What Does the Bible Mean by Guard Your Heart and Mind?
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All believers in Jesus, at one time or another, experience weakness. It could be that we are tired, sick, experiencing loss of some kind, etc. It is often during these times when the enemy attempts to manipulate those weaknesses. It is during times of weakness that you really need to guard your heart and mind so that you can experience God’s peace and not allow negative thinking to take root. Learn how to set a watchman on the wall to protect your peace!
Guard Your Heart and Mind In Times of Weakness and Weariness
When I had first written this post, I had been experiencing a real lack of sleep. We had our two dogs, one for 7 years and one for 14 years (one was 14 and the other 15 and they have since passed away and we now have a very rambunctious Olde English Bulldog) and all of a sudden, after starting my blog, they had begun waking me up in the middle of the night, every night.
I am a very light sleeper, unlike my husband who sleeps like a rock. So I wake up at even the slightest of noises.
Our older dog was beginning to develop dementia and would move to various parts of the room throughout the night and his nails hit the hardwood floors like tap shoes! Then the other dog had skin allergies and had to lick his paws for what seems like an eternity. He did it so long it woke me out of a sound sleep. I am convinced that is the most annoying sound on the planet!
Once I am awake, my brain thinks it is time to start thinking of EVERYTHING I have been too busy to think about during the day. Next thing I know, an hour has passed and I am still awake!
After this goes on for DAYS, it leaves me mentally exhausted and physically worn down. I find it difficult to focus during the day and even my prayers seem to change.
There are so many times I will be in prayer and just throw up my hands and say “Sorry Lord, I am just wiped out. I’ve got nothing! I don’t even know what to say!”
And although I know the Holy Spirit will intercede for me during those times when I have no words, after some time exhaustion like this can lead to feeling depressed because you feel like you just can’t keep up with life!
You feel like you let everyone down because they want to do things and you just don’t have the energy. You feel like life is just getting away from you. That depressed feeling then just begins to affect everything else and starts this vicious cycle.
Setting a “Watchman on the Wall” to Guard Your Mind and Heart
It is so important during these times that you guard your heart and mind because if not, it leaves you open to negative thoughts which can invade every aspect of your life.
Proverbs 4:23 says:
The Hebrew word for “guard” here is “natsar” and it means “to keep, observe, guard with fidelity, watchman”.
So how do you set a guard over your heart above all else?
The same way Israel guarded what was important to them and to God. Set a watchman!
The Word of God says out of the abundance of the heart “everything you do flows from it”!
Everything I do flows out of my heart! When I fail to set a guard, a watchman over my heart, I let the enemy storm right in through the walls!! It is like leaving a city unguarded from its enemies!
What are you doing to set a watchman on the wall, a guard, over your heart in all the issues of life? What are you doing to guard your mind and your thought life?
When was the last time you checked your watchman?
Guard Your Heart and Mind Through the Peace of God
Philippians 4:6-7 says:
The peace of God will guard your heart and your mind IN OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST through prayer, supplication, and thanksgiving!
It is really THAT simple!
We have direct access to God almighty. We can approach Him at any time. Yet so often we sit around and wait for the enemy to attack before we run to Him.
We have failed to stand firm. we have failed to put on the whole armor of God and, many times, we even take on a complaining spirit griping about the situation we are in!
Guard Your Heart and Mind When the Enemy Strikes
We have failed to set a watchman on the wall. We wait until the weakness comes, we wait until the attack comes.
Set a guard and have God’s peace!
Have God’s peace in your family, have God’s peace in your personal life, have God’s peace in your spiritual life! Going to God should be your first line of defense, not your last resort!
I wasn’t doing anything to prevent the attack from coming until AFTER it took place. By then I was exhausted and worn out.
What an ingenious plan for an enemy isn’t it? Wait until the army is exhausted and worn out and then wage the battle! That devil prowls about like a roaring lion seeking whom he can devour! (1 Peter 5:8)
I was exhausted but he didn’t sleep! He prowled!
I need to seek God’s peace before there is a lack of sleep! When we are in ministry of any kind, the enemy is going to attack our weaknesses. Mine is lack of sleep! I knew that but I didn’t cover myself in prayer for it until AFTER it was an issue!
I could feel God telling me ‘You did not keep the mind of Christ and were relying on your own human judgments! You tried to fight the battle once it began instead of keeping the enemy away to begin with!’
The grace of God would have been sufficient for me had I gone to Him to begin with.
