email : Webview : Duane Brooks - Every Day with Jesus

June 4, 2019

Proverbs 4:23

Above all else, guard your heart,
for everything you do flows from it.
New International Version (NIV)

My cardiologist is thorough. When my new fitbit said my heart was going too fast when I run, I went to see my doctor. He ran every conceivable test. After a two week heart monitor, Dr. Feng performed an echocardiogram, a nuclear stress test and a C. T. scan of the heart before he gave me the all clear. It turns out that my fitbit was not accurate in its assessment. We take our hearts seriously, because we should.

                Solomon told his kids to guard their hearts. Spiritually, the heart is the wellspring of life. What we see and say, where we go and stay all starts with the heart. Without the heart there is no knowing God or going with God. So often in the Old Testament, the heart is the place of the will where decisions are made.

                God is thorough. Better than a C. T. scan, if we ask God to show us the truth about our hearts, he will. God searches our motives, our desires, and our wills to discern the condition of our hearts. Better than a good surgeon, God can fix our hearts. He can clean out the accretions of plaque and scars left by past sins.

                So how will we guard our hearts today? Identify the types of sins which continue in your life. Do they start with your eyes, your mouth or your feet? Bring them before God. Ask him to show you the things which are harming you. Then fortify your heart by meditating on scripture, spending time alone with God, praying systematically, not sporadically. Bill Gaither explained it well, our God “can make a perfect heart.” He will if we ask him.

Pray with me:

Father, search us and know our hearts, test us and know our anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in us. Remove from our hearts all that desensitizes us to the moving of your Holy Spirit. Strengthen us through your word, solitude and prayer so that we are conformed more closely to the image of your perfect Son. Start with our hearts we pray. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

This year our Every Day with Jesus readings will follow The Bible Project Read Scripture Plan. Copies of this reading plan are available at Tallowood Baptist Church, or download
the app at readscripture.org. Read through the Bible with us in 2019!
Joyfully,
Duane

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