Good morning!
I have found lately that as I press into my relationship with Jesus, listening and being obedient to His call, the evil one ups the heat and I experience the challenge of more temptation to sin in my life - causing me to get much more self focused and less focused on others
This leads me then to more often reflect about where my heart is at. How about you?
As I fully accepted Christ as my Savior, it seemed clear to me how important the heart piece was in our relationship with God. But sometimes we need to be reminded by God's Word -
Proverbs 4:23 “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.”
We know the heart is one of the most important organs in our body. A healthy heart will give us a sense of well-being, energy and ability to live. An ailing heart, at best, keeps us alive but maybe not much more.
The heart is mentioned more than 700 times in the bible. Does that give us some indication of its importance to God?
In 1 John 3:20-22, John shares more about the importance of the heart – “If our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask, because we keep his commands and do what pleases him.” And in Romans 10:8-9 Paul shares “But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”
So, now we see that the condition of our heart matters to our physical well-being and more importantly, to our spiritual well-being. Ultimately, if we embrace our relationship with Jesus Christ fully, we are entrusting from our hearts, our lives and how we live going forward. In doing so, we are acting to guard our heart because the Holy Spirit will be present in all heart challenging circumstances.
This is a key gift God provides then in out relationship with Him - one that allows us through faith to resist that higher level of temptation that comes our way as we more fully surrender our lives to Lord Jesus.
As our Proverbs verse states above – “…for everything flows from it.” Actions, words, relationships, and our ability to love – when our heart is not well and guarded, sin flows from our heart – greed, anger, hate, loss of faith and much more; but when our heart is well and in Christ, God’s goodness flows from it – including our ability to fully love God, love our neighbors as ourselves, and to even love our enemies…and to resist the temptations of the evil one.
Let’s guard our hearts in Christ so God’s love flows into everything we do. Ultimately we are told that as we stand before Christ in heaven, He will look into our heart to know where we really stand.
Lord Jesus, my prayer for each of us going into this weekend is that we spend time taking care of our hearts, making our hearts right, for as Paul shares in Philippians 4:7 “And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus”! Amen!
Have a weekend filled with the Peace that comes from knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,
Patrick
I have found lately that as I press into my relationship with Jesus, listening and being obedient to His call, the evil one ups the heat and I experience the challenge of more temptation to sin in my life - causing me to get much more self focused and less focused on others
This leads me then to more often reflect about where my heart is at. How about you?
As I fully accepted Christ as my Savior, it seemed clear to me how important the heart piece was in our relationship with God. But sometimes we need to be reminded by God's Word -
Proverbs 4:23 “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.”
We know the heart is one of the most important organs in our body. A healthy heart will give us a sense of well-being, energy and ability to live. An ailing heart, at best, keeps us alive but maybe not much more.
The heart is mentioned more than 700 times in the bible. Does that give us some indication of its importance to God?
In 1 John 3:20-22, John shares more about the importance of the heart – “If our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask, because we keep his commands and do what pleases him.” And in Romans 10:8-9 Paul shares “But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”
So, now we see that the condition of our heart matters to our physical well-being and more importantly, to our spiritual well-being. Ultimately, if we embrace our relationship with Jesus Christ fully, we are entrusting from our hearts, our lives and how we live going forward. In doing so, we are acting to guard our heart because the Holy Spirit will be present in all heart challenging circumstances.
This is a key gift God provides then in out relationship with Him - one that allows us through faith to resist that higher level of temptation that comes our way as we more fully surrender our lives to Lord Jesus.
As our Proverbs verse states above – “…for everything flows from it.” Actions, words, relationships, and our ability to love – when our heart is not well and guarded, sin flows from our heart – greed, anger, hate, loss of faith and much more; but when our heart is well and in Christ, God’s goodness flows from it – including our ability to fully love God, love our neighbors as ourselves, and to even love our enemies…and to resist the temptations of the evil one.
Let’s guard our hearts in Christ so God’s love flows into everything we do. Ultimately we are told that as we stand before Christ in heaven, He will look into our heart to know where we really stand.
Lord Jesus, my prayer for each of us going into this weekend is that we spend time taking care of our hearts, making our hearts right, for as Paul shares in Philippians 4:7 “And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus”! Amen!
Have a weekend filled with the Peace that comes from knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,
Patrick
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