Are Those God's Instructions? (Pt.5) (311) - August 16 2025

Following God's instructions can be rewarding, if that is what you are following. We must however first look at our motive and heart posture. If what you are asking God is different from what is truly in your heart, it can get confusing. Why? Because the motive of the heart can leave you going up and down. Are you following what God wants, or what you want? Can you trust your own heart?
 
This program covers the following Scriptures from the Amplified Classic version (AMPC): Proverbs 4:23, 1 Samuel 16:7, Jeremiah 17:9, Proverbs 23:6-7, Luke 6:45,  Matthew 5:28, Proverbs 8:4-10, Romans 8:6-10, Matthew 15:11, Proverbs 23:7-8, 1 Corinthians 11:31, Hebrews 12:5-8, James 1:19-22, James 4:7, 2 Corinthians 10:5.
 
 Pastor Catrice teaches on this topic this week.

Transcript

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(Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai. Go Unlimited to remove this message.) Hey, and welcome back to another episode of Touch of God Ministries. My name is Catrice. I'll be bringing the message this week. This week we are continuing with Are Those Gods Instructions, only this is part five. For those of you who desire to follow along with us, with the Bible scripture, we like to use the Amplified Classic. All right, so in part four of Are Those Gods Instructions, we talked about praying from the Bible in order to pray more effectively, understanding the motive of your prayers, how you see God can affect how you pray. Now all of those steps are very important, but let's pause on the heart posture and the motive for this week. Your heart processes how you feel about everything. You don't need to talk to even form an opinion. It's already formed in the heart. What is the heart posture definition? Well, as a noun, heart emotions are a conscious mental reaction, such as anger or fear, subjectively experienced as strong feeling, usually directed towards a specific object, typically accompanied by physiological and behavioral changes in the body feelings. Let's look at synonyms for feelings, a state of feeling, feeling denotes any partly mental, partly physical response marked by pleasure, pain, attraction, or repulsion. It may suggest the mere existence of a response, but imply nothing about the nature or intensity of it. Affection applies to the feelings that are also inclinations or likings. It's a passion, suggests a very powerful or controlling emotion, revenge even. The effective aspect of consciousness, feeling. We can see from the dictionary's definitions that heart motive and emotions constantly change and are unstable in nature. Why? Because one moment you can love a friend, the next moment you can dislike them. This can make you double-minded in all your ways. In the kingdom of God, believers who follow the Bible depend on the mind of Christ, living according to the Holy Spirit and not according to the flesh. Why? Because living according to the Spirit gratifies God, which for those who are saved, Jesus is your Lord and Savior. Well, it is story time again. I want to give you a deeper look into this and to form a visual picture for you by telling you this story. A woman passes by a window walking in front of an office. There are comments in the office made by people. One particular person that is watching says with their mouth, it must be nice to take a walk. However, the voice on the inside of them says, wow, do you think those shorts are a little too short? She should just wear her underpants outside. She must be a whore or a prostitute and just giving herself away. The internal voice is the heart posture of that person. This part of that person needs to be saved as well. You see your mental thoughts of your mind, will and emotions, the condition of your internal heart must be subject to the will of God. Why? Because this internal thought heart posture can determine your speech, actions, motives towards people, places, things, animals, even Jesus, and basically all life issues. This can determine how you receive God's instructions. Let's look at Proverbs 4 verse 23, keep in guard your heart with all vigilance and above all that you guard for out of it flow the springs of life. So we see that your life is affected by what's in your heart, not the person you appear to be to others, but true heart posture and motive in your heart. This is what God sees in your heart. In 1 Samuel 16 verse 7, but the Lord said to Samuel, look not on his appearance or at the height of his stature for I have rejected him. So this is Samuel looking to anoint the next King, right? This is prophet Samuel sent by God to anoint the next King. And he goes to the house of Jesse and Jesse brings out all his sons. And this is what God is saying to him. Look not on the appearance or the height of his statue for I have rejected him. So this is one of the sons that God has rejected that Samuel is looking at. Then still in 1 Samuel 16 verse 7 to be continued for the Lord sees not as man sees for man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart. So for example, social media is a good example of this. People portray themselves one way, but who they are really is not seen until you get to know them. Sadly, salvation is dealing with the soul, which includes the mind, will and emotions, including your heart posture. Let's look at