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Heart - Kardia (Greek Word Study)

Updated: Wed, 08/17/2016 - 18:33 By admin Heart (2588) (kardia) does not refer to the physical organ but is always used figuratively in Scripture to refer to the seat and center of human life. The heart is the center of the personality, and it controls the intellect, emotions, and will. No outward obedience is of the slightest value unless the heart turns to God. The kardia is the seat and center of human life and I often refer to it as the "control center" if you will of our being. I make the analogy of the air traffic controllers which monitor and regulate all incoming and outbound traffic at the airport. The significance of the heart in Scripture cannot be overestimated. It behooves every reader to make an effort to have a basic foundation of Scripture's use of the heart. One way to do this would be to study all the uses of kardia in the NT (at the bottom of this page) and all the uses of the corresponding Hebrew word leb and lebab (see bottom of page discussing Leb, Lebab). At the outset the reader should be aware that this article makes no attempt to give a definitive, all inclusive discussion of the heart which is truly one of the key words of the entire Bible. Below are a few short descriptions and some recommendations of well-done articles in Bible dictionaries. Wayne Detzler notes that "Julius Miller marveled at the intricacy of the human heart and said: “In a normal person, the heart beats 70 times a minute, 100,000 times a day, 40 million times a year! During a single day, a ventricle pumps about 11,000 quarts [of blood], or 265 million quarts in a lifetime. If an elevator could be harnessed to this marvelous engine, you could ride from the ground floor to the fifth floor of a building in about an hour. No wonder Leonardo [Da Vinci] called it a ‘marvelous instrument.’ ”Kardia gives us medical terms such as cardiac, cardiovascular, cardiologist, etc. Just as the integrity of our physical heart is vital to our physical life, in a similar and even more important way the integrity of our spiritual heart is vital to our spiritual life, for our spiritual life impacts not just our enjoyment of time but of eternity. Beloved, let us study the meaning of kardia (see all uses at bottom of page) and may God's Spirit make us be far more serious about guarding our kardia in this one short life (see -note, cp , -note, -note -note,Spurgeon writes "A short life should be wisely spent. We have not enough time at our disposal to justify us in misspending a single quarter of an hour. Neither are we sure of enough life to justify us in procrastinating for a moment. If we were wise in heart we should see this, but mere head wisdom will not guide us aright." See his full note on -note)MacArthur on kardia - While we often relate heart to the emotions (e.g., “He has a broken heart”), the Bible relates it primarily to the intellect (e.g., “Out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders,” ). That’s why you must “watch over your heart with all diligence” (-note). In a secondary way, however, heart relates to the will and emotions because they are influenced by the intellect. If you are committed to something, it will affect your will, which in turn will affect your emotions." (Drawing Near. Crossway Books) MacArthur adds that "In most modern cultures, the heart is thought of as the seat of emotions and feelings. But most ancients—Hebrews, Greeks, and many others—considered the heart to be the center of knowledge, understanding, thinking, and wisdom. The New Testament also uses it in that way. The heart was considered to be the seat of the mind and will, and it could be taught what the brain could never know. Emotions and feelings were associated with the intestines, or bowels." (MacArthur, J: Ephesians. 1986. Chicago: Moody Press)Wayne Detzler on kardia - For the ancient Greeks the main meaning of the heart was the physical organ. However, under Homer it also meant the seat of emotions, as in loving with "all one's heart." For Greeks of that time, the heart was the seat of moral and intellectual life, and all emotions were embraced in this term. Later the emphasis fell on reasoning, and the heart was seen as the center of rational thought. The Septuagint, the Greek Old Testament, considered the heart to be the moral center of one's being. The Old Testament spoke of an evil heart, when someone was taken over by Satan. In the New Testament the major meaning of the heart is figurative, as the center of life, thought, feeling, and even spiritual response. In some cases the heart refers to the whole person. The provision of God fills one's heart with joy, and makes the whole person happy (). James warned rich people against fattening their hearts for slaughter (), a warning which echoed the sayings of Jesus (). When speaking of God's knowledge of people, the Scripture says He knows their hearts (16:15). God knows if believers forgive one another from their hearts (). When we come to God in prayer, the Holy Spirit searches our hearts and suits our prayers to God's will (). In the final judgment God will judge the secrets of our hearts (2:16; ). When we obey God, we should do so wholeheartedly, from the bottoms of our hearts (; ; ). God wants from us wholehearted commitment which is seen in all that