Why You Can’t Trust Your Heart

Speaker A00:00:00

Everybody says it. Follow your heart, trust your feelings, do what feels right. And let's be honest, that sounds good. It sounds freeing. It sounds like something deep.It sounds like wisdom. But let me just tell you right now, a whole lot of people have wrecked their lives doing exactly that.So today, I want to talk about something that goes against the current culture. It goes against a lot of popular advice. And honestly, it goes against what a lot of people want to hear. You can't trust your heart.And I just want to let that sit for a second. Now, I'm not saying that your feelings don't matter. I'm not at all saying that emotions are fake.I'm not saying you should become cold or act like nothing affects you. That's not at all what I mean. What I mean is this. Your heart can feel something strongly and still be wrong.Your heart can want something badly, and it can still be leading you in the wrong direction. And yes, your heart can be sincere and it can still be deceived.And the problem is, if you don't understand that, you're going to call things peace that aren't peace. And you're going to call things love that aren't love. And you're going to call things discernment that are really fear.You'll call things freedom that are actually rebellion. And you're going to keep making choices based on what feels right in the moment instead of what God says is right.So today I just want to slow things down and I want to deal with this in the right way. We're going to go to scripture, we're going to have an honest and frank talk, and we're going to deal with the heart. Yes.We're going to talk about flesh and deception and healing, and we're going to talk about surrender. So I just want to encourage you to stay with me all the way through this today, because this isn't just a message about emotions.This is really a message about how people get deceived, why they keep ending up in the same cycles, and what God can do when a heart is fully surrendered to him. Hello there. I'm Ralph Estep Jr. Welcome to Truth Unveiled with Ralph.This is a show where we slow down, we open God's word, and we deal honestly with the things people aren't really wrestling with. Now, this isn't a show about shame. It's not a show about judgment. But we do it with truth. We do it with grace, and we do it with hope.We find in Jesus Christ. And today we're talking about why you can't always trust your heart.And in many ways, why that may be one of the most freeing truths you'll ever hear. One of the biggest lies in this generation is that your heart is automatically trustworthy.That if you feel it deeply enough, well, that's got to be real. That if it feels natural, well, it's got to be right. And if it feels strong, it must be from God. But friend, that's not what the Bible teaches.Let's get right into Scripture. Right off the top here. We're going to go right to Jeremiah, chapter 17, verse 9. It says this.The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it When I read that again for today. That's a serious verse, isn't it? The Bible is not at all casual about the human heart.It says the heart is deceitful. But notice what it says. Not once in a while, not only when you're at your worst. It says the heart is deceitful above all things.Just let that rest for a second. The heart is deceitful above all things. But let's go to Proverbs.Proverbs, chapter 28, verse 26 says, he that trusteth in his own heart is a fool, but whoso walketh wisely, he shall be delivered. A bold verse. So right there. Scripture completely challenges what we hear in culture every day. The world says it. We've all heard it. Trust your heart.What does the Bible tell us? The Bible says if you trust your own heart, you're a fool. A fool that's strong.But we need strong truth in an hour like this so we can battle these soft lies all around us. And in my view, a lot of people aren't in trouble because God failed them. I honestly don't believe God ever fails us.But they are in trouble because they trusted feelings they never tested. We've all trusted desires that never brought. That we never brought before God. And we've trusted what felt right.How many times have you heard, well, it feels right to me, Ralph. Seems like the right thing to do instead of checking whether it was right. And that shows up everywhere. It shows up in our relationships.I'm an accountant. It shows up in money. It shows up in our quote calling, Listen, it's not a popular thing to show, talk about. It shows up in sex.It shows up in our friendships. It rears its ugly head in our life decisions. We see it in church decisions. We see it in our business decisions.And we even see it in those family times, those family decisions. How Many times have you heard people say it just felt like it was right, okay, that's fine. It felt like that. But was it biblical? Was it wise?Was it clean? Did it actually line up with God's word? Here's one you got to think about. Did it produce good fruit?Or maybe it just felt good in the moment, because those are not the same thing. But now I want to pivot a little bit. I want to talk what the Bible means by the word heart. I think we got to start there.The Bible talks about the heart. It's not only talking about feelings. Biblically, the heart is the inner part of you. We can all visualize this.How many times do people say, oh, follow your heart. They're not talking about your physical heart in your chest. That's a very physical thing. But your heart is the inner part of you.It's your desires, it's the motives that you live by. It's your will, it's your thoughts, it's the heart mind connection. It's your intentions. And sure, it's your affections as well.The heart is the part of you that drives your choices. And that's why it matters so much. That's why we're having this discussion today. Because if the