Guard Your Heart...Keep Your Focus

Well, the results are in from the poll I took at the end of March up to Sunday the 17th!!!

70% wanted to know about Guarding your Heart in this society
30% wanted Spiritual Credentials
20% wanted Bible Study\Song Posts

So my first post will be on guarding your heart.  I must be completely honest with you though...this is probably one of the hardest subjects for me to write on.  God has given me so many tools and resources to tap into about this subject, but with the world's view of Biblical relationships, posting about changing the code that the world lives by is not easy.  It can hit some sore spots in some people's lives.  However, whenever I get convicted about something, that usually means I know it's a problem in my life, and I have to turn away from it.   Even when my flesh seems stronger- the Spirit is always ready to work if I would only allow it to control me!!

  This third chapter on Guarding your Heart is going to be very important. In a book that I recently read, the author gave the illustration of looking at your heart like a an unopened white rose.

The white rose is pure, unblemished, and is still closed up, it's the beginning of spring, and it's not ready to bloom.  A father and his daughter walk by it and the father says to his daughter, "Will you open up this rose for me? I would like to see the beauty inside of it."   The daughter shakes her head seriously, "No, if I open it up it will be damaged and never bloom."  "Exactly,"  her father says gently; "It is the same with your heart.  If you awaken it and pry it open to new and uncharted paths before it's ready, you will ruin it's beauty and you will never be able to get it back."

Few treasures are so easily lost as purity-yet so few are as important to keep.

With emotional entanglements it's easy to loose sight of Christ when your focus is on the opposite gender.  There are some girls in the world who have one of the most destructive diseases I could ever name.  It's called "Love without Hope".  This means that they admire a young man, but know he isn't interested in them and so they stand aside and wait for him while giving their heart to him even though he has not asked for it.  In our culture it is a romantic gesture when you love long without hope- but it can it so destructive to the walls of your heart!!

When your thoughts are centered on the opposite gender, your focus is on your emotions, the other person, and then the rest of your heart is given to God.  This hurts your relationship with Jesus so much!! Christ commands us to give Him all of our heart, not just the leftover pieces!

God has been planning your love story for years.  He's been refining and molding you into the perfect help-meet for your future spouse.  You know He has enjoyed making your life one of His best masterpieces!  However, since we are Christians, Christ has given us a free will to make decisions.  With this knowledge He waits to see if we are going to wait for His romance story, or make one of our own.

Some young girls I know do not know what it means for them to guard their heart.  How on earth do you accomplish it??!! Well, first your heart must be surrendered to God.  Once He has your heart He's not going to lock it away and forget about it.  He's going to teach you and prepare you.  The process of surrendering your heart to God is not a one time deal, it's a daily commitment to remove your hands from the steering wheel and let God take control.  You always have the assurance that God knows what is ahead, He has walked the path already and will never give us something we can't handle (with His help).

The easiest way to avoid looking at the opposite gender as potential marriage candidates is to simply start praying for them...and their future spouse- which may or may not be you! It takes the focus off of your emotions and places your future firmly back in God's hands. 

Does your behavior cause the opposite gender to think of you in a different way other than a Godly young Christian serving Christ?  Does it cause them to betray a bit of themselves and not save those emotions strictly for their spouse?  We have to watch our behavior! Is our dress and speech pointing the way to Christ?  Is everything we allow to happen guarding our hearts- and theirs?

We are a Christian family, this means we protect each other.  I know I can count on my immediate family to protect me against anything, my brothers in Christ should also have the assurance that my actions and appearance is not going to cause them to stumble.  Making the effort to protect them not only helps them, but also encourages the other young women around me to be careful as well.

However, with a guarded heart some single people get the impression that they are not  allowed to have feelings of sincere care for the opposite gender to enter their heart.
This is not so, as brothers in Christ the men in my life I do sincerely care for.   The difference is that I don't view them as potential spouses.   God commands us to love everyone.
In the Christian circle nowadays love is a word that seems to only apply to romance.

Love is not the passionate definition that Hollywood gives us.  It has a self-sacrificial meaning.  It means that you care for someone more than yourself and you hold their best interests at heart. Look at them as Christ looks at them.

Now I am not encouraging you to walk up to the opposite gender and say "You know what, we're such great friends that I love you."     Not at all!!  I simply mean that you are to love in a way that does not cause God to have to hold up the walls of your heart.  As your emotions and desires try to push themselves up against the wall He runs to defend them.  But while He is doing that the gate is left unguarded, and with the gate unguarded anyone can walk in.

When you have an open heart to ministry, serving Christ in all things, learning constantly and improving the skills God has given you.  I believe you will find that these emotions alone fill any gaps you feel you might have in your heart.  God so richly blesses those who live their life glorifying Him every step of the way.

1 Corinthians 7:34  "...An unmarried woman or virgin is concerned about the Lord's affairs: Her aim is to be devoted to the Lord in both body and spirit..."

Titus 2:3  Teach the younger generation to:

Young women ~ "Be self-controlled and pure, busy at home, to be kind, and subject to their husbands (or fathers), so that no one will malign the word of God."

Young men ~ "Similarly, encourage the young men to be self-controlled.  In everything set an example by doing what is good.  In your teaching show integrity, seriousness, and soundness of speech that cannot be condemned, so that those who oppose you may be ashamed because they have nothing bad to say about us"  (Titus 2:6-8)
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