Jeremiah 17 verse 9. The heart is deceitful above all things, and it is exceedingly perverse and corrupt and severely morally sick. Who can know it, perceive, understand, be acquainted with his own heart and mind. Verse 10, I, the Lord, search the mind. I try the heart even to give to every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings. So you see, although this is the Old Testament, the facts about the heart still remain in how God is seeing the heart. Let's go ahead to Proverbs 23, verse six to seven. This is Solomon speaking, who asked God for wisdom. So Solomon says, eat not the bread of him who has a hard, grudging and envious eye. Neither desire his dainty foods. For as he thinks in his heart, so is he. As one who reckons, he says to you, eat and drink, yet his heart is not with you, but is grudging the cost. Let's go to Luke six, verse 45. The upright, honorably, intrinsically good man out of the good treasure stored up in his heart produces what is upright, honorable, intrinsically good. And the evil man out of the evil storehouse brings forth that which is depraved, wicked and intrinsically evil. For out of the abundance overflow of the heart, his mouth speaks. So God is trying to tell us something about what's in our heart and what's coming out of our mouths. Let's look at Matthew five, verse 28. But I say to you that everyone who so much as looks at a woman with evil desire for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. So we can see here that when you commit an action in your heart is as if you've already committed the sin. And this is why the heart posture can be so dangerous and it has to be corrected. So with the verse that we just read where we're looking at what lust is, right? Because if you're lusting after something, it can cause you to do things, right? So the definition of lust, an overwhelming desire or a craving, a lust for power. So we can see the emotion of lust is from the flesh, which is from the heart. Lust represents what the body wants in order to fulfill itself, the flesh. Examples, food, sex, money, greed, power, jealousy, hatred, stealing, lying, etc. All these things represent the heart and the flesh when focused on itself and out of control emotions. Let's look at Proverbs eight, verse four to 10. So that the righteous and just requirement of the law might be fully met in us who live and move not in the ways of the flesh, but in the ways of the spirit. Our lives govern not by the standards and according to the dictates of the flesh, but controlled by the Holy Spirit. Verse five, for those who are according to the flesh and are controlled by its unholy desires, set their minds on and pursue those things which gratify the flesh. But those who are according to the spirit and are controlled by the desires of the spirit, set their minds on and seek those things which gratify the Holy Spirit. Let's look at Romans eight, verse six. Now the mind of the flesh, which is sense and reason without the Holy Spirit is death. So let's pause and let's just read that again. Now the mind of the flesh, so this is the stuff that's coming out of the heart, which is sense and reason without the Holy Spirit. So if you're not being guided by the Holy Spirit, it's of the flesh and it equals death. Let's continue death that comprises all the miseries arising from sin, both here and hereafter. But the mind of the Holy Spirit is life and soul peace, both now and forever. Verse seven, that is because the mind of the flesh with its carnal thoughts and purposes is hostile to God, for it does not submit itself to God, God's law. Indeed, it cannot. Verse eight, so then those who are living the life of the flesh, catering to the appetites and impulses of their carnal nature, cannot please or satisfy God or be acceptable to him. Verse nine, but you are not living the life of the flesh. You are living the life of the spirit. If the Holy Spirit of God really dwells within you, directs and controls you. But if anyone does not possess the Holy Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. He does not belong to Christ, is not truly a child of God. Verse 10, but if Christ lives in you, then although your natural body is dead by reason of sin and guilt, the spirit is alive because of the righteousness that he imputes to you. So that's the righteousness of God, right? We're the righteousness of God. So a heart posture builds a foundation for what you are asking from the Lord. So that's what this is all about, right? To go back to, are we following God's instructions? The reason why we're expanding one heart posture, because it's almost impossible to follow God's instructions when you're being led by the flesh and you're being led by the heart. And so we're wanting to not be led by that. It's not just what you say out of your mouth, but the motive of the heart as well. Example, Lord, make me powerful. I want to control the world. Give me cars, money and flat screen TVs. There's nothing wrong with God increasing your territory, but we have to examine what is the motive. Is that feeding the flesh or is that being led by the Holy Spirit? Let's look at Matthew 15, verse 11. It is not what goes into the mouth of a man that makes him unclean and defiled, but what comes out of the mouth. This makes a man unclean and defiles him. Let's look at Proverbs 23, verse seven to eight. For as he thinks