heart is off, guess what?Your direction is going to be off too. But let's get right back into the word. Proverbs, chapter 4, verse 23 says, Keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life.That is a very important verse. And notice what the verse says. It doesn't say follow your heart. It says, guard your heart. You see the difference there? What is it saying to you?It's saying to watch your heart. It's saying to protect your heart. Pay attention to your heart. Be careful with your heart. Why is it telling us this? It says it right there.It says, because out of it come the issues of life. In other words, let me encapsulate this. What is happening in your heart is going to show up in your life. You've got to hear that.What goes on in your heart shows up in your life. The choices that you make, they flow from your heart. The words that you use, they flow from your heart.Your reactions to how you react to stuff, how you react to people, how you relate to relationships, those things flow from your heart. Loyalty, something we don't hear a lot about in culture today. But loyalties flow from your heart.What you chase after that flows from your heart as well. What we tolerate flows from our heart. And unfortunately, what Many of us justify flows from our heart, and that's why Jesus said it.Look at Mark, chapter 7, verses 21 to 23. This is Jesus words. He says, for from within, out of the heart of men proceed evil thoughts.And then he lists adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. Now that's a long laundry list. But what does he end with? All of these evil things come from within and defile the man. What is Jesus telling us?Jesus is telling us the real issue starts inside of us. And that matters because a lot of people in culture today think the biggest problem is what's around them. How many times have we heard it?Well, I've got bad influences around me. This is going on around me. The noise, the social media. I've talked about it on this show. But Jesus points inward.He says, what comes out of a person starts in the heart. And I think he does that intentionally. So if your heart isn't surrendered, you can look polished on the outside and still be a mess on the inside.Now, I'm fixing to preach right now. Think about that for a second. You look polished on the outside, but what's coming from the inside is a mess. Maybe I'm speaking to you right now.You can sound spiritual, but you can still be led by pride. There's a whole lot of people that pontificate spiritual things, but what's leading that you can say the right words.You know somebody that always has the right words for things. I know a lot of those people. You can say the right words, but you might still be following your flesh. And you can have church language.Yes, you can have church language and still have a heart that's not at all submitted to God. Let's talk about why you can't trust your heart. That was the whole point of today's show. I want to break this down in plain language.If you know anything about me, I don't deal in theology. I'm not a theologian by any stretch. I'm just a common dude just talking about the Bible and Christianity and culture.So I want to break this down in simple terms. Here are the some of the reasons you can't trust your heart. Number one thing, your heart changes fast. We started off talking about what feels right.How many times have you felt something today? It feels right today, but a week from now, maybe an hour from now, it feels foolish.And how many times have we felt something unbearable right now that doesn't even matter in a month. What feels like I have to do this now can turn into, I can't believe I did that.How many times have you had a situation where you go back and look at it, you're like, what was I thinking? Where was my heart taking me? Because the problem is your heart reacts. That's what a heart does. The inner being. It reacts. It reacts to loneliness.It reacts to stress. Sure. It reacts to flattery. It also reacts to hurt. It reacts to fear. It certainly reacts to rejection. And at the same time reacts to desire.And it reacts to pressure. So let me ask you this. Why would you make permanent decisions based on temporary emotions? It makes no sense when you think about it, does it?But yet people do it every day. Here's the second thing. Most of the time your heart wants relief, not truth. And this is the big one.Sometimes your heart isn't looking for what's right. It's looking for what feels better. I'm going to go with my heart because I want it to feel better.You ever been through a tough time in your life and you think your heart's speaking to you, but it's not really that you just want to feel better. It wants comfort, it wants attention. Maybe it wants revenge. Somebody has scorned you. It wants you to be chosen.And many times it wants you to feel less lonely. Or maybe it just wants the pain to stop.And when the pain gets loud and I'm speaking for myself right now, your heart will start calling the wrong things. The answer, Just think about it right now. Some people get into wrong relationships because they wanted relief from loneliness.I found myself in that season. There was a time in my marriage where my wife and I had split up and I went into a relationship. It was a train wreck.My heart was telling me, oh, this is okay. But it really wasn't the right decision. But I was just trying to cure myself from loneliness.That wrong relationship, because we just wanted to be free of that loneliness. This is something I deal with all the time. Some people make bad financial decisions because they wanted relief from insecurity.I've counseled so many people over the years that they didn't make a good financial decision. They just wanted to be less insecure. Some people walk back into sin because they wanted relief from pressure. I want to call out my son