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Heart Condition
Devotional for Sunday, August 16, 2009 by Rosemary Renninson
In these times, we are well taught and warned to care for our hearts by partaking of a healthy diet with adequate exercise. Many of us can be seen throughout supermarkets diligently reading labels to know the contents of foods, and carefully selecting low-sugar, low-fat, high-fibre products. As always, however, it is the Bible which ever contains the healthiest food we could possibly feed on.Proverbs 4:23 - Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life. (KJV)
To "keep thy heart" means to keep possession of it, so it's paramount to keep and guard our physical and spiritual hearts "with all diligence".
The spiritual heart is the vital source of one's being. The heart is the innermost part of the mind and body, and truly, out of it flows the issues of life, joy, sorrow, love, hate, et cetera. If we don't keep our heart for God, Satan will try to possess it.
But the good news is that Satan can only draw us away from God through our own weaknesses, and only with our permission. When we stand firm and determined to keep our hearts pure, peaceable, and undivided -- as we resist being drawn away -- Satan has no power over us. Satan hates this!
If we don't keep and guard our hearts diligently, we become too preoccupied with unprofitable, inexpedient, negative, impure thoughts, attitudes, and behaviour. Satan loves this!
When we daily surrender ourselves to God -- the holy source of all truth, wisdom, and perfect justice -- Satan hates it. When we turn to the only One who always knows His children's hearts and can heal perfectly and completely any heart condition, Satan hates it!
When we follow King David's excellent example and ask Almighty God to "search me, O God, and know my heart" (Psalm 139:23 KJV) and to "create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me" (Psalm 51:10 KJV), Satan hates it!
Satan hates it, too, when we daily immerse ourselves in God's Word, because this wonderfully guards and keeps our hearts spiritually healthy, and keeps our hearts abundantly full of God's Word. Jesus said, "Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks." (Matthew 12:34b NKJV) God loves it!
Prayer: Thank You, our gracious, merciful Lord, that through Your Spirit and Your Word, we can maintain a healthy, clean, and pure heart, kept in all diligence by our surrendered, worshipful relationship with You. Thank You for Your loving guidance, always. Amen and Amen.
Rosemary Renninson <rosemary396@dodo.com.au>
Westbury, Victoria, Australia
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Today's Music:
For Those Tears I Died.