"Above all else, guard your heart,
for everything you do flows from it."
-Proverbs 4:23
I had come to a point at 20 years old, where I wanted to come back to Christ, but the pull of the world's evil was so heavy on me that I thought I would never escape it's grasp. I would go to church on Sunday, cry my eyes out during worship and feel so drawn to Jesus. By Wednesday I would find myself flirting with my male co-workers at the gym I was working at, acting just like the "Old Lindsay. "
Inside of my mind I was screaming,
"What am I doing????"
I had such a wayward spirit.
(wayward: turning away from what is right or proper; willful)
I had not yet learned how to allow Christ to help me protect and guard my heart.
Over Time, I made relationships with some encouraging sisters in Christ who instructed and guided me on how to live my life with Jesus Christ on the throne of my heart. What that means is this... He sits high and exalted there. Nothing takes precedence over Him.
No man takes precedence over Him. No job takes precedence over Him. No friends take precedence over Him. No fancy things, no silver or gold, no amount of fun partying or temporary satisfaction of this world takes precedence over the King of Kings and Lord of Lords who sits upon the throne of my heart.
This may sound like a fancy way of saying that you sacrifice all your fun to God. That would be a tragic misunderstanding of what I am saying. You see, He pursued me with a passionate, redeeming love and proved Himself worthy of that place in my heart. He allowed me to feel His presence and become so enthralled by Him that nothing else mattered.
Picture Jesus on the throne of your heart. When something comes knocking on the door of your heart, it is not for you to decide whether or not to let it in. It is up to Jesus Christ, who dwells in your heart.
"Jesus, Envy is knocking at the door of my heart. Should I let it in?" or "Jesus, Pride is here again and it already has it's foot through the door! Please don't let it come in!
When guarding our hearts,
we are protecting what God wants us
to hold inside of it as well as
keeping out
the things that have no right to be there.
So what belongs inside of our hearts?
Jesus Christ
"I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge —that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God." -Ephesians 3:16-19
Love
"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and
with all your soul and with all your strength." -Deuteronomy 6:5
Faithfulness
"Let love and faithfulness never leave you;
bind them around your neck,
write them on the tablet of your heart." -Proverbs 3:3
bind them around your neck,
write them on the tablet of your heart." -Proverbs 3:3
"I have hidden your word in my heart
that i might not sin against you." -Psalm 119:11
"...Take hold of my words with all your heart;
keep my commands, and you will live." -Proverbs 4:4
"Take delight in the Lord,
and He will give you the desires of your heart." -Psalm 37:4
"Blessed are those who keep his statutes
and seek him with all their heart." -Psalm 119:2
"You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart." -Jeremiah 9:3Trust in God
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;" -Proverbs 3:5
"Teach us to number our days that we may gain a heart of wisdom." -Psalm 90:12
"I will give thanks to you, Lord, with all my heart;
I will tell of all your wonderful deeds." -Psalm 9:1
Peace
"Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." -Philippians 4:6-7
"Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices;
my body also will rest secure." -Psalm 16:9
How do we acquire these beautiful attributes?
They will never come naturally without supernatural intervention. They are deposited into our hearts by the Holy Spirit as we seek the Lord through prayer, worship, meditating on His word and fellowship with the body of Christ. You cannot skip any of these things if you want to experience the fullness of walking in relationship with God. After all... look what scripture says about our natural heart...
"The heart is deceitful above all things
and beyond cure. Who can understand it?" -Jeremiah 17:9
and beyond cure. Who can understand it?" -Jeremiah 17:9
So what does NOT belong inside of our hearts?
How do we keep out the evil that used to so comfortably reside in our hearts?
You FIGHT!!!!!
It takes effort. You make a daily choice not to do the things you used to do and not to surround yourself with the same environment that you used to surround yourself with. One thing that will help a lot is to sit down and identify all of the small compromises that led you to the state you ended up in before allowing Christ to take his seat on the throne of your heart. Who had you been spending time with that influenced you? What places were you spending time at that effected your mind? What kind of words were in the music you were listening to? What websites were you visiting? How much time were you spending on the phone with certain people?
What kind of boundaries did you have (if any)
when interacting with the opposite sex?
Get alone with God and ask Him to show you where you went wrong last time. Once you have identified those things.... take no prisoners!!! Destroy your ties to anything that will hold you back from knowing Christ in all of the fullness that you can know Him. There is a place of intimacy with him that has only ever been experienced by the people who were willing to make sacrifices for him and persevere through hard times. Hasn't He already done the same for you?
As soon as you make this commitment to Christ...
TEMPTATION IS RIGHT AROUND THE CORNER!!!! Stay tuned to this series to read more about the temptation that follows the believer's commitment to Christ. Satan does not use any new tactics. He has been repeating the same tactics for generations and believers continue to fall for the same old things. The only hope is to know the strategies of the enemy and be prepared to fight back with the Full Armor of God.
Lord Jesus,
I invite you to sit on the throne of my heart. Help me make decisions that will guard the treasures that you have given me and fight off the attacks of the enemy. Help me to have the life that you want to give me. Let me not get in the way of what you are trying to do in my life. I want to be obedient to you so that I can thrive in my relationship with you. I want to be close to you. I want your presence to be REAL TO ME.
In your precious and exalted name I pray,
Amen.
