Summer Prayers: Lord, protect my heart!

When our heart stops beating, we die.

Our thrumming heart muscle is the life-giving source of our bodies as it pumps oxygenated blood all day and all night long. It is understandable then that the medical community spends a lot of time marketing the strategies that prevent heart disease…and it behooves us to listen.

God has the same concern. He tells each of us to, “Guard your heart above all else; for it is the source of life (Proverbs 4:23 HCSB) Just as we have the responsibility to reach for blueberries more than ice cream, exercise shoes more than slippers, and grilled salmon more than fast food to guard our physical hearts,

God asks us to be deliberate in our choices in order to maintain our spiritual heart.

What is our spiritual heart? In The Armor of God study this week, Priscilla Shirer explained that our heart is composed of four things: our mind, our will, our emotions, our conscience. If the enemy even infiltrates one of these areas, we can be destroyed spiritually. I am not talking about losing our salvation, but the enemy is trying to render every Christ follower ineffective, to keep each of us from representing His nature to a watching world.

I don’t want to be rendered ineffective, but when I read this list of four gateways into my heart I also understand the huge responsibility and how I am woefully incapable of pulling it off.

My mind: All it will take is me believing one little lie about myself, God, or someone in my life.

My will: All it will take is me making one little decision on purpose that I know is not best.

My emotions: All it will take is me nursing one of the hurts I suffered even just yesterday.

My conscience: All it will take is me choosing to address one little sin…not confessing it or repenting…and starting a wall of hardness that will disengage my moral compass.

Sure, I will do my best today, and hopefully every day, to trust Him to grow me up to handle the task, but really? The responsibility of guarding my heart equates to that of a 4-star General responsible for effectively and safely leading his troops in war.

I see it. Can you see it too?

So let’s pray together this week, “Lord, guard my heart!”

Picture explanation:

I reached back into the archives this week to our youngest son’s baby dedication. We dedicated each of our children to Jesus (but photos of our older children’s dedications aren’t digital). What a daunting task — to raise children up to love and follow God! I must guard my heart because it has a direct impact on the lives of my lineage. These little ones that we gathered on our knees years ago are now learning their responsibilities to be lights for Jesus in the world. Our responsibilities are great, but GOD will do it. Thus, we dedicate babies to Jesus, live each day well, but release the responsibility to God for the end result through PRAYER.

Our youngest son, our first grandchild.

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