Listening to Your Heart Teacher

The first amendment to the US Constitution states:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

The same people who wrote this amendment appointed chaplains, printed Bibles, opened meetings with prayer and put "In God We Trust" on the money. Did they not understand their own amendment or are we misinterpreting it? I personally believe it had a deeper meaning than how many interpret it. I believe it dealt with a basic spiritual fact: You can't make people believe and you shouldn't try to force them.

Faith does not come from coercion but neither does it come from mere exposure. Many people raised in homes where parents know the Lord and serve the Lord do not become believers. They may adopt a religion which is seen in ritual but it will never be seen in heart.

A little girl in our church who recently came to the Lord gave us her testimony of coming to Christ. She called the Holy Spirit her "heart teacher." (Each person who comes to the Lord in our church writes their testimony which is read right before they are baptized.) I had never heard that term before. I am sure that she made it up. I am sure she is accurate too.

People do not come to Christ unless their hearts are changed. They can't simply say the right words. Faith is an action from the heart that changes the person from the inside out. No amount of coercion can do this. No amount of exposure to religion will change the heart. This must come when the Spirit gives us the faith to believe. This must come when the heart hears and acts upon God's urging through the Spirit.

The Christian life is all about listening to your "heart teacher." He brings you to Christ, reminds you of what He has said, gives you the strength to do all things and changes you into a new creation. It all comes simply because you have heard your heart teacher.

No one can make another person believe. God chooses to let us follow or leave Him. He will give us the faith but He does not coerce the faith upon us. No person or government can make a person believe and no person or government should be allowed to.

So, on this day I have the choice before me as I do any other day.

Will I listen to my heart teacher?

Romans 5:5 (NIV) 5 And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.

Galatians 4:6 (NIV) 6 Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, "Abba, Father."