today.My son yesterday, as I was as I recorded this celebrated two year sobriety. He decided two years ago, he says, dad, I can't drink anymore. And I just want to shout out to him on this show what an accomplishment.But there are so many people that walk back into sin because they feel that pressure, because your heart just wants relief. Some people cut off the right people because they wanted relief from correction.You've got somebody that's telling you biblical truth and you're like, I'm not talking to that person anymore. I'm not going to go see the pastor anymore. Because the pastor said, you shouldn't be doing that. Ralph calling you out. So what do you do?You cut them off out of here. My heart told me to stop talking to that person because they were correcting me. But, friend, hear this. Relief is not the same thing as healing.We get that so confused. It's not the same thing. And feeling better for a moment is not the same thing as being led by God. Here's another reason.The heart will be shaped by wounds. And this, in my personal opinion, where a lot of people get misled. Sometimes people use the word intuition and they call it intuition.But to me, it's really unhealed pain. Because in a lot of ways, that wounded heart can make you expect betrayal.If you've ever lived through betrayal, your heart's going to tell you that, oh, I just got to expect this because your heart's been wounded, it's been ripped out of your chest sometimes because you're just expecting, oh, this is going to be another betrayal. Because that's the pattern that I've seen in my life. A wounded heart can make you push good people away. We talked about that.You might have somebody, you might have a true friend that speaks truth to you in love, but you push them away because you're wounded. A wounded heart can make you cling to people who treat you badly because chaos feels familiar.How many people right now, as you're listening or watching me right now, you're in a relationship, but this person treats you like garbage. They treat you badly, but you understand the chaos, so you just stay in it because you're. At least I know what to expect. That is a wounded heart.That same wounded heart can make you suspicious of healthy love.There's a lot of people right now that don't even know what healthy love looks like because they've been hurt so many times their heart is broken in a million pieces.And even when somebody gives them an opportunity to see, to witness healthy love, they're so suspicious of it because they've been broken so many times. And a wounded heart can make you call dysfunction normal.I've met some really wonderful people that were living in dysfunction and they didn't see it from the inside. They had no idea because their wounded heart said, well, this is just the way it is. This is just the way people interact.My family's a mess, but that's the way it is. That's the beauty of it. And their wounded heart was telling them, well, just stay in that dysfunction.So many people think they're following their heart, but really they're following the old patterns of pain.That pain that you had through rejection, that love that you just broken into pieces and you felt rejected, and you're just continuing to follow that. Maybe fear, maybe you're following fear. So many of us are following what happened to us 10 years ago or 20 years ago.Hey, as I get a little bit older, maybe 30 years ago. But the problem is, until that gets healed, the heart's going to keep choosing what matches the wound, not what matches the will of God.And that's the problem when you have a wounded heart. Your heart's going to choose the match that it understands. It's going to keep you in bad relationships.It's going to keep you around people that don't love you, but you allow it. You allow that dysfunction to continue because that's what your heart understands, because it's broken. Here's something bold I got to say.Your heart can be sincere and still be wrong. Yes, I said it. Your heart can be sincere. You might think at your very core that your heart is being sincere.And I'm going to tell you, you are sincerely wrong. This is one of the biggest things people need to understand. You ever heard somebody say, well, they sure meant well. Guess what?You can mean well and still be wrong. You can still feel something deeply and still be wrong. You can cry over it. You can pray over it. You can talk about it and still be wrong.That sincerity that you feel does not equal truth. A lot of people get mixed up on that. Well, I'm sincere. I gotta be true. No, sincerity doesn't necessarily mean that it's true.Those strong feelings do not equal confirmation. Intensity does not equal wisdom. I'll give you some real practical examples. I've lived this one myself. Your heart can call lust love super easy.There is a major difference between lust and love. But when you're in this position where intensity and you feel strongly about it, that lust, oh, this must be love.Your heart can call attachment peace, bad attachment, dysfunctional attachment. In many ways, your heart can call fear discernment. Well, have this fear. So my heart's telling me, oh, this is discernment. This is. This is what?This is what the Holy Spirit's telling me. No, your heart is calling fear, discernment. Your heart can call pride, boundaries.Well, I'm putting up these boundaries because my heart says I'm going to get hurt. That's just pride. Your heart can call rebellion. Listen to this one. Ready for this one? Rebellion. Your heart can call rebellion. Being true to yourself.How many times have you heard that in common culture? While I'm being true to myself, you might be rebelling against a word of God right at this moment.And your heart is telling you, I'm just being true to myself. But that's why Scripture tells us the heart has to be tested. We can't just obey it automatically