Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding, Proverbs 4:7.
Our King James Bible is the owner's manual written by our creator. It can only function as an owner's manual for those who:
A. Believe it.
B. Trust it.
C. Understand what it is saying.
We will look at definitions in your King James Bible which should help you understand what a few basic words mean. We will use the context in which these words are found to get the definitions. Also, we don't really care what any Greek or Hebrew lexicon says that these words mean. Those lexicons weren't around when the translators learned those languages and they were written by men whose grasp of those languages was far inferior to the King James Bible translators' understanding.
Our understanding of what those words mean will come solely from within the text wherein they are used. To ensure accuracy, the reader is encouraged to try the definitions everywhere and anywhere these words are found. What did the King James translators mean when they said:
A. heart?
B. spirit?
C. mind?
The heart is easily defined. Aside from those places where the word heart is obviously speaking of the central muscle in our circulatory system, heart is also used to define an inward process in man and even in God. There are two key passages that clearly show us what the translators meant when they wrote the word "heart".
Now Hannah, she spake in her heart; only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard: therefore Eli thought she had been drunken, 1st Samuel 1:13. Here we have a key. We know what Hannah said in her heart because God, who can read all hearts told us. And she vowed a vow, and said, O LORD of hosts, if thou wilt indeed look on the affliction of thine handmaid, and remember me, and not forget thine handmaid, but wilt give unto thine handmaid a man child, then I will give him unto the LORD all the days of his life, and there shall no razor come upon his head, 1st Samuel 1:11.
That prayer is said in distinct words. It is intelligible thought that we are told was composed and said in her heart. Think for a moment. What part of you the reader composes and says complete sentences, perhaps even prayer, but no sound comes out. We are given a further clue. Her lips moved, but her voice was not heard. Have you ever thought hard on a subject, or composed a prayer or speech internally; your concentration was such that you even moved your lips but made no sound? That was your heart.
But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart, Luke 2:19. Mary took everything that the shepherds and angels had said and mulled them over inwardly. She kept what was said in memory and repeated them to herself in distinct words and and thought about their meaning in distinct words. She pondered them in her heart.
We are given another clue in Genesis 24 when Abraham's servant prayed a very complex prayer for how he was to know who the proper bride for Isaac was. When he repeated that prayer to Laban, he told him that he had spoken that prayer in his heart; And before I had done speaking in mine heart, Genesis 24:45.
We don't need any mind numbing lexicons to understand what part of us is our heart. Our bible has defined it. Your heart is the part of you that thinks internally. It can think in whatever language you know. It is where you reason. It is where you ponder. It is where you compose thoughts and speech. It is where you are contemplating what you have just read. It is also where you deceive yourself the worst, Jeremiah 17:9. It, more than anything else should clue the reader into his sin nature.
Spirit is not as easy to define. We all sense what is meant by the word spirit, but we don't really have a Rosetta Stone verse that makes it clear. Instead, we need to have a definition or an understanding that will fit all 505 places where the word is used in our King James Bible. One of the exercises that I encourage every student of the King James Bible to do is to look up all of the 505 places wherein the word spirit is used and to classify each usage by making a notebook.
Put every usage of Spirit of God with a capital "S" onto a page. Put every usage of spirit of God with a lower case "s" onto another page. Eventually, the student will have a reference book composed by himself that will segregate the word spirit into every place that it is used. Some usages such as the spirit of Egypt will only be used once. Others, like the Spirit of the Lord will be used many times. What ever defintion we use needs to fit every place without violence to the text.
Spirit: the conscious agent of the will that directs the thoughts and actions of an individual. Think of a computer. It can hold massive amounts of information. It can also connect to the world wide web and access unfathomable amounts of data or knowledge. Each computer has varying levels of capacity and processing power. Each is designed to be guided by the will of its user. The user utilizes a mouse or a pad to guide a cursor which when positioned indicates what will be accessed. The user then exercises his will to click the mouse and to activate whatever program he chooses.
Our spirits work the same way. Our hearts and minds are full of information and opinions. Our spirits access them. They float over these things guided by our will. We choose what to access. If our memories are flawed, our spirit accesses flawed memories and our heart is deceived and ponders with flawed input. If we have learned false data, our spirits access flawed data with which to ponder and to come to conclusions. We direct our spirits.
If a man has an unclean spirit, it will tend to hover over unclean memories or thoughts and to consistently click on those. If we have the spirit of the world, we will gravitate to those pockets of knowledge in our hearts and minds that explain away supernatural occurrences; also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end, Ecclesiastes 3:11. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God, 1st Corinthians 2:12.
Other spirits can get into a person. If they are devilish, they will wreak havoc in that person. Unbidden, they will click on memories and conclusions that turn that person from God or from the truth. By a familiarity with devilish knowledge they may co-link two people or a person to a devil to be a familiar spirit.
A broken spirit is pathetic. The user has lost control of it. It wanders aimlessly or demonically over past memories or poor conclusions. The ability to direct that spirit is hindered or gone.
A spirit can be from God. It, by itself cannot imbue knowledge. It must have a body of knowledge with which to work. That is why we read and study our bibles and listen to preaching. Jesus Christ is the true light working in every person, but until that person intakes true knowledge, the mind and heart churn rubbish. How shall they hear without a preacher, Romans 10:14. The word of God gives knowledge. The preacher hammers it home. The spirit of God bears witness to it. The spirit of man, directed by the man's will guides his response.
Mind: The active contemplative recall of memory, and/or the settled opinion or attitude of a person.
And he communed with them, saying, If it be your mind that I should bury my dead out of my sight; hear me, and intreat for me to Ephron the son of Zohar, Genesis 23:8. Abraham has asked for their opinion on whether or not he should ask Ephron. And Jehu said, If it be your minds, then let none go forth nor escape out of the city to go to tell it in Jezreel, 2nd Kings 9:15. Jehu is saying, "if you have the same opinion and resolve that I do, let's kill these people".
The LORD hath been mindful of us, Psalms 115:12. For the good, or for the bad, God had Israel in the active recall and contemplation of his memory. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, Philippians 2:5. We are instructed to form the same opinion of ourselves that Jesus Christ had of himself in regards to how we carry ourselves. Regardless of the royalty of his birth and his deity, he made himself of no reputation. We, who are base born and have nothing worthwhile but what was given to us by God are not to strive for preeminence.
Our bible is the key to understanding ourselves. Run these definitions through the various places where you find the words. See if they are not wrought by believing the words in their context. Now go to Bible Hub and look up "heart". See if it makes any sense.