“Above all else, guard your
heart; for everything you do flows from it” (Proverbs 4:23).
This particular verse has been
heavy on me for the last couple of weeks and I realize that it is because there
is an urgency for us to protect that very thing, our heart. We should be
guarding our hearts like our life depended on it simply because it does! 1
Samuel 16:7 says, “…The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at
the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart” (NIV). Guarding
your heart varies from the things that you watch and listen to that plant seeds
in your heart, to the people that you deal with. It is soooooo important to guard your heart with people. Simply
put, everybody should not be able to freely have access to you and everyone
should not be able to speak into your life. Now I know that may sound a little
harsh but the truth of the matter is that it is important to protect your heart
and what God has placed on the inside of you and you cannot afford to have
messy people speaking negatively into your life. Remember “death and life are in the power
of the tongue;” what are you allowing to be spoken over you? (Proverbs
18:21, KJV).
Everyone is not qualified to speak
into your life point blank and the period. Everyone is going to have an opinion
and advice that they want to give and that is fine but that does not mean you
have to receive it. Don’t get it twisted, I believe in accepting wise counsel,
however, you need to discern who is giving you wise counsel and if it is really
wise or foolish. I can count on one hand the people that I trust to speak into
my life. It’s nothing personal, but my relationship with God is personal and I
cannot afford to have people influencing me especially when it does not line up
with the word of God. I had a heart to heart with my best friend today and I
was telling her something that was really personal and a heavy subject and her
words of encouragement pointed me in the direction of Christ. If people really
knew what I go through they would question why I continue to serve God. I am at
a place where I know that my situation does not define who my God is. God is
still God in spite of my ups, downs, and in betweens and you need people who
will remind you of that, not people who will ask you well “why would your God
let you go through that?” Puh-uh-lease my God gave me a Savior, He gave me His
only Son so that I, little miss mess in a dress, could have a relationship with
Him and have an opportunity of eternity in heaven with Him. So if my God never
does anything else for me, He has already done enough! The point is the people
who you should be allowing to speak into your life are those who can point you
towards God. If they aren’t pushing you towards Him then where/what are they
pushing you towards? Serious face….I don’t know about anybody else but I need
people in my circle that can get a prayer through! I’d rather have a handful of
people close to me that really have a relationship with God than a ton of
people who “think” they know God but can’t get a prayer through to Him because
they have failed to repent and turn from their ways. The word says “For where
two or three gather in my name, there am I with them" (NIV). Don’t be
concerned about the numbers but be more concerned with having people close to
you who have hearts for God who can actually cover you.
Have you ever told someone you were going to
do something or try something new and they’re like “uhm…yeah I don’t think that’s
going to work out” or “I don’t think you can do that.” It’s time to tell those
people don’t speak that into my life! Stop letting messy negative people tell
you what you can and cannot do. The Creator of your story is God, period. There’s
nothing left to discuss on that end. It’s also important to seek God for the
direction of your life. I have had people tell me oh you should do this or you
should do that in reference to things in ministry. Let’s be clear, a good idea
is all fun and dandy but it ain’t got nothing on a God idea and HIS timing. Too
often people take action outside of their season and outside of the will of God
because man told them “it’s your season to prosper and be blessed.” But what
did God say??? We as a people have gotten to a point where we jump to our pastors,
prophets, sisters, and friends to get a “word” for our life but we don’t even seek
God about it. We depend on man to tell us what our tomorrow holds, and there are
too many people in leadership roles that only want to satisfy a person’s
itching ears so they continue to give these messages of prosperity and love instead of really dealing with the hearts of people. You
want to know your purpose; you want to know what you were created for? Seek
God! The word tells us that “if from there you seek the Lord your God,
you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and all your soul” (Deuteronomy
2:29, NIV). Seek God!! You want to know who and what you need to guard
your heart from, seek God!
Ask God to show you the hearts of the people around
you, He will make it clear. But here’s the thing, people reveal who they are to
us every day. All we have to do is pay attention. People will show you who they
belong to. Well what does that mean? People will show you who their
Father/father is. You’re either a child of God or a child of the enemy, there’s
no in between. Who we belong to is simply identified by our fruit; 1 John tells
us that
“No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in
them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God. This is
how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are:
Anyone who does not do what is right is not God’s child, nor is anyone who does
not love their brother or sister” (NIV). Who you belong to is identified by
how you live. We cannot afford to be children of the devil, let’s be clear on
that. Whatever is pulling you away from Christ, repent, turn back towards
Christ, and guard your heart from those things. The first step is always going
to be repentance, the next step is going to be obedience, and He will give you
the rest of the steps from there. God desires to have a relationship with us,
don’t allow anything or anyone to separate you from Him. “Above all else, guard
your heart; for everything you do flows from it.”
