The Heart the Most Precious Treasure: Guard Your Heart Above Everything Else

By Simcha

In the Jewish tradition it is believed that when people come to this earth, they must do three things: have children, plant a tree, and write a book. Simcha has had some wonderful spiritual children that G-D Almighty has given her through the years to teach His Word, She says that she is not too sure about the tree yet, but now here is the book.

Simcha truly believes that YHVH has given her this book for her own well-being and for the well-being of all mankind. She treasures this book as her gift from Father Almighty. She is truly grateful that G-D took the time to speak to her intelligence and mind.
Please enjoy this book, treasure it, and HAVE A GOOD HEART!

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Jun 3, 2010
• ISBN: 9781449089283

Simcha

The Heart, the Most Precious Treasure is written by Simcha, better known as Sister Eponine Paul. She loves G-D and is glad to be a member of the Corporate Body of Messiah. She was born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. She went to school at College Marie Anne. She completed her formal education at Unity Catholic High School in Chicago, and then pursued a B.A. in Psychology at Chicago State University in Chicago. She holds a M.Ed. (Masters in Education) degree in TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) from the University of Miami, Coral Gables, Florida. She has taught ESOL/ESL/VESOL/VSL and GED, (General Education Degree) Pre-GED, and Prepre- GED for over 15 years between Dade County Public Schools and Miami-Dade Community College, which later became Miami-Dade College. She has also taught Haitian Creole and French as well as literacy to Adults. Presently Simcha focuses more on interpreting, especially medical interpreting. She is a member of Dante Alighieri, an organization promoting the Italian language. She had also been, until its temporary rest, a member of Dora Totelbaum, an organization promoting the Yiddish language. She has been a member of ATA (American Translators’ Association) since 1995, and she enjoys attending their annual conferences. Simcha is the host of a radio program called Déjeuner Spirituel (Spiritual Breakfast) aired on WLQY 1320 AM in Creole and French. She had also aired Spiritual Breakfast in English on WKAT 1360 AM in 2007 and in the 2000 Desayuno Espiritual on 1360 AM, obviously in Spanish.

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© 2010 Simcha. All rights reserved.

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ISBN: 978-1-4490-8929-0 (sc)

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Contents

FOREWORD

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS AND THANKS FROM THE HEART

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER 1     A PRAYING AND MEDITATING HEART

CHAPTER 2     A TRUSTING HEART

CHAPTER 3     A LOVING HEART

CHAPTER 4     A COMPASSIONATE AND MERCIFUL HEART

CHAPTER 5     A FORGIVING HEART

CHAPTER 6     A REPENTANT HEART

CHAPTER 7     A FEARING HEART,   A FEARFUL HEART, A FEARLESS HEART

CHAPTER 8     A MEEK AND OBEDIENT HEART

CHAPTER 9     A HAPPY AND JOYFUL HEART

CHAPTER 10   A CLEANSED AND CLEAN HEART

CHAPTER 11   A PURE HEART

CHAPTER 12   A HOLY HEART

CHAPTER 13   A NEW HEART

CHAPTER 14   A WISE HEART

CHAPTER 15   A SINCERE HEART

CHAPTER 16   A HUMBLE HEART

CHAPTER 17   A GRATEFUL AND THANKFUL HEART

CHAPTER 18    A PEACEFUL AND PEACEMAKING HEART

CHAPTER 19   HEART DISEASES

CHAPTER 20     A CIRCUMCISED HEART

CHAPTER 21   A GOOD HEART

CONCLUSION

GLOSSARY HEBREW -ENGLISH

THE NAMES OF THE BOOKS OF   THE BIBLE AND ABBREVIATIONS

BIBLIOGRAPHY

FOREWORD

Here’s a good book. It is written for our time. From "the abundance of the heart" it speaks. You’ll find every word to be inspirited and inspiring. I’ll give it two thumbs up! By far it gets my nomination:  One to be added to my bookshelf of favorite Christian publications! It flows really well. Not one sentence ever gets boring. Hopefully, believers will love this book just as much as the non-believers!

