Protect your Heart 🔐❤️🔥
Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you had a conversation with someone and felt very drained afterwards? Or have you felt bitter about someone you didn’t even know just because someone told you something horrible or detestable about them? How about scrolling through social media and seeing a news feed that suddenly messed up your day?
“Keep thy heart with all diligence; For out of it are the issues of life.” Proverbs 4:23 KJV
“Keep vigilant watch over your heart; that’s where life starts. Proverbs 4:23 MSG
“Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.” Proverbs 4:23 NIV
The NIV Bible starts the verse with, “Above all else, guard your heart.” This part of the verse emphasizes that one is to keep guard over the entrance of their heart. This entrance is the doorway through which things get in and out of the heart. It suggests that you actually has the power to decide the state of your heart and encourages that you be intentional about it.
This phrase instructs you to carefully watch over your heart. Constantly monitor what is in your heart and eliminate what is not godly. The word of God will help you know what belongs in your heart and what doesn’t. You are to carefully weigh your heart at all times to ensure it remains pure.
There is one scripture in the bible that so easily tells the place of a man’s heart in relation to the totality of His life and it says “ as a man thinketh in his heart so is he”. It suggests that everything a man is or could ever become is not the consequence of external circumstances but a product of an internal programming, which means the heart is very delicate because it functions as your control center.
Now I know that for most of us, we’re living on autopilot, hardly considering what is the state of our hearts. What are those inner conversations, inner programmings that determine your thoughts, actions and reflexes. I’ve thought so deeply about this because for most of us, although the bible clearly states that we should guard our hearts, there is little we are able to do in that regard because we do not realize how much our lives are being steered in a particular direction because of the quality of our hearts. Most people also lose sight of the power we have to decide what happens with our hearts.
The first tool you will need in keeping your heart is the word of God. The word of God is life and light and as you feed your heart and mind with it you are filled with its principles and it becomes the filter through which you will consider everything that comes to you. Once you have the word of God well grounded in your heart you will be able to judge everything based on the light of the word.
The second tool will be to guard your gates. Your eyes, your ears and your mouth are the portals by which information enters you. What you allow your eyes to see, what you allow your ears to hear and conversations you allow your mouth to engage in are very critical to the purity of your heart. Do you realize that after 4years of being constantly bombarded with gay and lesbian movies you’re not as detested by them as you once was? Guard your heart!
The third tool will be to intentionally curate a healthy environment for yourself. Who are your friends? Who do you follow on social media? what kind of personal boundaries have you set for yourself? Are you allowing people who talk you down, or make you feel less of yourself in your space? Are you hanging out with people who make you question your faith in God or people who inspire you to be more for God? There are some people you should be able to love genuinely but from afar because being close to them drains you and takes away from your peace.
You are responsible for the state of your heart. Don’t lose guard, for your life will reflect only what is in your heart and not what you wish for.
Much love,
Zoe🌟