Tenderize & Soften My Heart by Pastor Todd Lout

Non of us are immune to hardness of the heart attempting to set in, and on a daily basis. It's because we live in a broken system in a broken world, among broken people all around.  But God offers a replacement, a "heart of flesh" instead of a stoney one. We really want to, and need to, take Him up on this offer because the hardness of heart will clog our ears from hearing Him more clearly. It will cause us to see others without love-lenses.  It will block us from going through the doors we can go through, eat away at our joy, cause bitterness, misunderstanding, lack of identity and other such things that can eventually manifest into actual, physical problems.  Why is this such a big deal? Because the heart is not simply the blood-pumping organ in our chest. Consider the Greek word for heart, which is Kardia.  Kardia means the CORE or CENTER. In Hebraic-Biblical thought, the heart is the most central part of a person's being, governing a person's entire life.  Proverbs 4:23 tells us, "Watch over your heart with all diligence, for from it flow the springs of life." Often we can get so busy in life, so consumed by external things, that we forget to tend to our heart.  Over time we even allow some things in and to become our "norm" that are building stone walls around our hearts.  Recently, knowing that my heart can easily get rocky, I decided to pay attention to every little thing that made a threat to my heart in a single day.  I thought there would be many things, but was shocked when it became blaringly clear just how many things posed a threat in a 24 hour period.  It was so unsettling that I went to bed, that night, praying Song of Solomon 5:2 over myself, "I sleep, but my heart is awake.", asking God to be at my heart's door, even in the middle of the night. I could bombard you with a vast array of things that threaten to harden our hearts, but I'll make a short, short list here just to possibly provoke some awareness for us all:

* Sin (those things that we do when we forget who we really are) * Religion             * Offence * Injustice (To me and to others.)          * Small Beginnings * Taking on other people's hardness of heart. * People not getting our heart and even misrepresenting it. (For me, probably the worst) * Not getting your way.                            * That person who is just moseying in front of your car when you're trying to make that turn and they look right at you like, "I know you want to go, but Imma walk slow as I want....then they mosey in the next crosswalk that's in your turn!!   :)

OK, now for the GOOD NEWS! ("Oh thank God! Todd's email was getting depressing and hardening my heart!":). We don't have to live with a stoney heart!  NO!  True worship, fellowship with Holy Spirit, contemplating Jesus' heart, consuming His Word, setting our minds and keeping them set on "things above" and being outward (putting others above ourself) like Jesus is, will tenderize and soften our hearts.  The TRUTH will set us free! One thing I've decided will be my normal, every morning, is to hold out my hands in surrender and say to the Lord, "Tenderize and soften my heart."  I've done this when I can see the signs of it going the other way throughout the day and most of the time there is an instant shift.  Also, I'm learning to be really intentional in the middle of situations....like with the crosswalk moseier (that's probably not a real word).  I would ask God to give me His heart for that person and immediately He gives me a word for them.  Now my heart is tender and I'm thinking His thoughts toward that person, rather than letting a silly little thing do something yucky to my core. In conclusion here I would like to make a declaration over you by adding to one of my favorite quotes from one of my favorite movies, "The Help":  You is KIND. You is SMART. You is IMPORTANT. You is a SOFT-HEARTED PERSON. You is AWARE THAT EVERYONE ELSE IMPORTANT TOO. You is LOVED BY A PERFECT FATHER.