Proverbs 4:23 New International Version New Living Translation English Standard Version King James Bible Holman Christian Standard Bible

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2 Proverbs 4:23 New International Version Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it. New Living Translation Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life. English Standard Version Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life. King James Bible Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life. Holman Christian Standard Bible Guard your heart above all else, for it is the source of life.

3 What is our heart? How is it attacked? Why guard it? How do we guard it?

4 What is the Heart? The Old Testament Hebrew words leb or lebab Used to refer to the personality, inner life or character 257 times Used to refer to emotional states, feelings 166 times Used to refer to intellectual activities and thoughts 204 times Used to refer to volition or purpose (will) 195 times

5 What is the Heart? The New Testament The will - Mark 3:5 He looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man, Stretch out your hand. He stretched it out, and his hand was completely restored. The intellect: Mark 2:8: Immediately Jesus knew in his spirit that this was what they were thinking in their hearts, and he said to them, Why are you thinking these things? The emotions: Luke 24:32 They asked each other, Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?

6 Thoughts The Soul Feelings Will

7 Our Spirit: What is the Heart? A Prayer for the Ephesians 14 For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. 16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the Lord s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

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9 Why guard our hearts?

10 Why guard our hearts? They are precious and valuable They are under attack

11 Why guard our hearts?

12 The Attacker Father of lies Legalist Roaring devouring lion Kill, steal & destroy

13 How does the enemy attack? He attacks: The components The connections

14 He has a personalised strategy to take you out Tiredness Isolation or loneliness Overwork/busyness Boredom Trauma Loss Resentment Doubt Unconfessed sin Fear of man

15 Numbers 14 Caleb 3 Why is the LORD bringing us to this land only to let us fall by the sword? Our wives and children will be taken as plunder. Wouldn t it be better for us to go back to Egypt? 4 And they said to each other, We should choose a leader and go back to Egypt. 5 Then Moses and Aaron fell face down in front of the whole Israelite assembly gathered there. 6 Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had explored the land, tore their clothes 7 and said to the entire Israelite assembly, The land we passed through and explored is exceedingly good. 8 If the LORD is pleased with us, he will lead us into that land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and will give it to us. 9 Only do not rebel against the LORD. And do not be afraid of the people of the land, because we will devour them. Their protection is gone, but the LORD is with us. Do not be afraid of them. 10 But the whole assembly talked about stoning them.

16 Caleb Numbers 14:24 But because my servant Caleb has a different spirit and follows me wholeheartedly, I will bring him into the land he went to, and his descendants will inherit it. 45 years later (Numbers 26:65) For the LORD had told those Israelites they would surely die in the wilderness, and not one of them was left except Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun.

17 Joshua 14: Caleb 6 Now the people of Judah approached Joshua at Gilgal, and Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite said to him, You know what the LORD said to Moses the man of God at Kadesh Barnea about you and me. 7 I was forty years old when Moses the servant of the LORD sent me from Kadesh Barnea to explore the land. And I brought him back a report according to my convictions, 8 but my fellow Israelites who went up with me made the hearts of the people melt in fear. I, however, followed the LORD my God wholeheartedly. 9 So on that day Moses swore to me, The land on which your feet have walked will be your inheritance and that of your children forever, because you have followed the LORD my God wholeheartedly.

18 Caleb 10 Now then, just as the LORD promised, he has kept me alive for forty-five years since the time he said this to Moses, while Israel moved about in the wilderness. So here I am today, eighty-five years old! 11 I am still as strong today as the day Moses sent me out; I m just as vigorous to go out to battle now as I was then. 12 Now give me this hill country that the LORD promised me that day. You yourself heard then that the Anakites were there and their cities were large and fortified, but, the LORD helping me, I will drive them out just as he said. 13 Then Joshua blessed Caleb son of Jephunneh and gave him Hebron as his inheritance.

19 Darwin: 19 th February 1942

20 Above all else, guard your heart How?

21 Keep your heart clean Ephesians 4 31 Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. 32 Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.

22 Praise and Thanksgiving

23 Meditate on God s Word

24 Stay in Formation

25 Worship!

26 2 Chronicles 20: Worship! After consulting the people, Jehoshaphat appointed men to sing to the LORD and to praise him for the splendour of his holiness as they went out at the head of the army, saying: Give thanks to the LORD, for his love endures forever. 22 As they began to sing and praise, the LORD set ambushes against the men of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir who were invading Judah, and they were defeated.

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