Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life. ~ Proverbs 4:23 (NIV)
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Our hearts have amazing potential. They can love deeply and experience incredible joy. But they can also hate intensely and become ensnared in hostility and bitterness. Yes, our hearts have amazing potential.
I was just telling a friend the other day that I needed to "guard my heart" against building up resentment regarding a negative situation that occurred. I know this is needful, because I have seen that potential realized in my heart through all sorts of sinful outbreaks....bitterness, resentment, malice, hatred. And because I didn't check myself in my past and seek God's intervention in my heart but allowed these self-driven sins to invade my heart, I became a mess. I didn't think I was a mess, but the defenses I had put in place to ward off abusive behavior created a learned response that was very harmful. And it took me getting on my spiritual knees for a WHILE, to give over the hatred to God and allow Him to heal the damage caused when I let my guard down in my heart.
Guard your heart, my friends, for it truly is the wellspring of life. Be willing to look soberly at what you let in, whether it looks good on the surface (but may not be) or looks bad (but you feel justified in holding onto it). God is the great sifter of what should and shouldn't enter our hearts -- we need to be willing to take His advice and warnings. He knows us better than we know ourselves, and He can help us make choices that will protect and defend our innermost part -- our heart.
Love,
Joelene
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