Terry Casales - October 25th, 2021
(Photo: canva.com)
The term “handle with care” can be have several synonyms:
treat with caution
approach with caution
take with caution
handle with caution
interpret with caution
interpret carefully
view with caution
The heart of man is the most fragile, precious and most important thing to God. It is the heart of a human that is at the core of their being. It is in the heart that the inner being dwells. It is in the heart where everything that we are resides. It is the essence of our identity and everything flows out of it. The heart of man is what was created to connect with the heart of God because each heart makes up part of His heart.
We are each called to steward everything that God gives us, but the most important thing that He has given us all is to steward the heart that He gave us well, as well as the hearts of those He gave to us in our sphere of influence. It is important to remember that, because we are each birthed out of God’s heart, our hearts are created to be connected to one another in Christ.
God is constantly concerned about the condition of our hearts because He understands how very fragile our hearts are when we are not connected with His. It is the heart in each of us that pumps the life giving Blood of Jesus between us as parts of His body. When we speak life out of God’s heart we are pumping and stirring His life force in the hearts of others. When the words are spoken from God’s heart in the power of His love, the walls of fear the enemy has built around the hearts of others automatically come down. It is the love of our Abba, through His Word, that pierces and has the capacity to heal, to give and to restore life to men’s hearts.
My son, give attention to my words; Incline your ear to my sayings. Do not let them depart from your eyes; Keep them in the midst of your heart; For they are life to those who find them, And health to all their flesh. - Proverbs 4:21-22 - NKJV
God understands that, as men and women living in a fallen world, our hearts have been affected and wounded by sin and by the indoctrination of lies from the enemy of our souls - satan. This is why He sent His Son Jesus to come down to earth to live as the Son of man — so that He would be able to experience and to better understand how our souls and hearts are so deeply affected by the world system the enemy has established around us.
We are called to walk in the love of God. When God calls us to speak the Truth it must always be done in the power of His love, revealing what is on His heart. Gentleness is part of God’s nature and is one of the ways that He displays His love for us because He understands how very fragile our heart is.
And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma. - Ephesians 5:2 - NKJV
You have also given me the shield of Your salvation; Your right hand has held me up, Your gentleness has made me great. - Psalm 18:35 - NKJV
Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. - Matthew 11:29 - NKJV
But the fruit produced by the Holy Spirit within you is divine love in all its varied expressions: joy that overflows, peace that subdues, patience that endures, kindness in action, a life full of virtue, faith that prevails, gentleness of heart, and strength of spirit. Never set the law above these qualities, for they are meant to be limitless. - Galatians 5:22-23 - TPT
My beloved friends, if you see a believer who is overtaken with a fault, the one who is in the Spirit should seek to restore him in the Spirit of gentleness. But keep watch over your own heart so that you won’t be tempted to exalt yourself over him. - Galatians 6:1 - TPT
but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ - Ephesians 4:15 - NKJV
God created us in His image, giving us the power and the authority that we carry in our words. Our words have the power to either edify or to pull down. God understands that our words can pierce and kill the heart or pump life back into it. Until we speak them out of our heart, giving birth to them, those words remain dormant.
Their wounding words pierce my heart over and over while they say, “Where is this God of yours?” - Psalm 42:10 - TPT
I’m so broken, needy and hurting. My heart is pierced through and I’m so wounded. - Psalm 109:22 - TPT
When people carry many wounds in their soul for a long time, this is what can cause a heart to become calloused turning it into a heart of stone. Only by receiving the revelation of the love of God and encountering it can a heart of stone become a heart of flesh, ready to flow in the new wine of His love — the resurrection, life-giving blood of Jesus.
As a result of our ministry, you are living letters written by Christ, not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God—not carved onto stone tablets but on the tablets of tender hearts. - 2 Corinthians 3:3 - TPT
As new creations in Christ, our hearts have been transformed into tender hearts — into hearts that are born again, from the very heart of God — hearts that have been restored into their intended original state of purity as if the effects of sin had never existed.
We, as followers of Jesus, need to keep in mind of the effects that living in a sin-filled world have had and are still having in the souls and hearts of men. We are to ask the Lord daily to help us to see the hearts of others through His eyes of love so that we can speak into them what God says about them from His heart. This can only come out of our own personal, intimate relationship with God where we have received the deep revelation of who we are in Christ and of His love for us. As Jesus was on earth, so are we in Christ. As Jesus is love, so we are created to become love in Him.
But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection. - Colossians 3:14 - NKJV
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