Crimes of the Heart (Pt 1)

THE CRIMES OF THE HEART

GOD IS DEALING WITH THE TRUE YOU

Psalm 51:10 (NKJV) — “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.”

God is not dealing with your public image. He is not impressed by your Sunday presence or your spiritual vocabulary. He is going after something deeper — something hidden. He is dealing with the true you.

And the true you lives in the heart.

There are crimes being committed in the hearts of God’s people — sins that have not been confessed, conditions that have not been surrendered, and wounds that have been buried so deep we have convinced ourselves they no longer exist. But God sees every corner of what we have hidden, and He will not allow us to advance into our next season carrying what He has already paid to heal.

We must make a choice: we will either humble ourselves, or we will harden ourselves. There is no middle ground before God.

The most dangerous crimes of the heart are not always the ones the world can see. Some of the most destructive are the ones dressed in religion — thriving inside the hearts of those who confess to love the Lord. An evil heart wrapped in church language may be the most deceptive condition of all.

Pride tells us we have no need of correction. Self-righteousness convinces us we are the standard. Defensiveness rises every time God’s Word comes close to something we refuse to release. Rebellion smiles in the sanctuary and resists in private. Stubbornness calls itself conviction when it is really just a refusal to yield.

And then there is something that many will not talk about — jealousy of the anointing on someone else’s life. When God begins to elevate another person, when He pours His oil upon them in their season, something rises in us that we rarely admit is there. We must be extremely careful not to covet what God has placed on someone else. That oil was measured for them, assigned to them, and designed for a purpose you were never meant to carry. To desire it is to resist the sovereignty of God.

But perhaps the most dangerous condition of all is this: being offended with God. When He does not move the way you expected. When your season has not come when you thought it would. When He blessed someone else and passed over you — or so it seems. An offense against God will shut down your faith, paralyze your prayer life, and leave you religious on the outside while your heart grows cold within.

God wants to clean the crimes out of our hearts. But He can only clean what we are willing to bring before Him. Circumcision of the heart is not painless — but it is necessary.

Cry out with David: “God, circumcise my heart. Reveal what I have buried deep within. Deal with the part of me I still hide behind. Confront the part of me that cannot stand to see someone else succeed.”

That is not a weak prayer — that is one of the bravest prayers a believer can pray.

DECLARATIONS

1. I declare that I will not harden my heart before God — I choose humility over pride, surrender over self-protection, and truth over the comfortable lies I have told myself. God has full access to every hidden place within me.

2. I declare that I will not covet the anointing, the elevation, or the assignment God has placed on another person’s life. What God has for me is for me. I celebrate what He is doing in others, and I trust what He is doing in me.

3. I declare that I am not offended with God. His timing is perfect, His ways are just, and His plan for my life is better than anything I could have designed for myself. I release every expectation that became a wall between me and His presence — and I choose to trust Him completely.

— Linda McKinzie | The Disciplined Disciple

“Not every disciple is disciplined.”