Guide Your Heart!

I was in WBS the other morning and we were talking about thinking on Truth as Philippians 4:8-9 talks about as opposed to letting our emotions and feelings guide us. This is something that I have, and still, struggled with for many years. It is something that I believe plagues girls much more than guys and yet it is a sin that is commonly seen as "respectable" as Jerry Bridges would say, or "ok"; it is just plain overlooked as a sin at all. What we don't realize is that justifying it and not fighting to overcome it through Christ's strength really leaves us in even more despair, hopelessness and fear.

All that to say, as I was sitting thinking about a personal practice that God has instilled in my heart one of the woman chimed up and said, "It is all about guiding your heart and not letting your heart guide you!" My heart smiled at that moment because it was total TRUTH! I realized that that is EXACTLY what Proverbs 4:23 is implying when it says to "guard your heart". Many people take that as some sort of warning for girls to take and protect their heart from people hurting it (esp guys) but that is not the context or the actual meaning of the text, it is rather telling all Christians, guys and girls, to guard their heart from their own flesh. John MacArthur and Piper have said many times that we are our own worst enemies when it comes to our battle for holiness, and that is the truth. We must realize that we have to be on guard 24-7 towards ourselves. It starts with a simple thought, an unchecked motive, a wavering emotion and the next thing we know we are in sin.

So, with all that in mind, I started thinking, I started thinking about how I am guiding my heart or even supposed to as opposed to letting it guide me. Something I have done personally over the past 3 years or so has been to post the words "THINK TRUTH" everywhere I go (mirror, phone, car, etc) and Psalm 46:10 that says, "Be Still and KNOW that I am God". This practice has helped me to keep me emotions aka my heart in check. When I am tempted to worry, to fear, to wonder why things are happening, to question a circumstance or whatever; I stop, I look at these signs, I remember that verse and I literally start preaching to myself. In Psalm 42 the Psalmist talks to himself over and over and over again, he is preaching to himself rather than listening to himself. When we allow our minds and hearts to listen to the crazy unchecked emotions, the hurt feelings, the confusion, fear or worry and we dwell on that we are bound to not only be discouraged, but we are led into sin.

So what do we do then? Well, we start right away by taking EVERY thought captive to the obedience of Christ as 1 Corinthians talks about. If something comes into our minds or our hearts, anything, that is not of the Lord, something that is not Truth, we need to cast it out and replace it with something that is Truth. Where do we find Truth...well the only place is in the Word of God. That is why we must saturate our hearts and minds in the Truth. We must memorize and mediated daily on Scripture. We must pray and spend time with our Maker. We must check ourselves constantly against His Word and His standard and we must guide our heart and our lives by what is True and nothing else. The more we begin to do this, the easier it becomes (I promise God's truly been showing me so much grace as He has sanctified me so much in this area). We can't focus on ourselves, we must focus on Him and His Word, keeping our eyes constantly fixed on the author and perfector of the Faith (Hebrews 12:1-2).

So let's together as Christians, but especially as woman learn to Think Truth, learn to call the sin of worry, fear, doubt, etc. sin, and start to guide our hearts with that only source of Truth we have, the Word, and may His peace and strength bring us all the encouragement, hope, and love we need!