in his heart, so is he. As one who reckons, he says to you, eat and drink. Yet his heart is not with you, but is grudging the cost. So we read this earlier, but now I'm reading it again. So you can see that even though someone is outwardly saying, come and eat and drink, they're grudging the cost. Verse eight, the morsel which you have eaten, you will vomit up and your complimentary words will be wasted. We must not always rely upon the words of someone, but look for the heart motive. If someone is angry at you, acts jealous, I would not necessarily take food from them. Let's look at first Corinthians 11, verse 31. For if we certainly examined ourselves, detecting our shortcomings and recognizing our own condition, we should not be judged and the penalty decreed by the divine judgment, verse 32, but when we fall short and are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined and chastised so that we may not finally be condemned to eternal punishment along with the world. So we're going to go ahead to Hebrews 12, verse six. And have you completely forgotten the divine word of appeal and encouragement in which you are reasoned with and addressed as sons? My son, do not think lightly or scorn to submit to the correction and discipline of the Lord, nor lose courage and give up and faint when you are reproved or corrected by him. For the Lord corrects and disciplines everyone whom he loves and he punishes, even scourges every son whom he accepts and welcomes to his heart and cherishes. You must submit to and endure correction for discipline. God is dealing with you as with sons. For what son is there whom his father does not thus train and correct and discipline? Verse eight. Now, if you are exempt from correction and left without discipline in which all of God's children share, then you are illegitimate offsprings and not true sons at all. So let's look at some things here. How can we move forward in Christ to change the heart posture, to begin to apply some of the things in the Bible to begin to change the heart posture? So we're going to look at James 1, verse 19 to 22. Understand this, my beloved brethren, let every man be quick to hear, a ready listener, slow to speak, slow to take offense, and to get angry. Verse 20. For man's anger does not promote the righteousness of God, wishes and requires. So get rid of all uncleanliness and the rampant outgrowth of wickedness. And in a humble, gentle, modest spirit, receive and welcome the word which implanted and rooted in your hearts contains the power to save your souls. 22. But be doers of the word, obey the message and not merely listeners to it. Betraying yourselves into deception by reasoning in contrary to the truth. Let's look at James 4, verse 7. So be subject to God, resist the devil and stand firm against him and he will flee from you. Let's go to 2 Corinthians 10, verse 5. Hold every thought captive under the foot of Jesus. So these are some examples of how you can begin to change your heart posture and allow it to be subject to God. And so truly before the Lord, when you say things, be slow to speak, think about what your heart is trying to say. Because a lot of times that little voice inside of you is not always you. Sometimes it's the enemy trying to get you to speak things out into the world because God has given us authority, right? Not the devil. God has given us authority. And maybe that's something that we can talk about next week. But we want to begin to change the heart posture. We want to begin to hold every thought captive under the foot of Jesus Christ. So when you get a thought that says, let's say that thought in your heart, oh, you can't do anything, you'll amount to nothing, right? When we go to the word, the word says, I can do all things through Jesus Christ who strengthens me. So when that thought comes, you know, if you're not alone in a room, you can just mumble under your breath. I can do all things through Jesus Christ who strengthens me. But when you're out loud, you say it loud, say it proud. And you tell the devil what he can do with his whispering thoughts, trying to whisper to your consciousness in your mind, I can do all things through Jesus Christ who strengthens me, right? When the enemy says you're nobody, you say, no, I am a child of God. So we begin to fight against those thoughts, right? We begin to say, no, I am a child of God. I am the righteousness of God in Christ. And the more you begin to say it, the less the enemy is going to try to come at you the same way. So once you know who you are, as a way of life, you tell the enemy, these things, you're not going to have these thoughts. Some of you, if these thoughts have become tormenting thoughts, the more you speak the word of God, these unclean thoughts will begin to leave and you're not going to have those tormenting thoughts anymore. All right. Amen. So when we're listening, we're trying to listen to God's instructions to see if, is this God's instructions? When we begin to bring our heart posture in alignment with the word of God, then when we're speaking what God speaks and saying what God says, then we begin to have the mind of Christ. We begin to walk in authority because it's not I who live, but it's Christ that lives in me. Amen. This is so exciting. And if you can get this, if you can begin to decree and declare over yourself, then you can begin