“Guard Your Heart!” (Proverbs 4:23)

“Guard Your Heart!”

(Proverbs 4:23)

Most. Intense. Battleground

Do you know where the most intense battleground in the world today? The answer is “our heart.” One time Pastor David Ross, a representative of Youth With A Mission (YWAM) Korea, led a Bible camp for Korean-American junior high school students. As a part of the retreat practice he took the students to Harlem and did street evangelism with them. After the retreat, Pastor David received an overwhelming number of phone calls of complaint from the parents. They said, “How dare you take my precious children to that place? Do you have any idea how dangerous place Harlem is?” David answered, “The most dangerous place is not Harlem but a comfortable couch in front of the T.V. because the enemy does tempt our children’s hearts as much as he pleases there.” The Bible says “Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life” (Pr 4:23, NIV). Our heart is the place where life starts. It determines the course of our life. It affects everything we do. Satan is well aware of this more than anyone else. He carries full-scale attack to poison our hearts. He puts his thoughts into our hearts. John 13:2 says, “The devil had already put it into the heart of Judas son of Simon Iscariot to betray him” (NRSV). Satan constantly puts his thoughts into our hearts. That is why we must guard our hearts with all diligence. Our next question is then how can we guard our hearts?

Discern the Voices

First, we must discern the voice of God from that of the devil. Normally, we think that all thoughts in our hearts are from ours. But actually, there are three different kinds of the voices which speak to our hearts: the voice of God, the voice of self and the voice of Satan. God puts his thoughts into our hearts. In John 14:26 Jesus said to his disciples, “But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you” (NIV). And we already learned that Satan also puts his thoughts into our hearts. We must discern the voice of God from that of Satan. In Galatians 5 Apostle Paul contrasts one to the other. The voice of Satan always prompts us to fall into temptation: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and the list goes on (vv. 19-21). The devil’s purpose is clear: He comes only to steal and kill and destroy (John 10:10a). His voice destroys us. It destroys our relationship with God and with others. But the voice of God gives us life. It is all about love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (vv. 22-23).

It sounds simple to distinguish the voice of God from that of the devil. But in fact, it is not because Satan disguises himself as an angel of light when he speaks to our hearts (2 Cor 11:14). Judas Iscariot never dreamed that the devil put it into his heart to betray Jesus. Eve never knew that she was deceived by the serpent until she ate the fruit. The serpent approached her in a friendly manner. He pretended to stand by her, saying, “You will be like God.” Then, how can we discern between the two voices? We must follow Jesus’ example. When Jesus was tempted by the devil, immediately he was able to discern where that voice came from. How was that possible? It was possible because he was filled with the truth of God, the word of God. Three times Jesus defeated the enemy’s temptations by proclaiming the word of God. There are many ways to identify counterfeit money. But the best way to identify it is to thoroughly know about genuine money. Then, intuitively we can tell the difference between the two. When we have the word in our hearts, we can discern the roots of the thoughts, the roots of the voices. David said in Psalm 119:11, “I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.” This is the first step to guard our hearts.

Resist the Devil

The second step is to resist the devil. James 4:7 says, “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” Have you ever embarrassed by the thoughts that came to your mind? Yes, I have embarrassed many times by the evil thoughts, sexual immorality, murder, slander and pride. Actually, the devil puts those evil thoughts in our hearts. That’s how he works in us. When those things happen, we must resist the devil right away. Martin Luther said, “You cannot keep birds from flying over your head but you can keep them from building a nest in your hair.” Oftentimes we underestimate the dangers of the evil thoughts. We say “That’s just a thought.” But when we harbor evil thoughts, Satan actually takes over us. After the devil put his thoughts into Judas’ heart, Jesus gave him several chances to turn back. Jesus said to the disciples, “You are clean, though not everyone of you” (John 13:10). The disciples didn’t understand. Only Judas knew what Jesus was talking about. But he chose to harbor the evil thoughts. Then, Jesus said, “He who shares my bread has lifted up his heel against me” (v.18). Again only Judas knew that Jesus was talking to him. But he continued to harbor the evil thoughts. Then, Jesus said more directly, “I tell you the truth, one of you is going to betray me” (v. 21). But Judas continued to harbor the evil thoughts. And finally, Jesus said, "It is the one to whom I will give this piece of bread when I have dipped it in the dish" (v. 26). But Judas continued to harbor the evil thoughts. After this, Satan entered into Judas (v. 27). So when all kinds of evil thoughts – murder, adultery, all sexual immorality, theft, lying and slander (Matt 15:19) – come to your minds, say NO to them immediately in the name of Jesus. Never, never, never, harbor those evil thoughts!

