How to Train Your Heart to Believe God
For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation (Romans 10:10, KJV)
The scripture above says we believe with our hearts. The heart in the scripture is usually the center of our inner life, of our emotions, thoughts, and will. Furthermore, our inner life is actually made up of the spirit and the soul. There is a difference between the spirit and the soul, as I have been teaching about this on our Thursday live Bible studies. However, there is a misconception of what that difference is. Space will not allow me to explain this here fully, so please listen to the prior teachings on our website for more clarification.
We have been taught that it is our human spirit, as distinct from the soul(mind) that believes God. That means when I believe in faith, it is my spirit believing not my mind. This right here is a serious problem. While we are alive here on the earth, the spirit does not function SEPARATELY from the mind in the way many of us think. It is not as though your spirit believes while your mind does not believe. And generations of believers are wondering how to believe with their spirit! Your spirit functions in mind as one, yet it is distinct from it.
The word “believe” simply means to accept as true. There is nothing mysterious about it. It is not as complicated as we have made it. The word “heart” here is not referring exclusively to the human spirit but to the whole inner human life, both spirit, and soul. I remember often trying to do things “with my spirit, and not my mind”, because that is how I was taught. No! You do not have to struggle to do something with your spirit, such as being quiet, focused to “silence the mind and allow the spirit operate)”! God did not make you to live outside of your body and mind. If you read what I am writing here and you accept it as true, you have just believed. It is that simple. It is a remarkable reality of the dual operation of the human spirit and the mind in accepting divine truth.
You can train your heart to believe God. Your mind accepts the truth, but that tendency or even impulsive uncontrollable influence that makes you believe is the workings of the spirit as the source of that influence. The Word of God does something remarkable inside of us. It creates a tendency, the influence, the inclination of the heart to believe the Word. That is why as you receive more of the Word, it becomes easier and easier for you to believe. You can take things further. Take a moment to ensure that you have accepted as true what you are reading in the Word. That is the beginning of faith. You will be shocked to find out that there are hundreds of scriptures you know which you truly do not accept as true. Give attention to train your heart in the scriptures. Give your mind in meditation until you come to the place of ACCEPTING the word you are meditating on as true and move beyond just KNOWING them. Train your heart in the Word.
MEDITATE
Is it possible to accept as true something which you do not understand? NB. This is not the difference between soul and spirit but believing and understanding, both of which are operations of the soul.
APPLY THE WORD
Pay attention to what you have accepted in the Word. Faith begins with believing, which is accepting the Word as true. Have you accepted God’s words about you as true?
PRAY
Ask the Lord to help you train your heart in faith through the operation of the Word and the Spirit.
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Good day, Pastor. Thank you for all the teachings that you have put forward on this platform, have been richly blessed by them since I came in contact with this site. God bless you.
However, over time I have been made to understand that renewal of the mind is by meditation on the Word of God, how true is this fact? Again, I have been made to understand that meditation is an act of focusing or fixing one’s thought or mind on the Word of God, yet another version makes me understand that to focus means to repeat the scripture or anything you’re meditating on over and again in the mind, is this true? Please I really need to be helped in this area, because I haven’t being able to make success in my meditation exercises, which one of the explanations above is true, or if they are both wrong, what is actually meditation on God’s Word? Please I need urgent answers. Thank you.
Hello Darlington. I am glad to see you are asking those questions because it seems the Lord has out an interest in your heart for the Word. For your questions
1. Renewal of the mind is by meditation. This is true. But it is mote than that. First, renewal of the mind is not merely changing the way we think in our minds. It is deeper. It is a renewal of the entire person, mind, emotions and will(soul). This is captured by
“And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:”
Colossians 3:10 KJV
The key to this transformation is knowledge as you see in this verse. As you grow in knowledge of Christ, a transformation will take place. Meditation is like exercise that intensifies the hold of knowledge in your life. So yes, meditation is a central part of the process of transformation because it gets the knowledge of God rooted in your heart.
2. Meditation. Yes, both are correct too. Meditation has been shown to us in scripture to be both. Pondering, thinking and focusing the mind on the Word as well as muttering, speaking it with the mouth. Many of us are not familiar with the fact of meditation by speaking because it is strange to us. I do both, and it is important you start learning how to do both as soon as possible. I have written many devotionals about meditation and spiritual renewal and transformation. Please take a moment and read them carefully. Get back to me with any questions . These are the links.
https://patrickoben.com/tag/meditation/
https://patrickoben.com/tag/spiritual-transformation/
Thank you, Pastor for the answers to my questions and the devotionals on meditation and spiritual transformation that have thrown more light on the issue. I am grateful.
However, there’s still an issue that bothers me, it’s about focusing one’s thought. I have tried over the years to focus my thoughts on the Word, but I doubt if I am doing the correct thing, because I haven’t seen any positive result to that effect.
In an attempt to solve the problem, I read an article sometime which made me understand that to focus the thought on a particular verse of the Word is the same as repeating the verse in my mind, could this be true, because this is the method I have been using but still to no avail.
Please help me on this as your help will go a long way.
Thank you and God bless you.
I see. Yes, instructions like that can be confusing if not properly understood. I will start by encouraging you to relax, and do not allow this brother you. You are trying really hard to fix something or achieve something by your own. The first thing I mentioned above was for you to understand that renewing the mind is not simply changing the way you think. It is much deeper. It is a deeper thing that occurs in our soul as we are being transformed by the Holy Spirit through the Word of God. It is not a mind game of just simply trying to think on the Word of God. That is the reason I have just mentioned that you should relax. What they told you to fix your mind on the Word of God is correct. That is what changed my life entirely as my mind was renewed to focus on God and set my mind on Him. Its as not just my thoughts changing. It was my entire life, my heart was being transformed. I want you to change your perspective a little bit. Do not try to follow that instruction on fixing your thoughts on the Word of God. Focus on having a revelation of God and knowing Him intimately. Let that be your desire. Let your mind focus on Christ, wanting to know Him. Remember, I mentioned above it is the KNOWLEDGE OF GOD that is the transforming power, not merely what we do with our minds. Please remember what I said above. The secret is not in meditation or the mind. It is in the Word or the knowledge. Meditation simply helps you take firm hold on it. Please take a moment to read these devotional about the mind. I will suggest you spend some days reading what I sent to you have and this one
https://patrickoben.com/tag/the-mind/
I pray the Spirit of the Lord helps you overcome this obstacle that is hindering your progress spiritually.
Good morning, Pastor.
I have seen the new episode of answers that you sent to me. Thank you for the steps you’ve described and the encouragement you’ve given to me and also the Mind link that you sent. I truly appreciate what you’ve done and pray that our Almighty Father will replenish and bless you richly.
God bless you.