Proverbs 4:23
Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.
NIV
Keep your heart with all diligence, For out of it spring the issues of life.
NKJV
Guard your heart with all possible vigilance, for from it flow the wellsprings of life.
NCB
Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.
NLT
Be careful what you think [Above all that you guard, protect your heart], because your thoughts run your life [life flows from it].
EXB
Guard: Strong’s Concordance Hebrew 5341- Watch over. Keep. Preserve.
Dictionary Definition: Take precautions against. Protect.
Thesaurus: Be on alert. Aware. Protect. Safeguard. Shield.
Heart: Strong’s Concordance Hebrew 3820 - Inner man. Mind. Will. Understanding.
Above everything, watch over, take precautions to keep, preserve, protect your inner man. Be on alert! Aware! Shielding your mind. Safeguard your understanding.
Do not let your guard down!
Preserve (maintain) your heart (inner self) setting your course for life; realizing, preservation is not imprisonment. Preservation shields and protects, where walls of imprisonment entrap, causing the heart to harden through emotional confinement.
Avoid such trappings of the enemy, for the fowler’s snare is set and ready to incarcerate the heart of the offended. Hurt will hold you captive, detaining your destiny. Insidiously, the disgruntled become despondent to hope.
Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.” Surely he will save you from the fowler’s snare and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.
Psalm 91:1-4 NIV
Be on alert! Exercise precautions! Has offense fenced you in? If so,
pardon the perpetrator. Set your heart free!
It is to one’s glory to overlook an offense.
Proverbs 19:11b NIV
Take heart!
No test or temptation that comes your way is beyond the course of what others have had to face. All you need to remember is that God will never let you down; he’ll never let you be pushed past your limit; he’ll always be there to help you come through it.
1 Corinthians 10:13 MSG
For freedom Christ freed us. Stand fast therefore and do not be entangled again
with the yoke of bondage.
Galatians 5:1 MEV
Jesus has come to set the captive free! He has made a way of escape.
Step out in faith, severing the shackles that entangle you. Leave behind the offense. Imprison it. No longer allowing it to imprison you.
Emancipate the course of your life.
Determine to be the guardian of your heart - above all else!
Prayer
Father,
I have allowed the offense of others to imprison my heart. Stepping in to the fowler’s snare, I am trapped. Hurt holds me captive. Disgruntled, I have grown despondent to hope. The course of my life has become stagnated.
I have become entangled - again.
In the Name of Jesus, I implement the authority given me through the cross, and I cut off the snare of the enemy that immobilizes me. In Christ, I reverse any constriction of my heart, and open the floodgates of my destiny. Though
the snare of offense proves to be substantial, I submit it in to the Lord’s hands. In His strength, I pardon the perpetrator. May God be the Judge. No longer will I allow my heart to be imprisoned.
Set me free, Father, in Jesus’ Name!
May the outflow of my heart now bubble forth purified, like a wellspring.
In this moment, I have been made aware - determined - to be the guardian of my heart, above all else!
Amen
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