Forever Home in the Eternal Family of God

Daily Encouragement for the Family of God by Kenton Cheek

2 March 2025

Reading From Mark 7:14-37

“Again Jesus called the crowd to him and said, “Listen to me, everyone, and understand this. Nothing outside a person can defile them by going into them. Rather, it is what comes out of a person that defiles them.” 

After he had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about this parable. “Are you so dull?” he asked. “Don’t you see that nothing that enters a person from the outside can defile them? For it doesn’t go into their heart but into their stomach, and then out of the body.” (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods clean.)

He went on: “What comes out of a person is what defiles them. For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and defile a person.”

—Mark 7:14-23

     In the interactions between Yahweh and human beings, He has always been and always will be concerned with the condition of our hearts.  It is His desire for our hearts to be cleansed, spiritually healthy and filled with His love by His Holy Spirit.  When I was born again, the Holy Spirit came into my heart and made my spirit alive.  My spirit is fused with His and in Him I live and move and have my being. 

Unfortunately, this side of Glory I live in the tent of my body and my flesh battles against the Spirit within me.  As I grow spiritually in holiness and knowledge of Christ and His Word, more and more of the evil desires of my flesh are brought into submission under the authority of Christ.  I ask Him to remove those desires and replace them with more of Him.

     It is fascinating to me that here during His earthly ministry Jesus declared all foods to be clean.  In the same sentence, He emphasized that it is what comes out of a person, how and what they speak and their behavior that matters because that comes from their heart.  I need to yield my will to His authority and the movement of the Holy Spirit.  I want the fruit of the Spirit to be produced in my life for the benefit of others and I hope the quality of the produce is high.

“Lord, I pray that I would decrease and that You would increase.  I yield to the power of Your Holy Spirit and desire that You work through me to bring positive change and build Your Kingdom upon the Earth.  Thank You for the opportunities that You create for me to speak life into others.  I pray that I would bless and not curse.  If there be any impure way within me, I ask that You remove those things about me that do not honor You and increase Your power and authority in every area of my heart and life.  For Your glory and my good I pray these things.  Amen.”

Search me, God, and know my heart;
    test me and know my anxious thoughts.
See if there is any offensive way in me,
    and lead me in the way everlasting.

—Psalm 139:23-24

Keep and guard your heart with all vigilance and above all that you guard, for out of it flow the springs of life.—Proverbs 4:23