because the heart is deceitful.Because your heart can argue with God when it wants something badly enough. And this is where people really get into trouble. When your heart wants something, it'll start building a case for it.I've done this so many times in my life. My heart said, oh, you know what? I can justify this. I can do this, this, and this. Well, this must be from God.And when you're in that way of thinking, you don't see the red flags. You don't see the warnings. You downplay sin. You twist the motives. Your heart will tell you, oh, it's not that serious. It'll be different this time.God knows my heart. I deserve this. Hey, in the end, nobody's perfect. This is just how I feel. Do any of those hit with you? A lot of them hit with me.But once your heart starts talking, trying to talk you out of obedience, because that's what we're really talking about here. We're talking about a vector away from obedience. Friend, you're getting into dangerous territory.Because now you're not just tempted, you're actually negotiating with truth. You're saying the truth. Yeah, but let me play. You can do this, and I can do this.And whenever your feelings start arguing against what God has already said, friend, God is not the one who needs to move. At that point, you do. And here's why. Flesh and the spirit are not on the same page.Part of the reason this is so important is because there really is a battle happening inside of you. And you might be feeling it right now. As I deliver this message, I'm feeling it. There's a battle going on in the flesh.Let's get to the Book of Galatians, chapter 5, verses 16 to 17. It says, this. Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the Flesh.For the flesh lusteth against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh. And these are contrary the one to the other. See, scripture is telling us there is this battle going on between spirit and flesh.There's a real conflict here. That flesh wants one thing. Your spirit wants another thing. Your flesh. Hey, I want it my way. I want comfort. The flesh wants comfort.The flesh wants gratification. The flesh wants control. The flesh wants to be justified. The flesh wants to be fed. But that's not the spirit.And if you don't know the difference between your flesh and the leading of the Holy Spirit, you're going to be confused all the time.There are a ton of people out there walking in constant confusion because they don't understand the difference between flesh and the leading of the Holy Spirit. Because not everything rising up in you is from God. I'm sorry to tell you this. Your flesh will take you down roads that are not biblical at all.They are nothing about your relationship with Christ, friend. Not every urge you have is from God. I'm sorry to tell you that not every urge you feel is a godly urge.Not every strong feeling that you have is from God. Not every emotional pull is God pulling you. Some of that is flesh. A lot of it is fear. Some of it is pride. Some of it is painful.And some of that for so many of us is an old pattern that never got broken. I liken it to an old tape. When I was a kid, we had tapes. We used to listen to music on tape recorders and in our minds, in our flesh.A lot of times that tape just keeps replaying because we felt this when we were 8 or 12. Or your first relationship or your first marriage that went down in flames. That old pattern. Look at Romans, my favorite book of the bible.Romans, chapter 12, verse 2. And this is why this matters so much. It says, do not be conformed to this world. Now, I could stop right there and that would be the answer.But it goes on. It says, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind.Yeah, your mind has to be renewed because if your thinking stays worldly, your heart is going to keep agreeing with the wrong stuff. And that's one of the biggest problems we have in culture right now. This worldly thinking that's conflicting our hearts.And when you stay in that reality, you're going to keep calling what's popular truth. Hey, well, guess what? This is popular, Ralph. It's got to be true, because everybody's saying it, everybody's doing it. It's got to Be correct.You're going to call what's emotional spiritual? Well, I feel it. I have a deep seated feeling for this. It must be spiritual. That's got to be coming from God.And you're going to keep calling what feels natural. That's from God. And that's why so many people stay deceived. I want to show you what this looks like in scripture.We're going to point out some people through the Bible. We're going to start at the very beginning with Eve. We're going to look at Genesis 3. Eve saw the tree and it looked good. It looked desirable.It looked appealing. And the enemy convinced her that God was holding something back from her friend. That's how deception works.This is Eve and Adam in the Garden of Eden in perfect tranquility, in beauty. And the evil one was saying, but wait a second, Eve, look at this over here. It was that great deception that made disobedience look reasonable.This is what the devil said to her. Just take a look. Oh, it's no big deal. It makes that forbidden thing look attractive.And it tells you what God said is keeping you from something better. Your heart's just deceiving you. And once the heart buys that lie, it becomes easier and easier to cross the line. I just put myself in that position.I think about Eve, and she's looking at this tree, and that tree looked good. Maybe it was beautiful. Maybe. I don't know. I always picture it to an apple. You see the pictures of an apple. Maybe it's a beautiful red apple.Nice and plump and shiny. Didn't have any wax on. Just beautiful. But here's the problem. Looking good and being good are not the same thing.Some things look beautiful and they still bring death. Well, let's talk about Samson. We don't often talk about Samson on this show. But look at judges. Chapter 14, verse 3.Says Samson told his parents about the woman he wanted. This is what he said. Ready for this one? Again, judges 14. 