to speak over your family. You can begin to speak over your finances, the word of God, but you have to be on a steady diet of the word and praying and decreeing and declaring. If you're at work and you don't know the scripture to say, then you can just say, no, I belong to God. You hear something inside of you that says you're sick and you're not going to make it. I shall live and not die. Or by his stripes, I'm healed. Or God says, I am healed. Or only God knows the plans that he has for me. As you begin to speak this, you're going to become stronger. As you begin to try to memorize the scripture. So you don't have to always go back to the Bible because once you begin to memorize it, it'd be easy. One thing I do is I have these little cards and I tape them all over where I live and it's scripture and it's a reminder, right? So everywhere, if I'm cooking, I have scriptures for me to just meditate on so that I can keep my mind on things above and not fall prey to thoughts that the enemy is trying to plant. Well, I hope you guys enjoyed this. I hope that you learn from this. God, I just thank you, Lord, that your word is going forth and it's hitting the bull's eye that people are being set free. And right now, if you haven't taken Jesus Christ as your Lord and savior, it's never too late. Even the thief on the cross looked at Jesus when Jesus was being crucified and he said, you know, we belong here, but you don't belong here. And Jesus responded and is like, there's a place for you in my kingdom today. Right? And so God is saying that to you out there. If you're sitting there alone and you, you're not feeling hopeful and you're just not feeling the way you should, God will always forgive you when you come to him and you confess your sins and you repent and you turn away. It's as simple as that. You don't have to go into a church. You can be in the silence of your car. There's people who have gotten saved, sitting in their closet, in their wardrobe area, wherever it is, God is with you and he hears your cry and he will answer your prayer, but it's you who has to begin the dialogue. So if you want to take Jesus Christ as your Lord and savior, just go ahead and repeat after me. Lord, I know that Jesus died for me and paid for my sins and healing. And he rose again in three days. Lord, forgive me for my sins. Make me new, renew in me a right spirit. I forgive all of those people who I've had anger with or offense, Lord. And I come to you wholeheartedly and I ask that you come into my heart. You come and you live inside of me and you change me. And I give you everything, Lord. I give you all that I have, Lord. If that was you, I want you to know that the Lord is with you right now and you can just sit quietly in the room and I'm just going to begin to pray over those listeners right now in the mighty name of Jesus Christ, we command all depression to leave right now in the name of Jesus. I command you up and out right now. I bind you up right now. I command you to leave right now in the mighty name of Jesus Christ. I command sickness and disease out of everybody that is listening right now in the mighty name of Jesus Christ. Diabetes be healed in the mighty name of Jesus. Arthritis in stiff joints. I command you be whole, be healed now in Jesus name. I speak to the liver, be whole and be healed right now in the name of Jesus. Every skin rash on the skin. I command you be whole, be healed. I speak to the kidneys and every organ in the body, the pancreas, the liver, every organ, be whole, be healed right now. I command all darkness out right now in the mighty name of Jesus. And I speak peace, be still over your heart and mind right now in the name of Jesus, anyone who's on dialysis. I command you be whole, be healed right now. All cancer dry up at the root right now in the mighty name of Jesus Christ. Lord, we just thank you. And we thank you, Holy Spirit. And we thank you, Jesus. For right now, just touching them, touching them in their home, touching them in their office, touching them in their car, Lord, lifting them up. Holy spirit, have your way. Have your way right now in the mighty name of Jesus Christ. Thank you, Lord. Thank you. Thank you, God, for just blessing them. Blessing them, Jesus. Thank you, Lord. We just glorify you. We glorify you, Lord. We just lift you up. We praise you, Lord. There's nobody like you, Lord. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you for your healing, Lord. Thank you for delivering your children from unclean conditions. Thank you, Lord, for your clean spirit. Thank you, God, that deliverance is the children's bed. We just thank you, God. And we just praise you for what we have and what we don't have, Lord. We just thank you for our life and our health and our strength, Lord. We just thank you for yet another day to just be breathing, Lord. There's air in our lungs. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you for your goodness and your kindness and your mercy. Thank you for another day, Lord. To be able to walk, to be able to see, to be able to taste, to be able to touch, to be able to smell, to be able to glorify your name, to be able to worship you, Lord. Thank you, Jesus, for making a way for us. Thank you, God, for going before us and fighting the battle. Thank you for being the light. Thank you, Jesus, for being our healer. And we praise you. Amen.