No this is not a fitness blog – and no I’m not talking about your heart organ. What we are talking about today is your mind (not your brain real estate or even your consciousness). God describes it as your soul/heart/mind.
Your soul is made up of your subconscious mind, your will and your emotion and it is the mediator between your body and your spirit.
There is heaps of information on what it is, however what I want to focus on today is the warning I am hearing everywhere at the moment and it is to ‘Guard Your Heart’.
We are in danger of corrupting our heart because we don’t understand how important it is to guard it. God says that out of our heart our mouth speaks and it is what our mouth speaks that God will judge.
The silly thing is that we have brought into the lie – that it’s OK – it doesn’t matter if I watch this one episode or read this article or listen to this song – the truth is you might be ok – but we rarely stop at one -and through our conscious mind we feed our heart and our heart feeds our spirit, our spirit puts up a fight and tells our heart to not take hold of it, or heart tells our consciousness we need to stop this and the consciousness says- “but it feels good – don’t you think?”
If you want the science of this – what is happening in our brain real estate – there are some great scientists who explain it well like Dr Caroline Leaf.
Eventually it becomes rooted in our heart and then it’s a chore which takes great will and determination to eradicate it.
We need to stop and think about what we have allowed to take hold because those things now define us.
I like how Chad Prather puts it – we need to ‘protest ourselves’ – take issue with what we have allowed.
If you have watched the media around COVID – over and over- I’m betting you hold fear in your heart – because that’s been the message. And as children of God this fear has no place in us.
You cant just get rid of the rot it has to be replaced. (again see Dr Caroline Leaf’s work on this)
We need to change our hearts, protest ourselves, and do it with a positivity that gets us somewhere that makes a difference.
“Don’t run around in the street (on facebook) burning other peoples stuff, burn down the idolatry of your own selfishness” – Chad Prather
When we let garbage in it affects us, our relationships, our community, our nation negatively.
King David knew this – that’s why when you read Psalm 119 (yes the longest Psalm) what he is saying is thank you Lord that I dwell on what you say day and night. David so gets this he confidently and humbly asks the Lord to:
Search me, God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.
Start to question everything you allow – everything you watch, everything you listen to, everything you read.
Ask yourself do I want this in my heart so it defines me?
It may mean you have to say no when a friend invites you to a movie that wont feed your heart good stuff. It may mean you might have to ask the guy you work with to not swear all day. It may mean you need to switch the radio station over or off when morally corrupt music or conversation are on. It may mean you no longer buy your favourite magazine because they have allowed questionable advertising.
Then you need to fill the void with positive, Godly, righteous stuff. Philippians puts it this way:
Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.
And you can only think it if you feed it to yourself. You have the power – given by God- the will to do this.
Only when we do are we then able to effect change in our society and stop the flow of garbage and evil that is coming into our lives.
How will you change your heart beat today?
What are you going to protest yourself about?
What are you going to allow to define you?
What changes do you need to make?
What show do you need to stop watching?
What comedian do you need to stop listening to?
What media channel do you need to turn off?
What music do you need to boycott?
What person do you need to stop following on YouTube, Facebook or Insta?
THEN – how will you fill the void?
This one is really hard but so very necessary. I think I have been taking the tiniest of steps in regards to this over the last few years; it is still quite hard nonetheless. We are so saturated with media in all areas of our lives it takes a very conscious decision and awareness to actively refuse such influences
You are so right. It takes conscious decision – i like to say we do things intentionally. if we just let things happen then we leave ourselves open and often we don’t even know or understand what it is that has happened. However if we live with intention then we spot the stuff that we not intended or haven’t allowed for and we can act quickly to rectify and make a choice that is true to our worldview and way of life.
I pray the Lord will bless you and that choosing to live intentionally will become easier and easier for you, as you trust Him who made you and all you see. Bless you