3. Get her from me, for she pleaseth me. Well, now, that's a dangerous way to live.She pleases me. That's all it says. That's it. That's the whole reason Samson says she pleaseth me. Well, there wasn't any discernment. There was no wisdom.Certainly no distraint. No restraint. Just desire. How many people still live like that? Oh, I'm fixing to step on some toes now. Maybe you live like that.You say things like, I want it, I like it. Oh, it sure excites me. This makes me feel alive. Okay, fine. Maybe it does. Maybe you like it. Maybe it makes you feel alive. You want it.Where's it leading you? Because, friend, the thing that pleases your flesh can actually weaken your spirit. And Samson is the perfect example of that.He kept playing around with what should have been cut off, and it cost him. Friend, right now you might be playing with something that looks good, it feels good, but it's costing you your life. Let's look at David.The Bible says David loved God. David was called, David was anointed. And still David saw Bathsheba, the desires, the heart. He wanted her, so he took her.And then he tried to cover the whole thing up. Just one unchecked desire turned into adultery, turned into deception, manipulation, and yes, death. And that's why you can't play with heart issues.So many people right now act like inward stuff doesn't matter. Oh, it's just a thought. I'm not going to act out on it. It's just attraction.Hey, listen, husbands, how many times have you looked at another woman and said, oh, it's just an attraction. I'm not going to do anything about it. Or you say to yourself, oh, it's just emotional. No, it's not.What starts in the heart, if it's fed, and that's the problem, we keep feeding, it will eventually show up in your life. Then there's Peter. Now, Peter loved Jesus for real. But Peter also shows us the strong emotion is not the same thing as steady obedience.Peter was one of these guys that could talk big. He could feel strong in the moment. But pressure exposed what still needed to work in him. And that's important.Some people mistake passion for maturity. That young preacher I'm thinking about it got a passion, but they're not mature. And those two things are not the same thing.You can be one of the most passionate people in the world and still be unstable. Dare I say, you may be unstable. If you're that passionate, you can be loud and still be uninformed.There's a lot of people around us that are loud, but they don't know anything. And yes, you can mean well and still need deeper surrender. Well, let's look at the Prodigal Son. I love this story from the Bible. The Prodigal Son.You probably heard this story before. He wanted freedom. He wanted distance from his family. He wanted his own life on his own terms. Hey, and at first, I bet that felt really exciting.He did all the things he wanted to do. He fulfilled all his fleshly desires. He didn't answer to Nobody. I'm sure at times he felt empowered. I'm living my own life.I'm doing what feels right. I'm doing what feels great. And I bet at first it felt like he was doing what he wanted.But in the end, it says in scripture, that road led to emptiness. See, that's the thing about an unsubmitted heart. It loves the front end of sin, but it ignores the back end of where that's taken you.It loves that excitement, that freshness, that newness, but it completely ignores the consequences. It loves that feeling, that euphoria, that dopamine hit, but it ignores the fallout. But eventually, the prodigal son came to himself.And that's one of my favorite phrases. We don't hear this talked about much. He came to himself. And what does that mean? See, in other words, he finally saw clearly.And maybe that's what you're watching right now. And you need to hear that right now. Maybe you need to come to yourself.Maybe you need to wake up and realize that what your heart has been leading you into is taking you to destruction. But here's the best news of all. If that is you, and that may be you. Our loving Father still receives people who come home.Just think about the prodigal son. What did the Father do? He had a feast. My son that was once lost has returned to me. God is asking you for the same thing. Come back to him right now.But I want to bring this into real life because in a lot of ways, this message can seem sort of abstract. But this is where people are actually living right now. Some people trust their heart in relationships. They know that person is inconsistent.They know the person is pulling them away from God. And they know that person has no real fruit in their lives. But they feel attached, so they stay. Are you staying right now, friend? That's not wisdom.That's certainly not discernment. That's emotional bondage. And some people trust their heart in offense. They feel hurt, so now they think whatever they say is justified.I've been hurt, so whatever I say, I'm a brokenhearted person. I can say whatever I want. I'm justified. So many people feel rejective, rejected. So now they think bitterness is protection.I've been rejected, so I'm going to be bitter to everybody I can find. And so many of us feel betrayed. So now they think shutting everybody out is wisdom. I've been betrayed. I'm just going to shut everybody out.I'm just going to be me on this island by myself. Don't do that, friend. Pain is real. But pain doesn't automatically make your response righteous.I want to say that again because you need to hear this today. Pain does not automatically make your response righteous. I can understand your pain, but that doesn't give you the ability to reach out in a bad way.Some people trust their heart and calling. How many of us feel restless, not really sure