I used to follow anyone on social media who I felt was “fashionable,” and watch their vlogs even when I knew they had some outfits that were not modest and had lust in their hearts. However, God has and still is reminding me of the importance of guarding my heart.

When we fix our eyes on things that are dark, we can easily accept things that are dark and lose sensitivity to the pure heart of Jesus. Paul reminds us in Philippians 3:17, “Join together in following my example, and just as you have us as a model, keep your eyes on those who live as we do.” If God is telling us to fix our eyes on those who live like Jesus, then that means fixing our eyes on those who don’t live like Jesus will bring harm to us.

It’s time we filter who we choose to follow on social media, who we choose to watch on YouTube, etc. One of the ways to guard our hearts is to guard what we see.

Who are you following? Are you choosing to follow those who live like Jesus?

If we want to finish strong, we need to make the choice every day to live our best for Jesus. Let’s make a commitment to choose righteousness every day.

Living a righteous life is living the BEST life. There’s nothing better outside of living a righteous life unto Jesus. God promises us that those who pursue righteousness and love will find life, prosperity, and honor. We live in such a time where temptation is everywhere through technology like our phones and social media. Now is the time to be all the more intentional about pursuing righteousness and guarding what we see.

In order for us to live out God’s Word, we need to meditate on His Word throughout the day. It can be easy to let our thoughts be consumed by other things like work, family, and the posts and ads we see on social media. But we must be intentional to fix our gaze on Jesus and His Word. Jesus is the Word made flesh (John 1:14), so when we meditate on the Word, we meditate on life itself, who is Jesus.

Though many things are fighting for our attention, let us keep our affection towards Jesus and His Word. If you need to set reminders to meditate on the Word throughout the day, do it! Let God’s Word drive you to love Him with all your heart each and every day.

How can you better meditate on God’s Word each day?

The best way to bind the Word of God in our hearts is to meditate on it. Proverbs 6:22 promises that, as we bind the Word of God on our hearts, it will guide us when we walk, watch over us as we sleep, and speak to us when we are awake.

The only way to experience life to the fullest is to live according to God’s ways. You will never regret obeying God’s Word. My greatest regrets in life have always been the times I did not obey God’s Word. Proverbs 6:23 reminds us that God’s Word is a lamp, and correction and instruction are the way to life.

Let us choose every day to practice the foundational things that allow us to live in Christ and obey Him. There’s no better version of our lives than a life that pleases God. So remember, practice the foundational things.

Prayer: Jesus, thank you for guiding me with your Word. Help me to practice obeying it daily.

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The Lord has been telling me recently that if I want to continue burning for Him, I need to steward that by guarding my heart.

To guard something means to be vigilant. We must be watchful of what we allow in our hearts by guarding what we see, hear, speak, and do. If I were to ask you to guard a baby, you would look around the room and make sure the perimeter is safe. When guarding our hearts, we too must ensure that our surroundings are pure and wholesome.

We have the duty to guard and keep our hearts burning for Jesus. How do we keep our hearts burning for Jesus? By spending time with Jesus and opening our hearts to be kindled by His revelation and love.

Psalm 18:28 says, “You, Lord, keep my lamp burning; my God turns my darkness to light.” Only God can burn our hearts for Jesus. We must allow God to kindle our hearts by spending time with Him every day and allowing Him to speak to us. God reminds us in Luke 10:39-42 that there is only one thing necessary, and that is sitting at his feet and listening to Him.

The priests in the book of Leviticus had the duty to keep the fire on the altar burning continuously. Leviticus 6:13 says, “The fire must be kept burning on the altar continuously; it must not go out.” The priests had to tend to the altar continuously for it to burn continuously.

Just as the priests had to tend to the fire in the altar continuously, we too are called to tend to our hearts continuously so that it will burn continuously for Jesus. A one-time revelation of Jesus isn’t enough. We need a daily revelation of Jesus to keep our hearts burning in love for Him. He is our daily bread.

Let’s also not forget the important role that the Holy Spirit plays in regards to revealing revelation and bringing the word of God to life. Give the Holy Spirit an opportunity to speak into your life and check your heart every day. Everything we do flows from our heart, so if we want to make sure we are doing things with a pure heart, it all starts with guarding and checking our hearts.

