Hardened Hearts and Futile Thinking
by Suzanne Benner
**Are you noticing that your thinking has become negative and futile? We would love to talk with you and help you. http://thelife.com/interactive/ask.html
“So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts” (Ephesians 4: 17, 18).
Paul is exhorting us not to live like unbelievers with futile thinking. If we look carefully at his words we will realize that the problem didn’t start in their minds; it started in their hearts.
Thus by starting at the end of these verses and working backward, we can see the downward spiral.
Hardening of their hearts led to ignorance. They became ignorant of the truth.
Their ignorance of the truth caused them to be separated from God, because God is truth.
Their ignorance also meant they became darkened in their understanding.
Finally, separation from God and darkened understanding resulted in futile thinking.
Therefore if our hearts have been hardened, we can’t rely on our reasoning. Our very thought process has become useless and vain. Because we were created by God, it is only in right relationship with God that we can think rightly.
How do our hearts become hardened?
It doesn’t happen all at once. Sin’s deceitfulness creeps insidiously into our hearts by degrees. Every time we choose our way over God’s way our heart becomes a little more resistant to the truth. Every time God whispers what is right and we choose to act according to our will rather than His, we harden our hearts.
Soon we lose all sensitivity to the truth of God. Our thinking becomes futile because it is no longer based on the truth.
~God, don’t let me harden my heart. When I hear Your voice, help me to respond with humility. Your ways are right and true; show me how to walk in them.
Questions: Can you trust your thinking, if your heart is hard? What does the connection between a hard heart and futile thinking mean for your life today?
About the Author: http://talk.thelife.com/experience/devotionalforwomen/authors/suzanne-benner/
32 Responses to “Hardened Hearts and Futile Thinking”
Leave a Reply
Start a Conversation
Media
What Do You Fear?
What do you fear, and why? Is it holding you back from realizing your full potential?
>Watch
- Contact
- |
- Advertising
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Link to Us
- |
- Media Releases
- |
- What we believe
Thank you all so much for all the words of encourgement. It really helps to know that there are so many people who care.
Suzanne B
thank you for the encouragement
Dear DonnaL and sharon b, I want to thank you so very much for your sweet offer of prayers for my husband today — may the Lord use your petitions to accomplish His plan for us! Your kindness is such a blessing to me, and I thank Him for your faithfulness and caring hearts! God bless!
Carla B. My husband, myself and our children were hurt badly by the church we attended last year. That hurt left me bitter and angry as well. We thought these people loved us as much as we lved them.We stopped attending church at all for 6 or 7 months. till recently my husband found this church close to us that were cooking meals for people( Alot of people here out of work because of factory lay-offs)Although my husband is also out of work we decided to help them monetarily.We had no intention of going there full time but when we walked in to that church we know that’s where God sent us. after praying for months and months we got our answer to that prayer. I love it.The people instantly hugged us and gathered around us, uncommon for here. God will send you where he wants you. The past hurts will add salt to your testimony and you will be stronger in the lord for it.
jackie i am praying for you and your family may God watch over you all
sharon b
marilyn
i will pray for your husband
sharon b
Correction:
Suspicion mind= suspicious mind.
Anghry = angry
Hi Margaret. May I quote you?
“I am thankful for a good night sleep. I slept until 10 this morning and I am feeling better. I have been walking for 3 Sundays in a row! I am so thankful Thanks for your prayers!”
I will not say that it was my prayer that help you but I have learned from different authors on prayer that works and if you go back on the posting I did in the devotional on the LORD of Justice, there are so many things in the spiritual world that GOD’s children release to Satan without a fight but GOD has given us all the things we need for life and godliness for victory as HE said in
2 Peter 1:3NIV
“His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of HIM WHO called us by HIS own glory and goodness.”
