Today we have the pleasure of launching our new DECLARE series, “A Confident Heart.”
We begin in Proverbs with a familiar verse in which Solomon offers fatherly advice to his children, “Keep and guard your heart with all vigilance and above all that you guard, for out of it flow the springs of life.” Proverbs 4:23 (Amplified Bible Classic Edition) These words provide rich soil for the seeds of God to be planted and begin to grow new life in our hearts this week.
While this verse contains an instruction to us, “keep and guard your heart,” the one who gives us the power to be able to carry out this instruction is God alone. We cannot guard our hearts without God’s grace to do so.
I’m a Type-A, get-it-done kind of girl. One of my traps as I read the Bible is that I find these instructions and then I set about to achieve them in my own strength. I make my lists, post my scriptures, and begin to feel weighed down by the burden of trying to be good enough.
When my shoulders slump under the weight of responsibility, my frustrations bubble up, and I typically turn to anger to provide energy for change. James was talking to me when he said that “human anger does not produce the righteousness God desires.” James 1:20 (NIV) Trust me, don’t go there! It doesn’t work!
I include this encouragement to help us remember that we are completely dependent on God to speak to us and to empower us to walk in His ways. Don’t take burdens onto your own shoulders. Leave them at the foot of the cross each morning, and let God do the work in you. He is the only one who can bring about the changes you hope for.
{Click image to download a printable copy of scripture card}
When I think about guarding my heart, one of my first questions is, “What is my heart?”
The Israelites would have understood the heart to be the center of who you are as a person, including the source of your wisdom, thoughts, attitudes, emotions, motivations, will, morals, and the list could go on!
They did not differentiate between the mind and the heart like we do today. The heart represents our truest identity. When God speaks of our heart, he is gently putting his finger on who we most authentically are at the unveiled core of our being.
The word “heart” occurs over one thousand times in the Bible. There are many verses that warn us about the need to care tenderly for our hearts, to ask God to show us its mysteries, to keep our spirit (heart) strong, to ask God to search it, to ask for it to be cleansed.
The Bible shows us that the heart is the source for what happens with our tongue, our eyes, our hands, our feet, and our ears. Guarding our heart has wide-reaching effects in our whole body, in our entire life!
I pray over you this week with one of our foundational scriptures for DECLARE:
“For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” Hebrews 4:12 (NIV)
I encourage you to invite God’s Word to reveal what is going on in your heart. Inviting his judgment can seem intimidating, but it is the beginning of true life and genuine freedom. He is gentle and good. Our Father is a skilled surgeon who wants to cut away anything that is weighing you down, making you sick, and leaving you hopeless.
Arm in arm, we take a step forward today into the confident life He wants to create for us. Jenny and I will be praying for you.
