The Heart Series, Part Five

These are the last days.  Jesus Christ will soon return to receive His church in the clouds, and just months thereafter, the world system as we know it will meet its end at Armageddon.  The opportunity for salvation for those who have heard and rejected, or heard and put off the King of Glory for another day, will be over—totally over.  If one is found in that category, all he or she will have in store is an appointment with an angry God and an eternity in a place called the Lake of Fire.  But be certain of this: if you are in that category, it is not God’s wish that you should be lost.  John 3:16-19:

16  For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

17  For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

18  He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

19  And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.

Today is your day of salvation.  Today can be the day when life and life more abundantly begins at your house.  Don’t wait another minute.  Click onto “Further With Jesus” for childlike instructions and immediate entry into the Kingdom of God.  NOW FOR TODAY’S SUBJECT.

GOD SAID, Proverbs 4:23:

Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.

GOD SAID, Proverbs 27:9:

Ointment and perfume rejoice the heart: so doth the sweetness of a man's friend by hearty counsel.

GOD SAID, II Chronicles 7:6:

And the priests waited on their offices: the Levites also with instruments of music of the LORD, which David the king had made to praise the LORD, because his mercy endureth for ever, when David praised by their ministry; and the priests sounded trumpets before them, and all Israel stood.

MAN SAID: The heart is just a muscle pump and no more.  The Bible is just the archaic writings of mere men and no more.

Now THE RECORD.  This marvelous series of the heart demonstrates the glorious wisdom of God.  His insights and instructions recorded in His Holy Bible, written thousands of years ago, literally define today’s science.  Applying these principles concerning the heart certainly and measurably means more life here and eternal life hereafter.  Welcome to GodSaidManSaid.  We’re very pleased that you have come.

Presently housed on this website are 449 feature articles, approximately 15 minutes each, archived in text and streaming audio.  Every Thursday eve, God-willing, they grow by one.  These subjects prove the full veracity and supernatural nature of the Word of God.  To the gainsayer who has an ear to hear, they prove that God is.  To the honest unsaved seeking the escape from darkness, they show the Light.  And to the blood-bought, they excite the soul, supply ammunition for the battle, and help build holy faith.  God’s Word found in the majority-text is true and righteous altogether.  It is a place to build a life.

This is the final feature in the five-part series addressing the heart.  If we simply apply the knowledge laid out here, the results—and I mean the immediate results—will be exhilarating and the benefits are accumulative.  The primary verse for this series is Proverbs 4:23:

Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.

A quick review of the first four articles follows:

The Heart Series, Part One:

This first feature established that the heart is much more than a muscle pump, and that it can be made merry or sad with words and circumstances, and the results of the emotions of the heart are spiritual and very physical.  Proverbs 17:22:

A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones.

Proverbs 17:22 is certifiable science.  We also established that the heart has a brain of its own and that it needs to be kept.

The Heart Series, Part Two:

The second feature addressed the soul-man’s nomenclature.  We considered somewhat how the brain, heart, and belly function together, and how thoughts enter into the heart or how thoughts are blocked from access.

The Heart Series, Part Three:

Part Three covered purging and preparing the heart to house the issues of life.

The Heart Series, Part Four:

Part Four gave God’s instructions for feeding the heart and highlighted today’s science that says “yes – absolutely yes.”  The phenomenal benefits of God-commanded positive reframing, meditation, prayer, and going to church were addressed.  The world’s citizenry spends billions of dollars annually to improve quality of life and to extend it.  Imagine for a moment the quality of life and the extension of that life (on average at least 11% or eight years), which is a result of the Biblical keeping of the heart.  It is staggering.

This is the fifth and final article in this series and it, like Part Four, will continue with the concept of food for your heart.  Prepare yourself for some amazing information.

Your nose plays a key role in a healthy heart.  God expends an enormous amount of attention on the nose and smell.  Keep in mind that God breathed the breath of life into Adam’s nostrils.  Genesis 2:7:

And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

Intricate instructions concerning recipes for sweet smelling incense and anointing oil, etc., are laid out by God for daily use in the temple.  Proverbs 27:9 speaks of ointment, perfume, and the heart:

Ointment and perfume rejoice the heart: so doth the sweetness of a man's friend by hearty counsel.

The smell connection and the brain were addressed in the book, A User’s Guide To The Brain, authored by Doctor Ratey.  A short excerpt follows:

Because the olfactory system in the brain has a short and direct connection to the memory centers, smells can take us right back to a vivid scene from the past.