Erskine R. Curry –Chairman & CEO

Caribbean World Broadcasting Corporation

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS AND THANKS FROM THE HEART

I give honor and thanks to YHVH, the Master of the universe for preciously giving me this book and for all His cleansing work in my life. I want to thank everyone who one way or another has helped me with this book whether your name is listed here or not.  I want to thank my husband Emmanuel Jean-François, my mother, Maria Oscar as well as my brother Pastor Daniel Oscar and my only sister Myrielle Paul for their unconditional love and support. Thanks to all the men and women of God who have taught me the Word of YHVH in the Judeo-Christian world.  I salute the memory of Apostle Nick Gwick, Pastor Joseph Desrivières, Sr. as well as Pastor Woolly Doriscar. I thank Brother Gid’on Nelson, Rabbi Walter Lieber, Rabbi Neil Lash, Rabbi Yosef Koelner, Rabbi Joe Vitkus, and Rabbi Gavriel Ogugua.

My gratitude goes to Pastor Emmanuel Zizi for all his words of encouragement and prayers as well as to Pastor David Doriscar, Pastor Aramy Honoré, Pastor Felix McEwan, and Pastor Michel Lamartine Porcena.  My thanks go to Brother Fritz Jean for all his support and advices. I would like also to extend my thanks to my former colleagues from the R/EVEST program of Miami-Dade College for their support, encouragement and pushing on this book.  I want to thank in particular Yollande Bazile and Yuri Ybarra. I thank all those who have helped with some typing for both volumes of the book.  Those precious souls are Adlyne Destima, Antoinette Jean-Pierre, Carlos Duarte, Andrea Castillo, Benjamin Whitman, Michèle Bourgouin, Fenella John-Dunlap, Sasha Sculley, Stephen Mahon, Elaine Nelson, Guancilene Doissaint, Nadeige Turner, Anabelle Vabre, Jackson St. Lot, Esdras Jocelin, Carine Lambert, Alexandra Paroulek, Mona Simon, and Prosper Avril, Jr.  I also thank my proof readers: Messianic Congregational Leader Grant Burgess, Deanna Whitman, Erskine R. Curry, Ivel Paroulek, and Crescent Reid. My gratitude also goes to my book cover artist, Robert Joseph.

Finally, I want to thank all of you who have decided to read this book in the pursuit of a Heart that is pleasing to God Almighty. Enjoy the reading!

HAVE A GOOD HEART!

INTRODUCTION

This book is about the Heart in the spiritual sense of the term. This is the first volume of the book. We all know that the natural heart is very important for the body.  Just as the physical heart makes blood transaction back and forth with the body and is responsible for the blood circulation, the same is true for the spiritual Heart in respect to the soul.

For our purpose in this book, except in the Bible quotations, when referring to the spiritual Heart, we will capitalize it, and at times some key words of the chapters will be in bold, and some words that refer to the key words or that are synonymous will be underlined.  In most cases we will keep the Hebrew names of the Bible characters, and on the glossary pages those names are translated with their English equivalents. The words in italic are mostly in Hebrew, and some are in other languages as well. The English translation of the Hebrew words is definitely found in the glossary as well.

Proverb 4:23 commands us, Above everything else, guard your heart; for it is the source of life’s consequences.                  (Complete Jewish Bible)

"Keep your heart with all diligence, For out of it spring the issues of life." (New King James Version)

Keep your heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life. (American King James Version)

Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life. (English Standard Version)

Above all that is to be guarded, keep thy heart, for out of it are the issues of life.  (Lesser Old Testament)

Since I was little, I have always wanted to know what people were thinking at any given time.  I was always interested in knowing what is inside of a person in the spiritual realm.  The outside did not matter too much for me.  I could care less how well dressed or well groomed someone could be.  I could care less how cute a person looked. No wonder I hold my B.A. in Psychology, the science of the mind! 

Once a wife went to see her husband who had just had heart’s surgery, and the husband told his wife the regular married people’s routine expression: I love you.  The woman was shocked.  She said How come?  I thought you have another heart now.

A friend of mine told me about an employee at his job who was often either late or absent for work. To justify his most recent absence, he told his boss his heart had been hurting, putting his hand on his right breast.  Then the employer said, You don’t even know how to lie.

