THE FORTRESS OF THE HEART

Keep your heart with all diligence, For out of it spring the issues of life.  Proverbs 4:23 NKJV)

and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.  (Philippians 4:7 NKJV)

In most of the old castles there is an inner reserve, which is protected, not only by mighty walls and bastions, but by the passage at the gate, and sentries at every approach, who challenged every one that passed in and out. So the heart is continually approached by good and evil, by the frivolities and vanities of the world and the insidious suggestions of the flesh. It is like an inn or hotel, with constant arrivals and departures. Folks come in and go out, some of them with evil intent, hoping to find conspirators, or to light fires that will spread until the whole being is swept with lust, consuming in an hour the fabric of years to ashes.

We need, therefore, to be constantly on the watch; we must keep our heart above all else that we guard, for out of it are the issues of life. Our Lord says that "out of the heart of man come forth evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, thefts," etc. The devil and the world would be less fearful, if there were not such strong tendencies to evil within, tendencies of the old nature rearing their ugly heads.  Among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others (Ephesians 2:3 NKJV).

Keep it Clean. Just as the eye of the body is perpetually washed with tears, so let’s ask that the precious blood of Christ may cleanse away any speck of impurity. Remember how delicate a thing the heart is, and how susceptible to the dust of an evil thought, which would instantly prevent it becoming the organ of spiritual vision. Lift up your hearts! We lift them up unto the Lord!

The Sentinel of Peace. Then the peace of God will become the warden or sentry of the heart, and it passes understanding! We can understand the apparent peace of some men. They have made money, and their gold bags are piled around them as a fortress; they have rich and influential friends, within whose protection they imagine they will be sheltered and defended; they enjoy good health, and are held in high esteem. We can understand such peace, though it often proves only temporary! But there is a peace that passes understanding! It is to this that our Lord refers when He says, "My Peace I give unto you; not as the world gives." "Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid."

PRAYER

Keep me, Heavenly Father, as the apple of Your eye; defend me by Your almighty power; hide me from this strife of tongues and the fiery darts of the wicked one. May my heart be as the palace which, Christ, the stronger than the strongest man, keeps in perfect peace.   In His name I ask it, AMEN.

God's Daily Promise

Promise #149: 
Those who are pure in heart will see My face.

Matthew 5:8 (WEB)
Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they shall see God.