we do (, ). The heart is also the seat of our thought processes, according to the New Testament. Jesus quoted to show that people understand with their hearts (). This same truth was reemphasized by the Apostle Paul in speaking to some Roman Jews (). People who come to understand the glorious light of the Gospel understand it with their hearts (; ). One's memory is also referred to as his heart (). Not only is the heart a description of our whole being and the rational aspect of us, but it is also the seat of our emotions. The heart is joyful when something good happens to us (; ). By contrast when things go wrong one's heart is consumed with sorrow (; ). Love too is felt in the heart (; ; ). When anguish comes upon us, it also descends on the heart (). A final significance of the heart is spiritual. It is the center of one's spiritual perception and purpose. The love of God is poured out in the heart of a believer (). When we trusted in the Lord, He set the seal of His Holy Spirit on our hearts (). The Holy Spirit also dwells in our hearts to give us a sense of our sonship; in fact He moves us to call out, "Abba [Daddy], Father" (). It is God who ultimately tests our hearts ().Thus the term "heart" is full of meaning in the New Testament. It speaks of the central part of people, that point where the emotions, reasoning, spiritual instincts, and God-consciousness is. In fact, in the New Testament the heart seems to refer to the whole immaterial part of people. (New Testament Words in Today's Language - an excellent resource)Louw-Nida explains that kardia is "the causative source of a person’s psychological life in its various aspects, but with special emphasis upon thoughts—‘heart, inner self, mind. Though in English the term ‘heart’ focuses primarily upon the emotive aspects of life, in the Greek NT the emphasis is more upon the result of thought, particularly in view of the relationship of kardia to the Hebrew term leb (see study of leb), which, though literally meaning ‘heart,’ refers primarily to the mind.....It is often possible to render kardia by a number of different terms depending upon the immediate context, for example, ‘mind,’ ‘intention,’ ‘purpose,’ or ‘desire.’ In many languages it is quite impossible to use a term meaning ‘heart,’ since such a term may not lend itself to figurative extension in meaning. Often the equivalent of καρδία is ‘liver,’ while in a number of languages it is ‘stomach’ or ‘bowels.’ (Greek English Lexicon of the NT based on Semantic Domains)BDAG summary of kardia - (1) heart as seat of physical, spiritual and mental life (a) as the center and source of physical life (; ) (b) as center and source of the whole inner life, w. its thinking, feeling, and volition (2) interior, center, heart, fig. ext. of 1 (, ; ; , )Gerald Cowen has an excellent article on heart writing that "The center of the physical, mental, and spiritual life of humans. This contrasts to the normal use of kardia (“heart”) in Greek literature outside the Scriptures. The New Testament follows the Old Testament usage when referring to the human heart in that it gives kardia a wider range of meaning than it was generally accustomed to have....Finally, the heart is the dwelling place of God. Two persons of the Trinity are said to reside in the heart of the believer. God has given us the “earnest of the Spirit in our hearts” ( ).  expresses the desire that “Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith.” The love of God “is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us” (  ). (Click to read this excellent easy to comprehend article in Holman's Bible Dictionary)Bruce Waltke has an excellent article discussing several connotations of heart - (1) The Heart as Center of Physical Activity, (2) A Figure of Inaccessibility (hiddenness), (3)  The Heart as Center of Hidden Emotional-Intellectual-Moral Activity, (4) The Heart's Emotional Functions, (5) The Heart's Intellectual-Spiritual Functions. Waltke elaborates on each of these aspects with Scriptural examples of each. Consult this article for his summary in Baker's Evangelical Dictionary.NIDNTT gives a good summary of the use of kardia in classic Greek literature -  kardia was used in secular Gk. in literal and metaphorical senses. On the one hand, it denoted the heart as an organ of the body and the centre of physical life (particularly in Aristotle). On the other hand, it was regarded as the seat of the emotions and the source of spiritual life in general. Used in specific senses with reference to nature, it meant the pith of wood and the seed of plants. kardia also had the general sense of centre, the innermost part (of men, animals or plants). Especially in Homer and the tragedians, kardia received a considerably extended range of meaning. It not longer indicated merely the centre of the body but also the intellectual and spiritual centre of man as a whole. (a) kardia, the seat of the emotions and feelings, of the instincts and passions. In this context the Greek thought of emotions like joy and sadness, courage and cowardice, strength and fear, love, hatred and anger (Homer, Il. 21, 547). (b) Homer, in particular, brought together the heart and reason without clearly separating thought and feeling. (Il. 21, 441). From this point it is only a short step to seeing the heart as the centre of man’s will and as