Let's start with a question: would you agree or disagree with the statement "Listen to your heart"? If you were raised in the Church of Christ like me (or a similar fundamentalist Christian denomination), your answer is very likely "no". In my Church of Christ upbringing, I came away with the idea that my heart was completely untrustworthy. Church of Christ people love to quote Jeremiah 17:9 (which says"The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?") to show that we can't trust our hearts. I now believe this message is wrong, and I believe the heart is none other than the Most Holy Place where the Holy Spirit of God dwells. And if it is the Holy Spirit speaking to us through our hearts, maybe we shouldn't be so quick to dismiss our hearts.
Sick heart made well
Let's start off by addressing Jeremiah 17:9 ("The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?"). It's describing a heart that is "desperately sick". Maybe we can't trust a sick heart, but what about a heart that has been made well? Can our hearts be made well? The answer is: yes, God can heal your heart. Here's a few verses to support this position:
Ezekiel 36:25-27 - "25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. 26 And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules."
Note the "new heart" is in conjunction with the "new spirit I will put within you".
Ephesians 1:17-18 - "...that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints"
Note: If the eyes of your heart are enlightened, and you have been given the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation, shouldn't you be able to trust your heart? If not, what's the point of having the eyes of your heart enlightened?
Hebrews 10:19-22
"Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water."
Note that this passage says we have a "true heart" which is "sprinkled clean from an evil conscience". It's also interesting to note that our conscience can be evil (so you can't always trust your conscience, to the contrary of Jiminy Cricket's conscience-promoting propaganda).
Isaiah 57:15
"For thus says the One who is high and lifted up,
who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy:
“I dwell in the high and holy place,
and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit,
to revive the spirit of the lowly,
and to revive the heart of the contrite."
Perhaps we should be careful trusting a sick heart... but if God has enlightened our hearts, given us a new heart - a TRUE HEART, and filled us with His Spirit, then why would we not trust our heart???
The Most Holy Place
The Hebrew temple (and tabernacle) were places where God's glory dwelt among the people:
"A tent was prepared, the first section, in which were the lampstand and the table and the bread of the Presence. It is called the Holy Place. Behind the second curtain was a second section called the Most Holy Place." (Hebrews 9:2-3)
And the writer of Hebrews goes on to say that "the way into the holy places is not yet opened"... here's the context - Hebrews 9:6-10:
"These preparations having thus been made, the priests go regularly into the first section, performing their ritual duties, but into the second only the high priest goes, and he but once a year, and not without taking blood, which he offers for himself and for the unintentional sins of the people. By this the Holy Spirit indicates that the way into the holy places is not yet opened as long as the first section is still standing (which is symbolic for the present age). According to this arrangement, gifts and sacrifices are offered that cannot perfect the conscience of the worshiper, but deal only with food and drink and various washings, regulations for the body imposed until the time of reformation."
But now that Jesus made the sacrifice (which was foreshadowed by the animal sacrifices), the path to the Most Holy Place (where we can commune with God) has been opened, as the Hebrew writer goes on to say in Hebrews 10:19-22:
"Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water."
Note here that the way is going "through the curtain" - that is the veil stood in front of the Most Holy Place. Remember that the veil was torn when Jesus died: "And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit. And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split." (Matthew 27:50-51)
So in the Hebrew Temple, the Most Holy Place was behind the veil. Now, your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit:
1 Corinthians 6:19 - "Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own,"
1 Corinthians 3:16-17 - "16 Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you? 17 If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him. For God's temple is holy, and you are that temple."
Also note here that YOU ARE HOLY. "God's temple is holy, and you are that [holy] temple."
And since your body is a temple, according to the pattern, your body must have a Most Holy Place. But why do I suggest that your heart is the Most Holy Place?
2 Corinthians 3:14-18 - "But their minds were hardened. For to this day, when they read the old covenant, that same veil remains unlifted, because only through Christ is it taken away. Yes, to this day whenever Moses is read a veil lies over their hearts. But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit."
Remember that the veil lies over the Most Holy Place - the veil that is only taken away through Christ... that veil "lies over their hearts."
Note also that at the beginning of the same chapter, Paul says: "You yourselves are our letter of recommendation, written on our hearts, to be known and read by all. And you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts." (2 Corinthians 3:2-3). And where was the tablets of the law stored in the Old Testament temple? In the Most Holy Place, in the Ark of the Covenant (Hebrews 9:3-4).
John 7:38-39 - "Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified."
So the Spirit - the rivers of living water flow out of the heart. Jesus yielded up His Spirit, and then the veil tore (Matthew 27:50-51).
Hebrews 6:19-20 - "We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek."
This is the same inner place that Jesus entered as described in Hebrews 9:24 - "For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf."
Feeling disconnected from God
For most of my life, I felt rather dissatisfied with my connection to God... because I didn't feel like I had one. It bothered me that people in the "Bible times" could hear from God directly, but that my only way to hear from God was the Bible. And I know I'm not the only one. I've been in Bible classes where people have said things like "boy, if only I could talk to the apostles for a few minutes" or "if only I could ask Jesus this question."
But I now consider it a demonic lie that the Bible is the only way God speaks to us. To hold this "Sola Scriptura" (scripture only) belief is, I believe, to disobey this verse: "Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies, but test everything; hold fast what is good." (1 Thessalonians 5:19-21). By failing to "test everything" - by believing we are completely disconnected from God except through the Bible, we fail to "test everything" - we ignore all the ways God speaks today in addition to the Bible
... in other words, we "despise prophecies" (many churches will not even listen to someone claiming to have a prophesy, because they think such things are done away with)
... and thereby, "quench the Spirit."
You'll never find if you're not looking. If you believe the Spirit no longer communes with us, then you won't find it. And you also won't find it if you're looking in the wrong place. And if you're told to ignore your heart, you'll miss it. And the Bible says a good bit about the Spirit in our hearts:
Romans 10:6-10 - "But the righteousness based on faith says, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’” (that is, to bring Christ down) “or ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved."
Galatians 4:6-7 - "And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God."
Romans 10:8-10 - "8 But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); 9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved."
Luke 17:20-21, - "20 Being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, he answered them, “The kingdom of God is not coming in ways that can be observed, 21 nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There!’ for behold, the kingdom of God isin the midst of you [or: within you].”
1 Cor 2:9-16 - "But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him”— 10 these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. 11 For who knows a person's thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12 Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. 13 And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. 14 The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. 15 The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. 16 “For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ."
John 14:15-21 - "15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, 17 even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. 18 “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19 Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20 In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. 21 Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.”"
Your heart is not just some fickle things to be ignored. Your heart is the Most Holy Place - the dwelling place of God. And the Spirit of God is not silent.
Conclusion
If the heart is the Most Holy Place, then DO NOT CALL THAT WHICH IS SACRED PROFANE! Do not quench the Spirit!