And again, Ratey writes:

...olfactory nerves project directly into the amygdala and olfactory cortex, parts of the limbic system, without any mediation through the thalamus.  The olfactory nerves have a hotline to the emotional brain, and only then is the information sent to the orbitofrontal cortex for more associating, inhibiting, and further processing.  The “smell” connection is much faster and more decisive than the systems for the other senses and not much filtering goes on before action is called for by emotional memory.  [End of quote]

The sense of smell plays a very large roll in our existence, from the very beginning of our lives to the activities in our everyday existence.

You’ve probably heard of a concept known as aromatherapy, which is just beginning to enter the mainstream.  Although it’s been around since creation, it has just not been very well understood.  Aromatherapy is basically the absorption of essential oils through the pores of the skin or inhaled through the nose.  The molecules of these oils then enter the nervous system via the bloodstream, affecting the emotional well-being of the individual.  But be sure that it’s so much more than this simple definition.

Energy Times had this to say about the nose-brain connection:

Of the five senses, smell elicits the quickest recognition and response from the brain.  Odors activate nasal-cavity nerve cells, which then transmit impulses to the limbic portion of the brain, which is linked to emotions and memories.  Therefore it’s believed that some odors provoke emotional responses.  Our sense of smell may also affect our physiology.  The limbic system activated the hypothalamus, which sends messages to the pituitary gland; the latter is in charge of hormones that control many of our bodily functions, lending some researchers to hypothesize a relationship between odors and the systems governing some basic drives and instincts, among them hunger, sex, fear and aggression.  [End of quote]

Essential oils such as those used in God’s holy anointing oil, when diffused and inhaled, are billed as the best air filtration systems the world has to offer.  They will...

1.  Purify, by removing metallic particles and toxins from the air.

2.  Increase atmospheric oxygen.

3.  Increase ozone and negative ions in the house, which inhibit bacteria growth.

4.  Destroy odors from mold, cigarettes, and animals.

5.  Fill the air with a fresh, herbal aromatic scent.

There exists a plethora of research and new studies that are cataloging the tremendous power of smell and just what one should smell.  The editors of Prevention weighed-in with the following information under the paragraph heading, “Can You Teach Your Body to Fight Cancer?”  It reads:

Imagine the fragrance of a bouquet of flowers or the melody of a favorite song signaling your immune system to fight off cancer.  Far out?  Researchers at the University of Alabama don’t think so.

They found they could train the immune systems of mice to rev up when the mice were exposed to an odor.  They used a procedure known as classical, or Pavlovian, conditioning.  Pavlov, you may recall, conditioned a dog to salivate whenever a bell rang, after learning to associate the sound with food.

The Alabama researchers exposed mice to the odor of camphor for 4 hours every 3 days for 27 days.  Just before being exposed to the smell, the animals were injected with a chemical compound that stimulates interferon.  This potent biochemical activates natural killer cells, our body’s first line of defense against cancer.

After nine sessions, the rodents were given a three-day rest.  On the fourth day, some were exposed to the camphor smell again, but without the injection.  These mice reacted with three times more interferon production and killer-cell activity than mice that were not exposed.

“We know from studies regarding stress, grief, and happiness, that the immune system is linked to the central nervous system,” says the research team organizer.  “Now we are beginning to see how we can influence that interaction.”

“Our ultimate hope,” they say, “is to be able to train the immune systems of people with cancer to mimic the effect of immune-stimulating drugs.”  [End of quote]

I personally have a diffuser in my office which I use daily to circulate the fragrance of essential oils.  You can purchase one at a department store or a health store.  A small candle is placed in the bottom of the diffuser.  Above the candle is a bowl that holds water and whatever essential oil you place in it.  The candle heats the water and oil, and it evaporates into the air.  It is exhilarating.  It is heart food.

The issues of life proceed out of the heart, and music plays a wonderful role in keeping it.  Music is food for the heart.

After God delivered Israel from the hand of Egypt’s bondage, Moses and the Israelites sang unto God.  The first two verses of Exodus 15 contain the beginning of the song:

1  Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the LORD, and spake, saying, I will sing unto the LORD, for he hath triumphed gloriously: the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea.

2  The LORD is my strength and song, and he is become my salvation: he is my God, and I will prepare him an habitation; my father’s God, and I will exalt him.

King David set up a huge musical team to worship the LORD in the sanctuary.

When the great prophet Elisha was called to prophesy in a tough spiritual setting, he called for music.  II Kings 3:15-16:

15  But now bring me a minstrel. And it came to pass, when the minstrel played, that the hand of the LORD came upon him.

16  And he said, Thus saith the LORD, Make this valley full of ditches.

When King Saul was troubled by an evil spirit, he called for a young lad named David to play upon his harp.  I Samuel 16:14-17 & 23:

14  But the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD troubled him.

15  And Saul’s servants said unto him, Behold now, an evil spirit from God troubleth thee.

16  Let our lord now command thy servants, which are before thee, to seek out a man, who is a cunning player on an harp: and it shall come to pass, when the evil spirit from God is upon thee, that he shall play with his hand, and thou shalt be well.