the seat of his power of decision (Il. 10, 244). (NIDNTT)Mounce's summary of kardia - The metaphorical use of this word dominates in the NT, just as it does the OT. kardia covers the whole range of activities that go on within one’s inner self, including thinking (,), grieving (), rejoicing (), desiring (), understanding (), and decision-making (). While people may be deceived by their own hearts and the deceitful hearts of others (), and while sin and evil reside in the human heart (; ), before the Lord the heart is an open book. He knows our hearts (; ), tests them (), searches them (; ), strengthens them (), and reveals their motives (). The center of one’s spiritual life is in the kardia, where there may be temptation (), devotion (), faith (), or doubt (). Paul teaches that salvation is a matter of the heart (), but the human heart by itself cannot accomplish it (). The Lord must open the kardia, enabling a person to respond to his grace (). The Spirit then comes to reside in the kardia (; ). There can still be struggles in the kardia, since Peter exhorts believers to set apart Christ as the Lord of their hearts (), and the author to the Hebrews warns his audience not to harden their hearts as their forefathers had done (, ). Acknowledging that there are many things vying for control of our hearts, Paul instructs (with an imperative command) believers to “let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts” (). (Mounce's Complete Expository Dictionary of the Old and New Testament)W E Vine's summary of kardia - kardia (καρδία, 2588), “the heart” (Eng., “cardiac,” etc.), the chief organ of physical life (“for the life of the flesh is in the blood,” ), occupies the most important place in the human system. By an easy transition the word came to stand for man’s entire mental and moral activity, both the rational and the emotional elements. In other words, the heart is used figuratively for the hidden springs of the personal life. “The Bible describes human depravity as in the ‘heart,’ because sin is a principle which has its seat in the center of man’s inward life, and then ‘defiles’ the whole circuit of his action, , . On the other hand, Scripture regards the heart as the sphere of Divine influence, ; .… The heart, as lying deep within, contains ‘the hidden man,’ , the real man. It represents the true character but conceals it” (J. Laidlaw, in Hastings˒ Bible Dic.).  As to its usage in the NT it denotes (a) the seat of physical life, ; ; (b) the seat of moral nature and spiritual life, the seat of grief, ; ; ; joy, ; ; the desires, ; ; the affections, ; ; the perceptions, ; ; the thoughts, ; ; the understanding, ; ; the reasoning powers, ; ; the imagination, ; conscience, ; ; the intentions, , cf. ; purpose, ; ; the will, ; ; faith, ; ; .  The heart, in its moral significance in the OT, includes the emotions, the reason and the will.  (Vine's Expository Dictionary of NT Words)Kent Hughes (commenting on use of karia in ) - "The heart is the wellspring of man’s spiritual life, and that is where the Roman Christians’ obedience was rooted. It was not just a formal obedience—it came from the center of their being. This is the example of slavery Paul holds up for us all: a heartfelt obedience to Christ and his Word. It is an obedience which brings liberation." (Romans: Righteousness from heaven. Preaching the Word)While kardia does represent the inner person, the seat of motives and attitudes, the center of personality, in Scripture it represents much more than emotion, feelings. It also includes the thinking process and particularly the will. For example, in Proverbs we are told, “As (a man) thinks in his heart, so is he” (). Jesus asked a group of scribes, “Why are you thinking evil in your hearts?” (). The heart is the control center of mind and will as well as emotion.The great Puritan writer John Flavel wrote that…THE heart of man is his worst part before it is regenerated, and the best afterward; it is the seat of principles, and the fountain of actions. The eye of God is, and the eye of the Christian ought to be, principally fixed upon it. The greatest difficulty in conversion, is to win the heart to God; and the greatest difficulty after conversion, is to keep the heart with God. Here lies the very force and stress of religion; here is that which makes the way to life a narrow way, and the gate of heaven a strait gate. (from Keeping The Heart which has been called "one of greatest Christian books of all time" - Recommended Reading!)The Scottish writer John Eadie says that "The “heart” belongs to the “inner man,” is the organ of perception as well as of emotion; the centre of spiritual as it is physically of animal life."J D Watson says kardia "was used in secular Greek both in the literal and figurative sense, but the figurative was the most profound, picturing the heart as the seat of emotions and spirituality. In Homer's time (eighth century BC) and onward, however, it took on the even more significant meaning of both spiritual and intellectual life, including man's will and decision-making."Abbott-Smith on kardia - In a psychological sense, the seat of man's collective energies, the focus of personal life, the seat of the rational as well as the emotional and volitional elements in human life, hence that wherein lies the moral and religious condition of the man.

