Guard Your Heart

I have been at camp for the past week.  Our theme this week was “Guard your heart, that is where it starts.”  That sounds like a relatively easy thing to do.  However, as camp progressed the questions got harder.  For example, who is sitting on the throne of your heart?  Does God control every part of your life or does something else?  In order to answer questions of this magnitude you have to stop all activity, and take time to reflect.  Honestly, it reminds me of the closet or storage area, you try to avoid looking at because it is overwhelming.  When you attempt to go in and organize the closet, you get so frustrated over what to do, you simply quit and do nothing.   Now, it makes matters worse because you have looked at the condition of the closet, yet did nothing to correct the problem.  Obviously, we all know that in order to clean the area, everything has to come out and be trashed, or placed in a specific spot.  Our hearts are no different.  Sometimes God ask us tough questions, and in order to find the answer, we have to look deep into our heart.  It is always easy to make excuses, blame others, and live in denial, but the results of these choices produce no change in our life.  God calls us to look through the surface, and seek the root of the problem.  Just like the storage closet, God wants us to pull everything out.  For some people that may not be hard, but for some it could be torturous.  Almost 12 years ago God stopped me in my tracks.  I was on such an emotional overload that my body literally shut itself down mentally and physically.  I had endured an extremely traumatic  event, and chose not to deal with it.  Instead I found myself mad at God, and turned the opposite direction.  I never will forget the day when God spoke to me so clearly and said, “Is this working for you?  You have a choice, choose me, or choose yourself, but you must decide?”  I have never heard anything from God, before or after that, as clearly as I did that day.  Here I was 26 years old, broken, and realizing I didn’t really know whom God was.  From that very moment when I said, “I choose you”; my life was transformed.  It was not an easy road, but God gradually restored my health and my life.  Not only did he restore me, he gave me a precious gift to minister to others.  I am aware everyday that I do not deserve the opportunity, but thanks to grace, I am allowed the privilege.  The only reason I tell you this part of my life is because covering things up, or making excuses for them does not solve the problem.  It only postpones the inevitable.    The second day of camp was “Beware of sin, it destroys from within”.   Literally, when we give anything else control of our life we are harboring sin, which will literally destroy us from the inside out.  The best part was day three when the message was “Receive what God’s giving; it’s the secret to living”.  Honestly, once we get everything out of our closet and into the light; we can easily see what is worth saving, and what needs to be tossed.  Then the process of cleaning starts to become easier and easier, and before we know it, we are excited because the muddled closet is now starting to look nice, clean, and purposeful again.  The same is true with our own lives.  Once we allow God’s light to shine on us, we can begin to see all the things we need to get rid of in our life; and before long we realize the joy we have been missing all along.  Sometimes looking at our self through God’s eyes can be difficult, but the result will always be an exceptional life with Him.

 So I ask you today, what sits on the throne of your heart? What controls everything you think, feel, say, and do?   Is it God, or something else?

Proverbs 4:23 Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.

Pslam 139:23 Search me, O God, and know my heart!
 Try me and know my thoughts! 24 And see if there be any grievous way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting