Day 5
Guard Your Heart
Written by: Jason Potter
To start today’s blog, I want to take a moment to congratulate you for making it this far. By now, you’ve probably seen every Krispy Cream Doughnut Ad and every “sizzling” steak billboard in your area. But for the past four days, you have fought off temptation, dealt with “the hangries”, and struggled through fatigue. That in itself is an accomplishment! However, there is still a long ways to go. So let’s keep things going and look at today’s focus; the heart.
The Bible tells us to “love the Lord your God with all your heart…” (see Duet 6:5). Loving God with all your heart is key because scripture teaches us that the heart is the core of our thoughts, motives, fears, beliefs, etc.
In fact, Jesus said to His disciples, “where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (See Matt 6:21). So then, what ever we desire, our heart will be right there propetuating us towards that desire. Fasting causes us to address the issue of our heart’s desires. What do I really want more? Natural things or heavenly things?
When we deprive ourselves of natural cravings, we begin to draw out the carnal desires that are in our hearts. However, let me say this; fasting as a ritual will never bring the spiritual results we suppose. Just depriving ourselves from food does not address or change the condition of our hearts. In order to do this, we must stay focused on God during fasting through prayer and reading our Bibles.
While fasting, we may begin to see desires surface that we are not aware that we have. But how can this be? Don’t we know our own heart? The truth is we don’t know everything that is in our heart. The Lord tells us that, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? ” (See Jer 17:9).
Over time, with out us knowing, we have probably let things get in our hearts that should not be. We’ve let in offenses, doubts, perversions, and anything else the enemy can sow into our hearts for our destruction. To combat this, we must learn to “Guard our Heart.”
The only way to truly guard our heart is to give it to the Lord. During this fast, we must be willing to ask God to search us and know our hearts (See Ps 139:23). We must be willing to allow God to surface any sinful desire that needs purging, ask him to remove it through prayer, and replace those things with the word of God.
Let me end by saying how fitting it is to discuss the heart on day five. Traditionally, five in the Bible represents grace. We all fall short and fail to guard our hearts from the enemy’s tactics. But today, as you fast, trust in the grace of God. Allow Him to continue to do a work in you, for you, and through you. And today, as you fast, make up in your mind to guard your heart.
(Prov 4:23 NLT)
“Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.”
