Guarding Your Heart And Mind

Winning the Battle for Your Mind

Journey Into The Promised Land

Psalm 31:1–24 (CSB)

¹Lord, I seek refuge in you;

let me never be disgraced.

Save me by your righteousness.

²Listen closely to me; rescue me quickly.

Be a rock of refuge for me,

a mountain fortress to save me.

³For you are my rock and my fortress;

you lead and guide me

for your name’s sake.

⁴You will free me from the net

that is secretly set for me,

for you are my refuge.

⁵Into your hand I entrust my spirit;

you have redeemed me, Lord, God of truth.

⁶I hate those who are devoted to worthless idols,

but I trust in the Lord.

⁷I will rejoice and be glad in your faithful love

because you have seen my affliction.

You know the troubles of my soul

⁸and have not handed me over to the enemy.

You have set my feet in a spacious place.

⁹Be gracious to me, Lord,

because I am in distress;

my eyes are worn out from frustration—

my whole being as well.

¹⁰Indeed, my life is consumed with grief

and my years with groaning;

my strength has failed

because of my iniquity,

and my bones waste away.

¹¹I am ridiculed by all my adversaries

and even by my neighbors.

I am dreaded by my acquaintances;

those who see me in the street run from me.

¹²I am forgotten: gone from memory

like a dead person—like broken pottery.

¹³I have heard the gossip of many;

terror is on every side.

When they conspired against me,

they plotted to take my life.

¹⁴But I trust in you, Lord;

I say, “You are my God.”

¹⁵The course of my life is in your power;

rescue me from the power of my enemies

and from my persecutors.

¹⁶Make your face shine on your servant;

save me by your faithful love.

¹⁷Lord, do not let me be disgraced when I call on you.

Let the wicked be disgraced;

let them be quiet^, in Sheol.

¹⁸Let lying lips

that arrogantly speak against the righteous

in proud contempt be silenced.

¹⁹How great is your goodness,

which you have stored up for those who fear you.

In the presence of everyone you have acted

for those who take refuge in you.

²⁰You hide them in the protection of your presence;

you conceal them in a shelter

from human schemes,

from quarrelsome tongues.

²¹Blessed be the Lord,

for he has wondrously shown his faithful love to me

in a city under siege.

²²In my alarm I said,

“I am cut off from your sight.”

But you heard the sound of my pleading

when I cried to you for help.

²³Love the Lord, all his faithful ones.

The Lord protects the loyal,

but fully repays the arrogant.

²⁴Be strong, and let your heart be courageous,

all you who put your hope in the Lord.

It is vitally important that you guard your heart and mind. Unless you consistently and faithfully do this, you’re defeated before you even get out on the battlefield!

Your heart and mind are where all the issues of life flow forth. They are the center of your existence where your entire moral and mental activity originates; where your thoughts, will, emotions, desires and mental abilities are located.

Above everything else — your physical body, your business, career, finances, everything you are and have — you must diligently guard your heart and mind. They are your most vulnerable point and are where Satan is attacking with greater intensity than ever before.

Guarding your heart and mind is not assuming a passive position of sitting back waiting for Satan to attack. It is an offensive strategy requiring aggressive action! In the game of football, there are offensive guards and defensive guards. The offensive guard is aggressive. With great forcefulness and power he knocks players out of the way and blocks them to open the way for the runner to score a touchdown. The defensive guard’s responsibility is to use every maneuver, every ounce of strength and determination he has, to stop the running back from the opposing team and prevent him from scoring a touchdown.

This is the type of aggressive action that is necessary to guard your heart and mind. To have a powerful, one-hundred percent victorious mind that will enable you to defeat all of Satan’s strategies, attacks, deceptions, and weapons, you must keep a constant watch over your heart and mind.

We are exhorted: “Keep your heart with all diligence and above all that you guard, for out of it flow the springs of life” (Proverbs 4:23, TAB). To keep your heart and mind is to set a constant guard against all of Satan’s attempts to gain access into your heart and mind. It requires aggressive action to exercise control over your will, thoughts, desires, emotions, and motives and bring them into submission to the Holy Spirit and keep them there.

It is not only necessary to guard against Satan’s attacks and resist the thoughts, deceptions, and temptations he will try to use to defeat you, you must also guard against the carnal thoughts and desires of the flesh, the selfish inclination to follow your own will instead of setting your mind to seek after God’s will. When these carnal attitudes and desires are detected, you must take aggressive action to rid yourself of them. You must continually guard your heart and mind under all circumstances, in all places, at all times with the greatest possible intensity. Why not start today?

Make this declaration:

I will guard my heart and mind with all diligence, under all circumstances, in all places and at all times with the greatest possible intensity.

*Adapted from MCWE email – Journey Into The Promised Land by Morris Cerullo

Guarding Your Heart And Mind – 3/27

Winning the Battle for Your Mind

Journey Into The Promised Land