Transformation Discussion Questions About the Heart

Discussion Questions for Transformation V:
Give an example of something you guard or protect?  How much effort do you put into guarding it and why?

What is the difference between guarding your heart and renewing your mind?
Is guarding your heart like playing defense and renewing your mind like playing offense?

How much effort do you put into guarding your heart? 
How much effort do you put into guarding the hearts of your family members?

How do you guard your heart?
Do you ever forget to guard your heart?

As a leader of your family, how do you help guard the hearts of those in your family? 

What are some examples of spiritual junk food that may be harmful to our hearts?

List possible enemies to your heart? 

Are the enemies of your heart consistent or do they change? 

How often do you participate in activities that help guard your heart?

Scriptures for January 2011 Transformation Gathering
Luke 10:27 states to "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind."

Psalm 119:11 states "I have hidden your word in my heart so that I might not sin against God." 

Matthew 12:34 New Living Translation (NLT)
34 You brood of snakes! How could evil men like you speak what is good and right? For whatever is in your heart determines what you say.

Mark 7:20 (NLT)
20 And then he added,“It is what comes from inside that defiles you. 21 For from within, out of a person’s heart, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, 22 adultery, greed, wickedness, deceit, lustful desires, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness. 23 All these vile things come from within; they are what defile you.”

Proverbs 14:30 New International Version (NIV)

30 A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones.

Proverbs 4:23 New International Version (NIV)
23 Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.In Philipians 4:7, we are told "the peace of God will guard your heart and minds."

Proverbs 3:5-6
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.  In all your ways aknowledge Him and He will direct your Path.

Here are some blog entries on the heart:
http://nowaboutyourmission.blogspot.com/2011/12/what-is-difference-between-guarding.html
http://nowaboutyourmission.blogspot.com/2011/11/heart.html

Discussion Questions For Next Transformation Gathering

Patterns Of This World: Habits and the Heart
What habits do you practice that help you guard your heart?

How do our habits relate to guarding our hearts? 
What are the habits in your life that help you to guard your heart? 

What are the habits that help you guard the hearts of your family? 

Blog entries for the next Transformation Gathering
http://nowaboutyourmission.blogspot.com/2011/12/when-will-power-defeat-our-habits.html
http://nowaboutyourmission.blogspot.com/2011/12/collection-of-habits-and-conditioned.html

What is the difference between guarding your heart and your mind?

In proverbs 4:23, we are told we should guard our hearts because it is the wellspring of life.  According to dictionary.com, a wellspring is "the original and bountiful source of something."

In Philipians 4:7, we are told "the peace of God will guard your heart and minds." 

What is the difference between guarding our hearts or minds?   How do we know when we are guarding our heart or our mind?  It seems that our hearts are where our dreams, desires, motivations and zeal for life are kept.  Our hearts are the driving force behind what we do, what we say, where we go and how we relate with one another.   To guard our heart would mean not to get discouraged, but to feed our hearts with God sized thoughts and actions.  Verses that are "heart healthy" are, "For I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord.  Plans to prosper you and not to harm you.  Plans to give you hope and a future."  Jeremiah 29:11 and "For the spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self discipline."  2 Timothy 1:7  What are some examples of spiritual junk food that may be harmful to our hearts?

To guard our minds seems similar to guarding our hearts.  Some may suggest guarding our heart and our mind would be guarding the same entity.  Psalm 119:11 states "I have hidden your word in my heart so that I might not sin against God."  At first glance, I thought this verse was referring to the memorization of scripture causing one to believe the mind/heart is where this type of activity occurs.  However, taking a second glance, I realize the word has already been memorized...it is being stored in the heart.  Luke 10:27 states to "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind."  The mind and heart are written as separate entitities in scripture which means they have different spiritual purposes.

If the mind is a separate entity from the spiritual heart, I would imagine the mind represents the analytical and data gathering/remembering aspects of our existence.  It is with our minds that we work out problems, make decisions on the best options depending upon what makes most sense, memorize information and contemplate our being.  With our mind, we memorize His word and then we feed those thoughts to our hearts.

To guard our minds would mean to focus on the truth.  I believe to love the Lord with all our mind means to work toward learning and growing our thought processess as much as possible.  If we guard our mind, we keep "spam" from getting through our mental filters.  We fill our minds with powerful information that leads us to greater understanding.

Open Our Eyes

Dear Father,
In your word, you gave us examples of people who were lost and scared.  Your words states you opened their eyes.  Balaam was confused and heading down the wrong road.  You opened his eyes to see an angel.  Elisha's servant was afraid.  You opened his eyes and he saw chariots of fire all around protecting them from the invading forces.  Open our eyes.  Help us see where you want us to go.  Help us see what you want us to do.  Remove our blinders.  Help us not to be nearsighted and help us not to be farsighted.  Help us see your chariots of fire surrounding us.  We don't want to miss out on one second of your power and what you can do in our lives.

Balaam's eyes were opened to see an angel on the donkey.  Numbers 22:31

Don't be afraid," the prophet answered. "Those who are with us are more than those who are with them."  And Elisha prayed, "O LORD, open his eyes so he may see." Then the LORD opened the servant's eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.  2 Kings 6:16-17

My prayer

Dear Father,
Thank you for your spirit; your spirit who does not make us timid or weak, but gives us power, love and self discipline.  Thank you for giving us power through your spirit; the same spirit who made the blind see, the paralyzed walk, brought the dead back to life and made man be able to walk on water. 

Everything we have here on earth is yours.  This earth is your kingdom.  Thank you for loving us and being in control of everything.   Father, how did you create the sun?  How do you make the moon glow year after year after year?  How do you make trees grow every season?  How do you make the heart beat over and over?  How do our inner ears sense movement for many many years?

