The Conditions of the Hearts
Dr Toyin Ogundipe
How prepared is your heart to receive the promises of God, nurture them, and see them produce great results?. What is the condition or the state of your heart?.
The “Heart” is referred to as the “spirit” of a man. It represents the ground upon which the seed of God’s word is sown. It is imperative the state of the heart is conducive for planting of the word to produce good fruits. The condition of the heart has to be right. This will determine the outcome of the seed sown.
The “seed” is likened to the “word of God” and it’s the same seed recorded in mark 4, but what differs is the state of each heart presented.
The word of God, which is the seed has an Innate ability to produce great fruits. The word of God is pure. Our responsibility is to check and condition our hearts to receive God’s Word, and make it effective.
“Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.” 1 Peter 1:23 KJV
There are 4 states a Heart may present as in a believer:
(1) A heart by the wayside. Mark 4:4
Wayside can also be called a pathway. This indicates a road where everyone treads on. This individual has no door to his heart. He allows every kind of seed into it. It’s accessible to good and bad seeds. This individual is not guarding his heart. God has access into it, also the devil has access into it. This is an unstable man that jumps from one place to the other. There is no control. It represents a confused mind and unrestricted to all. No wonder the fowls of the air (Devouring spirits) have access to remove the seed of God’s word.
“And it came to pass, as he sowed, some fell by the way side, and the fowls of the air came and devoured it up.” Mark 4:4 KJV
“And these are they by the way side, where the word is sown; but when they have heard, Satan cometh immediately, and taketh away the word that was sown in their hearts.” Mark 4:15 KJV
(2) Some fell on stony ground.
Stony ground refers to rocky patches. This is the state of the heart that has not allowed the word of God to mold it. This allows the seed of God to have a prepared heart to germinate into a good fruit. Every believer needs to live on, and modified by the Word of God. Constant meditation on the word keeps the heart in a receptive state and a good ground to receive his promise and Anointing.
“And some fell on stony ground, where it had not much earth; and immediately it sprang up, because it had no depth of earth:”
“And these are they likewise which are sown on stony ground; who, when they have heard the word, immediately receive it with gladness; And have no root in themselves, and so endure but for a time: afterward, when affliction or persecution ariseth for the word’s sake, immediately they are offended.”
Mark 4: 5,16-17 KJV
This individual does not meditate on God’s word as he should. His heart is rocky. He needs the word of God to break the heart and makes it pliable.
“Is not my word like as a fire? saith the Lord; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?” Jeremiah 23:29 KJV
When we accepted Jesus as our Lord and personal Savior, a surgery took place. God replaced our heart of stone and gave us a heart of Flesh. A stony heart is un-receptive to God’s word. It is impenetrable.
“A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.”
Ezekiel 36:26 KJV
The devil has veiled the minds of those in darkness so the light of the gospel does not shine in their spirits. The mind is the doorway to the spirit and the devil has blocked their minds. However, where the Spirit of the Lord is, men souls are set free.
“In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.” 2 Corinthians 4:4 KJV
When a believer does not develop the habit of meditating on the word and praying, his heart becomes rocky and the Word of God’s promise or the Anointing does not settle deep in his heart when he hears it. It’s shallow. He looses it quickly when trials of life show up because he is not deep. These set of guys are very forward and prompt. They are quick to accept the word with much excitement, but they never allow the word to settle deep in their spirits through meditation. Meditation in God’s Word establishes the word in one’s heart.
“And these are they likewise which are sown on stony ground; who, when they have heard the word, immediately receive it with gladness; And have no root in themselves, and so endure but for a time: afterward, when affliction or persecution ariseth for the word’s sake, immediately they are offended.”
Mark 4:16-17 KJV
(3) The third state of heart condition refers to those that truly accept the word, but they are too concerned about other issues of life. They meditate on the word, and also meditate on their problems. They are worriers. Since the issues of life are usually more overwhelming; things we can see in the physical realm where we live, and the word requires more dedication to get it rooted in our spirit, the issues of life would choke the word of God in their spirits, and makes it unfruitful. Replace your worries with the word. Cast your cares on Him. Allow the Lord to take your burden and focus more on the Word to become fruitful.
“And these are they likewise which are sown on stony ground; who, when they have heard the word, immediately receive it with gladness;
And these are they which are sown among thorns; such as hear the word, And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful.”
Mark 4:16, 18-19 KJV
“Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.” 1 Peter 5:7 KJV
“Throw all your anxieties upon him, because he cares about you.”
1 Kefa (1 Pe) 5:7 Complete Jewish Bible CJB
(4) The last state of the Heart refers to a heart prepared to produce fruits from the seed sown. This heart has overcome all the difficulties of the first three conditions of the hearts. They are well guarded, constantly meditating on God’s word and learning to turn their worries unto God to handle. They are not in any way distracted by the World’s dramas, but have prepared their hearts to generate results. The magnitude of fruits produced therefore depends on how prepared these hearts are. There are different levels of maturity, and some hearts are deeper, better receptive of God’s word, and greater ability to shed off worries more than the others. There is always an opportunity to produce more fruits. We can maximize the seed sown and produce 100% results every time we receive a promise from the Lord. The level of depths and states of one’s heart to be prepared is dependent on how diligent and focused one is in working the process, hence generating maximal returns.
“And these are they which are sown on good ground; such as hear the word, and receive it, and bring forth fruit, some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some an hundred.” Mark 4:20 KJV
Remember the seed sown is the incorruptible word of God which never changes and forever eternal. The word of God has the innate ability to produce perfect result. The problem is not the word, but the states of our hearts. We can allow to word to take effect over our hearts and minds. Meditate on the promises of the Lord day and night.
“But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.” Psalms 1:2-3 KJV
Allow His word to take root within your hearts. Fill your mind so much with the word, you begin to dream and see the promises with the eyes of your mind before materializing in the physical. Guard your hearts with all diligence. Do not allow negativity or worries to choke the word off your heart. Keep speaking the word, acting the promise, and eventually when the word has grown into the fruit state, it becomes physical.
“Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.”
Proverbs 4:23 KJV
Be like Abraham, he kept meditating on the word despite all odds working against it. He fixed his eyes on the promises of God, not on the state of his body. He remained strong because he never allowed the worries and the facts of the situation to overwhelm God’s promises in his heart. We are the children of Abraham through his Seed (Jesus Christ) and we need to act like our Father.
“And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sara’s womb: He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform.” Romans 4:19-21 KJV
“Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.
So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.
That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.”
Galatians 3:6, 9, 14, 16 KJV