustion, an irresistible force compels her to keep pushing. We are not always in tune with what God is doing in and through us as He is birthing His purpose for our lives. Nevertheless, a force greater than ourselves prompts us to press through that threshold, that invisible barrier, and then we are able to see the new life that has come forth from our trial.
This is what makes inventors, scientists, artists, authors, activists, entrepreneurs, educators, and heroes of every kind so profound. Where an ordinary person would have given up, they were able to tap into the divine assignment hidden in their heart. They had the drive and the fire on the inside of them that they could not shake off. Jeremiah said,
“His word was in my heart like a burning fire shut up in my bones; I was weary of holding it back, and I could not”
(Jeremiah 20:9). Jeremiah determined to never preach again, yet he could not keep from delivering the prophecy he was created to deliver. This is something God hides deep within your spirit. It is time sensitive and has a statute of limitations
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