The way God works is just so wonderful. For the past few weeks, I've been studying everything about the heart- structure, how it works, pathophysiology (disease and abnormal hearts) and caring for patients with heart problems. Also, I've been learning and reading up on blood. This week is also the National Heart Week. And guess what? Today's sermon is also about the heart!
All these weeks, I've been studying about the physical heart and human blood. But today, God used all these knowledge and showed me about the spiritual heart instead!
Do you know? The normal human body has minute ruptures in very small blood vessels that occur thousands of times daily in our vessels. And that makes the platelet-plugging mechanism so very important to us. Without it, the person will develop thousands of small hemorrhagic areas all under the skin and in the internal tissues, causing internal bleeding. However, platelets in the blood keeps washing over the traumatised area and closing the holes, stopping further bleeding. This is just like our spiritual body! Everyday, we sin thousands of times. But because of the blood of Jesus flowing through our body, the holes that will cause us to bleed and fall away from God is covered and repaired daily. This, I truly thank God for:)
Also, God gave me a revelation on the signs and symptoms of a spiritual heart attack and how to diagnose and prevent one from occuring. First of all, Myocardial Infaction (MI) occurs when complete obstruction of a coronary heart artery interupts blood supply to an area of myocardium. The affected area then becomes ischemic and later infacts if blood supply is not restored. The necrotic area will then bordered by an area of damaged tissue, which is in turn surrounded by an area of ischemic tissue. So how do you diagnose a pt with MI? Simply by taking a look at the level of creatinine kinase(CK) and cardiac-specific troponins which will be elevated (due to the releasing of various cardiac isoenzymes into the blood circulation). S&S may include dyspnea, tachypnea and anxiety, peripheral oedema and even a sense of impending doom. There will also be a decrease in consiousness and death eventually. -For those who are non-medically trained, don't bother understanding it. I was just revising my work. Opps, forgive me for that! Hehe, basically its talking about the blood vessel being clogged and causing the heart muscle cells to die. Then this will cause the entire heart to fail eventually. But before that, there will be signs and symptoms such as shortness of breath, fast breathing, anxiousness, swelling of the limbs/abdomen and a sense that he/she is going to die.
So what did God remind me about all these stuff in service today? Not that I'm a crazy mugging freak. (Haha, hmm.. but maybe cos God has given me this interest in medical stuff and so he uses this way to speak to me). Anyway, he showed me that a spiritual heart attack is just like that. When you don't look after your spiritual heart (ie, nv check your heart everyday) your heart may become hardened to the word of God. There will then be a lack of God's oxygen and nutrients into that area of your heart and if you don't soften the hardened vessel, it will utimately clot up and cause your heart to die (back-slide). S&S will be when you find that your whole body is swelling with self-pride (peripheral oedema), you can no longer pray to God (dypsnea), when you begin to feel hurt by the world that radiates up to your shoulders and all the while forgetting your identity in Christ, when you feel anxious and without God's peace in you and even this feeling of doom in your life (depression). All these calls for a code blue (emergency)! A medical team must arrive and prevent you from going into cardiac arrest (stopping of the heart). And the first physician you must run to is to Jesus, the healer. Psalms 51:17 says The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken heart and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. Deal with your heart with God, ask him to change you and then take the medication- If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and folllow me.-Mark 8:34. Following that, go to your nurse -leader or pastor and ask her/him to care for you and make sure you take the right medication, do the right things and walk the right path by teaching you and checking on you!
Indeed, the heart of the problem is the problem of the heart. Many a times, its not the problem that is causing the problem, but the heart that is refusing to do something. A spiritual heart attack must be cured spiritually. I thank God that for the times when I had angina pectoris, he was there to quickly take away the cause of it and provide me with a new heart. And I can testify to the the statement " A broken heart is for me to follow Jesus". Indeed, indeed. I really am grateful for the time when my heart was broken for God and the Lord just healed me so gracefully such that I had no choice but to follow Jesus.
So there! See the importance of the heart. Therefore, above all else, guard your heart!
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