Guarding you Hearts & Minds
Guarding you Hearts and Minds
What Does it Mean to "Guard Your Heart"?
In the Old Testament the word “heart” is used more than 800 times, but more than 200 times it deals with one's thought life, emotions, the issues or wellsprings of life, those things that motivate and mold us.
Why is the thought life so important? Why did Solomon tell his son, “above all else, guard your heart; for out of it are the issues of life?” Because the thought life controls the rest of your life.
If you tell me what you think, I’ll tell you who you are and the life you live. What you think is what you are. The thought life controls you. “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he” (Proverbs 23:7).
Your thoughts—positive, negative, good, or bad—control your attitudes.
Your attitudes are the sum total of your thoughts.
Your attitudes lead to your actions.
Guarding your heart is critical to experiencing all that God desires for your life.
Nuclear submarines consist of some of the most amazing technology on the planet. These incredible military vessels can stay underwater for ninety days, but every ninety days the submarine must resurface to maintain proper alignment with the North Star. While underwater, the submarine's navigational system is affected by the earth's magnetic forces. Because these submarines carry missiles of mass destruction, they must pay close attention to keeping the navigational equipment aligned to the true reference point of the North Star (Chip Ingram, I Am With You Always, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 2002, p.217).
The nuclear submarine provides an excellent picture of our heart. Just as the submarine may have enough physical provisions like food, water, or fuel to survive, it cannot perform at its highest level or complete its mission without maintaining proper alignment with the true reference point. Your heart is the navigational equipment of your life. It must stay aligned with God.
By guarding your heart, you stay locked on to God's will and the "wellsprings of life.
Pro 4:23 Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.
Types of hearts
Evil heart
God is concerned with your imaginations for they in large measure determine what kind of a person you are to be.
Ä Evil hearts (thoughts) produce evil actions!
Ä The Lord taught that a defiled heart will produce such things as "murders, adulteries, fornications..."
Mark 7:20-23 KJV
20 And he said, That which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man.
21 For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders,
22 Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness:
23 All these evil things come from within, and defile the man.
2. Decorated heart Empty heart
There are many people today who are religiously decorated. These decorations deceive the owners into believing they are Christians, that they are born-again believers. They have bought some religious pictures or other items. They hang up pictures of saints or one of Jesus Christ knocking at the closed door, but they have never opened their own door to Christ. They have no love for the cross of Christ, but they may have a very handsome crucifix hanging on the wall, or even a cross on a chain hanging around their necks. They may be garnished with generosity, giving their tithes to the church but withholding their hearts from Jesus Christ. The Bible is on the table or in the bookcase, but it is never read. These are the decorations of religion that the Lord is speaking about. People may pray long-winded prayers, show zeal, go to church, volunteer to cut the church lawn, yet these may only be the decorations of an empty heart.
3. Christ like heart
There is one additional factor that will enable us to know Christ "as he is," and that is "we shall be like him" (1 John 3:2). Being like Him will make us sensitive to all that we have missed in our relationship with Him on earth. You may have had a close friend for years, yet never truly known him, just because you are radically different from him. But someone who has a real affinity of nature with him will be able to see in him what you have never seen; he is like him and sees him as he is. You must have the Christlike heart to see the Savior; and in heaven our hearts will be perfectly tuned to His.
4. Broken Heart
Psalm 34:18
Many in this world live with broken hearts. A broken limb of any kind is bad, bruised and wounded flesh is hard to bear. But when you heart is crushed or broken, or when your spirit trembles, you are depressed and utterly wretched. You are dreary company. Others get away from you like the herd leaves the wounded deer to bleed and die alone. People instinctively avoid the company of those who are habitually gloomy. Their own desire for happiness leads people to escape from the miserable.
Those who are taught by God will help the brokenhearted, but human sympathy is soon worn out because of its inability to help. You can set a limb and the bone will grow, but what can you do with a broken or crushed heart? Not liking to attempt the impossible and not caring to be continually baffled, it seems natural even to good people to avoid the depressed. Thus, the sad are doomed to sigh, “Loved one and friend You have put far from me, and my acquaintances into darkness” (Ps. 88:18).
