HEART MATTERS

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Text : Act 5:3 ISV 

Peter asked, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart so that you should lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back some of the money you got for the land?

All of man's actions and inactions are all matters of the heart. The position of your heart or should I say what fills your heart determines what you do. Whoever is in the control seat of your heart is the Lord of your life.

Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey—either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?

But thank God that, though you were once slaves of sin, you became obedient from your hearts to that form of teaching with which you were entrusted! Roman's 6:16-17.

What Ananias and Sapphira did appealed conveniently to common sense (selling your land,  keeping part of the proceed for yourself and giving the remaining to the church). But the word of God helps us to know that it was Satan who worked out this sense in them through their hearts.... "Why has Satan filled your heart so you should"...  Peter asked them. Acts 5:3.

This is a very delicate matter and I implore  you to pay much attention to it. 

Who is the originator of that 'seemingly innocent' thought that is nudging you to play smart with the instructions of God? What is the real motive behind your supposed kind gesture? 

 *A child of God doesn't live by common sense but by every word that proceeds from God. Matthew 4:4.* 

Ananias and his wife were christians, they were part of the people that got baptized in the Holy Ghost at Pentecost in Acts 2. But by the time we got to chapter five,  instead of the Holy Spirit, it was Satan who filled their hearts. 

Who is filling your heart now?  Whose instructions are you following? 

The couple thought they were dealing with man but in actual fact, they were dealing with the Holy Spirit.  Peter asked, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart so that *you should lie to the Holy Spirit* and keep back some of the money you got for the land?Act

 5:3. Man is only a platform to test out how well you are yielding to God. Ultimately, everyone will answer to God. 

Whenever you get reprimanded by the Holy Spirit for your shortcomings,  you should rejoice and quickly make amends. 

Don't ever get to the point where your conscience doesn't prick you anymore over wrongdoing. Do not grieve the Holy Spirit, by whom you were marked with a seal for the day of redemption.Eph 4:30.

Jer 17:9  says the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? That is why you have to subject your heart to constant scrutiny of the word of God and the Holy Spirit. 

Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.Psa 119:11 KJV  This is one sure way to ensuring that your heart does not play a smart game on you-KEEP HIS WORD IN YOUR HEART. 


 *Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.Pro 4:23.* 


Bible reading: Acts 5:1-11


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