Proverbs 4:23

Guarding Your Heart

Okay hello everyone

Glad we are all back to normal , at least for now

Today we are going to talk about a very simple yet powerful Proverb

Its a Proverb that speaks about the Heart

The Importance of Guarding our Hearts. The things we take in and are cultivated in our heart eventually come out and are seen

When we are living a life in secret or living a life we think is hidden, the reality of it is its not. It may be for a moment or for a season but eventually those things come to the surface and they are exposed to the light, sometimes intentionally and some times un intentionally

I know some of you in here have developed a real relationship with the Lord. You have experienced when the lord has allowed issues in your life to come out to the surface because they are rooted in your heart and they need to be dealt with and thats exactly what this proverb Is speaking about

So lets read this proverb and then we can dive a little deeper

Proverbs 4:23 “23 Keep your heart with all diligence, For out of it spring the issues of life.”

Proverbs 4:23 Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.

A) Keep your heart with all diligence, Guard your heart above all else

The wisdom spoken here, to guard our hearts is very important, the things we take in and allow ourself to be exposed to, have an effect on our heart

The heart when it is given over or won over by things it shouldn’t, develops a longing and a desire for those very things

The Heart inside our body is the location of knowledge and it is also the source of our decisions

The heart is like our command center, as much as our brain is, so is our heart

What ever the heart desires, it gets, ( that Salina Gomez song , the heart wants what it wants or what ever she says)

People get crazy over the desires of the Heart.

but when we look at guarding the heart, to Guard something means, to not allow it to get away and that it is safe from an attack, Again it is the Location of knowledge and decisions and we want to protect it !

Proverbs 27:19 “19 As in water face reflects face, So a man’s heart reveals the man.”

Matthew 15:18 “18 But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man.”

The heart of you, the heart of your being is who you really are, your heart is the TRUE YOU and it directs all of your thoughts and all of your emotions

Your heart is far greater than Just a muscle that pumps blood, it has capacity to control emotion, to feel emotion , and it has the capacity to know values

Matthew 6:21 “21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

what ever things in life that you value is also where your heart is

Values are fundamental beliefs, principles, or qualities that guide your behavior, decisions, and priorities in life, shaping your sense of right and wrong and how you interact with the world

values shape how you live life, they determine why you live life and they influence the things you take in and expose your heart to !

Solomon advises us here in this verse to guard our hearts ! Keep them Safe !

you know when you think about this and you think about life, what we expose our self to has potential to grow in your heart and thats why its important that you guard it !

Sin doesn’t just randomly appear over night and come to the surface, sin is a result of where the desire of the heart is

When people get caught in sin its because that sin has been brewing in the heart for some time and it finally reached the surface !

The command center has lost control !

Ephesians 6:14 “14 Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness,”

the breast plate of righteousness is a symbol of Gods protection of the heart against spiritual attacks

We have spiritual armor specifically for heart !

So why expose it to things that would hurt it ? no one would intentionally take off a real breastplate during a war and run around acting like you wont get hurt

If i was at war id have my vest on to keep me safe, to guard my heart from projectiles that could penetrate straight to the heart

When ever we do anything we should always guard our hearts,

if your in a relationship, Guard your heart,

if you have friends, guard your heart

If you watch tv, guard your heart

if you listen to music guard your heart

if you go out on weekends guard your heart

The Wisdom that comes from guarding our hearts protects us against what the enemy would use to lead our desires away from God

Matthew 15:19 “19 For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies.”

the only way those things proceed out of the heart is because of what you have allowed in !

evil thoughts, what have you allowed in ?

Murders? what have you allowed in ? ( do you guys think murderers and pedophiles became that way over night ? ) No they gave their heart over to things that shouldn’t have

adulteries ( people cheating ) No one wakes up one day and says i’m going to cheat, somewhere down the line they broke the covenant of marriage and exposed themself to things they shouldn’t have which lead them to act out on the desire of the heart

fornications ( doing things you shouldn’t before marriage) that doesn’t just happen over night. People push boundaries in relationships and take things too far and before you know it they have a crazy desire for more and it never ends until they get what they desire

Thefts: thieves most of them have a desire to make money easily without having to work. Thats a desire in the heart and the easy way to live out that desire is to steal and sell the things that they have stolen

false witness: Lying, people don’t lie over night, lying is one of those things that in the moment its easy to do and you might even get away with something for a moment but at the end of the day you will be known as a liar, there is no such thing as a good liar because all liars can’t keep up with their Lies

Just the other day I watched a little story on a man that was arrested for murder, it had been like 50 years or something but he was a “ good liar “ and so they interrogate Him…… Expound ( the story of the Old man

Blasphemies: speaking bad about others, having desires in your heart to be better than others leads to slandering others to make ourself look better . That desire doesn’t just happen over night

Guard your heart with diligence be pro active and on the offensive ! Don’t give the enemy a chance to expose your heart to things that will rock your desires in your heart

( Talk about drinking and how all it took was one drink for me to go crazy for like 7 years )

James 1:14–15 “14 But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. 15 Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.”

B) for it determines the course of your life

your heart determines what you do in life because it controls what you do !

its important to fill our hearts with truth, love, and godly values through prayer, scripture, and seeking God's guidance.

Psalm 51:10 “10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me.”

King David said this after he exposed the true desires in His heart, stole another mans wife, had him killed and impregnated her

His heart was in an evil place brought on by the lustful desire in his heart for Bathsheba when she was bathing on a roof top

but then after all of this when he writes Psalm 51:10 he asks the Lord to create In him a clean heart and to renew the spirit inside of Him

When we step away from the lord and we do things we shouldn’t, when we give in to the evil desires in our heart , we need to run back to Jesus for forgiveness

We need to ask the Lord to create in us a clean heart and to renew our spirit

the Lord sees our heart and he sees those dark places in our heart, its inescapable, yet he has the power to forgive and remember our sins no more

Jeremiah 17:9 “9 “The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it?”

the heart needs daily cleansing and daily renewing of the spirit

Every morning we wake up we want our desires to be what the lord has for us because we all know what happens when we get what we want

the desires determine the course of your life

My question to you guys: Ask yourself really, what are the desires of my heart, be open and honest with the Lord about it too. And if your desires are off and they are wrong , ask Him to create in you a clean heart !

dive into Gods word and expose those things so they don’t rule and reign in your heart !