An Encouraging Devotion for Your Monday

This encouraged me today, and I wanted to share it with you.

Guard your heart more than anything else because the source of your life flows from it. Psalm 4:21
Your heart can make some bad choices left to it's own devices, mainly because your feelings demand immediate attention and want what they want when they want it. But just because your heart feels something, that doesn't make it true. A lot of times your heart lies. That's because your feelings are mostly based on your experience of the world around you, not necessarily on God's truth. The beauty of knowing and obeying God's law is that it is unchanging and sure; it doesn't go back and forth based on the actions or feelings of humanity. It doesn't tease you by saying one thing only to change to something else when the wind picks up. No, God's law is constant, and it's stability gives you a chance to rise above the trials of this life. It's an outstretched hand in the storm, and it helps you find your way safely through the fog of emotion.

When God's word says to guard your heart, it doesn't mean the beating organ in your chest, but your mind, your thoughts, and your emotions-all that is you. You have to guard your thoughts and feelings because out of those come your love for God and His commands, and out of that comes your ability to serve, to find joy, and to trust God. If you let your heart be led astray, then your faith gets derailed. A lot of girls let emotions alone guide all or most of their decisions. They say, "I feel it, so it has to be real," but that isn't always true. Faith isn't about a feeling; it's about knowing. We don't say, "I feel like I believe in Jesus." We either believe and follow Him, or we don't. And before, during, and after we believe, feelings go with that. But feelings can be fickle. They rise and fall like the wind, and are prone to rebellion, but you can overcome them if you refuse to think things based solely on how you feel, and instead, you judge everything based on God's word. So guard your heart and let truth be your guide instead of random experience.

This is devotion number 108 in Devotions for the God Girl by Hayley DiMarco

It's so refreshing to know that our feelings don't have to control us. That we are set free in Jesus Christ! There is so much truth in all of this!