DCLM Higher Everyday 26 June 2023 — Diligently Keeping Your Heart
DCLM Higher Everyday 26 May 2023 Devotional by Pastor W. F. Kumuyi — Diligently Keeping Your Heart
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Topic: Diligently Keeping Your Heart
Text: Proverbs 4:20-23
20My son, attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings.
21Let them not depart from thine eyes; keep them in the midst of thine heart.
22For they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh.
23Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.
Key Verse: “Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life” (Proverbs 4:23).
Message
To “keep” something, in this sense, means more than simply “to maintain ownership.” It refers to maintenance, protection, care, and support. A wise person realizes that temptation is real and takes appropriate precaution. The Bible places a strong emphasis on the heart as the source of good or evil.
King David understood how influential the heart is in how we demonstrate our moral values. Out of the evil of his heart he stole Uriah’s wife, Bathsheba, committed adultery with her, and then arranged for Uriah’s death when he could not hide his crime. However, when he was under heavy conviction about his evil deed, David prayed, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.”
What is hidden in the heart is open to God’s eyes. “The LORD sees not as a man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.” As Christians, we are to read and meditate on God’s word so that it can dwell in our hearts and keep us from evils.
Quote: Meditate on God’s Word
Challenge: Decide to guard your heart always.
Prayer for today: Lord, help me to guard my heart diligently.
1. Admit that you are a sinner. "For all [humans] have sinned, and comes short of the glory of God....[and] the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Romans 3:23)
2. Repent now. "Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out ...[for] if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness " (Acts 3:19, 1 John 1:9)
3. Believe that God loves you and Jesus died for you. "God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet Sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8)
4. Invite Jesus into your life through prayer of faith. Jesus says, "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me" (Revelation 3:20)
