by Timothy W. Burnett
At first glance it might appear the Harkness was confused about the human condition. The reason God gave his word to heal our hearts is because He knows that we are capable of being down-hearted or burdened with sadness and pain. With this in mind we can safely conclude that we are actually down-hearted at times and would not say, �No! No! No!� Otherwise we would be denying how we really feel.
The down-hearted state is most often brought on because of each person�s own mental reaction to an undesirable condition, whether internal or external. So often, people blame their down-hearted state on the condition that hurt them. In truth, the down-hearted state sets in because of the way they mentally reacted.
Harkness was very likely teaching people to attack the state of pain and sadness with trust in God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Trust is a state of deep mental confidence. As we learn to maintain that trust, our first mental reaction is to trust in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, �come weal or woe.�
When the weals and woes of life fly at us, we can face them straight on with complete and humble trust in God that he is able to help us from being directly hit, or He can help us to endure the attacks. In the end, we are strengthened and built up in our hearts.
We will all be sad and frustrated over different things in life. But we can learn to guard our hearts from that heavy down-hearted state by not carrying the sadness and hurt for a long time to the point that it sets into the inner seat of our minds, which is the heart.
If you�ve been painfully down-hearted for a long time, then heal your heart by spending lots of time meditating on God�s word, especially the areas that address what is bothering you or what happened. Pray often to God, letting Him know how you are feeling and what hurt you. Replace those painful thoughts with the loving truth of God�s word. You�re basically replacing words with other words.
The plain truth is that 1) God�s word heals both our physical and mental condition; 2) We are responsible for our own thoughts; therefore 3) It is our responsibility to put on God�s word in our minds and hearts with the purpose of healing our broken hearts.
Look at Jesus Christ�s life during the Gospels period. For very good reasons, he was very sad at times. Notice how he always spoke his Father�s word and poured his heart out to Him in prayer. In the end, Jesus was built up in his heart.
Are we down-hearted? Sometimes, yes yes yes!!! But in the name of Jesus Christ, let�s react by trusting God in heaven, so we can cheerfully say �No! No! No!�
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