We always seem to be working on our faith, always seeking to increase our faith and to strengthen our faith. This is not a bad thing to do of course but I think we also need to be working on our hearts too.

How many times have you been seeking the Lord over something and you just ask Him for a clear cut sign?  We are always looking for a ‘sign’ to strengthen our faith. We want to be able to tangibly see something happen before our very own eyes. But we don’t always get that outward sign that we are looking for so we have to make sure that deep in our heart the matter is already settled. My heart knows that God is good, He is who He said He is and His promises come true. We cannot always rely on our eyes to see, but we need to have a heart that sees instead.

Look at these verses in Mark chapter 8 where Jesus has a conversation with His disciples about their hearts….

Aware of their discussion, Jesus asked them: “Why are you talking about having no bread? Do you still not see or understand? Are your hearts hardened? Do you have eyes but fail to see, and ears but fail to hear? And don’t you remember? When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up?” “Twelve,” they replied. “And when I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand, how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up?” They answered, “Seven”.  He said to them, “Do you still not understand?” Mark 8: 17-21

Jesus disciples had forgotten the miracles they had seen with their very own eyes and Jesus rebukes them saying “are your hearts hardened?” By this time the disciples should have known better. They had already spent a lot of time with Jesus and even seen Him perform miracles like this before, they should have known that Jesus could and would provide for them.

In the natural they were looking at the fact that they had no bread. Their eyes could not fathom, but their hearts should have taken over and known that they were with Jesus and He had taken a small amount of food and multiplied it for them before. Their hearts should have known that Jesus is who He said He is and that He will do what He said He would do for them.

Jesus expects us to see from our hearts. When you have that mountain in front of you and your eyes cannot see over or through the problem your heart should take over. For our hearts to take over we must make sure that they have not been hardened.

Lord please help us not to have hard hearts. Holy Spirit help us to identify those thoughts that make our hearts hard the most and how we can begin to undo them. We long to have the matter settled in our hearts that You are who you say You are and that your promises always come true. Even when our eyes cannot see we want our hearts to take over. Amen.