Keep your heart
Proverbs 4:23
Keep your heart with all diligence for out of it flow all the issues of life
The word for issues here is towstsaah H8443. It means “outgoing; border; end; source or escape. I’ll expound on these different meanings and all are true to the scripture. We can always interpret scripture with scripture to see if our view lines up with God.
One reason the heart needs to be kept because it is the outgoing agent into our lives. Everything you see in your life started in your heart. This is general. We are not responsible for everything on the earth but we do play a part and we carry responsibility for our current state.
Another reason the heart needs to be kept is it sets the border for your life. It sets the boundaries of your life. It sets the stage. It determines what is allowable and what is not. For example, my heart doesn’t have room for poverty, sickness or disease. Jesus paid the price so I don’t have to. I’m free because of him. My border is set and only health, healing, happiness and success will be mine. I understand we all face challenges. All the more reason to reinforce your territory and fight for it if the enemy is trying to claim your land as his own. Win by resting in the Lord.
The heart is also the source. We live from the heart and not the mind. Faith comes to the heart and then understanding eventually reaches the mind. We are not rational first. Rationality is important. God created it but it’s not primary. Ask people who live by rationale first how great their lives are. Not great. Humans are meant to be bastions of emotion, joy, feeling and excitement. If we don’t watch our heart and guard it correctly then we open ourselves up to the opposite emotions.
The heart is the escape from death. This ties into the last point but the heart will allow you to live. I have to make clear our faith is higher on the scale than our feelings. Faith precedes feelings. That is because true believing will open us up to spiritual realities and glorious emotions. In the order of the heart it goes: faith, heart and then the mind. Faith enters the heart and makes the kingdom real then once the heart grabs ahold of those truths they permeate the mind and explain the rationale of God.
