Guard your hearts

• Posted by James McClow February 9 - Filed in Personal - #prayer  #christianity club  #James McClow  - 118 views
  Today as I sit here reading the word and going through my plans for work thinking of the million and one things I need to do and finish I keep thinking of how we (or me) make it so difficult to just be happy for what I do have and stop groaning about what we/I don't have. I keep thinking about how life has become so much more joyful and peaceful than years past. I think of my family, my beautiful wife, my job and think "wow how great" but why then do I feel like I'm missing the mark all the time. Maybe I'm just strange. That could be it. I sit here after reading this message from Joyce Meyers thinking I need to turn to God at all times. When things are good I need to turn to God and when things aren't so good I need to turn to God. I find myself thinking about the most petty things when I should be grateful. Worrying if this person is happy or if that person is happy and what im finding is i cant make everyone happy but as long as i am kind, honest and sincere i can atleast feel i have done the best i can. Gosh I am so human. I want so badly to live with peace everyday. I pray and spend so much time speaking to God but I feel like I can't please anyone. Why does that happen I ask myself. Where is just being happy because life is good. Maybe I get to caught up in the second by second play book and loose sight of the prize. I need to step back, turn to Jesus and talk it out with Hom. And that's what I'm doing today. Talking it out and when I'm done talking I will listen. I will continue to do the next right thing and just let his plan unfold without letting the little things bother me. At the end o When I die and am standing fr judgement I so badly want to hear "this is James I know him"! He was a sinner and was saved from sin by faith. he was a true soldier delivered from sin. I hope I fulfill His plan for me. I want to be a good person, a good husband, a good father and a good friend. I hope I have been and am those things. God I pray for you to direct my paths. So, during my reading today I read this message and am pasting it below. I thought it was a great message. Proverbs 4:23 says to guard your heart "for it determines the course of your life" (NLT). Think about that. Whatever's in your heart is eventually going to show up in your everyday life. Whatever's inside will eventually find its way out, where anyone and everyone can see it. That alone makes it extremely important to monitor the things we allow to shape our hearts. I don't want something nasty, sinful, and selfish finding its way out and damaging my relationships with others, and I doubt you do either. A large part of guarding your heart means learning how to control your thoughts, your words, your disposition and your general outlook. What you think usually comes out in what you say. What you say affects how you feel, and that shows up in your overall attitude. In the course of everyday life, this is what determines how you handle your circumstances, whether you'll have peace or fall apart in a stressful situation. It governs how you respond to others, either with compassion and understanding or with judgment and arrogance, especially when you disagree with them! You can try and keep your inner thoughts from altering your words and attitudes, but I find it's much easier to have godly thoughts to begin with. Spend time in God's presence, and let the Holy Spirit fill your heart with His goodness. Prayer Starter: Lord, I only want my heart to be filled with thoughts and desires that are from You. As I spend more time in Your presence and focus solely on You, I know that my heart will change for the better, affecting the rest of my life in godly ways.