Topic: Be Diligent in Guarding Your Heart (Thoughts) [Archbishop Margaret E. Benson Idahosa] Above Only Daily Devotional 20 June 2020

Be Diligent in Guarding Your Heart (Thoughts)

Proverbs 4:23 (KJV) Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.

Proverbs 4:23 (GNB) Be careful how you think; your life is shaped by your thoughts.

Proverbs 23:7a For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he:

2 Corinthians 10:3-5 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.

After Apostle Paul had taught the Galatian believers about putting their faith in Christ and God’s love, some people came to start teaching them that putting their faith in what Christ did was not enough. These people taught them that they must be circumcised to be saved. Circumcision was a sign God gave the Jews to help them remember the covenant God had brought them into. It was a sign that they were God’s people. But the Bible tells us that the Law and all its ordinances were shadows of good things to come and the reality is in Jesus, Col. 2:17 (GNB). These people did not know that the Law strengthens sin and the Law was not given to save man, we don’t depend on the Law to be righteous before God but on our faith in Christ. 1 Timothy 1:9 says, “… the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, …”

Going back to trying to be accepted before God by obeying the Law will completely cut us out of the grace of God, Gal. 5:4. Our lives will be filled with struggles and frustrations. It was not by the law that Abraham obtained the promise but by the righteousness of faith, Rom. 4:13. Now does the fact that Jesus has set us free from trying to keep the Law to be righteous mean that we can begin to live our lives recklessly? Not at all. Jesus did not set us free to live anyhow, He set us free to live for Him. Jesus said I am the light and if you follow me you will not walk in darkness, John 8:12. What the Law was trying to achieve in us is only achieved as we follow the leading of God’s Spirit, Rom. 8:4. If we do not follow Jesus and walk in the Spirit (Gal. 5:16-26), we will bring ourselves under the bondage of the flesh. To remain free in Christ we must keep our faith in Him and we must keep following the leading of His Spirit in us.

Prayer:

Heavenly Father, I thank you for the truth of the revelation of Christ that is filling my heart, renewing my mind and guarding my heart continually.

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