"Keep thy heart with all diligence.." (Proverbs 4:23)The follower of Jesus Christ has been entrusted by God to diligently keep his or her heart safe in the midst of this evil world. The word keep denotes maintenance and a preservation. The blood-washed believer who is walking before the face of God with clean hands and a pure heart is exhorted by the Holy Spirit to continue as such, and to the believer who acquiesces, grace is given by God to overcome the whole world and rejoice daily in Christ.It is a daily duty to keep the heart with all diligence. It is both an obligation for holiness and a necessity for spiritual health to keep careful watch over the breathings of the heart. This is because the new heart is susceptible to outside spiritual attacks and potential infestations if not kept and renewed in grace. A good illustration is a celestial body a planet or a moon suspended in space without an atmosphere. Trajectories are able to impact its surface and make craters. Craters are depressions. The heart unkept is like a planet without an atmosphere; it is prey to all the flying garbage of space. There is no buffer zone. Lustful temptations strike the surface and cause huge explosions leading to depression. The influences of the world speed toward it like fiery comets and make full impact, rocking it on its axis. There is no protection from extraneous contaminates. On the contrary, the heart well-kept and guarded by grace is like a planet with an atmosphere. The atmosphere burns up cosmic garbage and thus prevents the damage and depression of craters. These are like the flaming trials which cause us to suffer in the flesh but prevent sin from bringing dejection and failure to the conscience. The atmospheric grace of God upon the heart and mind of the believer is like a fiery curtain hostile to outside contaminates. Hostile thoughts and impulses target our minds and hearts daily. These spiritual trajectories seek to make impact and cause explosive depressions in our minds. They aim to wound our consciences with the remembrance of sin and create a frustration between us and Gods grace. Gods grace is given to keep the heart from being overpowered by these attacks and preserve the conscience from defilement. Once, when we lived in the flesh to the fulfilling of the lusts of our minds and pride of life, we were like orphaned moons without an atmosphere, empty and without God in space. But Jesus rose from the dead and sent down the Holy Spirit to encompass our bodies with a protective atmosphere through grace. We are no longer orphans; we are now the sons and daughters of God and heirs to a Heavenly Kingdom whose majesty and glory no words can describe. As the earnest for this promise, God has given us a foretaste through the Holy Spirit. He abides in us now; He protects us from the trajectories of Satan: from the comets of lust, the meteors of pride, the asteroids of discouragement.He sheds His love abroad in our hearts and provides a magnificent atmosphere and blanket of protection. And if we keep our hearts with all diligence, He will continue to do so, with ever-increasing glory and power and light. The next time a piece of space junk comes flying your way, remember that you have an atmosphere to burn it up. The next time you are tempted to get angry, remember to protect your heart from the invasion by activating Gods grace. The next time you find yourself on the verge of an impure thought, instantly quench the meteors impact through the blood of Christ and watch it burn up in the stratosphere of grace. In the moment of need, you will find Gods grace ever faithful to deliver and keep you from sin. The flesh will suffer temporarily as the alien force disintegrates above your head, but there will be no impact, no defilement, no crater of depression. You can win the battle through Christ!Brother Paul
_________________Paul Frederick West
Brother Paul!Thank you so much for sharing these wonderful anointed teachings on guarding our hearts and minds. They have been truly a blessing to me and so timely as I am in a season of battling fiery darts from the enemy!Not so long ago you offered to send me a copy of your book. I tried twice to email you but I got a mailer error message so couldn't forward my details. If it's not too much of an ask please could you email me instead and I will reply with my details. Thank so much Bro Paul! Looking forward to the next posting!Much love in ChristLindi
_________________Lindi
Always a blessing your analogies of the spiritual warfare we deal with. Thank you brother. Karen.
Not so long ago you offered to send me a copy of your book. I tried twice to email you but I got a mailer error message so couldn't forward my details. If it's not too much of an ask please could you email me instead and I will reply with my details.
How does this correspond to what is commanded in Ephesian 6:16, "Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked?"From the illustration from Ephesians, it looks like there are two layers of protection for the believer's heart, righteousness and faith. Can you flesh out your understanding of this in how it corresponds to the Proverbs 4:23. Thanks.
William Carroll at www.tscnyc.org (Times Square Church) had a very good lesson on the hedge God has placed around us. It's titled "America needs jobs". Of course that was a pun because he started with Job. William shows how God always has a hedge around us and shows how to draw strength from that hedge. I was glad I found this.http://www.tscnyc.org/media_center.php?pg=sermons#topOr go to the site www.tscnyc.org, choose "all sermons",and it's near the top.
_________________James R Barnes
From the illustration from Ephesians, it looks like there are two layers of protection for the believer's heart, righteousness and faith. Can you flesh out your understanding of this in how it corresponds to the Proverbs 4:23.
Thank you.