One of the main calls in the word of God is to guard our hearts. We tell each other to guard our heart, we hear messages on guard our heart, but practically how do you do that without putting up a wall with people?

When I think of a guard, I picture someone standing at a gate with a uniform of authority on and armed with weapons that will keep you out of that location they are guarding. If I do this with my heart, I will not allow certain people past the gate of my heart.

I do not think this is what was meant when Solomon penned these words in Proverbs 4:23 “Keep your heart with all diligence, For out of it spring the issues of life.” But if he did not mean stand guard 💂‍♀️, then what could it look like practically to guard our heart without putting up a wall or stationing an armed guard at the entrance of our heart?

This morning, I was processing with the Lord about something and He said to me, “When you swallow, it will cause you to wallow. Rather than swallow, chew then spit it out. Not everything you are told is to be swallowed.”

I had never thought of this before. It sounds like 2 Corinthians 10, “Take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.” When we are told something, when we hear something, when we read something, we are not to swallow it, for not all information is edification, which means some tears us down does not build us up (Ephesians 4:29).

Therefore, we can chew what we hear, because we need to learn from our mistakes, listen to others, stay informed, but we do not need to swallow it. We can chew and spit it out, so we do not wallow on things that do not edify us, build us up.

Christ in us is the guard of our heart, so we can chew and spit things we hear out. This keeps us free! Www.apostolicresourcecenter.org