How to Guard Your Heart

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Psalm 139:23, ‘Search me, God, and know my heart,’ 

The best place to begin in guarding our hearts is through reading God’s Word. Proverbs 4 not only encourages us to guard our hearts but also to become rich in God’s word. Proverb 4:21, “Do not let them out of your sight, keep them within your heart; for they are life to those who find them and health to one’s whole body.” When you are deeply rooted in God’s word, the enemy will find it very difficult to deal with you.

Remember what Jesus said about the eyes being the lamp of the body? In Matthew 6:22, Jesus states, ‘The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light.’ In other words, we need to choose what to let in. With the rise of social media, there’s a lot that’s out there. So, it is upon us to decide what content is good for us to consume and which ones are not, especially if the content doesn’t shine more light into our lives.

As David prayed in Psalm 139:23, ‘Search me, God, and know my heart,’ we are also encouraged to pray and let the Holy Spirit guide and reveal to us the things that need to be taken care of, particularly those that don’t please God.

When you choose to guard your heart, you become vigilant in protecting your emotions, mind, will and inner self. Guarding your heart is about setting boundaries; saying no to relationships or situations that would somehow steal away your peace and joy.

There’s a saying that goes, ‘When you forgive, you heal.’ Forgiveness plays a major role in keeping your heart healthy. Forgiveness is a gift that must be given as quickly as possible, because the longer you hold on to it, the more it hurts. As you forgive others, you give yourself the gift of healing.

As a way of ensuring that our hearts remain fully guarded, we stay connected to God. Jesus reminds us in John 15:5, ‘I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.’ The only way we can bear much good fruit is through spending more time with God, through worship and prayer. It is during these moments that we allow God to steer our lives according to His purpose.

Just like in proverbs 4, our hearts are the wellspring of our lives, it is the place where faith, purpose and love begin. Our thoughts, emotions, desires and the words we speak flow from our hearts. Thus, we are encouraged, most importantly to guard our hearts. And this doesn’t mean creating barriers, but allowing God to become the gatekeeper of our hearts. We do this to protect our inner peace and to stay aligned with God’s purpose. By being deeply rooted in God’s words, creates opportunity for His truth to become a filter in our hearts. It is important that we ask God to search our hearts and remove anything that doesn’t reflect His greater love. When we do this, our lives will flow with strength, joy and peace because God is the gatekeeper of our heart.

 Read Part 1: Above All Else, Guard Your Heart

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