I have gone to many Gospel concerts where the people are singing about their love for God or something along those lines, and when they refer to Heart, they place their hands on their chest.  I cannot help, but smile.  This organ has nothing to do with loving God or not. This has a completely different job. However, I must add that the physical heart is there to respond to the emotions of the real Heart.  In other words, the spiritual Heart, in many respects, has an effect on the physical heart.

For many years the subject Heart had been misunderstood by many scholars, many psychologists and even many doctors.  Yes, doctors have had a clear understanding of the functions of the natural heart, but the spiritual one was the subject of many discussions.  This has caused the flow of much ink and much saliva. Many people wonder where this precious spiritual treasure is located.  Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it, It is not there for eyes to see.  It is located in a secret place where only God, the very Master of the universe can see It; and the person who has It can have constant contact with It.  The Book of God, in Jeremiah 17:9 declares the following:

"The heart is more deceitful than anything else and mortally sick.

Who can fathom it?" (Complete Jewish Bible)

"The heart is deceitful above all things,

And desperately wicked;

Who can know it?" (NKJV)

Not only, as the Bible says, do people not know the Heart, but also they do not even know where It is located.

According to Encyclopædia Britannica, 2009, the natural heart is a hollow muscular organ of vertebrate animals that, by its rhythmic contraction, acts as a force pump maintaining the circulation of the blood. It is located between the lungs.  It powers the circulatory system.

The Heart is often referred to in the Scriptures as the seat of the affections and of the passions, also of wisdom and understanding. It is the center of man’s being, the central or innermost part, and the essential or most vital part of human beings.

The word heart in French is cœur.  Although the word Heart is kè in Haitian Creole, it is not often translated as such in the Bible.  Rather, it is often translated by head or ideas in the head. The equivalent for heart in Spanish is corazón.  In German, it is Herz.  Please be aware that all common nouns are capitalized in German. In Italian, the term is cuore. Heart is translated by coração in Portuguese.  However, just like in Haitian Creole, alternative words are often used in Bible translation to refer to it.  An example of that can be pensamentos, translated by thoughts.

We will quickly give you a statistics of the appearance of this word in the Bible by language and by Bible translation.  A longer list will be provided in Volume II. By Bible, we mean the collection of the 66 books from Genesis to Revelation.

English

• Complete Jewish Bible translation: 446 times

• New King James Version, 776 times

• Webster Bible translation, 766 times

• English Standard Version, 706 times

• American King James Version, 765 times

• Young’s Literal Translation of the Bible, 895 times

• 1769 Authorized Version, 765 times

French

• Louis Segond, 1910, we find it 772 times

• La Bible Darby, 1991, it is found 830 times

• La Bible Nouvelle Edition Genève 1979, it is found 781 times

Spanish

• 1909 Reina Valera, 803 times

• Reina Valera Gomez Rojo, 811 times

• Nueva Reina Valera, 739 times

German

• NeUE, 803 times

• 1912 Luther, 445 times

Italian

• 1649 Italian Diodati Version, 487 times

Portuguese

• Biblia na Linguagen de Hoje, 1998, we find it 14 times

• 1994 Portuguese Almeida Bible, 83 times (all in the plural: corações)

Since the creation of mankind, the Heart of human beings has not changed. The old serpent which seduced Eve in the Garden is not dead yet. He is so much alive that Paul, the Apostle or Rav Shaul warns us while expressing his fear in the like manner in 2 Cor. 11:3: "… and I fear that somehow your minds may be seduced away from simple and pure devotion to the Messiah, just as Havah was deceived by the serpent and his craftiness" (Gen. 3:4).  Furthermore, the old serpent in question has not changed profession or career yet; neither does he intend to.

Imagine one moment what type of world we would have if every one of us had a pure Heart, a sensitive Heart, and a good Heart in essence? We would never hear about adultery, homosexuality, fornication, incest, domestic violence, murder, rape, theft, slander, gossiping, backbiting, laziness, slavery, abuse of any sort, neglect, discrimination, exploitation of men by men, false testimonies, lies of all sorts concerning our neighbors, coups d’état, snares, etc.  We are asking for all these things to go away when we say in Yeshua’s Prayer Your Kingdom come! While the kingdom has not come globally yet, we are doing our very best, as children of the Almighty, to allow it to come in each of our little corner –our Heart–.

