We need to keep our heart, guard our heart, with all vigilance, for from it come the issues of life; the fountain of life, the source and issues of life, spring out from our heart, so our heart needs to be dealt with.
Our heart is so complicated because our heart has a lot of problems.
There are at least six major problems, six matters, that we need to guard our heart against in taking care of our heart.
Firstly, we need to guard our heart against veering off; our heart veers off so easily to other things instead of staying focused on God Himself. We all can admit that, especially in this age today, our heart is so easily distracted.
Even after turning our heart to the Lord, if something happens, if we see something if we listen to something, or simply if the neighbour’s dog barks, we are distracted from the Lord. Oh, Lord Jesus!
But whenever our heart turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away (2 Cor. 3:6). We may drive on the road and see something on the billboard, and our heart is distracted.
We may see something on TV, we may watch something on youtube, or we may simply have an ad in front of us, and we are so distracted.
Someone may say something to us, or we may simply be lost in our thoughts, and we get distracted from God to many other things.
Secondly, we need to guard our heart against an indifferent heart, a lukewarm heart. It doesn’t mean that you don’t care at all, but that you don’t care that much – you are lukewarm, you are indifferent.
May we guard our heart against being indifferent and lukewarm by turning our heart to the Lord and keeping short accounts with Him.
We need to guard against a divided heart; in James 1:8 and 4:8 we read of those double-souled, those having a divided heart.
On one hand, we may love the Lord and love the church, but on the other hand, you love the world too; it’s like having one foot in one boat and the other foot in another boat. May the Lord save us from having a double heart, a heart that is not single and pure for Him.
Fourth, we need to guard against a heart that is not absolute; this means that our heart is not steadfast, not firm, but rather, it is easily wavering. Our heart needs to be steadfast and firm, absolute for the Lord.
Fifth, we need to guard against an agitated heart, a heart that is not calm or steady.
Sometimes we may hear things, or something happens, and we get irritated and agitated.
A brother may say something or a sister may do something, and we get disturbed; we may come to the meeting, and because our heart is agitated, we may not be able to speak for the Lord.
We need to always keep our heart calm, tranquil, not being agitated but peaceful before the Lord.
Lastly, we need to guard our heart against being worrisome and full of cares; Satan uses today’s environment, our situation, our family, our job, and all things to inflict fear and anxiety into us.
Our heart is so easily caught with anxiety and worries, especially with the pandemic raging all over the earth today, the news, our family situation, our job or lack of it, and those around us. But we need to have a heart that is at peace with God.
Our heart is definitely problematic – it is so complicated, who can know it?
But we can turn our heart to God, we can cooperate with Him to guard our heart, and we can pray that the Lord would keep our heart open and soft toward Him so that there may be issues of life coming from it, that is, so that we may minister life to others!
We need to Guard our Heart above all because out of it are the Issues of Life, the Flowing out of Life
In Prov. 4:23 we are told to keep our heart with all vigilance; the Hebrew word rendered “keep” means “guard”.
We need to guard our heart above all because out of it are the issues of life.
For us to be a proper Christian, we need to exercise our spirit and also guard our heart above all by keeping it with all vigilance.
We may read the Bible and enjoy the Lord, and suddenly the neighbour’s dog starts barking, and it is so noisy; we may close the window, but still hear it, and we may want to go out and shout at it and even kick it. Oh, Lord.
Our heart is irritated by the noise, the barking, and we are ready to go and shout at that dog and even kick it. All this comes from our heart.
We may enjoy the Lord one moment, but when something happens, we may be irritated and unhappy, and we are ready to shout at others. Oh, Lord.
It is important for us, as proper Christians, to both exercise our spirit and to guard our heart by keeping it with all vigilance.
We should guard our heart above all because out of it are the issues of life; our heart is related to the sources of life, the springs of life, and the issues of life.
Out of the heart come all the issues of our daily life; we have life, as human beings, and this life acts through our heart, who is our representative.
Just as the flow of electricity depends on the switch, so our daily living is dependent on what our heart switches ON or OFF.
Our heart is a little switch, but it can switch on or off life or death.
Physically speaking, our human heart pumps blood, circulates life, in our entire human body; psychologically and spiritually speaking, our heart is the switch for life or death.
The activities and movements of our physical body depend on our physical heart; our daily living with its activities, joys, sorrows, and happiness depends on our psychological heart.
Out of our heart are the issues of life; issues implies both sources and springs as well as issues. The issues of life are the flowing out of life (see John 4:14).
Our heart is related to the sources of life, the springs of life, and the issue of life (Isa. 12:3).
The fountain, the source, of what we are, of our real being, flows from our heart; there is the need for our dealing with the heart so that we may guard our heart above all, for from it are the issues of life.
Our heart governs what comes out and what are the issues of life; it touches not only what comes out but also what was the source of it and what springs out of it.
As believers in Christ, we need to be living believers, living Christians, and this can be done by exercising our spirit; however, in our practical daily life, we realize that it is not so easy to exercise our spirit.
This is because our heart is not turned to the Lord, and we don’t have the heart to enjoy Him.
The switch of life is our heart; the reason we don’t exercise our spirit or care for others is that we don’t have a heart for it.
The main reason we don’t love the Lord, we don’t live Christ, we don’t enjoy the Lord in our times with Him, and we don’t have a concern for others is because we don’t have a proper heart. Our heart is the switch of life, out of it are the issues of life.
Our spirit may be burning, but if our heart is not right and proper, we may either burn others or offer up smoke instead of a proper heart.