what God has for us, so we just assume, hey, God's moving me.My heart's telling me to go in this other direction. Maybe you feel challenged, so you just assume they're in the wrong place. How many of us feel bored, so they assume it's time for a new season.How many marriages end because of that? I'm bored. This is the same old, same old. This must be time for a new season. But sometimes God isn't moving you. Sometimes he's maturing you.Sometimes he's confronting your impatience. And sometimes he's trying to teach you how to stay planted. Now, some people trust their heart in sin. You've heard this before. So are people.Say, God knows my heart. Of course he knows your heart. And if you realize that, that should make you repent faster. Because he sees what's in your broken heart.He sees what's in your deceitful heart, in your lustful heart. That's not an excuse for more. A lot of people use that term, God knows my heart, like a shield against correction. Well, God knows my heart.You can't call me out on this.But if God knows your heart, and I've already said he does know your heart, then that means he knows the stuff you've renamed, those things that you've hidden, those things that you defended and those things that you've justified. But because he loves us, he still calls us the truth. Some people trust their heart and identity.This generation that we're living in right now has been taught that whatever you feel most strongly must define you. If I'm feeling that, that's my definition of who I am. But, friend, scripture doesn't teach that.You're not supposed to build your life around every desire you have, every urge you feel, every feeling, every impulse that rises up in you. You build your life for Christ. You build your life in Christ, not whatever your emotions have to be saying today.Emotions like, I don't know about you, but my emotions change from minute to minute. But so what do you trust if you can't trust your heart?Maybe right now you're listening to this, you're going, ralph, Wait a minute, dude, I've Been deceived for so many years. What do I do? What do I trust? That's a hard question. But there's a simple answer. You. You trust the Lord. You trust his word that he's given us.You trust the Holy Spirit that's come alongside of you. You trust wisdom. You trust that godly counsel, those people who are telling you godly truth. You trust fruit. And sometimes you just have to trust.Time I want to get back into Scripture. Let's look at Proverbs, chapter 3, verses 5 and 6. It says, Trust in the Lord with all, all thine heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding.In all ways, acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. Now, you notice I'm using the King James this week. I dislike the King James because I think it just speaks to the heart better.But what is this verse telling us? It doesn't tell you to trust your heart with all your heart. It doesn't say, trust my heart with my heart.It tells you, trust the Lord with all your heart. And that shift changes everything. God is the one you've got to trust. Not your impulses, not your appetite, not your mood, not your own understanding.God is the one that you need to trust. And then there's this word. Let's look at Psalms 119105. It says, Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. Thy word not your feelings.Your feelings are not your lamp. What does it say? God's word is the lamp. Those cravings that you're feeling, they're not your lamp.God's word is that those preferences, those are not your lamp. God's word is your lamp. But here's the problem with that. If you don't know the word, your heart's going to be louder than it should be.Because all throughout, the Word of God helps you recognize things. What is flesh? What is fear? What is pride? What is temptation? And yes, what is truth? Let's look at Hebrews, chapter 4, verse 12.It says, the word of God discerns the thoughts and intents of the heart. That means that the Word can show you why you want what you want. Just think about that for a second. The Word can show you why you want what you want.And that's huge because sometimes the issue isn't just what you you're about to do. Sometimes the issue is why you want to do it in the first place. And the Word cuts through all of those excuses. But you also need the Holy Spirit.That's a big part of this because that Holy Spirit will convict you. That Holy Spirit will check you. That Holy Spirit will redirect you. That Holy Spirit will not flatter your flesh. It leads you into truth.And the Holy Spirit will never lead you against the written word of God. Never. So right now, if something feels spiritual but it contradicts Scripture, friend, that is not the Holy Spirit speaking.But you also need godly counsel. We've talked about this a couple times today. When you feel convicted, you push those people away.Proverbs says there's a safety in a multitude of counselors. And that matters because one of the things I've noticed, a lot of people that are living in deception isolate themselves.They go into their own little place, their own little island. They don't want real counsel. They just want agreement. They want somebody to bless what they already have decided to do.You ever met that, somebody like that? You tried to call them out on sin. And I'm not saying to go around judging people, but you've tried to call it. And they're not looking for that.They're looking for somebody to say, oh, yeah, you're right. Your heart told you to do that. That's right. Go do it. But that's not being wise. The Bible calls those people fools.Wise people invite truth even when it's uncomfortable. I don't know how many times I've sat in church on a Sunday or I've read my Bible and I see something come in, truth and man, that is uncomfortable.But I'm being wise to invite that truth in even when it's uncomfortable. But you