Proverbs 4:23: Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.
Do you view yourself as being valuable? Before you answer that question, let’s qualify something. Doesn’t it matter who is placing value on us? God looked at us while we were still sinners and declared we were priceless. We know this to be true because He gave His only begotten Son to redeem us from the bondage of sin. God has placed the highest value on fallen man that could ever be set.
Satan, on the other hand, believes that we are worthless, and he works overtime trying to use harsh people and adverse situations to convince us of this lie. Isn’t it wonderful to know that God saw us as redeemable and priceless before we “got our life together”? Now that we know this truth, we can have the hope and strength that we need to walk away from our old identity and embrace the new man who is created in true righteousness and holiness.
Therefore, we must learn how to guard our hearts. Here are some indicators that will help you to determine if you’re guarding your heart from Satan’s ploys. As a Christian, do you value the Word of God to the point of getting in it and allowing it to get into you? Do you value your relationship and intimacy with God by investing time seeking Him so that you can live a life that is pleasing to Him?
We must not fool ourselves into thinking that we can begin to guard our hearts from the strategies of Satan without placing value on God and His Word. In fact, the more value and honor we place on God’s Word and on being in His presence on a consistent basis, the more we are keeping the purity of heart intact.
Seeing all that is happening around us should convince us that we are, indeed, living in the end times. Since we are aware of that truth, it should provoke us even more to be on guard because Jesus and Paul taught us about the last days being evil. In the evil day, we must be able to withstand (or keep the spiritual ground that we have gained) lest we succumb to the wiles of the Devil.
In Ephesians 6, Paul tells us exactly how we can overcome the adversary of our soul and live a victorious life in the evil day. We must train ourselves through self-discipline to be strong in the Lord and walk in the power of His might. It will require dedication to God’s Word and a desire to be continually in His presence in order for us to resist Satan in these last days. Even so, remember, God loved us when we couldn’t love ourselves. He forgave us when we couldn’t forgive ourselves. He placed His Holy Spirit in us when we had no power to change ourselves. He has the power to keep us in the evil day when we can’t keep ourselves. We must be willing to yield to the leading of the Holy Spirit and fulfill God’s purpose in our life to be victorious. Submit to God, resist the Devil, and he will flee from you. —submitted by Asa Dockery, US
