Keep your heart with all diligence,
For out of it spring the issues of life.
(Proverbs 4:23)
LORD Jesus, we praise You, for by You all things in heaven and on earth were created. All things, including our hearts, were created through You and for You. Forgive us, O God we pray, whenever we do not keep our hearts with all diligence. Reach out, precious Jesus, we ask, and touch our hearts and lives. Help us to take heed to ourselves and to diligently keep ourselves. Let us not forget all the things that we have seen that You have done for us. Forbid, that these memories would depart from our hearts. Enable us to talk about them and to teach them to our children and to our children’s children. In Jesus’ powerful name we pray. Amen.
Years back, I came across a book called “On Keeping the Heart.” I bought the audio version first and immediately liked it. It is not an easy read/listen, but it provides such great insight into the how and why to keep our hearts.
If you would like to find out more about this book and/or read it yourself, you can find various formats of it, free of charge, at On Keeping the Heart (By John Flavel). There are also a few audio versions online, some to buy and some that are free (just search for the title and author’s name).
Here is what Matthew Henry comments on this verse,
God, who gave us these souls, gave us a strict charge with them: Man, woman, keep thy heart; take heed to thy spirit, Deu 4:9. We must maintain a holy jealousy of ourselves, and set a strict guard, accordingly, upon all the avenues of the soul;
It is of such great importance that we keep our hearts and that we keep them with all diligence. There are seasons in life during which we need to pay even more attention to this. In “On Keeping the Heart,” John Flavel lists some of them. He mentions times of prosperity, adversity, troubles, danger and public distraction, outward needs, seasons of duty, when we are injured or abused by people, during times of great trials, in the hour/s of temptation, whenever we doubt or find ourselves in spiritual darkness, when sufferings for our faith come, or when sickness warns us that our death is near.
This year, I want to challenge myself and my readers to keep our hearts with all our diligence. Let us draw near to God and study what He says about heart issues.
Take heed, and keep your heart with all diligence today.