also need to look at fruit. The Bible talks about fruit so many times. Not just feelings, not just chemistry, not just intensity.Boy, there's a relationship course right there. Feelings, chemistry, and intensity. But where's the fruit? Is this making me more obedient?Is this making me more humble, more prayerful, more clean, more honest, more surrender to God? Or is it making me more defensive, more secretive, more compromised, and, yeah, maybe even more unstable, because fruit tells the truth.But like I said at the beginning, sometimes you just need time, strong emotions, love, urgency. You think about like this. A wise person once said to me, never make a decision when you're feeling emotional about it.How many times have I said the wrong thing, done the wrong thing, acted out because I was strongly feeling something and I was just going to respond. That urgency, that emotion, I got to respond right now. But wisdom doesn't panic.Sometimes the most spiritual thing you can do is actually slow down when you're feeling that. Pray about it wait, watch. And just let time expose what feelings are trying to rush. Now, here's the good news.God doesn't just warn you about your heart. I mean, we've talked a lot about warnings and how the heart is deceitful. It's misleading. But he also offers to change it.And that's the beauty of the gospel, because if any end. If all we had was your heart is deceitful, if that's all we had, we'd all be hopeless. But we have a loving God that doesn't just expose the problem.He provides the answer. Let's look at Ezekiel, chapter 36, verse 36. It says this. A new heart also. Will I give you a new spirit? Will I put within you? I love that verse.That means that God is able to do something in you that you cannot do for yourself. Only God can give you a new heart, not just better habits, not stronger willpower, not a cleaner image.A new heart, a new spirit of real transformation. And that's why for people, Jesus is not just helpful, he's necessary. Because you need a new heart. That fleshly heart you have is deceitful.And you don't just need motivation, you need salvation. So many people out there espouse these life tips, but Scripture is telling you you need new life.You don't just need somebody to tell you how to manage your emotions better. You need Jesus to save you. You need Jesus to cleanse you. You need Jesus to change you, and you need him to make you new.Let's look at 2 Corinthians, chapter 5, verse 17. It says, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things have passed away. Behold, all things are become new. That right there is hope.And that hope should make you feel great right now. It means you don't have to stay stuck in that old brokenhearted cycle.You don't have to keep letting your heart drag you back into the same mess that you've lived in your entire life. You don't have to stay ruled by what used to rule you. You can be made new in Christ. Now I want to take a minute and really be honest with yourself.Not about anybody else, about you, the person that's watching or listening right now. Have you been following God or have you been mostly following your feelings? Have you been guarding your heart or just defending it?Have you been testing your desires by scripture or just using feelings to argue with Scripture? Have you been calling something peace? That is really compromise? Have you been calling something love?That's really just attachment or maybe You've been calling something, wisdom that in the end is really just fear. I love what the book of Psalms, chapter 5110 says. It says, create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.There's a beautiful song about that. And that is such an honest prayer. David didn't say to God, lord, bless whatever I want. He said, create in me a clean heart.And maybe that's where you are right now. You don't need another excuse, you don't need another sign. You don't need another emotional confirmation. You just need a clean heart.You just need some truth. Maybe you need to stop fighting conviction that you feel it. You're feeling it right now. You're like, Ralph, I feel this conviction.It's time to surrender now. I want to talk directly to the person who knows they need Jesus.Maybe you've been trying to run your own life, and maybe you've been trusting your own heart. Trust in your own logic those desires you had, and right now you just feel empty. And hey, maybe you grew up in church.You know church language, maybe you've gone to church your entire life, but you've never really surrendered. There are so many people in churches on Sundays and Wednesdays who know the language but have never truly surrendered to Christ.Maybe you've been playing around with God, but right now he's dealing with you. You feel this massive weight. If that's you right now, I want you to hear me clearly. Jesus Christ is still saving people, and he's doing it right now.The book of Romans, chapter 3, verse 23, says, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. That means that every one of us has sinned. Every one of us. Every one of us needed mercy.Romans 6:23 says, for the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. And it goes on in Romans 5, verse 8.And it says, but God commendeth his love towards us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us, friend. Jesus died for your sins. He took your place. He shed his blood for your forgiveness. And he was buried. He rose again.And now salvation is offered to anybody. Hear my voice. Anybody who will repent and believe.Romans chapter 10, verses 9 and 10 says that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shalt believe in thine heart that he hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. Shalt shall be saved. So let me ask you right now, if you're ready if you're ready to stop living your own way and fully surrender your life