Thayer says kardia is "The soul or mind, as it is the fountain and seat of the thoughts, passions, desires, appetites, affections, purposes, endeavors." 

Vine writes that kardia "came to denote man’s entire mental and moral activities, and to stand figuratively for the hidden springs of the personal life, and so here signifies the seat of thought and feeling." (Collected writings of W. E. Vine. Nashville: Thomas Nelson )Marvin Vincent summarizes kardia :Heart (kardia). The heart is, first, the physical organ, the centre of the circulation of the blood. Hence, the seat and centre of physical life. In the former sense it does not occur in the New Testament. As denoting the vigor and sense of physical life, see ; ; . It is used fifty-two times by Paul.Never used like psuche soul, to denote the individual subject of personal life, so that it can be exchanged with the personal pronoun ( ; - note); nor like pneuma spirit, to denote the divinely-given principle of life.It is the central seat and organ of the personal life (psuche) of man regarded in and by himself, Hence it is commonly accompanied with the possessive pronouns, my, his, thy, etc.Like our heart it denotes the seat of feeling as contrasted with intelligence. ; (note); (note); ; (note). But it is not limited to this. It is also the seat of mental action, feeling, thinking, willing.It is used —1. Of intelligence, (note) ; ; (note).2. Of moral choice, 2Cor 9:7.3. As giving impulse and character to action, (note); (note); (note); ; (note) . The work of the law is written on the heart, (note). The Corinthian Church is inscribed as Christ’s epistle on hearts of flesh, 2Cor 1:23.4. Specially, it is the seat of the divine Spirit, ; (note); . It is the sphere of His various operations, directing, comforting, establishing, etc., (note); (note); 1Th3:13 (note); ; . It is the seat of faith, and the organ of spiritual praise, (note); (note); (note).It is equivalent to the inner man, (note); (note). Its characteristic is being hidden, , (note); (note); ; .It is contrasted with the face, (note); ; and with the mouth, (note).SINGLE HEART PURE HEART Two songs for your heartTake a moment to listen to this song, one of my favorites from Craig Smith, entitled Single Heart...He had only one aim In placing us here This is His domain And His message is clear.

