Guard Your Heart

We guard certain aspects of our lives so carefully. We lock our cars, put security systems in our houses, and deposit our money in banks. Yet we leave our hearts, the very wellspring of our lives, open and vulnerable to the devil, who sneaks in like a criminal to take what belongs to us! How wonderful it would be if alarms would sound when our spiritual motion detectors sensed the enemy moving our way. Too often he slips in silently while we’re as yet unawares, stealing our peace, our joy, our time, our marriages and our finances before we even realize that the damage has been done.

Many would be the conditions that might trigger those alarm bells in our spirits. Our monitoring system would capture bad thoughts the moment they come into our consciousness so they could be eliminated before our mind has a chance to dwell on them. Likewise we’d know to turn away from wrong companions before we’re tempted to be yoked to them. The dangers of idleness would be apparent before we allowed our spirits to likewise slip into spiritual laziness and sleep.

God gave us such a security system in the Holy Spirit, whose job it is to warn and lead and guide us, thus protecting us against such threats. Perhaps our problem is that we’ve turned the volume down so low that we no longer hear His voice in time to protect the treasure we hold in our souls.

“Keep your heart with all diligence, For out of it spring the issues of life.”

(Proverbs 4:23 NKJV)

Fully Charged

The evangelist picked up the wireless microphone, turned to face the congregation, and began to speak. The crowd looked at him blankly as no sound whatsoever came out of the speakers. With a quick glance at the man working in the sound booth, he checked the mike in his hand and tried once more. Again there was no sound. Soon it was determined that the battery in the microphone was dead, and the search began for a fresh one to replace it.

How sad if we in the church likewise find ourselves with a message to share but no power to deliver it! The Holy Spirit is the power source that takes mere words and shoots them like darts past listening ears to find their mark in the hearts of those who hear them. All of us believers are ministers of God’s grace to the people around us. Yet if we’re not full of the Holy Spirit our evangelistic efforts fall as flat as if we’re using a microphone with a dead battery.

In the week following this incident I bought an extra battery and stuck it in my purse in case we should ever encounter the same situation in church again. It reminds me that it’s my responsibility to stay full of the Holy Ghost - fully charged - that I might have the power to minister effectively whenever the occasion arises.

“Their people, drained of power, are dismayed and put to shame…”
(2 Kings 19:26 NIV)