HUNGER GAMES: "Guard your Heart"
WHY IT'S MOST IMPORTANT TO GUARD YOUR HEART
Proverbs 4:22-23 says, "Above all else guard your heart with vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life." God tells us in his Word that the heart is the most important thing to guard. Why? Your heart is the deepest part of who you are. This proverb says, the springs of life flow from it. In other words, your heart is what pumps life to your spiritual body. Looking at how a physical heart works, this makes sense. A physical heart is at the center of who you are, and when working properly works as a pump pumping blood, carrying oxygen to your organs and muscles. It literally pumps "life" throughout your body. Likewise, when your spiritual heart is working properly it is pumping life throughout your spiritual body.
Whatever is in your heart is what is being pumped throughout your entire body. The human heart pumps blood throughout all your veins and vessels to feed your organs and muscles the oxygen it needs. If the enemy can make your spiritual heart impure, he can destroy your whole self. If your heart goes bad, then your whole self goes bad.
THE ENEMY'S PLAN IS TO CORRUPT THE HEART
This passage in Proverbs says that from your heart flows the springs of life. Back when this was written springs in Jerusalem or any city were extremely important. The springs were where the people got their most important resource for survival—water. Today we take water for granted because it is so easily accessed in America. Go to a foreign country that does not have a water system like ours, and you will understand what I am talking about. There is a reason civilizations migrate towards water. It is essential for survival.
A few years ago I went to Israel and had the opportunity to go beneath Jerusalem into the secret spring fed water tunnels of king Hezekiah built thousands of years ago. These tunnels were strategically built for protection from foreign army attacks, not so the people could escape, but so that the city could have an alternate supply of water for when the enemy attacked. What they told us is that when a foreign army attacked, the first objective of the foreign army was to stop up the springs so that the people in the city being attacked would have no water and eventually have to come out and surrender. These tunnels prevented Israel's enemies from doing this.
Likewise, the enemy is doing everything he can to corrupt our hearts with impurity. He understands that from your heart flows the springs of life, and if he can just slip in through a crack of compromise then he can wreck your entire life. If he can just get a little compromise—lust, pride, bitterness, jealousy, insecurity, or a desire to be lusted after, then he can stop the life flow. You will dry up and your heart will be hardened. You will face spiritual dehydration and the enemy will then take over your entire life just like an army takes over a city.
We must, therefore, learn to guard our hearts!
WHAT ARE SOME SIGNS THAT OUR HEARTS HAVE BECOME HARD?
Here are some signs of a hard heart that my sister wrote about in her blog A Women that Wins: 20 Signs That You Might Be Losing Your Step. (Some I have changed or added to)
1. You haven't read your Bible in a few days, but you don't miss it.
2. Going to church is now a tough decision that you have to make every week.
3. Good things have replaced God things in your pursuits but you can't tell the difference.
4. Sarcasm is your humor of choice.
5. You are afraid of silence.
6. You assume that asking a lot of questions means that you are searching for the truth.
7. You now proudly dawn a "Coexist" sticker on your ride.
8. It takes a lot to make you laugh deeply.
9. Prayer is not the first reaction to a crisis.
10. You show up late and leave early to youth relational gatherings.
11. You are letting feelings of deep loneliness and emptiness go undealt with.
12. You haven't seen a "red flag" flying for quite some time.
13. You now find yourself questioning the idea of absolute truths.
14. You struggle with authority figures.
15. You are always the victim and are quick to exit tense relationships.
16. The escape seems worth the risk now.
17. You're looking for love in all the wrong places.
HOW TO GUARD OUR HEART
Going back to Proverbs 4, Notice how the author commands us to guard the heart, then begins to explain HOW to guard the heart. He says, "Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life. Put away from you crooked speech, and put devious talk far from you. Let your eyes look directly forward, and your gaze be straight before you. Ponder the path of your feet; then all your ways will be sure. Do not swerve to the right or to the left; turn your foot from evil."
1. "Put away from you crooked speech and devious talk from your lips" (v 24). Watch what you say!
James 3 says that what you say can set you whole world on fire. It's like the rudder of a ship. It directs your whole life. What you say can either nourish your heart or destroy it. A negative word, a bitter comment, a jealous remark, a perverted statement will start off as a small spark but in the end lead to a wild fire. It's not just the crooked and devious speech that creates an impure heart. It is an impure heart that produces impure speech: "From the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks." So yes crooked speech will corrupt your heart. But it is also a sign that your heart is bad. It's not just speaking impurely that corrupts you. It is also listening to impure words. My lost friend the other day was talking about how he was checking out girls. I knew the enemy was trying to distract me so I told him, "My eyes are for my wife." He just laughed but it shut him up about talking about girls. We must guard our hearts from crooked and devious speech! It's interesting how the enemy starts off with words to get your heart curious for sin. It may be at your lunch table, with friends at the beach that don't know God, Facebook conversations, etc. Just make sure you keep away from this talk!