There are many material and spiritual possessions that belong to us and Satan gleefully taken from us because he knows we do not know who had stolen it from us but the enemy came to steal, kill and destroy (John 10:10). Resist the devil and he will flee from us (James 4:7) Ephesians 6:12 our struggle is against the power of darkness And GOD gave us tools that are so powerful on our hands– Matthew 16:19; 18:18. whatever wrong and bad things we cut and sever and loose from us, it’s aready done in heaven. We can sever, stopped and loose bad temper from someone or suspicion mind, even resistance to the gospel of CHRIST, we can loose it from someone, it is already done in heaven so yes I believed for the fulfillment of all GOD’s promises on us. We must just speak the word and persist till it comes into being. We must pray continuously for the filling up of the knowledge of GOD’s will upon those whom we love and not walking with us so that they will live a life worthy of the LORD -colossians 1:10. My heart is so indignant against the works of the evil one that he does to GOD’s children and yes, we can pray and contnue to pray until something happens (PUSH prayer). We can bind ourselves to GOD’s promises because its already done in heaven. Oh I do not meant to be preachy, I’m just anghry to Satan. for all the things he does on us just because we love GOD and we have the image of HIM.
What a blessing! I had only moments before prayed that God would give me a clear answer to how I can get past some very, very hurtful situations in my life. And then I read this devotional. It is both encuraging and terrifying. I don’t want my heart to be hardened, but it is so very hard to let go, it feels like a foolish thing to do. If I let go, I feel that the person has gotten away with it and I look like a fool! But this devotional has really convicted me! Today I chose to walk in forgiveness, regardless of how I feel!
Thoughtful devotional!
A hardened heart toward the ways of God has a ripple effect, like a pebble tossed into a pond, making eyes not able to see the truth and ears closed to hearing the truth. The consequences of a hardened heart are serious and separation from our Holy God.
I have a loved one who has hardened his heart to the ways of God. I have learnt that I cannot “undo” or “change” his hardened heart. Only God can.
We are each responsible for our own heart before the Lord. I can only pray for him and live my life reflecting Christ. To bring glory to our Father, to die to self and to live for Jesus.
I enjoyed the words from Charles Swindoll about attitude, thanks for sharing them Press On. Which book do they come from?
Also encouraged by the poem you shared Romel. So true.
May our Lord who is ever faithful continue to lead us all into more of his likeness, that we may trust him more each day and praise his name for he is above all and kind and good!
Blessings to all,
Shalom.
hi lorei, thank you so much for your response. It brought tears to my eyes. Believe me, I have gone down on my knees and prayed and confessed all these feelings to Him. I feel a lot better now then I have in a long time. I just find it hard to walk into a new church because I always find myself comparing the two. Then I start to tell myself that I will not allow myself to get close to anyone anymore. Then I hear that still small voice telling me that isn’t the right way to be. I have a lot of issues to work out but I know that I don’t have to do it alone. We are still looking for a church. But I need to put a little more effort in to it. Thanks again.
Carla, Hi I too along with my family have been hurt by so called “godly people” but when I learned through trials that we all fall short and all sin I started seeing with spiritual eyes that many people have hangups and “stuff”. We are not immune to the world and Satan just because we go to church. Often Satan will use people that could harm us most, our church family to make us leave or get out of fellowship, after all isn’t that what the enemy wants to run you off. Confess your feelings of anger, bitterness and resentment. Come clean to God and pour out your feelings, the thing is he already knows your thoughts. God never wakes up with us and says, Gosh I didn’t know that would happen to them. He goes before us, He is standing ready to take this from you if you will give it to him. Psalm 139 says;” Oh Lord you have searched me and you know me, you perceive my thought from afar,. Be encouraged, God can handle whatever you give him
My husband and I had a falling out with our church. We really feel like we were treated unfairly. I feel like we were let down by people who were like family to us not to mention the pastor. We were left out in the cold when we needed help the most. Needless to say this left us feeling very angry and bitter. This anger and bitterness that we held on to festered in my heart and now I’m so far from God and His will for my life, that at times I get so depressed that I find it hard to breath. I know that I need to get back to that place of fellowship with Him, but I feel like it’s the hardest thing to do right now. I talk to Him everyday and ask Him to please help me release all these ngative feelings. This has got to be one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do. But I know one thing for sure is that my God is waiting with open arms for me to find my way back to Him. PRAISE BE TO GOD ALMIGHTY!!!!!
