Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it. – Proverbs 4:23 NIV

Have you ever wondered why we are told to guard our hearts above all else?

I used to think guarding my heart meant not opening my heart to someone who wasn’t trustworthy. But I have since discovered that it is not about keeping people out, but about what I allow to enter my heart.

Our hearts are the very seat of our being. It is the meeting point between soul and spirit. As I delved deep into Proverbs 4:23 in my Strong-Lite concordance, it became clear to me how the heart creates the boundaries within which we function. In essence, we determine the extent to which God can move within us and through us by the condition of our hearts.

Jesus illustrated this when he shared the parable of the sower. You may be familiar with the story. The sower scattered seeds on different types of soil. The soils that were harder, or full of stones and thorns, did not produce a harvest. It was the good soil, the soft and receptive soil, that offered the right environment for the seed to take root and produce a crop.

“Listen then to what the parable of the sower means: When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in their heart. This is the seed sown along the path. The seed falling on rocky ground refers to someone who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. But since they have no roots, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful. But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty, or thirty times what was sown.” – Matthew 13:18-23, NIV

The condition of our hearts determines whether we receive the incorruptible seed of the Word and allow it to produce the Salvation we need.

In the first chapter of Luke, we have the same angel bringing the Word (a promise of supernatural birth) to two people–Mary and Zecharia. They both asked the same question: “How could this be?” But only one of them had a heart able to receive the promise. Gabriel had to shut Zecharia’s mouth so that he could not destroy the seed of this promise with his words of doubt and unbelief. (See Luke 1:11-20).

So, dear friend, may I ask you to stop for a moment and consider this–what is the condition of your heart?

Have you hardened certain pieces of your heart because of disappointment or pain from the past? Are there some heavy rocks or thorny weeds keeping God’s promises from taking root and producing the life you have been praying for?

Take a moment to invite the Holy Spirit to show you where the soil of your heart needs regeneration. Allow Him to gently remove the debris keeping the Word from growing in your heart.

God’s very nature is to heal, protect, deliver, and provide. James 1:17 in the Amplified Bible says: “Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above; it comes down from the Father of lights [the Creator and Sustainer of the heavens], in whom there is no variation [no rising or setting] or shadow cast by His turning [for He is perfect and never changes].”

He is a good Father, and He is consistent. He doesn’t choose to bless one child and not the other. He isn’t going to say ‘yes’ to you one day, and then ‘no’ to you the next. All His promises are yes and amen.

For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory. – 2 Corinthians 1:20 ESV

We never have to doubt His will for our lives. He wants us to prosper and be in good health. Always. We can be one hundred percent assured of His will in every situation.

The sovereignty of God is not displayed in the way He controls the outcome, but in the principles He set in motion to govern our world. Those principles (or forces) cannot be tampered with. They are incorruptible and unstoppable.

These forces are displayed in the story of Creation.

Where there is chaos, wherever things are out of order, you have a breeding ground for the miraculous. Genesis 1:2 (NIV) describes the earth as ‘formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep’. It is exactly there where we found the first force in operation ‘…and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.’

The second force was released when God Himself spoke the Word.

And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.– Genesis 1:3, NIV

When Mary asked Gabriel, “How could this be?”

And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God. – Luke 1:35

Mary encountered both these forces, the Spirit, and the Word, and the Word became flesh within her.

Dear friend, where are you experiencing chaos right now?

If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you. – Romans 8:11 ESV

I want to remind you today that you have the Spirit of God living inside you. You have access to every promise in His Word. These forces are incorruptible and unstoppable. God is sovereign in the principles He has established to govern the earth.

Receive His Word, receive His Spirit, and see Salvation come through you.

Apart from the act of Creation, can you find where God decided to do something for humanity anywhere in the Bible without some conversation or partnership with humankind?

When the world became so dark and evil, to the point where God regretted creating people, there was a man who found favour in His eyes. God partnered with Noah and preserved the human race. Without Noah responding to the Word, the instructions of God, all the people of the earth would have been destroyed. (See Genesis 6).

To establish a nation, he called another man, Abraham. Abraham received a promise with a visual representation to remind Him of what God vowed to do. When he looked up to the stars, or down to his feet in the sand, he was reminded of what God had said: “You will be a father of many nations.” (See Genesis 17:5).

• He partnered with Joseph to bring provision.
• He partnered with Moses to bring deliverance.
• He partnered with Rahab to bring protection.
• He partnered with Joshua to occupy the land He promised His people.
• He partnered with David to rule His people.
• He partnered with Solomon to build His temple where His people could worship.
• He partnered with His prophets to bring vision and direction.

There was not one account where God provided, delivered, protected, occupied territory, ruled, or directed His people without their permission and participation. God will never force His will on us, we have to humble ourselves, ask, and submit to the Word (the promises and the instructions) we receive from Him.

God wants to bring salvation to the earth. He wants to bring salvation into your circumstances. Into the situations you are passionately praying for. He wants to bring solutions through you for the world around you. Will you partner with Him?

He partnered with Mary to bring Salvation into the world.

This is what Mary did when she received the Word Gabriel delivered. She partnered with God when she responded: “Let it be unto me according to your word.” (See Luke 1:38). And the Word became flesh in her.

She took herself away for the first three months as she protected and nurtured the Word she received within her heart. There were no physical signs to reveal she was about to give birth to the Messiah. She only had a promise/a word. There was no sensation of a baby kicking inside her yet.

To safeguard the incorruptible seed conceived in her heart, she surrounded herself with people of faith. Elizabeth, her cousin, was also experiencing a supernatural birth. Mary had a visual representation of the promise the Lord made to her.

Mary wrote a beautiful song, praising God for the salvation about to enter the earth through her. She sang praises to God in thanksgiving for what He was doing through the presence of Jesus on the earth. She sang this song before she had the baby in her arms; before the baby kicked in her womb.

What is the promise He has made to you? Have you responded to His promise? Do you have it in front of your eyes daily? Can you see salvation in the outcome you imagine, even before the breakthrough comes?

“Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her!” (Luke 1:45, NIV)