to Jesus.I want you to pray this with me and I want you to pray it from that broken heart of yours. This isn't some ritual, not some empty words, but I want you to truly surrender. Surrender at this very moment to Christ. Just pray this with me.Lord Jesus, I come to you just as I am. And I know I'm a sinner. And Lord, I need your mercy. I've gone my own way. I've trusted myself more than I've trusted you, Lord.I followed my own heart. I've sinned against you, Lord, but right now I repent and I want to turn away from sin. And I turn to you, Lord.I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. I truly believe with all my heart that he died on the cross for my sins. I believe he was buried and I believe he rose again. Jesus, forgive me.Wash me clean. Break this power of sin over my life. Set me free from deception. Give me that new heart. Give me that new spirit. Be my Lord, be my Savior.Take over my life. Teach me to follow you. Teach me to love truth again and teach me to obey your word. I surrender my heart to you right now.And I surrender my life to you. Thank you so much for saving me. Thank you so much for forgiving me. And Lord, thank you so much for making me new. And I just pray this in Jesus name.Amen. Friend, if you just prayed that and you truly meant it, I want to encourage you. This is not the end of the story. This is the beginning of the story.Start reading your Bible. Start praying every single day. Get connected to a Bible believing church. Turn away from those things that were feeding your old life.And don't keep trying to live like the person Jesus just saved you from. You are a new creation with a new heart, a new life in Christ. You're not called to keep following the old heart. You're called to walk in the spirit.You're called to let God renew your mind. And you're called to grow. But here's the best part. God's going to help you do all of that. So let me leave you with this. Don't just trust your heart.Because sometimes something feels strong. Don't call every strong feeling God. Don't mistake chemistry for peace. Don't mistake urgency for confirmation. Don't mistake attachment for love.And don't mistake emotional relief for healing. Healing? Yes. Your heart needs to be tested. Your heart needs to be guarded. Your heart needs to be healed, your heart needs to be surrendered.And above all things, your heart needs Jesus. You don't need to follow your heart. You need to lead it back to truth. You need to bring it under the Word. You need to bring it before God.You need to let the Holy Spirit deal with it. Because a heart left to itself will lie to you. But a heart surrendered to God can be changed. Yes, a wounded heart can be healed.I truly believe that a hard heart can be softened. That confused heart that you might feel right now can become clear. That dirty heart can be washed. A restless heart can find peace.That is what Jesus does. I just want to pray together. Father God, in the name of Jesus, I thank you for every person watching and listening right at this moment.Lord, I thank you for your word. I thank you that your word tells the truth, even when that truth is uncomfortable.I thank you that you love us enough to correct us, Lord, to warn us and to call us to something higher. So, Lord, right now I pray for every single person who has been misled by their own heart. I pray for every person who trusted feelings over truth.Every person who followed desire into compromise, every person who followed hurt into bitterness. Every person who followed loneliness into bad decisions. And every person who followed fear instead of faith. Search us, God.Show us what's in us that doesn't please you. Expose the false peace, expose the hidden motives. Expose pride. Expose compromise and expose every lie. We've agreed with our hearts, Lord.Right now I ask that you would heal those wounded hearts. Heal hearts that have been shaped by rejection and betrayal and disappointment.Heal those hearts that have become hard and have become fearful and those hearts that have become so double minded. Create in us a clean heart, O God, just like David said. Renew a right spirit within us, Lord. Teach us to guard our hearts. Teach us to love truth.Teach us to hate what pulls us away from you. Teach us to walk in the spirit. Teach us not to be ruled by our flesh. Teach us to obey you even when our feelings are all over the place.Lord, I pray for discernment. I pray for discernment in relationships and decisions, in ministry and opportunities, and in those moments of temptation.Lord, don't let us be led by pressure anymore. Flattery or fear or emotion or impulse. Let us all be led by your spirit. And Lord, I especially pray for those who gave their lives to Christ today.I just ask that you would strengthen them, you would cover them, keep them, establish them. Surround them with right people, Lord. Give them hunger for your word. Give them boldness to live for you break every chain of their lives.Let the old things pass away and let all things become new. And Lord, we thank you that you're still changing, hearts. You're still healing. You're still restoring. You're saving, you're delivering.And Lord, we give you all the glory in Jesus name, Amen. I want to leave you with Philippians chapter one, verse six.Being confident this very thing that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. Listen to me very carefully. God isn't finished with you. He's still working. He's still healing. He's still correcting. He's still building. He's still.He's still restoring. So don't give up on what God is doing in your life. Keep seeking him. Keep staying in the word. Keep praying.Keep surrendering your heart to Jesus and trust that God who started to work is faithful enough to finish it. Thank you so much for joining me on Truth Unveiled. God bless you and I'll see you in the next episode.