Hi everyone, I have a situation. I am counseling a family and have learned that the grandmother goes to my church as of the last two weeks. She turned her daughter and son in law into DCS for abuse, I know God has me in the home but it is a conflict since the grandmother knows I’m there also. Any suggestions? I will never break confidentiality but I see her suffering each service and I can’t discuss the case, I am thinking about giving it to another counselor but do not have peace about dropping it.
SUZANNE,
to add on what she said it is true we Can’t make without God in our lives and that we could not make it on our on
so we got to trust and depend on God and trust in him
SUZANNE,
to add on what she said it is true we Can’t make without God in our lives and that we could not make it on our on
so we got to trust and depend on God and trust in him
Another great devotion today. Margaret I love that song too!
I find my heart is hardened when I start down the “poor me” path of thinking. Often I catch myself and then think of all that the LORD has done for me, the most important being his complete forgiveness of all my sins. I thank GOD for his love and spirt that dwells within me. I think of another song ” Soften my heart oh LORD, draw me to your will, Teach me oh LORD, so that I may be made whole”.
I will pray for you all. GOD is good.
Great devotional, great comments, and we serve a GREAT GOD who I pray will answer the cry of each heart expressed here. He loves each one of us so much!
I can not trust my thinking, ecspecailly when upset about anything. I have to compare my thoughts and actions to the word of God. During the events the last week with my mom, I have to constantly pray that God removes all hurts current and pasts. I let things harbor and festor in my heart till I almost can’t stand myself OR other people have a hard time being around my negitive attitude. so I pray and read God’s word alot to fill my mind with his thoughts not mine.
Please continue to pray for my family, my husband is going on 2nd month of lay off. He needs a job, Thank you all.
Marilyn,
Praying for God’s will and His grace as your husband conducts this very important meeting tomorrow. Your trust Marilyn is such a testimony to God’s love and care of your family. Also praying for your husband’s salvation……
Love, Donna
Suzanne, you are so right when you say that pain and suffering do not necessarily lead to a hardened heart, but that our chosen responses can. Anger and bitterness can develop from chronic suffering, but the indwelling Holy Spirit offers peace in the midst of suffering. Our hearts can become hardened when we choose anger over submission to the Spirit. Great devotional today!
Dear sisters, I would like to ask for your prayers for my husband. Tomorrow, he will be conducting a very important business meeting, which has implications for our household income. Please pray for God’s will in this situation, and for His grace for us to accept His decision. I am trusting God completely, and therefore I am at peace. But my husband does not know the Lord, and I am certain he is feeling anxious for the outcome. Decisions will not be made known until the end of the month. Thank you so much, as I know that you are wonderful prayer warriors here, and the love that is shared is such a beautiful testimony to His presence here!
correction:
My mind will be spiritually discerned and think futile If i am not walking in the Spirit of life.
May I quote a part of your devotional Suzanne B?
“It doesn’t happen all at once. Sin’s deceitfulness creeps insidiously into our hearts by degrees. Every time we choose our way over God’s way our heart becomes a little more resistant to the truth. Every time God whispers what is right and we choose to act according to our will rather than His, we harden our hearts.”
Yes, our GOD cares and HE would like to shape and mold all those who are submitted to HIM.
“One by one GOD took them from me
all the things I valued most
Till I am empty handed
Every glittering toy was lost.
And I walked earth’s highways
Grieving in my rags and poverty
until I heard HIS voice inviting,
“Lift those empty hands to ME”
And I turned my hands toward heaven
And HE filled them with a store
Of HIS own transcendant riches
Till they could contain no more.
And at last I comprehended
With my stupid mind and dull,
That GOD could not pour HIS riches
Into hands already full.
(Martha Snell Nicholson)
Yes, I cannot keep my heart soft to HIM if it is full of myself and my agendas. My mind will be discerned and futile If I am not walking in the Spirit of life. Romans 8:6-8 says:
“For to be carnaly minded is death but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against GOD, for it is not subject to the law of GOD nor indeed can be, so then those who are in the flesh cannot please GOD.
