Guarding your heart
Last year we had an infestation of ants in our house and they were on the rampage as was the case in most households in our neighbourhood! Their favourite places seemed to be the kitchen and the bathrooms. It was quite frustrating when they got into the food or into the bathtub. My then 8-year-old son, had a torrid time and anything that had ants on it he wanted to throw away, including his clothes.
I went through a process of trying to teach him to store his snacks and food in airtight containers so that he did not have to deal with the process of trying to separate the ants from the food.
Let’s face it, the task of trying to get rid of ants that have taken over a jar of wrapped sweets is quite laborious let alone the near impossible task of trying to separate sugar from the ants that have invaded the sugar bowl.
The main Issue with the ant invasion was that, they particularly loved our kitchen and the problem with that is in our home the kitchen is an everyday place which is a hive of activity and not a day goes by without us using the kitchen or interacting while in the Kitchen together. I would not be amiss to say that the kitchen is the heart of our home. As such the invasion of the ants seemed to be greatly affecting our everyday life because of the many interactions we have in the Kitchen which overflows into the lounge as we have an open plan living space. The privacy in our bathroom was also greatly violated by these ants in hilarious ways.
As I thought of this invasion of the heart of our home, it quickened my memory to a scripture in the bible that talks about the heart of our lives and how we must guard our hearts against unhealthy invasions of all sorts. Just like the Kitchen (and bathroom) in my home is part of our everyday life as a family so the word of God describes the heart as the place from which everything we do is formed, processed and dealt with. Our heart is the delicate place from which we can experience hurt or generate joy, just as we can also find clarity of life or breed misunderstanding in our hearts.
There are many things that can affect our heart positively and negatively but the key to guarding our hearts is identifying principal things that influence our hearts the most and then to deal with those key issues as way of guarding our hearts.
It is as we protect our hearts to be healthy that we can generate a healthy way of living. One of the things that consistently affects and influences our hearts is resources and in particular financial resources. The word of God tells us the our hearts can follow our financial resources and be consumed with how we deal with financial resources. Where you invest your treasure you will find your heart very much in close proximity. It follows to reason that if from our hearts flows the very issues of life; our heart would therefore be strongly attracted or concerned about an issue that affects our lives on a regular or daily basis - Money is a daily issue that we navigate. It is a subject that is greatly intertwined in how we do life positively or negatively and so the heart is going to be affected by how we View Money, Generate Money and consequently utilise those financial resources.
We therefore need to be careful who is influencing our view on money because it will influence what invades or consumes our hearts. I have found that the things we allow to lead our heart are the things that will bring peace or have the ability to destroy our peace as well. Guarding our hearts means being selective of who influences our heart because influencers are leaders. Whatever influences our hearts has the propensity to lead our heart.
As we become selective about what we let into our hearts we also ultimately have to choose who is at the throne-room of our hearts as that will determine who is the gatekeeper of the barriers you instil to guard your heart.
There is room in the world for ants but that room is not in your cookie jar or sugar bowl. There is room for resources in our lives but we cannot let resources lead the way we view life and live life, Only God our maker is The Leader that has the ability to govern our hearts and be the ultimate influencer and gatekeeper of our hearts. Placing God first in your heart your heart, will help deal with the many invasions that can try and take over your heart-space bringing you untold heartache and pain. There is no room for anything else at that key place of your heart.
This month as we enter Spring, View Church will be exploring and dealing with matters of the heart as a way to spring clean some of those invasions that have taken place in our heart space like bugging ants that attached themselves to the heart of our home. Those "ants" to our hearts can be the compromises that our humanistic desires bring which at their worst can breed an unhealthy leadership of our hearts.
During this series we shall zone in to the matter of finances as a key player in dealing with how we perceive and subsequently engage with life. I pray that you would allow the Holy Spirit to deal with those seemingly harmless ants before they completely take over and you become unable to separate the ants from the sugar bowl of your life.
Scripture Meditation:
'Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it. '
'For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Reflect:
1. What are the top three things in my Life that I do, which reflect who or what is influencing my life?
List these things and consider how they negatively or positively build your life in view of eternity.
2. How can you make God a priority in these things that you do so that your heart is influenced by God in these areas of your life.
3. Ask God to show you some areas of your life where you are influenced by anything or anyone other than him whether good or bad and reflect on why this is so.
Prayer
Dear God I submit to your will. Please show me the ants of compromise that I have not shielded from my walk with you. Help me to walk in submission and to guard my heart in the airtight container of your Holy presence. Lord I surrender my will and submit to your Agenda. May your grace meet me on this season so that I can spring-clean my life and I can fully put you as first in my life, in Jesus mighty name I pray AMEN
Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Romans 6:12
This was a lovely message Addie thank you