{"id":4228,"date":"2026-03-13T20:11:49","date_gmt":"2026-03-13T20:11:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/allthecounselofgod.com\/?p=4228"},"modified":"2026-03-13T20:11:54","modified_gmt":"2026-03-13T20:11:54","slug":"a-good-heart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/allthecounselofgod.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/13\/a-good-heart\/","title":{"rendered":"A Good Heart"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Text: Prov 4:23<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Intro:
- To be a good person, once we are saved, we must have a good heart.\u00a0 Prov 4:23 says, \u201cKeep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.\u201d\u00a0<\/li><\/ul>
  - We don\u2019t come naturally equipped with a good heart, though.\u00a0<\/li><\/ul>
    - We must realize there is evil in our heart and we must keep it in subjection [Mk 7:21-23<\/a>].\u00a0<\/li><\/ul>\n
      - We must be careful with following our heart because it is deceitful and desperately wicked [Jer 17:9-10<\/a>].<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      - Instead of trusting our heart, we should let the word of God discern the thoughts and intents of our heart [Heb 4:12<\/a>] and believe what the Bible tells us when it discloses something in us that must change.\u00a0
        We must protect our heart from other evil influences.\u00a0<\/li><\/ul>
        We are to put things into our heart that are beneficial.\u00a0<\/li><\/ul>
        Like the psalmist said, \u201cWherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word\u2026 Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee,\u201d [Psa 119:9<\/a>,11<\/a>].\u00a0<\/li><\/ul>\n
        \n
        For the word to root down in our heart and produce good fruit, we must have an honest and good heart [Lk 8:15].<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n
        A good heart is a<\/u><\/strong>:<\/li>\n\n\n\n
        Loving heart<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 Deut 6:4-5<\/a> \u2013
        Love God with all your heart. We love so many things that compete with our love for God.\u00a0<\/li><\/ul>
        Some love sports, some love recreation, some love money, and so forth.\u00a0<\/li><\/ul>\n
        \n
        To have a good heart, you must love God with all your heart.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n
        Godly heart<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 Acts 13:22<\/a> \u2013
        David was a man after God\u2019s own heart.\u00a0<\/li><\/ul>
        David had a heart for God and God\u2019s words.\u00a0<\/li><\/ul>\n
        \n
        Nothing works better to make your heart godly than the word of God read, taught, preached, believed and studied.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n
        Clean heart<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 Psa 51:10<\/a> \u2013
        David said, \u201cCreate in me a clean heart. O God.\u201d\u00a0<\/li><\/ul>
        David wasn\u2019t a perfect man and he really messed up with Bathsheba.\u00a0<\/li><\/ul>
        So, he repented and cried out to God to create in him a clean heart.\u00a0<\/li><\/ul>\n
        \n
        And God did.\u00a0 You may have really messed up in your life.\u00a0 Ask God to clean your heart, as well.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n
        Pure Heart<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 1 Tim 1:5<\/a> \u2013
        Paul told Timothy, \u201cthe end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart\u2026\u201d\u00a0<\/li><\/ul>
        You don\u2019t want to vacillate each week between a clean heart and a dirty heart, always cleaning up by confessing your sins and then returning to the pig sty for more of the same sin.\u00a0<\/li><\/ul>
        You want God to not only clean your heart when you sin, but you want him to purify it so that you can stop this foolishness.\u00a0<\/li><\/ul>
        We understand that we will never be sinless and perfect until we are glorified.\u00a0<\/li><\/ul>\n
        \n
        But we can certainly be pure.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n
        Wise heart\u00a0<\/strong>\u2013 Exodus 31:6<\/a> \u2013
        Those who helped Bezaleel build the tabernacle and its contents were \u201cwise hearted.\u201d\u00a0<\/li><\/ul>
        God has put something inside each of us that he wants to use for his glory.\u00a0<\/li><\/ul>\n
        \n
        It is his wisdom.\u00a0 God has used my banking experience to help other churches with financial decisions.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n
        Willing heart<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 Exodus 35:5<\/a>, 21-22<\/a> \u2013
        Those who gave for the tabernacle and its contents were \u201cwilling hearted.\u201d\u00a0<\/li><\/ul>\n
        \n
        God wants us to be willing to do whatever he wants with our lives and our assets.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n
        Conclusion:
        Now that\u2019s a good heart.\u00a0<\/li><\/ul>
        That\u2019s the heart that the Holy Spirit wants to develop in you.\u00a0<\/li><\/ul>
        He uses the word of God to do it.<\/li><\/ul>\n
        \n
        And so, you must receive the word of God with a believing heart [unlike Lk 8:12<\/a>, Lk 24:25<\/a>] and let it work in your heart to make it good.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/body>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
        Text: Prov 4:23<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4228","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa5oei-16c","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/allthecounselofgod.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4228","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/allthecounselofgod.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/allthecounselofgod.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allthecounselofgod.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allthecounselofgod.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4228"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/allthecounselofgod.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4228\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4229,"href":"https:\/\/allthecounselofgod.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4228\/revisions\/4229"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/allthecounselofgod.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4228"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allthecounselofgod.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4228"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allthecounselofgod.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4228"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}