Guard your heart (3)
Yesterday,we learnt that God’s words are life /chay,zōē/ and that as God’s children,the life we have within our hearts is an eternal life.
Let’s continue today by looking at other ‘guests’ we have within our hearts ❤️ that need to be guarded with all diligence.
2.The Words of God are Spirit
Words are spirits!
They can’t be seen physically but they rule the unseen world.
We should note that it is not only the words of God that are spirit.Men’s words too are spirit.
How do I know that words are spirit?
“The tongue can bring death or life; those who love to talk will reap the consequences”-Prov 18:21
The tongue only achieves the goal of bringing to life or death via words.We cry and become heartbroken 💔 when someone hurts us with words,even when the person does not use cane on us!
Words enter into us without our knowledge.They are not seen, but they can either kill or bring to life.They are indeed spirits.
The next verse below clearly differentiates between the Words of God and words of men:
“The Spirit (pneuma:current of air,breath,Christ’s Spirit,Holy Ghost) alone gives eternal life(zoe).Human effort accomplishes nothing. And the very words I have spoken to you are spirit(pneuma) and life(zoe)-John 6:63
God’s words are spirit and they bring about life,not death!These words reside in the inner recess of the hearts that accept them.
“Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself”-1Cor 6:19
Not only do you have the life of God within your heart,you also have the Holy Spirit within you! What a blessing to be a child of God.
3)The Words of God are weapons
Many may start wondering how they could protect their hearts against the onslaught of the enemies.God’s words are potent weapons against such.
“So He drove the man out; and at the east of the garden of Eden He stationed the cherubim, and the flaming sword which turned every direction, to guard the way to the tree of life”-Gen 3:24
If God could guard the Garden of Eden with angels and the flaming sword,how much more our hearts that accommodate His Zoe and Pneuma!Our hearts are far more important to God now than the gates of the Garden of Eden!
What is the flaming sword that God has put within us?
“…and take the sword of the Spirit,which is the word of God”-Ephe 6:17b
“For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword”-Heb 4:12a
You have a potent weapon within your heart.Guard it with all diligence!
4)The Words of God are purgers/cleansers
Medical doctors understand better the implications of coronary vessels(blood vessels of the heart) getting clogged up with atherosclerotic plaques.Though the heart pumps blood to every part of the body,it cannot do that efficiently if it is not getting its own blood supply.If its blood supply is impaired,certain medicines or surgical interventions are needed to correct such a situation.
“My message is like a fire that purges dross!”-Jer 23:29 (NET)
“From now on you are purged because of the word which I have spoken with you”-John 15:3
“Already you are clean by reason of the word that I have spoken to you”(BSB)
God’s words within you cleanse and purge you!The extent to which you are cleansed depends on your submission to the Words of God.
Little wonder Solomon says:
“Listen carefully to my words.Don’t lose sight of them.Let them penetrate deep into your heart.For they are life to those who find them,and health(marpê) to all their flesh“-Prov 4:20-22
Health:Marpê means a medicine,a cure,a healing,a deliverance.
It can then be infered that the Words of God in our heart are medicines that cleanse our body.They are a cure to our diseased heart! They detoxify,purge and cleanse us from inside-out!They are internal mechanisms that make us work efficiently as the Body of Christ.
There are many other things we need to guard in our hearts:Prophecy,Light of God etc that I might not be able to write about now.I pray that the Holy Spirit will reveal them to us.
However,I want to round off this series with how a woman guarded her heart in the Bible:
“But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart“-Luke 2:19
“But Mary kept all these things in her heart and thought about them often”(NLT)
“But Mary was treasuring up all these things in her heart and meditating on them”(CSB)
What did Mary keep in her heart? The Words of God concerning Jesus as delivered by the Shepherds.
The Shepherds came to report what the Angel of God told them about the birth of Christ.While some people were amazed at the words,Mary stored them in her heart:
“When they had seen him,they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child,and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them.But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart”-Luke 2:17-18
Don’t just get excited by God’s words.Don’t just be ‘whaooed’ by the Pastor’s delivery of the message by throwing up chairs.Do what Mary did:’Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart’.
When you receive God’s words: Prophecy,words of exhortation,words from bible study etc,treasure them in your heart until they flow out of it like the issues of life.
Shalom.