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The word “heart” in the Hebrew is kidneys. Your enteric nervous system, your second brain, is producing thoughts and emotions. The word “reins” is the Hebrew word for kidneys as spoken of in the Old Testament. The Greek text reads “bowels” for the word “hearts”; you have refreshed my bowels. The gut is producing thoughts and emotions and feelings. The Word tells us here that the “bowels are refreshed.” We are not just a brain that is stacked on a bunch of muscles. God has just interwoven the emotion and the thinking and the life of God through our whole body. The root of our heart problems, God never intended for us to live in defeat and sin. Jeremiah says the heart is “deceitful and sick.” “The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it? I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, Even to give every man according to his ways, According to the fruit of his doings” Jeremiah 17:9 –10 (NKJV). The brain does the thinking, if selfishness is imbedded in the cellular memories of my body that exist in my heart muscle, my gut. To transform your life, you are going to have to purify your heart so that when you are the one who is tired and hungry, the devil is still creating an atmosphere of selfishness and He is creating an atmosphere of “me first.” He is also creating an atmosphere of whatever you feel you just express. “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God” Romans 12:1–2 (NKJV).
We cannot transform ourselves, but what we can do is renew our minds. As we renew our minds, the wonderful thoughts that we are holding in our renewed minds drip down into our hearts. Over time the heart will be transformed. You follow the ways of the world and the world has ways of doing things. The Bible says that if you want your heart to be transformed, then you have to bring your mind up to a new quality. “Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things” Philippians 4:8 (NKJV). The Apostle Paul by revelation gave the Romans this advice, “You cannot conform to your culture. You cannot do it.” We cannot conform to our culture and be transformed by the renewing of our mind because if we conform to our culture by definition, we will not be bringing your mind up to a new quality. It is no different now. It has been over 2000 years, but it is the same Devil, and he still controls the same culture. In a fallen culture, this is very difficult to do. We need to work diligently if we want to have a transformed heart. Remember, you cannot transform your heart. It will only be transformed as you decide to bring up your mind to a new quality, and if you do not make that decision your heart will not change. We could say that we are all dealing with “heart disease” that originated at the fall of man in the Garden of Eden.
Scripture says in that the Lord saw that the evilness within man’s mind and heart was irrevocably in the earth, and that every objective of the thoughts of his heart was only vile constantly. “Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His hear” Genesis 6:5–6 (NKJV). And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. “I will bless the Lord who has given me counsel; My heart also instructs me in the night seasons” Psalm 16:7 (NKJV). The Lord tests the inner and internal existence of one’s true essence, the heart. God’s heart is grieved when every intention of the thoughts of our heart is evil. In other words, our heart is not reflecting His heart. He saw that man had disconnected from His heart and in their own efforts tried to fix what only He can change and transform. There is no human power that can change it. Only through a supernatural encounter with Jesus the Christ can we fully experience a heart transformation. “I will kill her children with death, and all the churches shall know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts. And I will give to each one of you according to your works” Revelation 2:23 (NKJV). Jesus does not just remove your sins; he will destroy and kill the very nature of sin in your heart. “For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. None of them shall teach his neighbor, and none his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them. For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more” Hebrews 8:10–12 (NKJV).
Repentance gives us the ability to receive the empowerment of the Holy Spirit, that we can encounter God’s presence and be transformed by a heart transformation. The problem with brining this new heart and transformed mind together is that they both want to follow their own wills. The new heart is still battling it old nature that is connected emotional baggage. And, the transformed mind is still warring against doing things that bring pleasure to the fleshly body. This is where the warfare will start and end, because they are both to separate and individual agents that are operating in their own separate purpose (functioning within the body) until they both surrender their will over to God’s will for their new purpose. The brain has no understanding, so it become territorial that nothing foreign (spiritual) can enter without a fight. The only thing that gives you control over the enemy is the interaction of the new heart and a renewed mind that is fully submit them to God’s will. Since, God resides in your new heart, and the character of God is already in it, you are automatically placed in a seat of authority. Your new heart transforms you to your rightful place, as you surrender your mind on a daily basis, which will keep you walking in the path of righteousness. When you become born again, you must understand that this experience did not just save our soul from hell by providing freedom from our life of sin and demonic oppressions, it also provided a new mind for each one of us. “But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one. For “who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct Him?” But we have the mind of Christ” 1 Corinthians 2:16 (NKJV). This mind is filled with peace and joy, it leads into life and destiny. It’s ways, thoughts, and intentions are aligned with Heaven.
The Apostle Paul made a clear distinction between two different minds, one being the spiritual mind and the second a fleshly mind."For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be” Romans 8:5–7 (NKJV). For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.” It’s impossible to say we have a spiritual mind and continue to live after the fleshly mind. It’s clear that there needs to be a distinctive difference, we can call this “a before and an after” when we experienced God’s saving power in our life. “Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God” Romans 8:26–27 (NKJV). Let’s move on to purifying our hearts.