Description:

Our purpose in this study is to identify the difference between a heart dedicated to God and one dedicated to self. Based on the Word of God, we all start out as sinful. As David said in Psalm 51:5, “Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.”

Message from Marsh: “May your personal walk with the Lord lead you to be transformed, renewed, and blessed.”

Marsh

Founder/President

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Men and Matters of the Heart

Lesson 8 – The Undivided Heart – Aim for Wholeheartedness

(www.mensgroup.org – “Original Study”)

Lesson Focus: In this lesson, we will discover that an undivided heart is a focused heart. The words wholehearted and undivided identify a heart fully committed to God.

“Blessing on you for considering where your heart is and desiring it to be undivided. Your commitment to wholeness will bring clarity, freedom, and peace to your heart.” – C. Marsh Bull.

Starting Prayer: Dear God, I am your child and I have times when I recognize I have a divided heart. Help me to manage the struggle to have undivided loyalty to you and build up my strength to push away anything that does not align with your desires for me.

Opening Questions:

1.      Give an instance when you sensed your heart was being torn in two different directions?

2.      What was the result of this divisiveness in your heart?

Scripture Passage:

But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind…Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do. (James 1:6, 8)

Phrase Explanation:

James encouraged his readers to ask for wisdom when it was lacking. He declared that when your loyalty is divided between God and the world it is harder to obtain unity because of your doubt and disbelief.

The picture of a wave being blown and tossed by the wind illustrates the life of a person who is unsettled, unstable, and unable to make decisions that continually lead in the same direction; therefore, they have tension in their heart. This mind and emotional struggle cause him or her to waver in their loyalty; one moment they live enmeshed in the world and in another moment respond as God would want. Confusion and instability are the consequence.

The psalmist proclaimed his love for the law because it kept him from being double-minded. He said:

“I hate double-minded people, but I love your law.” (Psalm 119:113)

Jesus said to the Pharisees,

“Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand.” (Matthew 12:25)

To be wholehearted is to be completely given over to one direction. There is no wavering, no grumbling, no fear, no doubt, but complete faith and belief. This is a word of total commitment that starts in the heart and flows out to actions and words expressing the pureness of a dedicated heart.

Caleb, one of the twelve who spied out the promise land, silenced the people upon the spies return and said,

“We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it.” (Numbers 13:30)

However, the people decided to follow the advice of the ten spies who discouraged advancing. Later, when God decreed that none of the rebellious would live through the wilderness experience, He also said,

“But because my servant Caleb has a different spirit and follows me wholeheartedly, I will bring him into the land he went to, and his descendants will inherit it.” (Numbers 14:24)

And Joshua, the other spy who agree with Caleb, blessed Caleb forty-five years later by giving him Hebron

“because he followed the Lord, the God of Israel, wholeheartedly.” (Joshua 14:13-14)

Wholeheartedness or an undivided heart toward God requires cleaving to God in faith and trust. It advocates a unitedness of heart regarding mind, emotion and will, all aligned with God’s direction.

 

Discussion Questions:

1.      Why does a leader desire that followers align with his direction?

2.      In the passages referring to Caleb, he is called wholehearted, what gives him that reputation?

Application:

1.      What do you lack to be identified as wholehearted, having an undivided heart?

2.      Why is it important to have an undivided heart?

3.      What do you feel would be necessary to gain a reputation like Caleb?

Closing Prayer: Dear God, I see the reputation of Caleb before You and the people of Israel. I know he maintained it for forty-five years. I ask you to drill down in my heart and show me where I have a divided heart. Show me how I can make it undivided, and give me the guts and the willpower to keep it that way.

 

Additional Resources:

Similar verses of undivided and wholehearted: 
1 Chronicles 12:33; 2 Chronicles 31:21; Psalm 86:11; Ezekiel 11:18-21; Romans 6:17; 1 Corinthians 7:35; Ephesians 6:7.

Continue to Lesson 9 – The Purposeful Heart – Creates Confidence in Daily Living

Or use these links to navigate to various parts of this study:

Intro | Lesson 7 | Lesson 8 | Lesson 9 | Lesson 10 | Lesson 11 | Lesson 12

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