Help us humble ourselves so that you will lift us up.  We pray for more of your strength and less of our strength.  More of your thoughts and less of our thoughts.  More of your words spoken and less of our words spoken. 

For if you can part the red sea, you can open our minds to move us to do your will.  If you can help men walk through a fiery furnace unharmed, you can guide us through difficult circumstances in life and bring honor to your name in the process.  If you can make an axe head float, then you can give us strength to carry burdens.  If you can make a donkey speak, you can help us communicate in love.  If you can close the mouths of lions to not eat Daniel in the lions den, you can help us keep our mouths shut.  If you can bring down a giant with a stone, you can help us take down the habits in our lives that are not bringing us closer to you by making new habits. 

Open our eyes father.  Help us see your chariots of fire.  Keep blinders off our eyes.  Help us see where you want us to go.  Give us more of your spirit.  Please give us a double and triple dose of your spirit.  Holy spirit, provide us with the clarity to know what you want us to do and the courage to do it.  Provide us with an irresistible urge to act on your behalf. 

Amen.

When Will Power Defeat Our Habits?

"I just can't do it captain...I don't have the power," stated Scotty from Star Trek.  Scotty was right, we don't have the power.  If I can't, we know He can.  If we can't defeat our habits with our power,  I believe the Spirit's power can help us create new habits.  If the spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self discipline, I believe He can help us make new habits (2 Tim 1:7).   If it's not by might nor by power, but by your spirit, I believe the Spirit can help us create new habits  (Zech 4:6).  If we are not to conform any longer to the patterns of this world, which are the habits that we all get into, but be transformed by the renewing of our minds, I believe God's spirit can help us make new habits (Rom 12:2).

"Your habits will always defeat your willpower." John Ortberg

It doesn't seem like it takes long to create a habit, but it does seem like it takes a while to break a habit.  It seems as though our bodies have a predisposition toward making habits easily.  Have you ever noticed how a certain routine, once practiced a few times, becomes difficult to give up?  For me, running has become a habit.  One would think that would be something that an individual should have an easy time giving up.  However, if I don't run, I feel as though I haven't brushed my teeth.  I feel dirty, sick, unhealthy and defeated.

A recent habit that has been changed for me is the location of our file cabinet at work.  For eight years, our file cabinet was always in the same place.  Now it has been changed to a new location.  I was used to always walking a certain direction and getting what I needed.  It has taken me about a week to stop walking toward the old location to where the file cabinet was held. 

The following is a segmental transcript of John Ortberg in the Podcast: "All In: Healing...All My Soul"  11-15-2011 Menlo Park Presbyterian Church 
http://www.mppc.org/series/all/john-ortberg/healing-all-my-soul#.TuK2zrqRpaw.facebook

"Habits are deeply entrenched patterns way below the surface...insidious, like a disease, that just leak out when I'm not even trying.  Self serving words or tones, the way I cater to someone important, attractive or wealthy when I don't even like that in me.  I don't know how to turn it off.  I don't know how to shut it down.  I do not understand what I do. For what I want, I do not do.  What I hate, I do.  I have desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.  John states, "habits are relatively permanent pattern of behavior that allows you to navigate the world.  Our capacity for habitual behavior is indispensible for human life.  Habits are enormously freeing.  They become as natural as breathing.  You are mostly a collection of habits.  Without understanding this, spiritual life can be a source of enormous frustration and defeat."

"When sin gets into the way we think, and want, and desire, and perceive, and feel, and choose, and walk, and speak, and act, and behave, and relate, when sin gets into our habits it is a trajedy of unspeakable proportions."

"A habit is a behavior pattern so engrained that we don't have to think about it and it becomes as natural as breathing.  They become second nature."

"When Paul talks about nothing good in my sinful nature, he is not talking about one ghost fighting it out with another ghost some place.  Sin, evil, wickedness, deception, anger, Racism, greed, ingratitude, pride have become second nature to us all.   You can overcome a habit with willpower for a moment or two, but over the long hall your habits will always defeat your willpower.

Surender to your will.  Die to yourself and your wants and ways. Arrange yourself in a way where you can aquire new habits.  Study scriptures together.  Pray together.  Give, serve, confess, replace sinful habits with Jesus habits.  Do not let sin reign in your body so that you obey it's evil desires...do not offer the parts of your body to sin as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God.  Enter into a new way.  The way of Jesus so that you can be given by God the freedom from sin that your will can never give you.  Offer the members of your body.  Offer your mind to read scripture so you can think of different thoughts of love and joy and peace. Offer your hands to practice giving so you can be freed from habitual greed, offer your feet to go somewhere and serve in places where you see there are human beings that have bigger problems than I do.   Offer your lips to practice gratitude or silence so you discover it's possible to live without complaining...so that gets into my body.  Offer your ears to listen to God so that you get new habits.  Jesus was a collection of habits.  Jesus was a new way."

"Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right whatever is pure, whatever is right, if anything is excellent or praiseworthy think about these things."  Phil 4:8

Are habits helpful or harmful?

I think that depends upon the habit.  Some habits are helpful.  Examples of helpful habits include our ability to tie our shoes without thought, brush our teeth properly with ease, get dressed, type messages, use a spoon, exercise, etc. 

Harmful habits may include mindless web surfing, too much time reading useless information and eating too much or the wrong types of foods.

According to John Ortberg in the Podcast: http://www.mppc.org/series/all/john-ortberg/healing-all-my-soul  habits cannot be overcome by willpower, but only by creating new habits.