“Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.�  Proverbs 4:23

What a delight it was to drive into our yard after a three-week ministry trip. My eyes drank in the colorful, beautiful flower beds and I gave my inward approval. They had been well looked after. They were alive and vibrant with color, a wonderful contrast to the lush green lawn surrounding them.  I was content. Working in our flower garden, watching them grow, planting and pruning has always been therapeutic for me. The artist in me finds expression in gardening.

Even before unpacking, I walked around the garden, checking the flowers. I noticed two specimens that didn’t look healthy.  Their stems and leaves were drooping and the flowers weren’t developing like they should have.

On closer observation, I noticed their stems were covered with aphids. These aphids were sucking the life out of the plants.  One flower, the nasturtium, had black aphids–easy to notice against the green stem.  The other flower, the dahlia, also had black aphids and had I not looked real close, I would not have noticed them on the black stem. I needed to rid these plants of their life-sucking problems so they could again become healthy.

Upon reflection, I thought to myself: our hearts are like that.  Sometimes we feel so listless, we don’t seem to be growing.  It could very well be that we have sin in our  hearts. David noted in Psalm 32: 3-4 , “When I kept silent  (about my sin), my bones wasted away . . .  My spirit strength was sapped.�

Taking a lesson from the aphids, I concluded that sometimes sins are easy to determine: yelling or snapping at the children, our spouse or slow drivers, stealing small things from work, lying, gossiping. These are like the black aphids on the green stems of the Nastursiums–easily visible.

However, some sins that drain us of Life are not so outwardly noticeable.  Sins like disobedience to the Lord’s prompting, critical attitudes that are not voiced but are festering in our hearts, impure thoughts, lack of love, lack of prayer, bitterness, withholding information. These sins (closet sins) are more like the black aphids on the black stems of the dahlias.  Not seen by others, but draining the Life out of us.

Take a moment to check your heart today. Do you have sins in your life (noticeable and secret) that need to be confessed? I encourage you to do so right now. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive our sin and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.â€? When you have done that–ask the Holy Spirit to take control again and empower you to lead a life of joy, peace and love.

Father, thank You for the Holy Spirit, Your Word.. Thank you for convicting us of sin, and then forgiving our sin and empowering us to live a life of joy, peace and love. Help us guard our hearts.  In Jesus  Name, Amen.

You can comment on this devotional online at:
http://thoughts-about-god.com/blog/2009/07/06/kk_aphids/

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“Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.” Philippians 4:6 (NLT)

1. Don’t worry about anything. Worrying doesn’t change anything. It’s stewing without doing. There’s no such thing as born worriers; worry is a learned response. You learned it from your parents. You learned it from your peers. You learned it from experience. That’s good news. The fact that worry is learned means it can also be unlearned. Jesus says, “So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today” (Matthew 6:34, NLT).

2. Pray about everything. Use the time you’ve spent worrying for praying. If you prayed as much as you worried, you’d have a whole lot less to worry about. Some people think God only cares about religious things, such as how many people I invite to church or my tithing. Is God interested in car payments? Yes. He’s interested in every detail of your life. That means you can take any problem you face to God.

3. Thank God in all things. Whenever you pray, you should always pray with thanksgiving. The healthiest human emotion is not love, but gratitude. It actually increases your immunities; it makes you more resistant to stress and less susceptible to illness. People who are grateful are happy. But people who are ungrateful are miserable because nothing makes them happy. They’re never satisfied; it’s never good enough. So if you cultivate the attitude of gratitude, of being thankful in everything, it reduces stress in your life.

4. Think about the right things. If you want to reduce the level of stress in your life, you must change the way you think. The way you think determines how you feel, and the way you feel determines how you act. So if you want to change your life, you need to change what you’re thinking about.

This involves a deliberate, conscious choice where you change the channels. You choose to think about the right things: focus on the positive and on God’s Word. Why? Because the root cause of stress is the way you choose to think.

When we no longer worry, when we pray about everything, when we give thanks, when we focus on the right things, the apostle Paul tells us the result is, “The peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:7, NLT).

What a guarantee! He is guaranteeing peace of mind.

Question: What tough times have you been facing lately, and how can these steps help you to refocus your thoughts and energy?

You can comment on this devotional online at:
http://thoughts-about-god.com/blog/2009/03/23/rw_thankful/
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