The heart is the bodies engine room, responsible for pumping life sustaining blood to every blood vessel throughout the body. It keeps the body freshly supplied with nutrients and oxygen, while clearing away harmful waste matter. Our heart is essential to life.

The heart also has a very important job. “Above all else, guard your heart for it is the well spring of life. Proverbs 4:23

We have come to believe the mistaken notion that if we acquire certain things we can be truly happy and secure. As a result, we develop our own agendas of what will make us happy or have success. This mindset is the world system. As a christian, we may have rejected some or a lot of these notions. But the heart is deceitful and desperately wicked, and because we are all so easily influenced by the world around us, our hearts need guarding. The bible teaches us that the real issues of life are spiritual and are really matters of the heart, our inner man. Maybe thats why the word “heart” is found so many times in the bible. When we use the word heart in a metaphor, it is related to the mind, the emotions, the will, to the sinful nature, the inner man or simply the person as a whole. The multiple uses of the heart along with the way its used strongly focuses our attention on the importance of our spiritual life. The heart is central  and vital to our existence. God looks at and searches our heart, the inner person. The heart is so important because the issues of life flow from it. Our actions, our works, our pursuits all proceed from the heart.

God has been taking me on a journey of my heart. He has, through circumstances and hurts opened my eyes to see. Our hearts are so fragile. We keep things so locked up. We have scars so deep that we promise we will never open our hearts again. We have locked ourselves up in a prison that only we have the key to unlock. People look at the outward appearance but god looks at our heart. Our walk with God is always a matter of the heart. If the inside of the cup is clean so will be the outside. How do we go about cleansing our heart? The holy spirit will minister to our heart, the truth of Gods word.

As for me, pain as caused me to take a good hard look at my heart and i hated what i saw. The trials and the testings of life allow us to see what is really on the inside.  The ministry of others is also a tool to show the intent of our heart. Proverbs 27:17 says “as iron sharpens iron”.  Ive had the pleasure of spending time with some iron for the past three months and  became aware of what the true intent of my heart has been. It has caused me to take personal diligence in honestly dealing with my heart. For that i will be forever grateful. Since the heart is so important to what we say, think, and do we all need open heart surgery with the scalpel of the word under the guiding hand of jesus. We accomplish this through the holy spirit. Gods word is a sharp two edged sword, the word shows us whats inside our heart. Hebrews 4:12 Our heart is the well spring of true success. In the heart is where character id formed. It alone holds the true meaning of success. Its treasures are priceless  but they can be stolen. Ive had to ask myself this question recently. How well are we guarding our heart? Is the condition of my heart my greatest concern? My answer is yes. And it should be because it determines every aspect four lives.  It ultimately determines our love for God and our love for others. It determines who we are and what we do. We must guard our heart from what goes in it.  The heart needs guarding because we don’t naturally look at and think like God does. We are ignorant of his mind and his ways. We all need the wisdom and direction of god to know his ways and to know our heart and its wicked ways. We must guard our heart so we don’t wander from god. Our flesh wants to live independently from god to direct and control our own affairs.  We want to be in charge of our own destiny but only god knows our path. To completely follow his directions means we may be called on to give up something we think we must have in order to be happy or secure.  We need to trust him. The flesh is selfish by nature as a result of the fall. We must guard our heart because it is so deceitful. More deceitful than all else.  Jeremiah 17:9 We can’t trust it because its selfish, self seeking, and self centered.  It also is self protective.  We must rely on God to direct our path regardless of how things appear. We can’t lean on our own understanding, but trust in god. We must stop trying to turn to our own solutions. We can’t understand because it cannot be understood by our wisdom. Only god reveals and lays bare our hearts.

The heart is the well spring of life. We cannot develop those  values and attitudes of the world. It will always lead us astray. The heart is also a fountain, so must be the streams that flow from it- The eyes, the mouth, the feet, our words, our actions. To balance out our character we need to do more than guard our heart.  We also need to give our heart. To resist giving of yourself for fear of getting burned may seem safe, but in the long run its lethal. Giving my heart means risk, becoming vulnerable, entangled. It means having to step out in faith, believing god rather than my own ways.  It means having to give up something…sometimes a lot. It can even mean having your heart broken and wrung out like a towel. But to fail to give our hearts means to lock it up safely in the casket of selfishness. I use to say, ” ill stay behind my wall. Its safe here. It doesn’t hurt. Its not so bad.” But I’ve come to realize recently like a body laid to rest in a casket, our hearts will change, although safe, dark, and motionless it will rot and become a bag of bones.

Giving my heart means accountability, involvement with others and with family. I don’t want my heart in that casket. I am so thankful for the pain I’m going through just to know i can come out from behind my wall and feel, love,  and have compassion for people. Our hearts must be purified by being renewed. By being tested. Also by confession and repentance.

I thank god through hurt. loss, and testing with trials it has brought conviction. With repentance i can change my life. So be encouraged. These trials you are going through, embrace it.  It will give us right thinking, right attitudes, right pursuits, right direction, values and priorities.  Lets get our eyes off people and back on God. Trust him. Do not fret. Trust him. Rest and wait on God and what he is doing. God will bring forth our righteousness. Life is unpredictable. Learn from God.  Learn from your mistakes. Embrace your trials. God is in control. Promises of the bible are matters of trust and Trust is a matter of the heart……..Lets trust. Be blessed and thank you for listening to my heart. We are all in this together so be encouraged. Emilie

Christian