Single heart, Single mind. My eyes forward all the time. Single heart, purified. Undivided, unified. Single heart, Single mind.May You find in us, Solitary trust May you find a single heart!Here is another song Pure Heart -- take a moment to ponder your life in light the words sung by Craig Smith and make it your prayer to the Father today:Over and over I hear it again That the Father desires pure heart Not to seek earthly treasure or the favor of man But to be found with pureness of heartChorus Pure heart is what the Father desires Holy heart purified by God's holy fire Broken heart, proven to be faithful and true Fashion in me a heart that's thirsting for YouSearch ever chamber, expose them to me Create motives of honor and simplicity May you find faithfulness, integrity A heart which is worthy for Your eyes to see ChorusMy only ambition is to stand before You And find I was pleasing in Your sight An obedient child of God, faithful and true Found with pureness of heart ChorusIllustration of the Human Heart - Salvation Army’s magazine, War Cry: “A tourist was once staying in an inn in a valley in northern Italy where the floor was dirty. He thought he should advise the landlady to scrub it, when he perceived that it was made of mud and the more she would scrub it the worse it would become. So it is with our hearts; its corrupt nature will admit of no improvement; it must be made ever anew.”The Handle on your Heart - "I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God." () - The English painter William Holman Hunt was born in London in 1827 and entered the schools of the Royal Academy in 1844. In 1848 he was a principal founder of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood that protested low standards in British art. These artists turned from the Royal Academy's style of painting and pledged themselves to paint accurately and faithfully from nature in precise detail. Hunt visited the Holy Land three times to study the historical and natural settings and lighting for his religious paintings. Hunt's best-known religious painting is The Light of the World (1853). In it Christ, dressed in royal robes, is shown in a garden at midnight, holding a lantern in his left hand, and knocking on a heavily paneled door with his right. This painting is rich in spiritual symbolism because it originated from Hunt's own experience of conversion. When the painting was unveiled a critic remarked to the painter, "Mr. Hunt, the work is unfinished. There is no handle on the door." Hunt answered, "That is the door to the human heart. It can be opened only from the inside." Christ does not force Himself upon you. He waits outside the door of your heart. Have you opened your heart to Christ? Today fellowship with Him—help Christ make His home in your heart. "In botany, he who knows mere names but has never seen a flower is as reliable as he who can expound on the finer points of theology, but has never known the love of Christ in his heart."—Charles Spurgeon (Peter Kennedy - From Generation to Generation)Vance Havner asks Where Lies Your Heart? - In Westminster Abbey I walked by the tombs of kings and queens and other celebrities of centuries past, passed inscriptions honoring great names of England's long history. This musty old mausoleum of the ages lists the great and near-great, the famous and some infamous. Most of them meant little to me but beneath the floor of the Chapel lies the body of David Livingstone under an epitaph on which countless thousands have walked! had been told that most visitors to the Chapel walk around the inscription but nowadays we have a generation that has heard little and cares less about the great missionary whose heart is buried in Africa while the rest of his body reposes here. These notables interred here mean little as such in the sight of God. I am reminded of that roll call of dignitaries in Luke's Gospel: "Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate, Herod, Philip, Lysanias, Annas, Caiaphas...." And what comes next? "... the word of God came unto John... (,)! All these VIPs only provided background for one prophet in the wilderness! In the balances of God, David Livingstone outweighs a whole succession of kings and queens. Not many wise, mighty, and noble are called anyway. God's Who's Who bears no resemblance to ours. One lone Christian who has lost his life to find it, buried as a grain of wheat in a dark pagan land, outshines all the big names of this poor world. David Livingstone knew the great secret. He outlived himself for he was a great example of planted—not packaged—Christianity. It might be a disturbing thought to most of our smug church folks that every Christian is meant to be a missionary. We cannot pass the buck of personal responsibility to a few who are engaged in "full-time Christian service." We live in the midst of paganism right here in America. If we are not called to cross the sea we can cross the street and seek to convert the heathen. Idol worship in Africa is no worse than idle worship in America. Even the church needs missionaries for it has been said that the greatest evangelistic field is the membership of the average church. A David Livingstone today does not cope with the same types of problems but the fundamentals are unchanged. David Livingstone's heart was buried in Africa. Where the heart is, there is the treasure also. Where would your heart be buried if the same procedure were followed with you as with the great missionary? It would be a revealing thing if in all cemeteries it could be written: HERE LIES THE BODY OF ______, BUT HIS HEART IS BURIED _____ where? It could be said in Africa: HERE LIES THE HEART OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE. Where would such a marker be set up for your heart? In some place of business, some unholy affection, some pursuit of prosperity