Heart Check-up: Three Steps to Heart Health

A couple of days ago, I was doing a long run with friends. Around mile seven, my bladder and my legs decided we couldn’t hang with the cool kids. I blame the bladder part on delivering four babies. (Wow! Sorry! That just got real- quick!) I can’t explain the weak legs except that it was just a long run. But like many other runs by myself, I got to be alone with the Giant and those last four miles were nothing short of amazing- slow, but amazing nonetheless. I call runs like this God Runs. (If you’re new to my blog, you can click here to learn more about my God Runs and here to find out why my blog is called Alone with the Giant.)

Shortly into my conversation with the Lord, I asked Him for conviction. I wanted Him to show me areas in my life that weren’t pleasing to Him. My mind automatically went to my words… which lead me to my thoughts...which then directed me to my heart. God showed me so much during those four miles and is still revealing more heart matter in these days that have followed. I couldn’t wait to share with you. This ask for conviction has shown me some great truths about the heart.

The Importance of the Heart

Since this God run a few days ago, I’ve come across multiple scriptures in my quiet time and other online devotions that are centered around the heart. The nerd in me started to really wonder how often the heart is mentioned in The Bible. Would you like to take a guess? I was way off. I was thinking it was written a little over a hundred times, maybe. There’s a website I like to use called Blue Letter Bible that will show you how often a word is used in scripture. It says the word “heart” is used 762 times in the King James Version. (Insert shocked-googly-eyed face) 762 times!!!! Upon further research, I found other sites that claimed it appeared as little as 725 times and as often as 925 times.

I can’t confirm or deny the actual frequency, but it appears the word “heart” was written about quite often- which tells me it was held in high regard. One of my favorite passages that emphasizes the heart’s importance comes from Proverbs 4:23. It states,

“Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.”

When I came across this verse, it caught my breath. Everything I do flows from my heart?!?! It makes me think- just like an unhealthy heart can be fatal to our physical bodies, an unguarded, unchecked, emotional heart can be causing detrimental damage to our spiritual lives. Forgive the cliche, but I realized I really need to be focusing more on the heart of the matter.

It Starts with the Heart

When our son Gavin was younger and we would go to the movies, he would get so spooked by the five-second Dolby Intro that would say in a creepy voice, “All…. around.... you!” Well, Dolby hasn’t been all around me, but this subject of the heart sure has. I don’t believe in coincidences. I believe in divine occurrences. When I got home from my long run, I sat down to have my quiet time. The central verse of that day’s devotion was from 2 Chronicles 16:9a. “For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him.” Hmmm…. That was interesting. There’s that word heart again. Then, that afternoon, I checked my email and had Day 1 of Christine Caine’s Thrive Again 5-Day Challenge waiting in my Inbox. Wait for it... the title of Day 1: It Starts With the Heart! Can you believe that? Of course you can because you know that’s just how God works so masterfully. Fast forward to my quiet time the following two mornings. I’m reading through Proverbs right now and this word is all over the place! Blue Letter Bible says the heart is written about 78 times in Proverbs. Mmm hmmm! No coincidence this is all tying together! He’s saying to me, “Girl! Check your heart!”

Have you ever felt this nudge? You just don’t like the words that have come out of your mouth lately or the ugly actions you’ve been guilty of? How about those thoughts? He knows all about those too. Psalm 139:1-2 says,

“You have searched me, Lord, and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar.”

There’s another eyebrow-raiser! Sometimes, when I read that passage, I don’t know whether or not to be delighted or to cringe. I am delighted that He knows me so well and He loves me anyway. I cringe to think about God searching my heart and my mind and knowing every thought.

Matthew 6:21 says, “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” What we desire is what drives us. It drives us to think, act, and speak a certain way. If I desired to self-promote, the way I think would reveal self-promoting thoughts. My words and my actions would show self-promotion as well. But if my heart desires to give God glory in everything I do and if it desired to serve Him above all else, my thoughts, actions, and words would match these desires. Everything we do really does comes from the heart.

Heart Check-up

I’m going to be honest here. For a very long time, I was going through the motions, but my heart wasn’t in the right place. I was checking off the boxes of a “good Christian”. I wasn’t spending time in The Word consistently and when I would pick up my Bible, it was not because I desired an intimate, insightful time with Him. It was because I felt like it was what I was supposed to do. This past year of spiritual growth in my life started with a prayer asking for a hungry desire for God and His Word… then another prayer asking for the same thing… then another. I don’t ever again want to be complacent.

Proverbs 15:14 says, “The discerning heart seeks knowledge.” I believe the Holy Spirit prompted that prayer and gave me discernment to seek knowledge. What a game-changer it has been. And I still have so much to learn!!! I also believe the Holy Spirit prompted this God Run prayer that led me to question the condition of my heart. One of my famous lines I use on my kids when there’s trouble in paradise is, “Check your heart!” It looks like Momma needs to borrow that stethoscope.

How do we do this checking of the heart? I’m no expert on the topic, but I can think of a few steps that could help us out.

1. Pray- You should know by now this one is always going to make the list. We should start by taking the matter to our Heavenly Cardiologist. Ask Him to diagnose/convict. Psalm 139:23-24 begs, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me and lead me in the way everlasting.” What if we started every day with this prayer?

2. Strive for a Clean Heart- This is a big one, and its not easy!!! Psalm 51:10 pleads, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.” Our world is full of words, movies, tv shows, books, songs, and more that work against a clean heart. If I ask God to create a clean heart in me, but I read far-from-wholesome books, or watch a tv series full of inappropriate everything, am I really striving for a clean heart? I won’t try to speak for you, but this one really gets me. There are hundreds, even thousands, of opportunities on a daily basis to take in filth with what we watch, read, and listen to. Making a conscious effort to only let in what will please the Lord is incredibly challenging, but so rewarding. Without taking this step, I don’t believe we can ever truly have a clean heart.

3. Renew the Mind- Romans 12:2 says, “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” I’ve decided this renewal needs to take place every day for me- sometimes more than once a day. One way I renew my mind is with gratitude. Naming my blessings and all the things I’m thankful for tends to give me a gut check. How can I complain or grumble when I realize how richly blessed I am? Another way I renew my mind is by being in God’s Word. It grounds me. I wish I could tell you I’m awesome at memorizing scripture, but I’m not. I need to work a lot harder at that one. It’s on the list to conquer.

Again, I am not an expert on this topic by any means. I am writing these words as a far-from-perfect, struggling, convicted Momma in need of a heart check. I asked for conviction and He delivered. I didn’t even get to tell you about the other convictions. I’ll save those for next week’s post. But this conviction to check my heart just kept unraveling and revealing more and more about the critical nature of an unchecked heart. How’s your heart, Friend? Have you checked it lately? It may be time for some routine maintenance.

“Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.” Hebrews 10:22