Supernatural Transformation: Change Your Heart Into God’s Heart
Read Supernatural Transformation: Change Your Heart Into God’s Heart Online
Authors: Guillermo Maldonado
4.Heart of “Stone” or Heart of “Flesh”?
5.Healing for an Offended Heart
6.Freedom from a Heart of Unbelief
8.The Heart Surrendered to God
10.The Supernatural Transformation of the Mind
11.A Heart After God’s Own Heart
12.Conformed to Religion or Transformed by His Presence
Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the
New King James Version
, © 1979, 1980, 1982, 1984 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked (
kjv
) are taken from the King James Version of the Holy Bible. Scripture quotations marked (
niv
) are taken from the
Holy Bible,
New International Version
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,
niv
®
, © 1973, 1978, 1984 by the International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved. Scripture quotation marked (
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) is taken from the
Holy Bible,
New International Version
®
,
niv
®
, © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.
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Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. Scripture quotations marked (
nasb
) are taken from the
New American Standard Bible
®
,
nasb
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, © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org).
Boldface type in the Scripture quotations indicates the author’s emphasis.
Some definitions of Hebrew and Greek words are taken from the electronic version of
Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible,
strong
, (© 1980, 1986, and assigned to World Bible Publishers, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.), the electronic version of the
New American Standard Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible,
nasc
, (© 1981 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved.), or
Vine’s Complete Expository
Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words,
vine
, (© 1985 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.,
Publishers, Nashville, TN. All rights reserved.).
All dictionary definitions are taken from
Merriam-Webster.com
, 2014,
http://www.merriam-webster.com.
Supernatural Transformation:
Change Your Heart into God’s Heart
Guillermo Maldonado
13651 S.W. 143rd Ct., #101
Miami, FL 33186
http://kingjesusministry.org/
www.ERJPub.org
ISBN: 978-1-62911-195-7
eBook ISBN: 978-1-62911-196-4
© 2014 by Guillermo Maldonado
Whitaker House
1030 Hunt Valley Circle
New Kensington, PA 15068
www.whitakerhouse.com
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No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical—including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system—without permission in writing from the publisher. Please direct your inquiries to [email protected].
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1
W
hat is the most important question you’ve ever been asked?
During Jesus’ ministry on earth, one of the religious scribes asked Him to name the one commandment—of all God’s commandments—that was
“first,”
or most significant. (See Mark 12:28.) Such a question is the equivalent of asking, “What is the most important thing in the world?”
Jesus answered,
“The first of all the commandments is:…‘You shall love the L
ord
your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength’”
(Mark 12:29–30). Then He immediately linked that commandment with another:
“And the second, like it, is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these”
(Mark 12:31).
Entrance to the Kingdom
The scribe who had asked this question replied that he agreed with Jesus’ answer, saying that to love God wholeheartedly and to love your neighbor as yourself
“is more than all the whole burnt offerings and sacrifices”
(Mark 12:33). Jesus responded by telling him,
“You are not far from the kingdom of God”
(Mark 12:34).
From this exchange, we see that entering God’s kingdom—and living according to that kingdom—is, at its essence, a matter of the heart. The most important thing we can do is to love God with our entire being.
What Is the Heart?
Physically speaking, the heart is the central organ of the human body. Its function is to circulate the blood throughout the whole bodily system, pumping oxygen and nutrients to the other organs and pulling toxins away from them. If the heart stops beating permanently, bodily life ends; obviously, the heart is indispensable. A human being’s entire physiological system is designed to safeguard this organ, above all others. For example, in extremely cold conditions, the blood begins to retract from the extremities in order to maintain the integrity of the heart.
We have another “heart” that is the center of our spiritual being. The Scriptures say,
“
Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thessalonians 5:23).
A human being is a spirit that has a soul and lives in a physical body. The sense in which I use the term “heart” in this book is principally the spirit, but it also includes the spirit’s interactions and connections with the soul—which is the moral seat of humanity and consists of the mind, the will, and the emotions.
The Foundation of Our Being and Character
The word
“heart”
appears hundreds of times in the Scriptures. In the Old Testament, the words most often translated
“heart”
are the related Hebrew terms
lebab
(H3824) and
leb
(H3820).
Lebab
means “the heart as the most interior organ,” and this term is also used in the same sense as
leb
.
Leb
means “the heart; also used figuratively very widely for the feelings, the will and even the intellect.”
So, figuratively, these terms refer to the inner being of humans—our very core, including our feelings, desires, will, and intellect. In the New Testament, the main word translated
“heart”
is
kardia
, which, in a figurative sense, indicates “the thoughts or feelings (mind).” Our heart is our true self, and it is the catalyst for our desires, motives, intentions, and actions. A
d
esire is “a strong wish: a wish for something or to do something.” A motive is “something (as a need or desire) that causes a person to act.” An intention is “the thing that you plan to do or achieve: an aim or purpose.”
Another term the Bible uses to refer to the heart, or spirit, is
“inner man”
:
“
That [God] would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man” (Ephesians 3:16). Again, the heart is the core, or identity, of the human being. It is the most complex, sacred, and intimate part of a person—the foundation of his whole being and character, from which his desires, designs, purposes, will, thoughts, and attitudes originate.
Accordingly, the condition of our heart will be the condition of our life. The state of our spiritual heart affects all aspects of our daily living. Every spiritual, mental, and emotional matter—and many physical ones—is rooted in the heart.
Becoming Spiritually Heart-Healthy
“Heart-healthy” is a popular phrase today. We hear it from doctors, nutritionists, fitness instructors, and food manufacturers who want to encourage us to pursue a lifestyle of “wellness” that will strengthen our cardiovascular endurance, prevent heart disease, and promote long life. We are encouraged to choose a healthy lifestyle through exercising regularly and by eating nutritious meals—making use of resources such as heart-healthy cookbooks, diets, and restaurant options. In the United States, the American Heart Association’s symbol for an approved heart-healthy product is a red heart with a white check mark in it.
As we will explore further in chapter 2, every human being is faced with a spiritual health issue—we all have “heart disease” and need to become spiritually heart-healthy. The Scriptures say, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9). Although our heart is the center of our being, many people do not truly understand the heart and how it functions. Jesus Christ came to earth not only to reveal God the Father to us but also to reveal ourselves to us. He wants us to understand the nature of our heart and how it affects our relationship with our heavenly Father and other human beings, as well as the whole course of our life.
Even when we have been forgiven and reconciled to God through Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross for us, we must actively focus on this matter of the heart and the spiritual laws God has “written” there (see, for example, Hebrews 8:10), so that we will know the fullness of life He desires for us. Heart issues often keep us from overcoming the problems and hindrances in our life. God wants us to experience a transformation of the heart that will make us whole again.