or pleasure? Sometimes a man's hobby is his god and after he dies his heart might properly be interred in his boat or some poor soul might order that hers be cremated and put in a box on the bridge table. No wonder we read here and there in the Scriptures: BUT THEIR HEART_____ Ah, there's the rub. Where lies your heart now? Would it be embarrassing if it were buried where it belongs? (Song at Twilight)Vance Havner - The Empty Heart - And they enter in and dwell there. () An empty heart is an invitation to the devil. It may not be an evil heart. An evil heart, deceitful and desperately wicked, is already occupied by Satan. An empty heart may be swept out and garnished; some bad habit may have been dropped, some new resolution made. One may even make some sort of Christian profession and join a church, but unless Jesus Christ takes up His abode in the vacated heart, seven demons return and the last state is worse than the first. (All the Days)The Three Hearts - The Bruised Heart: Bitter - "And he said unto them, What manner of communications are these that ye have one to another, as ye walk, and are sad?" . The hearts of these two were sore—bruised with disappointment, disillusionment, depression, distress and darkness. Their light had gone out. Their hope had died. Their outlook blinded. What a wail was that "We trusted" (). The Burning Heart: Better - "And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?" () The Saviour and the Scriptures are necessary to the setting of our hearts on fire. Only Christ can open the Book for He and He alone is the Great Subject of the Book. If we keep away from the Book we will burn out from lack of fuel. If we keep away from Christ we will burn out from lack of flame. The flame must light the fuel. Christ is the flame, the Scriptures are the fuel. The Believing Heart: Best - "And as they thus spake, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you" () What a change! What made it? The Living Christ! O let the living Saviour attend to your bitter heart. Let Him give you a better heart—a heart on fire and then the best heart—the believing heart. LESSON: Take up the book, catch up with Christ. Burn up for God. (Ian Paisley - A Text a Day Keeps the Devil Away)How the Devil Steals the Word of God - "And he taught them many things by parables, and said unto them in his doctrine,... And these are they by the wayside, where the word is sown; but when they have heard, Satan cometh immediately, and taketh away the word that was sown in their hearts." (, ) These verses uncover the Satanic strategy of stealing away the sown Word of God. The Devil fears the Word. Did it not slaughter him in the temptation of our Lord? "It is written. It is written. It is written," were three mortal blows which devastated Satan and made him make a hasty retreat.  Stealing the Word From the Heart - The heart is the citadel of man's soul. He who holds the heart controls the whole man. Satan hates a heart work. Therefore he takes immediate action to keep the heart from the Word of God, from exposure to the Divine Light. The entrance of God's Word always gives light. Note the words "Satan cometh immediately". So powerful is the Word that Satan knows its quick removal from the heart is the only way to retain his power over his captive. Stealing the Word of God From the Mind - The vehicle to the heart is the mind. The Word enters by the mind. Satan moves swiftly to remove it from its passage to the heart. He does this by removing it through an overwhelming of the mind by other thoughts—thoughts of pleasure, thoughts of past, present and future, and thoughts of the world and the flesh. When the mind is thus overwhelmed he snatches away the Word and it is lost as far as our minds are concerned.Stealing the Word of God From the Memory- Satan knows that the Word of God, firmly lodged in the memory, will some time awaken with power to shake the conscience. He must therefore dislodge it from the memory. This he does by a rash of thoughts and suggestions which fill the memory with the things of darkness and obliterate the things of light.Let us not be ignorant of Satan. Don't let the Devil catch us up. Make sure you catch the Devil on. (Ian Paisley - A Text a Day Keeps the Devil Away)Warren Wiersbe's Devotional Heart Problems - "See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily . . . so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness" (- see exposition). The heart of every problem is a problem in the heart. The people of Israel (except Moses, Joshua, and Caleb) erred in their hearts, which means that their hearts wandered from God and His Word. They also had evil hearts of unbelief; they did not believe that God would give them victory in Canaan. They had seen God perform great signs in Egypt, yet they doubted He was adequate for the challenge of Canaan. When a person has an erring heart and a disbelieving heart, the result will also be a hard heart. This is a heart that is insensitive to the Word and work of God. So hard was the heart of Israel that the people even wanted to return to Egypt! Imagine wanting to exchange their freedom under God for slavery in Egypt! Of course, all this history spoke to the hearts of the readers of this letter, because they were in danger of "going back" themselves. Believers who doubt God's Word and rebel against Him do not miss heaven, but they do miss out on the blessing of their inheritance today, and they must suffer the chastening of God.Applying God's Truth:  1. When was the last time your heart was "hardened by sin's deceitfulness"?  2. What are some blessings we stand to lose if we don't deal with hard-heartedness?  3. We are commanded to "encourage one another daily." How do you think this helps alleviate forming a "hard heart" toward God? Whom have you encouraged today? (Pause for Power - excellent devotional!)