ONE FAMILY PLAN
Choices of the Heart
"As water reflects a face, so a man's heart reflects the man." (Proverbs 27:19)
"All you who come before me, hoping to attain the accomplishment of your desires, pray with hearts pure from falsehood, clean within and without, reflecting the truth like a mirror." (Shinto, Oracle of Temmangu)
Covenant of the Heart
"In that He says, A NEW covenant, He has made the first OLD. Now that which decays and waxes OLD is ready to VANISH AWAY" (Hebrews 8:13)
Circumcision of the HEART:
"For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh; but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and CIRCUMCISION IS THAT OF THE HEART, IN THE SPIRIT, NOT IN THE LETTER; whose praise is not from men but from God." (Romans 2:28-29)
"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God." (Matthew 5.8)
Guard your heart!
"Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life." (Proverbs 4:23)
"The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it?" (Jeremiah 17:9)
"Watch out! DON'T LET YOUR HEARTS BE DULLED by carousing and drunkenness, and by the worries of this life." (Luke 21:34)
Rivers of the Heart
"Anyone who believes in me may come and drink! For the Scriptures declare, 'RIVERS OF LIVING WATER WILL FLOW FROM HIS HEART.'" (John 7:38)
From the Physical to the Spiritual
"Know that in the body there is a bit of flesh; when it is sound the whole body is sound, and when it is corrupt the whole body is corrupt, Know, it is the heart." (Islam, Hadith of Bukhari)
"For everything there is an appropriate way of polishing; the heart's polishing is the remembrance of God." (Islam, Hadith of Bukhari)
Judgment is the process whereby He perfects us:
"He [God] chooses us in Him [Christ] before the disruption [foundation] of the world, we to be HOLY and FLAWLESS [PERFECT] in His sight..." (Eph. 1:4)
"Just as silver smiths step by step, bit by bit, moment to moment, blow away the impurities of molten silver-so the wise, their own." (Buddhism, Dhammapada 239)
While there are no "uncaused" (freewill) choices, we "choose" out of preference, from the HEART!
"...He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of the heart..." (1 Corinthians 4:5)
"Water makes external cleanliness. Truthfulness is the detergent of the heart." (Hinduism, Tirukkural 298)
"The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks."(Luke 6:45)
"Therefore the noble-minded examine their hearts, that there may be nothing wrong there." (Confucianism, Doctrine of the Mean 33.2)
"Create in me a pure heart, O God..." (Psalm 51:10)
"This is how we know that we belong to the truth and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence: If our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask, because we keep his commands and do what pleases him." (1 John 3:19-22, NIV)
Evil choices come from the heart:
"For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander." (Matthew 15:19) "For from within, out of men's hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly." (Mark 7:21-22)
"But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart." (Matthew 5:28)
"It is true that you commit no actual crimes; but when you meet a beautiful woman in another's home and cannot banish her from your thoughts, you have committed adultery with her in your heart..." (Taoism, Treatise on Response and Retribution, Appended Tales)
"Anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer..." (1 John 3:15)
"Knowing their thoughts, Jesus said, 'Why do you entertain evil thoughts in your hearts?'"(Matthew 9:4)
"Confucius said, 'If out of the three hundred Songs I had to take one phrase to cover all my teachings, I would say, Let there be no evil in your thoughts.'" (Confucianism, Analects 2.2)
"Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God." (Galatians 5:19-21)
However…
"And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because HE HAS GIVEN US THE HOLY SPIRIT TO FILL OUR HEARTS WITH HIS LOVE." (Romans 5:5)
"I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources HE WILL EMPOWER YOU WITH INNER STRENGTH THROUGH HIS SPIRIT. THEN CHRIST WILL MAKE HIS HOME IN YOUR HEARTS as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God's love and keep you strong. And may you have the power to understand, as all God's people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is." (Ephesians 3:16-18)
"But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law." (Galatians 5:18)
Good choices also come from the heart
"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law." (Galatians 5:22-23)
"If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit." (Galatians 5:25)
"...LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART and with all your soul and with all your mind." (Matthew 22:37)
God sees the heart!!
"...for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart." (1 Samuel 16:7, NASB)
We will be trained, chastened, judged to pay it all UNTIL and UNLESS it is from the HEART:
"In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed. 'This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you UNLESS YOU FORGIVE YOUR BROTHER OR SISTER FROM YOUR HEART.'" (Matthew 18:34-35, NIV)
"...since we have a great priest over the house of God, LET US DRAW NEAR TO GOD WITH A SINCERE HEART and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water."(Hebrews 10:21-22)
Wisdom:
"...GIVE YOUR SERVANT A DISCERNING HEART to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong..." (1 Kings 3:9, NIV)
"turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding..." (Proverbs 2:2)
"Wisdom rests [silently] in the mind and heart of him who has understanding, but that which is in the inward part of [self-confident] fools is made known." (Proverbs 14:33, Amplified)
"that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints..." (Ephesians 1:17-18)
"Can you cleanse your inner vision until you see nothing but light?" (Taoism, Tao Te Ching 10)
The happy heart:
"A happy heart makes the face cheerful, but heartache crushes the spirit." (Proverbs 15:13)
"A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones." (Proverbs 14:30)
"A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones." (Proverbs 17:22)
The hardened heart:
"Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and WHOM HE WILL HE HARDENETH." (Romans 9:18, KJV)
"They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts." (Ephesians 4:18, NIV)
"...Go and tell this people: 'Be ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving.' Make the heart of this people calloused; make their ears dull and close their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed." (Isaiah 6:9-10, NIV)
"For this people's heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them." (Matthew 13:15)
"...Do you still not see or understand? Are your hearts hardened?" (Mark 8:17, NIV)
"Blessed is the man who always fears the LORD, but HE WHO HARDENS HIS HEART FALLS INTO TROUBLE." (Proverbs 28:14)
"Jesus replied, 'Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the beginning.'" (Matthew 19:8)
From the heart comes the tongue:
"You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For OUT OF THE OVERFLOW OF THE HEART THE MOUTH SPEAKS." (Matthew 12:34)
"But THE THINGS THAT COME OUT OF THE MOUTH COME FROM THE HEART, and these make a man 'unclean.'" (Matthew 15:18)
I pray…
"I PRAY THAT YOUR HEARTS WILL BE FLOODED WITH LIGHT so that you can understand the confident hope he has given to those he called... his holy people who are his rich and glorious inheritance." (Ephesians 1:18)
"Then you will experience God's peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. HIS PEACE WILL GUARD YOUR HEARTS and minds as you live in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 4:7)
"And LET THE PEACE THAT COMES FROM CHRIST RULE IN YOUR HEARTS. For as members of one body you are called to live in peace. And always be thankful." (Colossians 3:15)
"Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls." (Matthew 11:29)
"The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched - they must be felt with the heart." - Helen Keller
"The way is not in the sky. The way is in the heart..." Buddha
"This is my simple religion. There is no need for temples; no need for complicated philosophy. Our own brain, our own heart is our temple; the philosophy is kindness." - Dalai Lama
