In my last post, “Four Keys to Obtain Life and Health,” I talked about how to obtain health physically as well as mentally. In the last point I made it talks about keeping God’s words in your heart “for it is the source of life’s consequences.” Today, I will continue with Proverbs 4:23-27.
Guard Your Heart
“Above everything else, guard your heart; for it is the source of life’s consequences.” If we don’t guard our hearts it will cause us to do wrong when we know to do right. That is why God tells us to guard it. We are to watch what we meditate on because it gets into our hearts and minds. Whatever is in your heart will come out, whether good or bad. What are some of the things we can do to guard our hearts. The next few verses tell us.
Be Honest
“Keep crooked speech out of your mouth, banish deceit from your lips.” God tells us to stop lying and being deceitful. If you’re constantly being deceitful then that is what is in your heart. God tells us to guard against this. We need to stop telling half truths or distorting the truth to suit our needs. We need to honest with ourselves and with others. We need to say what we mean and mean what we say. Let our yes be yes and our no be no. Believe it or not but lying is one of the seven things God hates. Think about that for a moment.
When we lie to others or deceive them it’s only a matter of time that we start to believe those lies ourselves. This is very dangerous and detrimental to our mental and physical well being. Lying is a negative response in our bodies and causes the heart rate and blood pressure to increase. This causes all kinds of havoc in your body.
Look Straight Ahead
“Let your eyes look straight ahead, fix your gaze on what lies in front of you.” God wants us to look forward instead of behind us. He wants us to leave the past behind, whether it was good or bad. If we long for the past, we miss the present and can never move toward the future. If we had a bad past then we are filled with regret. In either case it is not good for us.
We need to focus on what is in front of us, on what God wants for us. We are to forget those things which are behind us and reach forward toward what lies ahead of us, pursuing the goal set before us by God.
Prepare Your Way
“Level the path for your feet, let all your ways be properly prepared.” God tells us there is preparation involved in this. It is our job to prepare our hearts, minds, and bodies. We are responsible for what we meditate on, what we focus on, and what we deem is worthy of our attention. Even though it is our responsibility, God tells us what we should focus on. He tells us to “focus our thoughts on what is true, noble, righteous, pure, lovable or admirable, on some virtue or on something praiseworthy.” (Philippians 4:8 CJB) He knows that our thinking affects our body and our lives.
Do Not Deviate
“Then deviate neither right nor left;” Once we are on the right path and prepared the way in which we should go, we are not to turn aside to the right or the left. We are to look straight ahead, moving in a forward direction. We are not to look backwards or to either side of us because then we will get distracted. Once distracted we will begin to move toward whatever is distracting us. Now we are no longer going straight, but crooked.
Sometimes, it may seem like we are still going in a straight line when in reality we are not. It’s like drawing a line on a large sheet of paper. You think you are drawing a straight line because you are so close to it. However, when you pick up the paper you realize that you are far from being straight. Those little increments of deviations that you didn’t realize you were drawing now shows up clearly. Depending on how far you drew on the paper without checking to make sure you were still on target will determine how far back you have to go to fix the problem.
So check often and fix any slight deviations so that you are not far from you path. In the case of sickness, determine when you stop believing God and started believing other reports.
Stay Away from Evil
“And keep your foot far from evil.” God tells us over and over again in his word to stay away from evil, not to follow after wrong doing people, and not to get trapped by evil. He tells us this because he knows what evil will do to us. It will condemn us to life without God and his holy presence. It will separate us from true joy. It will keep us from getting well also.
Proverbs 3:7-8 says, “Don’t be conceited about your own wisdom; but fear Adonai, and turn from evil. This will bring health to your body and give strength to your bones.” Living a life of evil will cause us to be sick. Have you ever seen someone who looks years older than what their real age really is? Then we look at the type of life they live and we understand why.
God’s Reasons
God only wants the best for us. This is why he has given us his wisdom to follow. It wasn’t to put a bunch of restrictions on us so we can feel trapped and unhappy. It was so that we can be free and enjoy the life that he gave us.
Prayer Time
Our Heavenly Father, who is in heaven,
Teach us how to guard our hearts and focus on what you have for us. Help us to walk in a straight line, looking only forward.
In Yeshua the Messiah’s name, Amen.
Scripture Reference
“Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life. Put away from thee a forward mouth, and perverse lips put far from thee. Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee. Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established. Turn not to the right hand nor to the left: remove thy foot from evil.” (Proverbs 4:23-27 KJV)
“Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.” (Philippians 4:8 KJV)
“Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before. I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 3:13 KJV)