Put on the Lord Jesus Christ

Our heart is the most intense battleground. To guard our heart we must discern the voice of God from that of the devil. So when the devil puts his thoughts into our heart, we must resist him right away. But there is more! We must put on the Lord Jesus Christ. The Bible says, “Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. (Say No to those evil thoughts right away!) But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires” (Rom 13:13-14, ESV). Putting on Christ each day doesn’t mean wearing him as an imposition or a burden. It means wearing him as a protection. We must wear the asbestos fire-proof suit when we rescue people from the flames. Jesus is our fire-proof suit. We must wear a bullet proof vest when we confront the pistols of criminals. Jesus is our bullet proof vest. We work diligently to protect our possessions. We work hard to protect our family. But too often we neglect to guard the source of our life, our heart. The Christian life is not just waking; it is war. The Bible says, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand” (Eph 6:12-13, NLT/NIV). To put on the full armor of God means to put on the Lord Jesus Christ.

How Do We Put on the Lord Jesus Christ?

Then how do we do that? Jesus Christ is the Word that became flesh (John 1:14). So we can put on Christ by holding fast the Word. When you are tempted to feel condemned, proclaim Colossians 1:13-14 to yourself: “I have been redeemed and forgiven of all my sins in Christ!” When you are tempted to feel unworthy, proclaim Hebrews 4:14-16 to yourself: “I have direct access to the throne of grace through Jesus Christ!” When you are tempted to live for yourself, proclaim 1 Corinthians 6:19-20: “I have been bought with a price, and I belong to Christ.” The word of Christ guards our hearts and revives our souls. When I was serving as a youth pastor in Cambridge, MA, I spent much time on training three small group leaders. The enemy hit the leaders hard. He caused the relationship problems among them. Two of them fell into a love triangle, and the other broke up with one of the group members. Eventually, one leader moved to another state for further study, and the others went back to Korea. Then, great dissension arose within the young adult group, and some of them left the church. Within a few months the number of the members decreased sharply, and the love of the members grew cold. I was greatly discouraged. Satan whispered to me, “It is over. You failed!” I was crushed and wept. I was about to quit. And I talked to God, “Lord, I am sorry. I am afraid I failed.” And the Lord spoke to me, “Do not be afraid; keep on speaking, do not be silent. For I am with you, and no one is going to attack and harm you, because I have many students in this city.” (Acts 18:9-10) As soon as I heard this word of God, I was able to guard my heart and stand firm again.

Our Lord Jesus Christ promised all of us, “The Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you” (John 14:26). I commend you to put on not just your clothes but also Jesus Christ every morning. I strongly commend you to give your very first hour of the day to Christ. Every morning spend time with Christ before you meet or talk to someone else. Put on Christ before the enemy puts his thoughts into your heart. Putting on the Lord Jesus Christ daily is not just the alternative to harboring evil thoughts. It is the only way to kill these sinful thoughts and win the battle all the time. The darkness is always pushed out by the light. Let us put on the armor of light. Let us put on the Lord Jesus Christ. “God is with us, we will not fall; God will help us at break of day” (Ps 46:5). Amen.