The way we act, the way we behave, and the way we live our life, including the things we wear, the things we eat, and the places we go to, everything depends on our heart. We need to guard our heart above all, for from it come the issues of life.
Lord Jesus, we want to exercise our spirit and guard our heart by keeping it with all vigilance. May we realize that our heart is the switch of life, for from it are the issues of life. Oh Lord, our heart! We open our heart to You. We turn again. We simply want to switch on life. Draw us to Yourself and infuse us with Yourself as life, joy, patience, and enjoyment. May there be life flowing out of our innermost being! Purify our heart and cleanse us again and again until there is a pure flow of life out of our heart! Amen, Lord Jesus, we want to guard our heart above all, for from it are the issues of life! Amen, may life flow from our heart to others!
We Guard our Heart by Caring for our Heart and having a Thorough Dealing with our Heart in the Way of Life
How do we guard our heart above all, realizing that from it are the issues of life?
The more we see that our spirit is willing but we don’t have a proper heart, the more we realize our need to have a thorough dealing with our heart in the way of life.
We need to care not only for our spirit by exercising it to fan it into flame; we also need to care for our heart by having a thorough dealing of our heart before the Lord, a dealing of our heart in the way of life.
We guard our heart by caring for our heart and by having a thorough dealing with our heart before the Lord in the way of life.
The more we deal with our heart, the more we guard our heart above all (Psa. 26:2; 139:23-24; Prov. 4:23; Rom. 8:27; Rev. 2:23; Matt. 13:18-23; 5:8).
Our heart is composed of four main compartments – our mind, emotion, and will, and our conscience.
For us to deal with our heart and have a proper heart, our mind needs to be sober and clear, our emotional needs to be loving, our will needs to be submissive, and our conscience needs to be clear.
Satan attacks our mind and thoughts very much these days; with all the pandemic, the societal problems, racial tensions, and the fake news, Satan bombards and attacks our mind to disturb it and fill it with improper thoughts.
But we can turn our heart to the Lord by being in His word to enjoy Him and be saturated with Him.
We can open the Bible, exercise our spirit, and turn our heart to the Lord; as we come to Him in His word, our mind is renewed, and it will be brought into the way of life.
Our emotions may be loving this or that thing, yet we may not be inclined to love the Lord or the things of the Lord.
However, the more we turn to the Lord, exercise our heart to love Him and ask Him to infuse us with His love, our emotions will be saturated with the love of Christ.
Our will may be very strong concerning certain things, making decisions concerning this or that, but it may not choose the Lord.
We need to open to the Lord and ask Him to soften our will and align it with His will until our will is one with the will of God.
Our conscience may bother us concerning this or that thing, and it may accuse us or excuse us in this or that; we need to exercise in prayer to apply the precious blood of Christ, and we will be cleansed and purified in our conscience.
Our mind must be the mind of Christ, our emotion must be saturated with the love of Christ, and our will must be one with His will.
Then, when we call on the name of the Lord and our heart is turned to him, our calling will be effective.
When we guard our heart above all by dealing with our heart thoroughly in the way of life, our heart as our acting agent will be established blameless in holiness (1 Thes. 3:13).
We need to deal with our heart in the way of life; it is not by restraining and suppressing our emotions, controlling and managing our thoughts, and buffeting ourselves whenever we want to choose something that we deal with our heart.
Rather, it is by contacting the Lord, opening our heart to Him, praying concerning all the parts of our heart, and allowing Him to fill us and saturate us with Himself that we can be established blameless in holiness, blameless in the state of being made holy.
In order to grow in life for God’s building, we need to love the Lord, take heed to our spirit, and guard our heart with all vigilance to stay on the pathway of life (see 1 Pet. 1:8; 2:2, 5; 3:4, 15; Prov. 21:2; 4:18-23; Deut. 10:12; Mark 12:30).
We need to take care of our spirit, especially our heart, loving the Lord and guarding our heart so that we can remain on the pathway of life.
It is Jehovah who weighs our heart; He weighs how heavy or how light our heart is. He searches the heart, He knows our heart, and He can make our heart proper and pure before Him.
Lord Jesus, have mercy on us. Renew us in our mind. Fill our emotion with Your love. May our will be truly one with Your will. Cleanse us and wash us with Your precious blood so that we may have a pure conscience. Amen, Lord, establish our heart blameless in holiness so that out of our heart there may be the issues of life. We want to grow in life for Your building. We exercise our heart to love You. We want to take heed to our spirit. Lord, we want to guard our heart with all vigilance so that we may stay on the pathway of life. Amen, keep us on the pathway of life!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by James Lee for this week, and portions from, Life-study of 1 Thessalonians, pp. 182-195 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-study of Job, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes (2020 winter training), week 10, Living a Godly Life.
- Hymns on this topic:
– He washed away my sins, / Gave me a brand new heart; / A heart to love Him, trust Him, / Seek Him in His Word. / He tells me guard thy heart / Above all that thou guardest; / For out of it, flows the springs, / The springs of life. (Song on, He tells me, guard thy heart)
– We need a fervent, loving heart, / A heart on fire with love, / With an emotion filled with zeal / For Him, all else above. / We need a true, obedient heart, / With a submissive will, / A will made pliable, yet strong, / God’s purpose to fulfill. (Hymns #744)
– Life can flow, praise the Lord, life can flow! / From the fountain in my heart life can flow! / Life can flow, praise the Lord, life can flow! / From the fountain in my heart life can flow! / When my heart’s wholly free, / Christ can flow through me… Hallelujah! / Life can flow, praise the Lord, life can flow! / From the fountain in my heart life can flow! (Hymns #1214)
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