Becoming Conference – Andi Andrew – June 22, 2024
Matters of The Heart
Proverbs 4:23
- NLT “Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.”
- NIV “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.”
- CSB “Guard your heart above all else, for it is the source of life.”
We cannot always control our circumstances, but we get to steward the state of our hearts.
We know, our heart keeps us offended or free, forgiving or bitter, joyful or sad.
Psalm 19:14 NIV
May the words of my mouth
and the meditation of my heart
be pleasing to you,
O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.
So practically, how do we steward and guard our hearts?
1.) What are the words of MY MOUTH saying?
Luke 6:43-45
43 “No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. 44 Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thornbushes, or grapes from briers. 45 A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.
Ephesians 4:29 NIV
29 Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.
Jeremiah 1:9-10 NIV
9 Then the Lord reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, “I have put my words in your mouth. 10 See, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant.”
2.) What is the Meditation of MY HEART?
- Psalm 139:23-24 NIV
- Search me, God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
24 See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.
- Search me, God, and know my heart;
3.) Ask, “What Pleases God?”
Hebrews 11:1 and 6 NIV
“1Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see…6 And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.”