This is such an important reminder for the times that we are in distress it is easy to keep our eyes on ourselves and not on Jesus, the Author and Perfector of our faith.
The Bible tells that about the importance of guarding our hearts.
Thank God for the work of the Holy Spirit inside. We are are never too far or too gone for God.
What an amazing Lord, I serve, we serve. Bless you.
VERY GOOD DEVOTIONAL TODAY
Suzanne B: WOW! You really seem to have put it together. We see so many seeds that haven’t taken root because of circumstances in their lives. I try to live by the thought, “a few bad moments does not a bad day make”.
Charles Swindoll wrote, “The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude to me s more important than facts. It is more mportant than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearances, giftedness, or skill. It will make or break a company…a church…a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice everyday regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past… we cannot change the fact that people will act a certain way. We cannot change the innevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude… I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it. And so it is with you… We are in charge of our attitudes.”
I also beleive deep down that we become desensitized by repeated observation of things that once may have tugged at our heart strings as wrong. By repeatedly seeing these things and ignoring them instead of trying to make change happen, they become the norm. We no longer recognize them as “wrong” and our hearts become hardened.
Let’s strive to see things from the innocense of a newborn babe and weigh things by WWJD!
Have a blessed day as you “Press On!”
Have a Blessed day!
Mark 12:30 You must love him with al your heart and soul and mind and strength. A heart when blocked with sin I would make it hard to love him. Thank goodness for 1John 1:9 If we confess our sin he is faithful and just to forgive us from all unrighteousness. Purify my heart make it as silver. Refiners fire, My hearts one desire is to be holy set apart for you my master ready to do your will. A song I like! LOL I started to sing this song and the puppy joined me!
I am thankful for a good night sleep. I slept until 10 this morning and I am feeling better. I have been walking for 3 Sundays in a row! I am so thankful Thanks for your prayers!
The question about whether painful circumstances could cause a hardened heart is a good one because it brings up the idea of whether or not I am responsible for the condition of my heart. A logical next question is: Why do we see some people who have suffered painful circumstances (victims of abuse, the senseless murder of a child, crippling disease in the prime of life)who are at peace while others are bitter and consumed by anger?
I would suggest that though painful circumstances have nothing to do with sin in my life, my response to those circumstances is a matter of sin. Is not bitterness a sin? Is not harboring unforgiveness a sin? Don’t get me wrong – I do not want to diminish the incredible pain people have experienced because of evil and injustice in the world. I’m simply saying that what goes on in our hearts is between us and God. We can either surrender our pain to Him and allow Him to bring healing or we can decide that we know better than God, resist Him, hold on to our hurt and become hard.
Dear Suzanne,
What a powerful devotion today. I know my “thoughts” can be my own worst enemy. That is where much of my anxiety and fear lies, in my head. I am learning to let go “of my never ending thoughts” and let God in. A verse that stood out in my mind today and offers a wonderful visual to carry around in my thoughts today is: “And when he finds the sheep he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and brings it home”. Luke 12:5-6. Imagining Jesus carrying his lost sheep on his shoulders is very peaceful and joyful. However, imagining Jesus carrying me on his shoulders is quite comical.Blessings and peace today to all you lovely ladies.
Just a thought/question. The devotion says sin causes a hardened heart. My thought/question: couldn’t lifes circumstances that cause a person great pain also cause a hardened heart? I enjoyed the devotion and found the verses helpful. Thanks.
SUZANNE,
THIS IS A GOOD DEVOTIONAL. IN ORDER FOR OUR HEARTS TO NOT BE HARDENED, WE DO NEED TO KEEP OUR HEARTS AND MINDS TURNED TO GOD. IT IS THE ONLY WAY. WHERE ARE WE WITH OUT GOD IN OUR LIVES????????
God way is right. when we turn way from what is truth we harden our heart from God God can give us a heart of fleash so we can turn back to the truth and trust in his ways therefore his way is right and depend on him