July 18, 2021
“Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.”
Proverbs 4:23(NLT)
“The heart is devious above all else; it is perverse, who can understand it?”
Jeremiah 17:9. (NRSV)
“Put away from thee a forward mouth, and perverse lips put far from thee.”
Proverbs 4:24. (NRSV)
Heart Disease in The Body of Christ.
God’s primary concern is with the Heart because the issues of life flow from the heart and it is the mouth and the lips that will do the speaking. Someone has put it like this: “What is in the well of the heart will come up through the bucket of the mouth.” How true it is that sooner or later the mouth will reveal what is in your heart. Over the years, I have had an insatiable love for the study of the heart physically, emotionally, and spiritually. The heart is so important to what we think, say, and do and important for the maintenance of our lives! Have you ever been caught off guard or as the kids use to say, “you tripped me up!” One thing is for sure, the Devil delights in chaos. He loves to arouse and attack an Unguarded Heart! He is strategic and most of all is a Master Counterfeiter! He usually attacks at specific times that coincide with those moments when everything is going wrong, times of persecution, accusations, and when our hearts are unguarded. Then he whispers in our ear, “You don’t have to take that, who do they think they are”? Our walk with God is always a matter of the HEART! A recent confrontation reminded me how important it is to watch over our hearts because out of the Heart are the issues of life.” It is the mouth and the lips that will do the speaking. Our mouths will give away what is being harbored in our hearts. Who we are and everything we do or say comes from the heart! The Heart symbolizes the center of our innermost being The heart is a prominent concept and one of the most commonly used words in Scripture and translated a number of ways, depending on the context! It is mostly used metaphorically of the inner man, referring to either the mind, the emotions, the will, to our sinful nature, all-encompassing to the total inner man/woman, or simply to the person as a whole! IT IS WHO WE ARE! Jesus said that it isn’t what goes into a man or woman that defiles him, but what comes out. Matthew 15:19 says “For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies”. Some of the meanest things in the world come out of the Heart. We are admonished to keep our hearts with all diligence. Romans 8:9 reminds us that those who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them do not belong to Him and can be dangerous!
What we HEAR is important.
What we STUDY is important.
What we SEE is important.
We should recognize that out of that Heart will come
all the issues of our lives.
RX: A FREE HEART
HEART Ezekiel 36:26-27 “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.” (NIV)
FATHER GOD: Help us to guard our Hearts! Help us to know when we need Open Heart Surgery, with the scalpel of the Word under the guiding hand of You the Great Physician. We surrender to the teaching, guiding, convicting ministry of the Holy Spirit, to keep our heart pure, in the Precious, Powerful and Preeminent Name of Jesus Christ our Savior and Lord, Amen!