Word Art Wednesday: Guard Your Heart (FREE DIGI STAMPS)

Welcome to Word Art Wednesday and another opportunity to showcase your creative projects with us.  We hope you'll submit your encouraging, family-friendly artwork whether or not you use our beautiful scripture word art for your project.  We invite you to copy the verse and use it. 

I memorized this verse several years ago in the New International Version.  That translation offers the clear imperative of God's Word. 

Above all else, guard your heart,
    for everything you do flows from it.

Are we guarding our hearts the way scripture commands?   If we expect plants to grow, we must start with fertile soil.  Clay or sandy soil won't grow lush green vegetation in most places.  Our hearts are like the soil of our lifestyle.  If our hearts are tarnished our actions will be self-service at best and contrary to God's principles in the end.  We cannot possess worldly desires and produce holy lives.  

Many years ago I went canoeing on a river in southern Missouri.  The river flowed gently that day and the scenery was absolutely amazing.  The rich foliage was breathtaking.  Rounding one bend a idyllic scene came into full full.  A waterfall cascading down an embankment into the river.  You could feel the freshness of the place and smell the clean waters as they filled the river.  The view was pristine and completely unspoiled. I'll never forget it.  Our hearts are to be like that spring-fed waterfall...sparkling clean.  But we have to guard our hearts so the pollutants of the world don't contaminate what is intended to be fresh and pure. 

The challenge of course is to live in the world without being a part of the world.  We are commanded to pour living water into every relationship and situation without allowing the mud of our culture splash back upon us.  Difficult.  We need a shield, something that repels the contamination.  

Surely, Lord, you bless the righteous; 

you surround them with your favor as with a shield. 

Psalm 5:12

  My shield is God Most High, 

who saves the upright in heart.

Psalm 7:10

God Himself will shield us when our hearts are upright and pure.  Fixing our eyes on Jesus, on the truth of God's Word and the beauty of His will purifies our heart, our thoughts and our actions.  Think about it...when you miss time of studying scripture, really meditating on it; when prayer time grows thin; when we stay out of tune with what the Spirit says to us...isn't it easier to veer off course.  To guard our hearts, we have to pursue the things of God that will purify us and keep us clean.  

Be diligent in keeping your heart.  Because everything you think and do will be a result of the spiritual condition of your heart.  My prayer for each of you reading this post is that you will be challenged to draw closer to the heart of God that He may guard your own heart like a might fortress.  

Enjoy this FREEBIE for a limited time only from Diane's Daydream Designs.

 

Thanks for blessing my day with you!

Join us at Word Art Wednesday.

Diane