“Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.” Proverbs 4:23
God is good 🙂
Not everyone knows that gem of scripture from Proverbs, but hidden in it are secrets to life and the Kingdom of God. The heart (synonymous with spirit) is the vessel that God’s life flows into, fills, and essentially lives through. The condition of the heart effects all parts of the being – soul (mind, will, emotions), body, and the outer-life (i.e. your progress, circumstances, and surroundings). There are many things to be said about the heart and the condition of the heart in a man, but one thing is for certain: a heart that is not well guarded is subject to any design or scheme of the enemy. If the devil can get a foothold where your heart is not guarded, your soul will immediately begin to be thrown into confusion. And from the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks, affecting all that surrounds you.
God’s desire for us in Christ Jesus is that we would have fully guarded hearts. In Ephesians 6, it talks about the full armor of God. While some may associate that with guarding the body or the soul, I would suggest it most deeply applies to guarding the heart. The heart needs all the essential elements listed in Ephesians 6:14-18, and with any one element missing, the heart is exposed and open to attack. The first element listed is Truth, which is purely that which is of God and the Word of God. The next being Righteousness is what we are assured of having by faith in Christ Jesus. The third being the ‘Gospel of Peace”, which speaks of many things, but overarching points to understanding what the Gospel is to you and what Christ Jesus has done for you to reconcile you to the Father and redeem you from the curse. The fourth then being Faith, without which we cannot please God, but furthermore, without which we cannot “extinguish the flaming arrows of the evil one”. These arrows include (but are not limited to) wrong thoughts, stresses, fears, worries, pride, and essentially anything that comes from the sinful nature of a man. We are to take up the “Helmet of Salvation” and “the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God”, and we are to exercise these things above all else in Prayer, for the prayer of the righteous man or woman does much.
When our hearts are guarded diligently, they remain in the life of God and the life of God remains in them. The enemy purely comes to steal, kill, and destroy. He can only kill that which has life, so he comes after the life of God in a man. The spirit of a man living apart from the life of God is easy for the devil to overthrow and control. Indeed, it is already defeated. But the life of God is always able to prevail and overcome because greater is He – our Father and Lord Jesus Christ – who is in us than he that is in the world.
One of our many goals then should be to guard our hearts. That looks like protecting it from anything that would drain it of life. The Lord showed me that if the enemy cannot drain you of life through sin or wickedness, he will use that which you love to drain you instead. Often this comes in the form of worry or concern that leads to wrong thinking and wrong meditations. The life of God in us through Jesus Christ is always seeking to overcome. It’s His nature to be entirely victorious. However, when we meditate on a worry or concern, the problem or the frustration, even concerning that which we love and feel we should rightly be concerned about, we allow the enemy to drain us of Life.
Our lives are not our own, in the sense that they belong to Christ. But also, as it says elsewhere in the Word, we also belong to each other in the Body of Christ. When we do not assume the personal responsibility of guarding our hearts in the Life of Christ Jesus, we expose not only ourselves to attack and burden, but also those who care for us or are simply in our sphere of influence. Likewise though, when we are affected by someone else’s burden, it is equally as important that we guard our hearts deeply in God’s life within us.
It’s God’s heart and purpose to overcome through you as He works in you to will and do unto His good pleasure; yet it is His desire for us, and thus should be our desire as well, to continue moving towards His life, asking for more of His life by faith, and responding to His life at work in us. A guarded heart is able to do this more and more. Truly, as we walk this out, we begin to see, there is no better way to exist ❤
GodisGood 