In my article "Weston, WI Girl Dies as Parents Pray," published March 28, 2008, I wrote:
Use your heart to understand the wisdom of God, not your head. Let God give to you the ability to hear with your ears, see with your eyes, and understand with your heart. Do not let these demons deceive you any longer by leading you along the emotional path they have sucked you into. Faith is not an emotion.
I received an email in which the writer pointed out that, even though it may not have been my intent, this statement may have brought faith back to the emotional side. The writer made an excellent point. I wrote back to him to clarify what my intent was with this paragraph, and that bringing faith back to emotional levels was most certainly not my intent. I told him I had thought about but decided not to include biblical references to which this paragraph refers. After writing to him, I came to the decision to clarify this point for all my readers.
The first reference is from Isaiah 6:
8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?"
And I said, "Here am I. Send me!"9 He said, "Go and tell this people:
" 'Be ever hearing, but never understanding;
be ever seeing, but never perceiving.'10 Make the heart of this people calloused;
make their ears dull
and close their eyes.Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
hear with their ears,
understand with their hearts,
and turn and be healed." (NIV)
The second reference is from Matthew 13:
10The disciples came to him and asked, "Why do you speak to the people in parables?" 11He replied, "The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. 12Whoever has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. 13This is why I speak to them in parables:
"Though seeing, they do not see;
though hearing, they do not hear or understand. 14In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah:
" 'You will be ever hearing but never understanding;
you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.
15For this people's heart has become calloused;
they hardly hear with their ears,
and they have closed their eyes.
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
hear with their ears,
understand with their hearts
and turn, and I would heal them.' (NIV)
And again in Acts 28, at the end, Paul reiterates this prophecy from Isaiah.
My point was not to bring faith back to the emotional faith charismatic/Pentecostal pastors try to thrust on their parishioners. Rather my point was that if one reads the Bible correctly, God will give them the ability to understand with their hearts, not their heads or minds. Once this happens, the understanding that comes from the heart is transmitted to the brain where we now learn to use our faith with the appropriate amount of intellect.
Proverbs 3:5 says "Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding." (NIV)
I believe, as does the gentleman who wrote to me about this, that pastors do not teach their congregations how to properly read the Bible. On my website I provide feature articles about how God led me through a long period of Holy Discipline. I stated that in one year I read through the Bible three times, cover to cover. The first time was in 25 days, the second time in 45, and the third time I read from the very next day (after the 45 day reading) until I once again finished exactly one year later from the day I started my first read.
In 25 days, even in 45 days there was not much time to "think" about what I was reading. I spent hours a day reading, and realized as I read that God was giving me more understanding about what is written in his Word than I had ever had in my previous 40-some years of Christian life. I came to the understanding that when one reads quickly through the Bible, God will give him or her the ability to understand with the heart. That understanding is also given in the mind, but it is the understanding that God gave me, not that which I worked at understanding.
It seemed to me then that many Bible studies are built on superficial (mind) understanding, and there is too little encouragement to read the Bible cover-to-cover. I had found in my Pentecostal experiences over the years that pastors taught that doctrine is not important, and that we could skip the Pauline epistles because it is all about doctrine. Yet when one considers what doctrine means, one comes to realize that the doctrines (teachings) in the Bible are the teachings of Christ and those of God.
This poses an important question: If doctrine is not important (as Calvary Chapel teaches, for example), then on what do we base our faith? If it is not on the teachings of Christ, is not our faith futile?
In my experiences with Pentecostal/Non-denominational churches, whenever my life was down I was led to believe by the pastors and other members that all I needed to do was remember what it "FELT" like when I was born again. They were referring to the emotional feeling, and encouraged me to find that emotional feeling again. When I couldn't, they told me my faith was probably not strong enough.
Yet from August 2004 until now, when God restored me to a true faith there have been times when I did not "feel" right, when my life had pitfalls. I did not "feel" the high of the "born again experience", yet I still knew Christ was there with me and the Holy Spirit would lead me through the trials successfully, and he did.
When God restored me in August 2004, I felt joy - but not on an emotional level. It was definitely on a spiritual level. It wasn't about crying, laughing, the emotional high the Pentecostals have tried to push on me. It was in my heart of hearts, a certainty that God was with me and was truly blessing me beyond my ability to comprehend. His blessings continue day after day, year after year. On that day in August 2004 I could say without hesitation or doubt, "Christ Jesus, I choose to follow you. Nothing else matters," and even without understanding in my mind what that meant I knew it would be true all the remaining days of my life.
Feeling joy on an emotional level is one thing. Feeling joy in your heart of hearts is a totally different thing. There is no "high". There is no expectation that everything will be perfect from that point on. There is no expectation of great wealth and prosperity in this life that comes with this joy. There is only the uncompromising, unexplainable knowledge that Christ is with me and will be with me until I leave this life and join him in heaven.
My hope is that this clarifies the point of "understanding with your heart". It is not an emotional thing - it is a GOD thing, a gift freely given to those who honestly, humbly, and with boldness ask: "Lord, I do not know how to believe. Please give me the ability to believe the way you want me to. Nothing else matters."
For more on gaining a higher faith in Christ Jesus, visit the Seeking Real Truth Ministries website. Also, please pray that God will provide the means for me to do my ministry work full time.
Mark John Ostrum
