Deuteronomy 11:18 (New International Version) 

“Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.”

According to the Hebrew Transliteration, fix is derived from the Hebrew word, suwm, which means to put, place, set, appoint, make, ordain, establish, found, constitute, make, determine, fix. 

According to Dictionary.com, the word fix means:

1. to repair;

2. to put in order or in good condition; adjust or arrange:

3. to make fast, firm, or stable.

4. to place definitely and more or less permanently:

5. to settle definitely; determine:

6. to direct (the eyes, the attention, etc.) steadily:

7. to attract and hold

8. to make set or rigid.

9. to put into permanent form.  

This week I want to conclude our study on a fixed heart by sharing some observations from personal struggles and from listening to many young men as they talk to me about their personal and very private spiritual journeys.

I’m not sure we completely understand just how important it is for man to have our hearts fixed upon Him and Him alone.  So much of what is good and bad in a man’s life can be traced back to what he chooses to fix his heart, eyes, ears and thoughts upon.

If you want a life built upon lies, then fix your heart, eyes, ears and thoughts upon anything but God.  It is so true and so easy for this to happen.  Sometimes, not always, one’s heart fix can correlate directly to their environment, the company they keep, the entertainment they partake and one’s feelings.  Don’t think for a minute our Enemy doesn’t realize this.  Not only does he realize it, he uses it to render man ineffective for Kingdom work! 

I use this next line over and over again working with young men.  See what you think:

What a man thinks he believes; what a man believes, he acts out.

Behavior is determined by what we, what I, allow my thoughts to be fixed or consumed by.   The problem with all this is the fact that we are men and women who desire to have our hearts fixed upon God, but we cannot completely do that if we do not know God.  Knowing God requires time.  Time to know and grow in our understanding of who He is as well as who He is not!  We’ve got to know Him inside and out.  The only way to do that is to spend time with Him in reading, worshiping and building that relationship that He desires with us.  For when we do our part, He will do His. 

Now that doesn’t mean we will always want to or feel like it.  But if we are determined and press on, we can bring our entire beings into a fixed relationship with Him.

At PureHeart we have all kinds of young men partner with us with all kinds of personal stories.  All are amazing young men.  It is a blessing to partner with them.  Regardless of the story, the past, the hurt or the addiction, we all have more in common than that which separates us.  We are all created by our Universal Creator who has a deep longing for us to come into a personal relationship with Him.  The barrier that prevents that deep level of relationship is whatever else we choose to fix our hearts, eyes, minds and thoughts upon.  We’ll have to get into this in deeper detail later.  But there is an amazingly common thread that binds man to man.  And that thread has a direct relationship to the God-given needs of the heart.  But when man attempts to fulfill those needs in the wrong way, that thread begins to fray. 

Oh, how I wish we had time to delve deeper!

In the meantime, please praise God for the following and lift up your prayers for the following:

1.      I praise God that we worship a living risen Savior!  The tomb is empty.

2.      I praise God that we serve a God that loves me beyond any human level of understanding.

3.      I praise God for each of you!

4.      Praise God for ministry opportunities.

5.      Pray for PureHeart’s upcoming 2009 Board meeting.

6.      Pray for our plans for an upcoming Ministry Open House.

7.      Pray for each of the young men we minister to presently and those who have partnered with us in the past. 

8.      Pray for Brad, Ryan and me.  Pray for our wives and children.

9.      Continue to pray for our nation. 

10. Pray for our pastors and our home churches.  

 Sharing from the Heart;

Steve