What does the Bible say about following your heart? Following good intentions?
According to the following verses......What needs to happen so that I can trust my heart? Can I ever trust my heart?
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?
Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord, and turn away from evil. (trusting the Lord with your heart...NOT trusting your heart)
For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander.
Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.
Whoever trusts in his own mind is a fool, but he who walks in wisdom will be delivered.
If we don't know what God desires (his teachings) can we trust our heart to tell us?
Rejoice, O young man, in your youth, and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth. Walk in the ways of your heart and the sight of your eyes. But know that for all these things God will bring you into judgment.
The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
And hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
And it shall be a tassel for you to look at and remember all the commandments of the Lord, to do them, not to follow after your own heart and your own eyes, which you are inclined to whore after.
You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.
“But watch yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life, and that day come upon you suddenly like a trap.
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.
Does my heart need to be closely tied to God to be a useful tool that i can trust? Should I ever trust my heart as a tool for guidance?
And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart.
And I will give them one heart, and a new spirit I will put within them. I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh,
Hear, my son, and be wise, and direct your heart in the way.
Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand.
I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.
For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
Does it matter to God if we do amazing miracles and prophecy? Or is it more important that we obey his will?
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’
There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.
“If you love me, you will keep my commandments.
Note: In most translations the golden calf god(s) are referred to like an idol god. However the original word was Elohim, which is the exact same word used in Genesis 1:1. "In the beginning Elohim created the heavens and the earth".....
So that is why we use the word God in our translations below.
1. When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain...........4. ...and made a molded calf. Then they said, “This is your God, O Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt!” 5 So when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it. And Aaron made a proclamation and said, “Tomorrow is a feast to the Lord............... And about three thousand men of the people fell that day.
2. “You shall not intermarry with them, nor they with you. Surely they will turn away your hearts after their gods.” Solomon clung to these in love.....4...when Solomon was old, that his wives turned his heart after other gods; and his heart was not loyal to the Lord his God, as was the heart of his father David.
1 Kings 11 is also a story about God transfering power from Solomon to a good man Jeroboam.
......14 Now the Lord raised up an adversary against Solomon......28 The man Jeroboam was a mighty man of valor; and Solomon, seeing that the young man was industrious, made him the officer over all the labor force of the house of Joseph........ Jeroboam went out of Jerusalem, that the prophet Ahijah the Shilonite met him on the way.......Behold, I will tear the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon and will give ten tribes to you .....33.. and have not walked in My ways to do what is right in My eyes and keep My statutes and My judgments, as did his father David.
28-30 So the king came up with a plan: He made two golden calves. Then he announced, “It’s too much trouble for you to go to Jerusalem to worship. Look at these—the God who brought you out of Egypt!” He put one calf in Bethel; the other he placed in Dan. This was blatant sin.
(NKJV) 26 And Jeroboam said in his heart, “Now the kingdom may return to the house of David: 27 If these people go up to offer sacrifices in the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, then the heart of this people will turn back to their lord, Rehoboam king of Judah, and they will kill me and go back to Rehoboam king of Judah.” 28 Therefore the king asked advice, made two calves of gold, and said to the people, “It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Here is your God, O Israel, which brought you up from the land of Egypt!” 29 And he set up one in Bethel, and the other he put in Dan. 30 Now this thing became a sin
Were Solomon and Jeroboam good men with good hearts chosen by God?
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God, through the prophet Ahijah told Jeroboam He was splitting up the kingdom......So, was Jeroboam's intentions wrong to follow his heart, to keep the kingdom separate?_______________________________________________________________________________________________________
Both stories of the golden calves were NOT new idols, they were images of the one true "God that brought them out of Egypt". So what was the great sin that caused God's anger___________________________________________________________________________________
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In both stories were their hearts and intentions good?_______________________________________________________________
Is it better to follow my heart and good intentions? Or is it better to study God's word and know what he likes and doesn't like?
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Why is it a sin to worship an image of God?_________________________________________________________________
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Does worshiping an image of God cause any roadblocks to having the Holy Spirit in us?
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John 14:15 “If you love me, keep my commands. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever—17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you
If the Holy Spirit is in me, is following the Holy Spirit the same or different than following my heart?
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Are we required to "keep His commands" before we get the Holy Spirit to help us? (vs. 15)
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