Welcome back. We've been talking
today about ways to guard our
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brother's heart, and at the
same time guard our own hearts.
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We talked about the
danger of the unguarded heart,
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and the danger of
the discontented heart.
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Now your application for
this week, your assignment:
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1. we're going to discuss,
deals with the guarded heart,
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or the unguarded heart.
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Go to God and ask Him, What
area of my life is unguarded?
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What area of my life has idle
moments and times that are easy
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for me to slip back in to some
of those old habits of lust?
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What are some of those areas?
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God knows what they
are. He can show you.
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Just open up your
heart and be willing to hear
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what He has to say.
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As you examine, as
you look at your schedule,
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you might be like one friend of
mine who said, Jill, every day
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I come home from work,- and I
spend the entire evening sitting
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on the sofa watching TV.
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She said, I could be a little
more productive with my time.
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That's not evening saying
it's necessarily unguarded,
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she just feels like
she's not using her time,
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and she wants to
be more disciplined.
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So maybe that's you.
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Maybe you have a super hectic
schedule, and you need those
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times of rest that you get.
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God knows your heart.
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And wherever you are
right now, whatever it is,
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I would encourage you to, if
you have those unguarded idle
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moments, maybe, if you
want to learn how to paint,
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go take a painting class.
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Maybe join a friend
and go jogging in the
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evening in the park.
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Maybe sit down and
write out a card of
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encouragement to someone.
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This week figure out, What are
those idle moments, or times,
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and how can I fill that time?
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Next we talked about
the discontented heart,
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the discontented heart.
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Our words influence our
actions and our emotions.
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Have you noticed that?
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Ask yourself, now
this is if you're married,
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ask yourself, What would be
ways, what would be things I can
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do to express, or show
appreciation to my husband?
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What would be
something I can do to express,
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or show appreciation to him?
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I started a list
in my journal here,
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and I actually
asked my husband Greg.
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I said, What could I do to you
to express appreciation to you,
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or to show you that
I do appreciate you?
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Some of the things I
came up with: thanks.
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Thank him when
he does a good job.
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Thank him when he
takes out the trash.
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Thank him when
he washes the car.
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Give him thanks.
Sometimes we can take our
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spouses for granted.
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Another one would be to
say, I'm proud of you, honey.
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You did a good job at this.
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I'm really proud of you.
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Support the
decisions that he's made.
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Support those decisions.
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Now, obviously, if it's
something that goes against
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God, we're not
talking about that.
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But if it's a decision
that does not involve principle,
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by all means
support those decisions.
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What could be something that
I could refrain from saying?
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I don't know about
you, but I think as women,
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we can be
pretty good at nagging.
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Have you ever noticed that?
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Oh, you didn't do that yet.
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And we keep
reminding, we keep nagging.
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I think another thing
I'm going to put down here is
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second guessing a decision
that your husband's made.
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Now again, this is
not a principle issue.
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Second guessing a
decision that he has made.
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Now what about actions?
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Not just words but actions?
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What about actions?
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What would be some things
you can do to express that
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appreciation and
respect for your husband?
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I have here you
could smile at him.
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That's a good thing.
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Many times we smile at everybody
else in the outside world,
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and we don't express
that to our own family. Smile!
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You can be open;
express openness.
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I think vulnerability
is a good thing as well.
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And also I have here,
I'm going to add affection.
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You could express affection
to your husband instead of
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being cold and saying, Well,
if you don't see things my way,
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then you have to be over there.
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What would be some actions
that we need to refrain from?
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Maybe rolling eyes?
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That would be a good start.
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Maybe sighing
when he says something.
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Maybe you've never been guilty
of that, but I think I have.
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What about mumbling under
your breath, or ignoring him,
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or even giving
him the cold shoulder?
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As women we can be pretty
good at the icy treatment.
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So these are just some ideas.
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You make your own list.
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These are just
principles to get you going.
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And work this week to express
more positive words and actions,
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respect for the man
that God has given you.
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Next week we're going to
examine the forward heart,
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and you won't want
to miss that program.
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As always, our closing
Scripture is Romans 15:13.
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May the God of hope fill
you with all joy and peace
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in believing, that you may
abound in hope by the power
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of the Holy Spirit.
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