Guarded Hearts Devotional

Life

(CSB) — Guard your heart above all else, for it is the source of life.

What this verse doesn’t say is that your heart is a source of death as well. If you do not guard your heart, you seek after death not life.

There are a lot of things going on in life and you are going to have to prioritize, but Solomon is clear that this should be top on our priority lists. We ought to guard our hearts above all else.

To guard is to protect.

It’s not to seclude.

Neither is it to indulge.

It is to watch over, to oversee.

Encouragement

(NASB95) — “Be on guard, so that your hearts will not be weighted down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of life, and that day will not come on you suddenly like a trap.

When you don’t guard your heart you are prone to patterns of indulgence (drunkenness).

You are also prone to dissipation, which is a term that means a bout of drunkenness (or whatever).

(20 piece chicken nuggets story)

When you let your guard down, you easily become discouraged—prone to indulgence, either as a pattern or in a moment of temptation. And you easily become consumed by worry.

Joy

(CSB) — Don’t worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

Again Paul says not to worry, but to instead guard our hearts.

3 Means of Guarding

Pray (make your requests made known to God)

What you fill yourself with is what will come out (speaks to pattern of indulgence). When you have a pattern of unhealthy behavior you have to starve it.

Regular focus on God as the source of peace and sustenance (speaks to moments of indulgence—where you run).

Word

Fellowship

Media