Heart Surgery

Ignite the Movement
Aug 8, 2020
3 min read

Updated: Aug 11, 2020

It's all about the Heart ❤️ ...

“Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life”

- Proverbs 4:23 NLT

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up...”

- Hebrews 12:1 NLT

Hold on to those! Let’s begin by talking about the heart & what it does for the body.

We know that if proper care isn’t taken of the heart, it can weaken, harden, or even momentarily fail before being resuscitated.

What Can Cause the Heart Harm? What can cause it to Weaken or Harden?

Well, according to Harvard Health, some causes include:

Smoking and Drinking (Harden = Sin [Hebrews 12:1])
Inactivity and Poor Eating (Weaken – Weight [Hebrews 12:1])

Smoking and drinking are immediate acts of harm while inactivity and poor eating harm the heart much slower than smoking and drinking. This is why doctors tell us to watch what they eat or to watch the bad habits we engage in, in order to live a stronger and healthier life. This concept not only applies physically but spiritually. Just as the heart weakens or hardens, the spiritual heart, also known as our spirit man, can also weaken or harden. If the heart practices unhealthy habits such as sin and weight-carrying, it is possible that our spirit man/spiritual heart can weaken or harden as well.

Let’s pause and reflect for a second!

We said that the act of smoking and drinking hardens the heart; in the spiritual sense, SIN hardens the spiritual heart.
We also said that inactivity and poor eating slowly weakens the physical heart; in the spiritual sense, the “WEIGHTS that slow us down” weaken our spiritual heart.
Just as the practice of smoking and drinking causes lung and liver cancer, the practice of sin is cancerous to the healthy living of our spiritual heart. Sin hardens the heart, thus, making our hardened heart unusable to God.
Just as inactivity and poor eating cause laziness and poor productivity, the weights that slow us down cause our spiritual heart to weaken and to become so faint that we risk needing resuscitation/or a spiritual awakening. Without resuscitation, our weakened heart proves difficult for God's use. Not impossible, but difficult!

Treatment Plan

Thank God for physical and spiritual treatment plans! Now that we know what makes our spiritual heart weak and/or hard, we must now work to keep it healthy. If your heart has been severely damaged, there are many ways in which you can fix it.

Let's start with Primary preventative work then address "Tertiary-like" Preventative means to caring for the Heart --Spiritually!

Preventative Work:

In order to prevent damage and to ensure that our hearts are healthy and usable for God, we must practice spiritually healthy habits, consume good spiritual foods, and become active and intentional partakers in activities that will give our spiritual heart more than enough energy and strength for more than a day or two, but for months on end! No matter the condition of the heart there will always be one common prescription in the treatment plan—the word of God.

“Study this Book of Instruction continually. Meditate on it day and night so you will be sure to obey everything written in it…”.

– Joshua 1:8 NLT

Heart Surgery Options:

If your heart has been damaged, there are ways to repair it. Heart Surgery begins with reflecting and assessing the unhealthy things we’ve practiced (like carrying weights or practicing sin) that have affected its condition. Then, we can develop a treatment plan that mends or heal it:

Perhaps your heart needs Minimally Invasive Heart Surgery...

Perhaps we need to stop neglecting the gathering of the brethren and allow "iron to sharpen iron"...

“And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near”.

– Hebrews 10:25

As iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend.

– Proverbs 27:17

Perhaps your heart has a few Heart Lacerations...

Perhaps we need to forgive those who have hurt us and inflicted serious emotional pain on us for absolute healing...

“Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you”

– Ephesians 4:32

Make allowance for each other’s faults and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others.

– Colossians 3:13

Perhaps you need a complete Heart Transplant...

Perhaps we ask God to remove the heart altogether and replace this heart of stone for a heart of flesh.

And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart

- Ezekiel 36:26