Your Heart

Proverbs 4:²³ “Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life.” (NKJV, emphasis added)

God says you are to guard your heart with all diligence because all the issues of life including the course of your life, flows from your heart. If you do not like the course of your life or the issues flowing in your life, check your heart. That is what the Word of God says. So, to keep your mind from vanity, your understanding from error, your conscience from guilt and stain, your affections from being inordinate, and to keep your life from mediocrity, you need to guard your heart. Philosophers say that the heart is the first that lives and the last that dies.

I think that is pretty much also consistent with science. It is at the first heartbeat that a baby really begins to live. And a man can lose a lot of organs and still be alive. But once the heart stops, the man is gone. And spiritually this is very similar, therefore the heart is to be guarded because once it is programmed, you cannot control what comes out of it. So, to control and influence your life, you influence your heart. It is the posture of your heart that determines the direction of your life. Someone once said, “Sow a thought, reap a deed. Sow a deed, reap a habit. Sow a habit, reap a character. Sow a character, reap a destiny.”

We are mostly consumed with our destinies – how to have a great destiny and fulfil destiny. But it is our thoughts that determine our deeds. Our deeds determine our habits. Our habits determine our character. And our character determines our destiny. Instead of being overly consumed with your destiny, you should be more focused on your thoughts. What are the thoughts in your heart? That is what will determine your destiny. The state of the heart is so unbelievably huge that God destroyed an entire civilization because they had a heart problem. Genesis 6:⁵ “The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time.” (NIV).

Your heart is so important. Some people take care of their body – they look beautiful with their hair and nails intact, but their heart is horrible. My spiritual father, who has gone to be with the Lord now, used to say to me, ‘Femi, it is all about the heart’. And as my walk with God progresses, it is unbelievably clear that when it is all said and done, it is all about your heart. He would say, ‘This work is a heart work’. It is not a power work; it is not about how powerful you are, how loud you can shout, how loud you can pray, or for how long you can pray. It is a heart work.

Prayer: Father, by Your Spirit, help me to be more sensitive to the affections of my heart and the meditation of my mind, help me guard my heart diligently, in Jesus Name. Amen!