2. "Let your eyes look directly forward" (v25)
In other words, look ahead like a vigilant watchman. Don't be distracted by the decoys or activities of a non-soldier. If you have ever seen any movies with castle attacks, you will notice that the army attacking the castle almost always tries to distract the watchman on the towers so they can sneak into the city. Kyle and I did this the other night in our staff game Agency. When we returned from Islands of Adventure Doug and Bryan sabotaged us. We ran and hid and then Kyle hid behind the bushes while I lured Bryan in as the bait. Bryan completely focused on me did not see Kyle 10 feet away from him. When Bryan came for me, Kyle was able to shoot him. There are billions of lustful temptations trying to distract you saying, "Just look over here!" "Or he's looking at you! Acknowledge him!"
The enemy is very smart. Do you think it is coincidence that those cute guys are looking at you? Do you think it is coincidence that those pretty girls are put in your path and dressed like that? Some of us may think, "Man I must be good looking or have a great humor because it seems like everyone is attracted to me!" Let me just say something, it is not because you are good looking or have a good humor. It is because you are the enemy's target! 2 Corinthians 11:14 says that the devil disguises himself as an angel of light. In other words, that cute guy or girl is a trap! It looks all innocent (angel of light) but it is the enemy's plot.
John Bunyan, in Pilgrim's Progress, tells a story about how the main character Christian is introduced to Mr. Worldliness. Mr. Worldliness is very nice and has three gorgeous daughters named Lust, Pride and Crave that everyone wants to marry. Mr. Worldliness, who appears very nice, asks Christian if he wants to marry one of his three beautiful daughters in exchange for coming to his house and doing some chores. Christian can't believe it and decides he is going to go and work for one of these girls. Upon arriving to Mr. Worldly's house he discovers hundreds of young and even old men working in the fields and thinks, "Man Mr. Worldly has quite a few workers." Then Christian sees something he never expected. As he gets closer to the workers he discovers that they are all wearing chains and are bound. Christian realizes just in time that Mr. Worldly has been using his three daughters Lust, Pride and Crave to ENSLAVE the young men. He escapes just in time.
It is no different with us. The enemy, like Mr. Worldliness, has come dressed as an angel of light, offering you all the pleasure you can handle only to enslave you! It's just like the movie TAKEN. Two teenage girls go to Europe and are distracted by a cute guy who is actually a decoy to put the girls in sex slavery. This really happens today in the physical. But it happens even more in the spiritual realm. Are you enslaved today? Has the angel of light deceived you and distracted you? Looking is the first step to slavery!
3. "Ponder the path of your feet" (v26)
In other words, make a conscious step-by-step path to where your decisions will lead you. If you go alone to look at that YouTube video where will it lead you? If you just for a second glance at that girl, where will it lead you? If you go to that party with those friends, where will it lead you? If you watch that T.V. show, where will it lead you? If you look up that guy's or girl's Facebook, where will it lead you? If you listen to that radio station, where is it leading you? If you look at that picture, say that word, think that thought, read that magazine, walk in that direction, look over there, give into that jealous thought, go along with that crowd where will it lead you?
4. "Do not swerve to the left or to the right."
Don't even swerve! Even a little compromise, a little resting the eyes, a little giving in to the flesh because you are tired, gives the enemy a crack to enter in! Aaron and I were biking a couple months back and Aaron moving along at a quick pace of 27mph slightly swerved and was tossed from his bike, flipping and shattering his helmet. I tiny swerve was almost disastrous. Aaron has horrible road rash and shoulder pain from this spill. We think a little compromise won't hurt us: "Just a quick glance won't hurt. Just a few minutes of the computer in my room, just one song on that station won't hurt... I'll make sure I turn it right off…Or not stare just see if I know that person…" It is these little deceptive compromises of the enemy that lead to disaster. Joseph in Genesis responded correctly to temptation by not even swerving a single bit. He did not hesitate for a single second to even think if it was wrong or not. He simply ran! We need to run when we see temptation. Go the other way! The enemy is after our hearts and we must do everything we can to protect them. If you know there could be temptation where you walk, then you are going the wrong way. I will purposely walk in a different direction if I know temptation is there.
WHY A PURE HEART IS SO IMPORTANT
A pure heart is able to love God more. Matthew 22:37 says, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart…" Matthew 5 says, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." Purity helps you love more and experience God's love in your life. What you must realize, is nothing in this world can satisfy that longing you feel in your heart but Jesus. God wants all of you! If you allow him to fill your heart, you will experience a life filled with more joy and excitement and pleasure than you could ever imagine. But it takes you repenting from impurity and allowing God to change your heart.
If you have a bad heart tonight. If any sort of impurity has slipped in, God is willing to give you a new heart: "I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit will put in you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh" (Ezekiel 36:26). He is simply asking you to humble yourself just as David did Psalms 51 (READ).
