GUARDED HEART – HEALTHY LIFE

“GUARD YOUR HEART above all else, for it determines the course of your life” – Proverbs 4:23

Let’s conclude meditating on the Covenants of Health and Healing on the note of GUARDED HEART for a HEALTHY LIFE: “GUARD YOUR HEART above all else, for it determines the course of your life” (Pro.14:30). Today’s meditation is adapted from an article written by Justin Jahanshir on James River Church blog. Using the word HEART as an acronym, he suggests five areas in which to guard our hearts in order to experience the life God intended for us. God cares about the course of our lives; hence, guarding our hearts must be top priority!

Health: Guarding your heart begins with realising that your spiritual heart helps diagnose your spiritual health. God created us with a physical heart for temporal living. He gave us a spiritual heart that assures we’ll live eternally. As much as diet and exercise affect our physical heart, what we feed our spiritual heart and how we protect it will result in its overall health.

Emotions: Your spiritual heart speaks to how you handle your emotions. When life gets tough, do you allow your emotions to control you? How do you react when you’re tossed into a tough situation? Allowing our emotions to manage our lives will result in poor decisions and reactionary living. Some people fly into a rage when they get angry, saying hurtful things that are detrimental to healthy relationships. Others withdraw from necessary conversations, allowing their fleeting feelings to control them – all pointers to an unhealthy heart. As Christians, our emotions don’t control us; rather we bring our emotions into alignment with the Word of God. We guard our hearts to control our emotions.

Attitude: Our attitude is a crucial part of guarding our heart. Negativity breeds negativity. A complaining spirit is contagious; but so, is a positive attitude. When we choose to celebrate what’s right instead of dwelling on what’s wrong, the course of our lives transform positively. This is not denying the reality of hard situations, but it’s choosing to focus on the good and learning from every experience. A healthy heart is demonstrated through a person who has an all-in attitude and believes God’s goodness despite what they are facing. A great attitude is not based on circumstance, but comes by choice. You either choose to have a great attitude or a bad attitude. If you want a healthy heart, commit to a positive attitude.

Response: Every day comes with the opportunity to respond. Whether you’re responding to your boss, co-worker, spouse, children or a waiter, your response is an indicator of your heart. When something happens at home or work that is less than you expected, what’s your response? Your answer indicates areas of your heart that may be out of tune. Some unhelpful responses include: bitterness, ungodly anger, sarcasm, and gossip. On the other hand, a healthy heart is led and ruled by God’s Spirit, exuding: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control (Gal.5:22-23).

Thoughts: Your thoughts are a window into your heart, and they can be helpful or hurtful; constructive or destructive. The vital implications of guarding our heart are captured in our meditation text: “casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ” (2Cor.10:5). Philippians 4:7-8 present the thoughts of a GUARDED HEART: “And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will GUARD YOUR HEART your hearts and your minds through Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatever things are true…noble…just…pure…lovely…of good report, if there is any virtue…anything praiseworthy – meditate on these things.”

Beloved, how’s your spiritual heart? Guarding your heart requires guarding your eyes, ears, and what your mind dwells on. Let your thinking be controlled by true, honourable, pure and lovely things. Anything contrary can deteriorate your spiritual life and lead to spiritual heart disease. God desire for you a strong and healthy heart. An unhealthy heart can hijack or derail His great plans. He wants all of your heart so He can guide the course of your life to your “wealthy place” (Psa.66:12).