How To Guard Your Heart
Movement Live Notes
Everything is competing for our time in society today. Whether it is sports, doctoral pursuits, money, resources, family time, work, time, Netflix time, you time, everything is competing for our time. It is essential that if we are to live life as Jesus did, we have to guard our hearts. To do that, we must protect that which is coming into our hearts. What are we watching on television? What are the lyrics of the music we listen to? Are we watching videos or reading books about sex? Are we filling ourselves up with movies and shows that are filled with adult content and foul language? Are these things causing our own behavior to be altered? We have to guard our hearts by protecting what we allow into our hearts. There are certain things that we cannot, or should not, watch, see, or listen to because of the effect it has on us. We have to guard the gates to our hearts. We must train our eyes to look away from these things. Sometimes, for many of us, it is as simple as looking away from the news. It is not always about lust or lies. Sometimes, it's about what’s causing anger to fester in our hearts. It’s about what is causing us to dislike a specific people group. We must be intentional in looking away. That is to everyone, look away from what causes you to harbor hatred.
What else should we do? To guard and protect our hearts, we must preach the gospel to ourselves. I’d like to give 5 practical applications to guarding the heart. We have discussed preaching the gospel to ourselves and protecting everything that is coming in. Next is to do what the Lord has told you to do. Love Him with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength, love thy neighbor as self, and make disciples. Next, follow what the Lord is leading you to do. We cannot do this if we have not first done what He has told us to do. The Lord is not going to lead you to do something that He's not already told you to do. Often times we operate as though we want God to speak to us in supernatural ways when God has already spoken to us through His word. So, God is not going to lead us to do something that He has not already told us to do in His word. Lastly, cultivate an atmosphere of community. We cannot live the life that Jesus modeled for us alone. It was never intended to be this way. We cannot be 100% effective if we are trying to practice these things in isolation. When we try to guard our heart in isolation, our heart becomes more filled with hatred, hurt, and pain. We are people drawn together into the mission of Jesus Christ by the empowerment of the Holy Spirit. So, there is no way to cultivate a mindset of guarding our hearts apart from community.
Be encouraged, brothers and sisters and remember these five things:
Preach the gospel to yourself, every day
Protect everything that comes in
Do what the Lord has told you to do
Follow what the Lord is leading you to do
Cultivate an atmosphere of community.
There is no way to follow Jesus in isolation. Get plugged into a Movement Meetup that is right for you so that you can experience community, because community is what will help guard your heart.
