Keep thy Heart

Do any of you ever meditate on the Word of God? Have you read about His love for us?

Have you ever wondered just how deep His love for us is?

Have you ever thought about what it means to be a saint after God’s own heart?

If you have a deep desire to serve Him, love Him, worship Him, be faithful and obedient to Him, establish a relationship with Him, then we are saints after His own heart!

To know God’s heart is to understand who God is. His nature, His innermost character, His feelings, and inclinations. It’s about knowing God intimately and personally through Jesus Christ.

As it is written in the Word, in God’s heart is: Mercy - Psalms 86:5 – For thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive; and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee.

Truth - Psalms 33:4-5 - For the word of the Lord is right; and all his works are done in truth. He loveth righteousness and judgment: the earth is full of the goodness of the Lord.

Compassion – Psalms 145:8 - The Lord is gracious, and full of compassion; slow to anger, and of great mercy.

Joy - Zephaniah 3:17 - The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing.

Righteousness and holiness – Psalms 145:17 The Lord is righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works.

Love - Jeremiah 31:3 - The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.

Do you believe that? Do you believe that he loves you with an everlasting love?

All of these things, from mercy to love and more is the heartbeat of God!

The heart is a powerful force that can influence our emotions, words, and actions, and therefore plays a vital role in our relationship with God.

The heart is where you feel compassion, love, and humility or callousness, hate and pride.

The enemy is after your heart as well and his intentions are not good.

He knows our hearts are susceptible to sinful thoughts, attitudes, and beliefs. Hence, we must be mindful of what we allow into our hearts.

Allowing sinful influences to take root in our hearts can and will hinder your relationship with the Father.

That’s why Proverbs 4:23 says - Keep thy heart with all diligence (diligence means with great or persistent effort); for out of it are the issues of life.

Issue means “flow out of ” in this instance. What flows out of our heart determines our way of life in both good and bad ways.

It can either lead us down a path of righteousness or a path of destruction.

We are to guard our hearts at all times! Watch and pray! Guarding our hearts is about protecting ourselves from external and internal factors.

We must be mindful of the things we think about, the things we set our affections on, and the things we give our attention to.

Negativity, bitterness, and anger can take root in our hearts and lead to sinful behavior.

Paul said in Ephesians 4:31 - Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice.

There are several reasons why it is imperative to guard our hearts.

Our relationship with God can be damaged if we are not careful. If we allow our hearts to become sinful in any way, we can start seeing signs such as struggling to pray, read our Bibles and may even feel distant from God.

We are to be an example to those very people we are trying to lead to salvation.

If our hearts are not right, what will they see? How can we try and show them they must show compassion, love, kindness and forgiveness towards others if we aren’t doing the same because our hearts are not right with God?

Guarding our hearts in godly fear is essential for maintaining a healthy relationship with God and others and for maintaining our own spiritual health.

The Lord wants us to have a pure heart. A pure heart is clean, blameless, unstained from guilt, put through the fire of the Holy Spirit, refined.

Matthew 5:8 - Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.

If we are not careful iniquity can set in. Matthew 24:12 says - And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.

The Lord looks on the heart. What will He see when He looks at yours or mine?

Jeremiah 17:10 - I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.

The Bible says He knows the secrets of our hearts! Know that God loves you and He wants what is best for you! Let Him create in you a clean heart!

Keep thy heart with all diligence and be a saint after God’s own heart!