Are you making time daily to allow Jesus to tend to your heart?

We will be presented with many options throughout life, but let us choose to hold on to God’s way always.

The Word of God is life. We will always walk in the way of life as we hold on to God’s Word because everything we do flows from our hearts. When our heart’s affection is toward Jesus, we will always gravitate towards obeying God’s Word.

Pray and ask God to give you a heart devoted only to Him. If there is any love for the world, love for God can’t exist. 1 John 2:15 says, “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them.”

While God’s ways may not always be what our flesh desires, we must understand that His ways are always best. Jesus leads us to everlasting life; while sin always leads to death (Romans 6:23). Hold on to God’s Word like it’s the only thing that will let you live because His Word is truly the only way to everlasting life. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, which makes the Word of God also all these things because the Word is Jesus Himself (John 1:14). Let us hold on to God’s instructions and never replace them with the world’s ways.

We will make better decisions in life when we think of the results of our actions before we take any action. Proverbs 4:26 reminds us to give careful thought to the paths of our feet. Before you do something, stop and ask yourself why you are doing it, and does this please God? One of the best ways to guard your heart is to guard the actions that you take. You never want to get close to temptation because it can cause you to fall.

How can you better guard your heart? Choose to guard your heart and walk in the path of righteousness because it will be worth it in the long run. Let us live farsighted, looking towards our eternity with Jesus. So remember, guard your heart.

Prayer: Jesus, thank you for revealing yourself to me daily. Help me to keep watch over my heart and guard it for you.

Listen more in our podcast “Guarding Your Heart”
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Recently, I had one of those mornings where I didn’t feel like getting up, yet I had a serving role to do. My heart started to grumble as I got ready to start the day. However, God reminded me that no matter what we are facing, God deserves our praise.

When we remember the goodness of God and how He loves us so much to grant us eternal life to those who live in Christ, we can’t help but have a heart of gratitude.

A life that exalts God is a life that remembers what Jesus did for us on the cross. I pray that the cross never gets old for us. May our joy always be rooted in how much God loves us. Though we deserve death, Jesus made a way through His blood for us to be made right and have eternal life with Him.

We serve a God who never changes and is always good and faithful. Let Psalm 100:5 reign in your heart every day: “For the Lord is good and His love endures forever.”

Exalting God starts with guarding our hearts. One of the best ways to guard our hearts is to guard what we see. Let us make a covenant with our eyes to see nothing wicked. As believers in Jesus, our body is where God dwells. We are His temple and therefore are called to honor God with our bodies (1 Corinthians 6:19-20).

Psalm 24:3-4 says, “Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord? Or who may stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart…”

Let us be careful to guard our hearts by guarding what we see so that Jesus can reign in us and through us. Are there things in your life that you need to cut off for the sake of purity?

We are called to exalt God because He is holy. When we choose to live a holy life, we are choosing to exalt God.

God says, “Be holy, because I am holy” (1 Peter 1:16). Though Jesus died on the cross and shed His blood so that we could be made holy, it does not mean we now don’t need to live holy lives. We are called to live in Jesus by living out His ways of holiness.

Hebrews 10:26 makes it clear saying, “For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins.”

God’s mercy is available when we mess up, but let’s make the standard to live a blameless life before God. Give God our best because He gave us His best. How we live shows whether we love Jesus. We can say with our words that we love Him, but our actions should also prove that we love Him. Jesus says in John 14:15, “If you love me, obey my commandments.” Romans 12:1 also tells us that our true and proper worship is to offer our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God.

Does your life show that you exalt God?

Living a holy life isn’t burdensome when we see the beauty of God’s holiness. Holiness is beautiful because it encompasses everything that God is.

When we choose to live pure and set apart, we are showing God that we love Him and value what Jesus did on the cross for us. Jesus died and shed His blood for us so that we could be made holy and have a right relationship with God. Why would we turn back to darkness when we now see the light? So remember what it means to exalt God.

Prayer: Jesus, thank you for dying to make me holy. Help me to exalt You with my words and my actions.

Listen more in our podcast “What It Means To Exalt God”
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