Going to God should be your first line of defense, not your last resort! Click To TweetI Failed to Set a Watchman Over My Spiritual Heart
My heart and my mind affected everything, especially blogging!
I told a friend I was tapped out! I couldn’t write! Topics were not the problem; I had ideas but the words wouldn’t come! I had a block and nothing I did worked!
Because my writing flows from my heart, the fact that I did not have a guarded heart also affected my mind because it allowed negative thoughts to enter in! I began to think maybe my blogging wasn’t good enough. I thought maybe I really WASN’T called to blog.
You see how that worked?
Because I didn’t recognize the enemy causing those disruptions in my sleep, that then caused me to fail to go to God with it. As that spiraled into exhaustion it then started a thought process that led to me thinking I wasn’t called to the ministry I was in. Wow! The words “well, that escalated quickly” come to mind, but it is SO true!
Satan loves to attack our thinking when we don’t protect our hearts and many times it is because we left our minds and thoughts unguarded! It flows both ways! He can attack our hearts through our thinking and our thinking through our unguarded hearts!
Be sure to always guard your mind and heart each and every moment because the enemy can slip in THAT fast!
Set a watchman on the wall and don’t wait for the attack to act!!
Bible Verses to Help Guard Your Mind and Heart
Romans 12:2 ESV
Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
Psalm 51:10 ESV
Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.
Colossians 3:2 ESV
Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.
Matthew 22:37 NIV
Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’
John 14:27 NIV
Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’
Psalm 26:2 NIV
Test me, Lord, and try me, examine my heart and my mind;
Psalm 73:26 ESV
My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
Proverbs 23:26 CJB
My son, give me your heart; let your eyes observe my ways.
Proverbs 3:5 CJB
Trust in Adonai with all your heart; do not rely on your own understanding.
Psalm 19:14 NIV
May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.
Scripture quotations are from The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved
When we are lacking and not at our strongest we are attacked. Lack of sleep will do that for sure. Remember your prayers and ask for help always. Seek strength and keep on reading scriptures and studying.
Thank you Candy! Yes I have to get better at asking for help…from God and from others!
So good that you are sharing truths. I have found in my times of weakness when the enemy is trying to get me through those whispers. Running to the truth of God’s word is my safety!!
Amen!! You can never go wrong running to the Word!!
Amen. Whatever it is that’s in our heart, I believe God has planted it to be there. Therefore we must listen to it with the constant guidance of the Word. Thank you for this ❤️
Thank you Hazel!! You are so right!!
Thank for this post I have been struggling with my sleep lately and never considered how this can affect me physically and spiritually! Definitely going to stick to a sleep pattern.
I am so glad you found it helpful!! Sleep definitely does affect everything doesn’t it!?
I love this…watchman! I’m going to be pondering this all day, thank you!
Thank you so much Michelle!!
While reading this it reminded me of the parable of the women with the oil. Only the ones who were prepared had enough oil to last the night and were the only ones to enter the wedding feast. It seems like it’s a similar idea with the watchmen. We need to be prepared – guarded – before anything bad happens, like our oil running out. Or our sleep cycles interrupted!
Thank you Colleen!! It is so funny that you mentioned the virgins and the oil…I was just thinking of that last night and pondered writing a post about that!! You may have just provided confirmation!!
I am also a light sleeper–sleep deprivation is such a downer.
It helps me to remind myself when I’m sleep deprived that I’m not seeing things clearly. It takes extra grace, but God has plenty.
Amen! Yes He does!! Thank you Michele!!
I’m also a light sleeper! I can’t even let our cats sleep in our room anymore. I love the picture of watchmen for our hearts. When I’m exhausted it spills negatively into all parts of my life, and I’ve got to change that.
I’ve always admired how Jesus healed people all day, fed 5000, spent time in prayer mourning his cousin, walked on water, then healed the next day too! He must have been tired to the bone, but he’s isn’t get grumpy like I tend to, he served and he loved.
Yes and that is a great point…He prayed and served no matter how tired He was. The enemy also tried to use hunger and exhaustion to tempt Him! Great examples for us to follow and goes along with setting a guard…pray and speak the Word just like He did!! Thank you for that!!
Yes! Great post…I’ve been focusing lately on being intentional about what I am thinking about. “Guarding my mind.”
Thank you Sharla!! It is so important for us to do yet I know it is one thing I often forget!
I love this and needed this today. Thank you for posting.
Thank you Stephanie! I am happy it encouraged you!!