17  And Saul said unto his servants, Provide me now a man that can play well, and bring him to me.

And now verse 23:

23  And it came to pass, when the evil spirit from God was upon Saul, that David took an harp, and played with his hand: so Saul was refreshed, and was well, and the evil spirit departed from him.

A relatively new psycho-medical area of training is making serious strides in the field of medicine, and it’s called music therapy.  Some of the following cited research will make its now recognized benefits abundantly clear.  A marvelous thing to consider is that thousands of years before science knew the reason why, God, in His perfect wisdom, the Engineer and Creator of all life, declared the importance of music in His Word.  This is just another proof of the supernatural credibility of the Bible.

Music is now known to improve immune response.  A subject on this website titled, “A Merry Heart Or a Broken Spirit,” declares that when one is in a joyful, positive spirit—something that music can help induce—his bone marrow pumps out red and white blood cells profusely.  Red blood cells carry food and oxygen to the body and white blood cells destroy disease.  A joyful, positive spirit, that music can surely help to promote, enhances a strong immune system.

Mood is a reflection of the spirit dwelling in your earthen vessel (your body).  The Bible teaches that music is a spiritual medium having the ability to change mood.  Spirits are affected by music, whether the spirit of man, of angels, or devils.

The music of the Lord has the power to alter spiritual composition.  Also note that evil music has the opposite effect.  For example, carnal musical concerts, especially those directed toward the 15 to 30-year-old age group, have major security concerns.  Police are brought in to attempt to control the violence, alcohol, and illicit drugs.  At a gospel concert you’ll typically only need police to help direct traffic.  Two different types of music, two different spirits, two different moods, two different Gods: one big “G”-od and one little “g”-od.  So music directly affects moods, and science now confirms it.  Energy Times magazine cited research published in two medical journals concerning mood.  The journals stated that “People undergoing cardiac procedures enjoy improved mood and see drops in blood pressure and respiratory rates after listening to music.  Also, neophyte music makers have shown improved immune responses.”  [End of quote]

In a 1999 article titled “Sound Advice” in Better Homes and Gardens, the following excerpt was found:

Large numbers of doctors began hearing about music's measurable effect on hospital patients in 1986 when Jayne Standley, Ph.D., chair of the music therapy program at Florida State University, published a study in the Journal of Music Therapy.  The study found the following:

• Premature babies in intensive care who were exposed to music were calmer and used oxygen more efficiently.  The babies also gained weight faster and required shorter periods of hospitalization than babies who didn’t listen to music.

• Burn victims, and patients undergoing treatment for cancer, brain disorders, and kidney dialysis reported less discomfort when music was played during painful procedures.

• Patients who awoke to music playing after surgery required less pain medication and could wait longer for their analgesic medications than other patients.  [End of quote]

How perfect are God’s commandments and precepts whose intricacies are past finding out; how perfectly intertwined with all that’s called life.

Keeping the heart requires diligence, and the formula is clearly laid out for His children to see.  If you have visited all five of these features dealing with keeping the heart, the instant replay sheet that follows will be exceedingly relevant.  If you have not visited one or all of the previous articles on the heart, take time to do so now.  The rest of your life will be affected.

INSTANT REPLAY:

(1.)  Your heart, which is the seat of your emotions, is made merry or sad with words and circumstances yielding measurable spiritual and physical results.

(2.)  The heart has a brain of its own and must be kept.

(3.)  The three-part soul-man’s nomenclature – the mind, the heart, and the belly – and the trap door under your chin.

(4.)  The procedure for purging the heart of bitterness, hatred, lust, etc., and “I love everybody.”

(5.)  Feeding the heart.

(6.)  Positive reframing.

(7.)  Meditation and prayer.

(8.)  Going to church more than once a week.

(9.)  Smell.

(10.)  The music of God.

GOD SAID, Proverbs 4:23:

Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.

GOD SAID, Proverbs 27:9:

Ointment and perfume rejoice the heart: so doth the sweetness of a man's friend by hearty counsel.

GOD SAID, II Chronicles 7:6:

And the priests waited on their offices: the Levites also with instruments of music of the LORD, which David the king had made to praise the LORD, because his mercy endureth for ever, when David praised by their ministry; and the priests sounded trumpets before them, and all Israel stood.

MAN SAID: The heart is just a muscle pump and no more.  The Bible is just the archaic writings of mere men and no more.

Now you have THE RECORD.

 

References:

Authorized King James Version

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