After reading this book, we should be able to put our Heart in front of God’s mirror, which is His Word, and see how we score. Also it will help us to improve our walk with God by having the type of Heart He requires of us.  The chapters are ordered according to the importance of the Heart issues based on the author’s spiritual walk and experience with the Almighty.  However, they are completely independent from each other. Therefore, it is not necessary to read them in the order presented.  The readers should, prayerfully, be free to start with any chapter and continue according to their order of preference and curious interest or area of desired growth.

Unless otherwise stated, Scripture quotations are taken from the Complete Jewish Bible, copyright 1998 by David H. Stern. Published by Jewish New Testament Publications, Inc., P.O. Box 615, Clarksville, Maryland  21029. www.messianicjewish.net/jntp. Used by permission.

Chapter 1

A PRAYING AND MEDITATING HEART

God will supply your needs.  But you have to make your needs known to Him by prayers and supplications, not because He does not know them, but because this is the method by which He has chosen to operate.

The Excellent Book invites us to tell the Master of the universe our needs in these terms: 

"Don’t worry about anything; on the contrary, make your requests known to God by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving.

Then God’s shalom, passing all understanding, will keep your hearts and minds safe in union with the Messiah Yeshua" (Philippians 4: 6-7).

Here is how the New King James Version puts it in verse 6: 

"Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God…"

The above Scripture portion encourages us to pray to God.  Just in case it is too wordy and too detailed to understand, some hymns were inspired and have invited us to do the same in a summarized version.  In the Song What a Friend We Have in Jesus, one portion says:

"Oh, what peace we often forfeit,

Oh what needless pain we bear,

All because we do not carry EV’RYTHING to God in prayer!" 

Most of us do pray, or at least we say a prayer, but the question is: Do we carry EVERYTHING to God in prayer, or do we select what to pray about?  Some of us pray when we have a problem, but we neglect prayers of thanksgiving; we neglect talking to God when we feel good, sharing the feeling with Him.  This is a mistake.  The same way we explain to YHVH what makes us uncomfortable and what hurts us, we also need to go to Him and tell Him what makes us laugh, what makes us happy, what makes us feel good, and everything else along that line.  Sometimes I go to YHVH and I tell Him how I have appreciated the way my husband had spoken to me on a particular day.  Other times when my husband speaks to me in a manner that is not too nice, I go to YHVH and tell Him about it as well.  When I get a cold my husband takes care of me just as a physician or a nurse.  Then, not only do I thank my husband for the help, but I also talk to God in length about it and thank Him as well. 

Remember God is our best friend.  We need to go to Him at ALL times.  We need to tell Him ALL about ourselves:  the beautiful and the ugly, the good and the bad, the sweet and the bitter, what does well or what soothes and what hurts, what makes us comfortable and what makes us uncomfortable, what makes us happy and what makes us sad, what makes us smile and what makes us weep.  Do not omit anything.  If you are hungry and you do not know where your next meal is going to come from, tell it to God; likewise, if you are full and already have provision for another week, tell it to God.  Tell Him how grateful you are that you already have food supply for the coming days.

There is another hymn that says: I must tell Jesus.  I cannot bear this burden alone.  At times our burden is too heavy; we just do not have the strength to carry it alone. In Luke18:1-8, in order to teach and encourage us to pray constantly, Yeshua gave us a nice parable of a bad judge who finally had to attend to a woman because she would not give up until she had what she wanted. Here is Luke’s report in Acts 2:42 about the early believers in Yeshua:                                                            "They continued faithfully in the teaching of the emissaries, in fellowship, in breaking bread and in the prayers."

The following excerpts from Paul’s letters to the early believers encourage us to take prayer seriously:

Ro. 12:12 "Rejoice in your hope, be patient in your troubles, and continue steadfastly in prayer."

Col. 4: 2 "Keep persisting in prayer, staying alert in it and being thankful."

PRAYER AND MEDITATION

Prayer

There are all kinds of prayers (Eph. 6: 18; 2 Tim 1:1), and there are many ways we can categorize the prayers.  But for the purpose of this book, let us just cover praise and worship, adoration and loving, thanksgiving, supplication, and intercession. Then we will talk somewhat about meditation.