When people comfort the depressed, they often become bitter by their conscious failures. They criticize until the poor tortured creature cries out in agony, “Miserable comforters are you all!” (Job 16:2). The trials of the brokenhearted are difficult because they are often despised and avoided.
Happy is it for them that “the LORD is near to those who have a broken heart, and saves such as have a contrite spirit” (Ps. 34:18).
Application
Guarding your hearts and minds. This is necessary for at least three reasons:
Because your heart is extremely valuable. We don’t guard worthless things. We take my garbage to the street twice every week.
It sits on the sidewalk all night, completely unguarded. Why? Because it is worthless.
Not so with your heart. It is the essence of who you are.
It is your authentic self—the core of your being.
It is where all your dreams, your desires, and your passions live.
It is that part of you that connects with God and other people.
Just like your physical body, if your heart—your spiritual heart—dies, your leadership dies. This is why Solomon says, “Above all else.” He doesn’t say, “If you get around to it” or “It would be nice if.” No, he says, make it your top priority.
Because your heart is the source of everything you do.
King Solomon says it is the “wellspring of life.” In other words, it is the source of everything else in your life.
Your heart overflows into thoughts, words, and actions.
In Spring Lake Park there is a natural springs. If you plug up the spring, you stop the flow of water. If you poison the water, the flow becomes toxic. In either situation, you threaten life downstream. Everything depends on the condition of the spring.
Likewise, if your heart is unhealthy, it has an impact on everything else. It threatens your family, your friends, your ministry, your career, and, indeed, your legacy. It is, therefore, imperative that you guard it.
An important truth
Be more concerned with your character than with your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are.
Because your heart is under constant attack.
When Solomon says to guard your heart, he implies that you are living in a combat zone—one in which there are casualties.
Many of us are oblivious to the reality of this war. We have an enemy who is bent on our destruction. He not only opposes God, but he opposes everything that is aligned with Him—including us.
Our minds are constantly being assaulted by far more information than they can process adequately, so they have the ability to lock on to important information and lock out interference. e.g.,
Locking on: a mother picks out the sound of her baby crying in the midst of 20 fussy infants;
Locking out: a professional basketball player tunes out all of the noise in the arena and the movement behind the basket to focus only on the goal)
How does this concept tie in to Paul’s admonition in Philippians 4:8 to think on things that are true, noble, right, pure, etc.?
B. Phil 4:4-9 NIV
4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable — if anything is excellent or praiseworthy — think about such things. 9 Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me — put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.
C. Your Thoughts Control Your Actions
All good psychologists will tell you that. Someone once said, “Sow a thought, reap a deed. Sow a deed, reap a habit. Sow a habit, reap a character. Sow a character, reap a destiny.”
Before you can do a thing you have to think it. Your thoughts lead to attitudes; attitudes lead to actions; actions lead to those achievements. It all begins with the thought life. Your achievements will be the sum total of your thoughts.
CARRYING BLESSINGS AND BURDENS
There is an old legend about three men and their sacks. Each man had two sacks, one tied in front of his neck and the other tied on his back. When the first man was asked what was in his sacks, he said, "In the sack on my back are all the good things friends and family have done. That way they're hidden from view. In the front sack are all the bad things that have happened to me. Every now and then I stop, open the front sack, take the things out, examine them, and think about them." Because he stopped so much to concentrate on all the bad stuff, he really didn't make much progress in life.
The second man was asked about his sacks. He replied, "In the front sack are all the good things I've done. I like to see them, so quite often I take them out to show them off to people. The sack in the back? I keep all my mistakes in there and carry them all the time. Sure they're heavy. They slow me down, but you know, for some reason I can't put them down."
When the third man was asked about his sacks, he answered, "The sack in front is great. There I keep all the positive thoughts I have about people, all the blessings I've experienced, all the great things other people have done for me. The weight isn't a problem. The sack is like sails of a ship. It keeps me going forward.
"The sack on my back is empty. There's nothing in it. I cut a big hole in its bottom. In there I put all the bad things that I can think about myself or hear about others. They go in one end and out the other, so I'm not carrying around any extra weight at all."
What are you carrying in your sacks?
Are you guarding Your Heart and Mind?
