“Let Your Heart Be Malleable for GOD”

 Reflections4Life™ March 5, 2023

“Let Your Heart Be Malleable for GOD”

“again He designates a certain day, saying in David, “Today,” after such a long time, as it has been said: Today, if you will hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts.” Hebrew 4:7

Scripture Contemplation: Deuteronomy 15:7; Joshua 11:20; 1 Samuel 6:6; Job 9:4; Proverbs 29:1; Mark 8; Hebrews 3; 4; 

©Ruthe McDonald.

      Beloveds, if there is one thing that I am certain of, other than the unconditional love of God, it is the fact that the enemy is a thief and he has set out to steal, kill, and destroy us. Spiritually and physically. He does not care how but he will use every weapon in his arsenal to deceive and rob us of the promises of God. Yet, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, who came to give us life and equipped us with armor to defeat the enemy. If we believe and trust Him, then we walk in obedience to what He tells us and do not harden our hearts to the truth.

      I declare that this week’s Reflections are a continued source of encouragement and inspiration for your heart, mind, and soul. Be confident in the Lord and His promises for your life. Seek Him daily and saturate yourself in the word of God. Allow the word to quench your thirst and feed your hunger, as Holy Spirit fills you with the knowledge, wisdom, and understanding of how strategically to defeat the enemy, no matter how he attacks. Greater is God in us the enemy in this world.

Don’t Be Deceived

         The enemy hates the fact we are made in the image of God and are filled with His Spirit. He loathes the creation of God and the power and authority that God has given us. Make no mistake that the enemy will do everything in his power to deceive you and cause you to doubt God, sin against God, and stop believing God altogether. The enemy wants our hearts to harden toward God’s truth. He understands that if he can get into our minds (his playground) and get us to contemplate on his [Satan] lies long enough, it will become a belief, finding its way into our hearts and becoming real. It will systematically harden our hearts, weaken our faith, and make the voice of God sound distant and false. Once he gets us to doubt God, he has found a doorway and it is hard to get him out before he does grave damage.

Jeremiah 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?

Jeremiah 17:10 “I the Lord search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.”

         Our hearts tell a tale; a tale of what we believe, what we accept as truth. What we have thought about, contemplated, and eventually believed as truth. This is why God admonishes us to pull down strongholds, to dismiss the wicked and lying thoughts and whispers of the enemy that speak the opposite of God and His plans and promises for our lives. To renounce the thoughts, habits, and curses that He has freed us from. Eventually, we reap what is in our hearts, whether it is true or not. When we allow the enemy to rent space in our heads and begin to think on and entertain his lies, whispers, and evil thoughts that were planted, instead of denouncing them and replacing them with the thoughts, promises, and word of God—they become our truth. The lies embedded in our hearts, become our beliefs, robbing us of the sincere, godly truth and promises of God. Only God can change it if we allow Him access and do not harden our hearts.

          The enemy is determined to deceive us and make us believe the opposite of what God has spoken and promised. He is good with smoke and mirrors and twisting the word of God to fit what he wants. Do not allow the lies of the enemy and the manipulation of God’s word to deceive you and harden your heart towards God and His truth. Let your heart be malleable to God’s touch and His voice when He gives you the truth and it hurts or is difficult to hear. Your salvation; your life depends on it. As do the generations following you.

Don’t Be Robbed

1 Peter 5:8 Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

John 10:10 “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”

         The Father lets us know that the enemy is after us; seeking to devour, steal, kill, and destroy. The enemy desires to rob us of the promises of God, to rob us of our peace. He wants to steal our joy, courage, faith, and belief in God and His promises. There is nothing more that would please the enemy than to destroy our relationship with God. He longs for us to not believe in God; to harden our hearts at the truth and to underestimate him and his duplicitous ways. By doing so, he would successfully destroy our faith, kill our dreams, and rob us of the promises of God in our lives, and our relationships.

           God would not have admonished us, warning us about the enemy if He was not certain that the enemy would try everything to get at us and we were capable of defeating the enemy. Some of us walk with the notion that the enemy will not use whomever to get to us. Some of us believe that we are wiser than the enemy. That, we are smarter than and will not be fooled or tricked into believing such treachery.

          Think about Peter and Paul. Think about Adam and Eve. Not to mention, Abraham, Isaac, Isaiah, Joseph, David, Solomon, Samson, etcetera. We are not immune to the enemy and his attacks, but we can be equipped and ready to win the battles that come our way, and that is to stay in the word of God; to stay in a mindset where we are yielded to God and seek His will each and every day. To be fully dressed in the armor and to pull down the strongholds and dismiss the whispers and lies and not contemplate on them or entertain them until they become embedded in our hearts, becoming real and true. When you hear the truth, do not harden your heart.

What it’s All About

         This battle is not even about us. Satan is striking back at God. Even the enemy knows he has already lost. It is all about love. Satan wants to destroy love. He wants to rob us and this entire earth of unconditional love. This is why he attacks our minds, trying to no end, to distort the truth and trick us into following him and agreeing with him. The enemy wants us to turn away from God and denounce Him; giving up our birthright—eternal life with our King.

         God has already warned us that the enemy seeks to devour us. Satan studies who we are. Taking notes on what concerns us. He sees what we love, searches for our greatest fears, our worst nightmares, our weaknesses, and Achilles' heel; whatever he can use against us to destroy our relationships, especially with God.

Luke 22:31, 32 Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.”

         My Beloveds, May the spirit of peace and prosperity finds permanent rest in your lives. I decree that every good thing that God has ordained for your life will become evident to you. Take heart, Beloveds. Do not harden your heart against God when He gives you the truth. Let your heart remain malleable toward the Father. We must stand strong against the wiles of the enemy, putting on our armor, staying prayerful, reading our word, pulling down strongholds, and believing what God has spoken. The moment we stop believing God's word, is the moment there is a crack in our armor and the enemy will not hesitate to pounce. Pull down the strongholds. Take courage and do all that God says. You are blessed. Now go…and be a blessing.

©2023. Ruthe McDonald. All Rights Reserved.