• Praise

The synonyms we have found for praise as a verb are the following: admire, commend, extol, honor, eulogize, congratulate, pay tribute to, applaud, and acclaim.  As a noun, here are the synonyms we will share: admiration, commendation, acclaim, tribute, and applause. 

Praising is making a commercial or propaganda for God telling people what He has done, or telling Him in public what He has done, congratulating Him or acclaiming Him in front of other people either through words or through songs. It is necessary for us to praise the Almighty for two main reasons:  1) because He is worthy and 2) because He requires that of us.  We praise God for what He is; we praise Him just because He is God with no regard to what He has done for us or not. (That belongs to another category).

Throughout the Bible and mostly in the Psalms, especially those of David, praise is addressed to God. Let us savor and adopt as our own some of the praise expressions of some children of God who have lived before our time:

Ps. 9:3 I will be glad and exult in you. I will sing praise to your name, ‘Elyon’.

Ps. 34:2  I will bless ADONAI at all times; his praise will always be in my mouth.

Ps 42:5 (42:6) My soul, why are you so downcast? Why are you groaning inside me? Hope in God, since I will praise him again for the salvation that comes from his presence.

Ps. 108:2 "My heart is steadfast, God. I will sing and make music with my glory.

2.  (108:3) Awake, lute and lyre! I will awaken the dawn.

4.  (108:5) For your grace is great, above heaven, and your truth, all the way to the skies.

5.  (108:6) Be exalted, God, above heaven! May your glory be over all the earth…"

Ps. 119:164,171,175

"I praise you seven times a day because of your righteous rulings."

171. "Let my lips speak praise, because you teach me your laws."

175. "Let me live, and I will praise you; let your rulings help me."

Ps. 150:6 "Let everything that has breath praise ADONAI! Halleluyah!"

Ps. 148: 7-14 Praise ADONAI from the earth, sea monsters and watery depths,

8.  fire and hail, snow and mist, storm-winds that obey his word,

9.  mountains and every hill, fruit trees and all cedars,

10.  wild animals and all livestock, creeping reptiles, flying birds,

11.  kings of the earth and all peoples, princes and all rulers on earth,

12.  young men and women alike, old men and children.

13.  Let them praise the name of ADONAI, for his name alone is exalted; his glory is above both earth and heaven.

14.He has increased the power of his people, granted praise to all his faithful, to the descendants of Isra’el, a people close to him. Halleluyah!

Is. 42: 10-12  Sing to ADONAI a new song! Let his praise be sung from the ends of the earth by those sailing the sea and by everything in it, by the coastlands and those living there.

11.  Let the desert and its cities raise their voices, the villages where Kedar lives; let those living in Sela shout for joy; let them cry out from the mountaintops!

12.  Let them give glory to ADONAI and proclaim his praise in the coastlands.

Isa. 61:1, 3

1.  The Spirit of ADONAI ELOHIM is upon me, because ADONAI has anointed me to…

3.  yes, provide for those in Tziyon who mourn, giving them garlands instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, a cloak of praise instead of a heavy spirit, so that they will be called oaks of righteousness planted by ADONAI, in which he takes pride (CJB).

The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me …

3.  To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified (Webster).

I want to become a praise and prayer pump, pumping praise and prayer into and from my Heart all day long.

• Worship

As a noun it is thus defined: worthiness, respect, reverence paid to a divine being, [worth + -scipe -ship] (bef. 12c); reverence offered to a divine being or supernatural power; also: an act of expressing such reverence; a form of religious practice with its creed and ritual; extravagant respect or admiration for or devotion.

As a verb worship is defined as thus: to honor or reverence as a divine being or supernatural power; to regard with great or extravagant respect, honor, or devotion; vi: to perform or take part in worship or an act of worship, revere.

While praise is telling God how we feel about His greatness, worship is more intimate.  It is like taking God in our bedroom.  It is a different level of praise.  It includes the posture we choose in order to show special respect, love, and reverence to God coming straight from the Heart. We do not worship God for what He has done for us, but rather for Who He is. In John 4:23-24 the revered Master has a vacant position for the Father’s worshipers.  In order to apply, please read the job’s description: "But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him.

24.  "God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."

When we worship God on earth, we are in harmony with the angels; we join the heavenly army.

Heb. 1:6 And again, when