Dear Writer, I hope you had a great week and considered where you might shift from a “victim” to a gatekeeper mindset in your writing journey! This week, we’re going to explore the importance of “guarding your spring” as a writer.
As followers of Christ, we have a well of God’s creativity inside us. But our ability to release it is closely tied to knowing, believing, and walking in our identity in Him. You see, any place we renege on the truth of who we are in Christ is a place where “stones” can block our flow. That’s why learning to guard our heart is such a critical aspect of our writing journey!
But before we dive in, let’s look at others whose ability to guard their heart unleashed a torrent of God’s creative power…
Guarding Your Heart in History
Mother Cabrini is a beautiful example of a woman who guarded her heart. When she brought her vision of founding an orphanage in China to the Pope, he refused her request. At the time, the Catholic Church didn’t endorse women missionaries. Instead, he sent Cabrini to New York City. A place with great need and a strong established Catholic presence.
Cabrini did not let the Pope’s “no” or the Church’s opinion of women cause her to become bitter or to give up. Instead, she poured her heart into the poor of New York, while keeping her eye on her goal. As she faithfully persisted in both, God opened doors not only for ministry success in New York, but to begin establishing similar schools, hospitals, and missions across the globe. Including, eventually, in China.
Guarding Your Heart in the Bible
David is another powerful example of a man who watched over his heart. When David went to battle against Israel as a vassal of the Philistine King, the other Philistine commanders insisted David and his men be sent home to Ziklag. However, when David’s troops reached the city, they found it had been raided and destroyed and all their families captured.
David’s men blamed him and nearly stoned him to death. But David refused to run or drown in despair. Instead, he strengthened himself in the Lord. David reminded himself of who God was and who God had said he would be as he sought the Lord’s wisdom.
At God’s command, David rallied his despondent men, overtook the band of raiders, and recovered all they had lost. Both people and property.
You see, writer, at times our future hangs in the balance. Often, in those moments when we feel life has gone irreversibly wrong, the choice to guard our heart is most critical. It’s those moments, as we refuse to give up on God’s word, that birth God’s miraculous work in our lives.
Guarding Your Heart in Life
I stood guard over my heart as I pursued film degree in college. As a high school senior, the power of story captivated my heart and birthed a passion to pursue a film career. However, when I shared my dream with a professor, he scoffed, saying I would never be able to make it in a film career.
In that moment, I chose to guard my heart and took the professor’s words with a large grain of salt. Though I received his technical instruction, any life advice he imparted to students I filtered it carefully. When he cut a few others down, I wondered if his own dreams had been cut down at some point. When I had the opportunity, I switched to a different class simply to avoid the unnecessary negativity.
You see, sometimes stones lodge in our hearts when authority figures, or people we expected would understand our dream, for whatever reason, don’t. Sometimes, stones block our spring when circumstances suddenly turn on us, like with David. Sometimes, stones lodge when damaging words are unleashed against our identity. But here’s the thing…
Guarding Your Heart in Your Life
Before we are ever gatekeepers of the words God gives us, we are the gatekeepers of our hearts. We do not have to—and should not—passively accept everything that tries to enter. Especially those things that undermine our God-given identity and calling! In fact, we have a responsibility to be rather choosy about those things we take to heart. Let me prove it to you…
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- Guard your heart with all diligence, for from it flow the springs of life. – Proverbs 4:23
- Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. – 1 Peter 5:8-10
- Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. – Ephesians 6:13-17
- For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, 6being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete. – 2 Corinthians 10:4-6
You see, writer, guarding what we let in our heart is the key to cultivating what comes out of it. And the good news is that our role as gatekeepers is not purely defensive! We can actively fill ourselves with God’s truth, so that when the enemy’s darts try to lodge, we can rise up and answer with the Word of God!
Where to Start with Guarding Your Heart
So are you ready to step into your role as the gatekeeper of your heart and guardian of your spring? Here are some ideas to get you started…
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- Know Your Call. If you haven’t yet, write down God’s call for you in a place where you can review it and pray over it regularly. During those times of prayer, write down the ideas, insights, and scriptures God brings to mind.
- Know Your Identity. Knowing your call is important, but knowing your identity as God’s son or daughter is critical. You see, in life, parents are expected to provide adequate food, shelter, and education—all the things children need to grow—or face legal ramifications. Though He owes us nothing, God has also made us, His children, very great and precious promises by which He equips us to grow in Him and in His calling. (2 Peter 1:3-8) As we meditate on those promises, we grown in strength and wisdom to recognize and resist the enemy’s crippling lies. Spend time meditating on God’s promises and who has created you to be.
- Know Your God. Knowing God’s character is a critical part of guarding our heart. It can be intimidating to stand in faith, when we feel we’re standing alone. But knowing the faithfulness, power, and steadfast of love of our Father gives us great strength to stand and courage to obey. Take time daily to meditate on and praise God for who He is. There are few things that can build our confidence like this does!
- Pray and Speak His Word. Take time to meditate on, pray, and speak God’s word over our lives as positive confessions. You see, faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. When consistently speak God’s word over our lives, it literally rewires our old thought patterns and builds new neural pathways in our brains. And here’s the thing…
Guarding your spring is something only you can do. No one can do it for you. But God has supplied us with His Spirit, His Word, and His body to help. Though it’s our job alone, it’s only through the encouragement of the body that we are strengthened to stand fast as gatekeepers over our hearts.
You see, Mother Cabrini was not alone when she went to serve in America. A group of sisters traveled and walked with her through the trials of ministry. David—even as his mighty men turned on him—drew held fast to Samuel’s prophecy that he would be king. My own ability to stand strong in college was grounded in a confidence I’d learned from my family and from God’s word. And here’s the other thing…
Gatekeepers never live alone. They are one member of a community that supports their role. Just like a gatekeeper of a city, becoming the gatekeeper of our hearts is really about learning to bring our interior life into alignment with Christ’s life, which always includes His body. Then when we write and talk and do, His unique expression of love, light, and life can flow through unimpeded.
So if you’ve struggled with self-doubt or discouragement, I encourage you to take up your post as the guardian of your spring. Ask God to remind you of His word to you and about you. Dive into His promises and character. Then, find a way to continually feed on those truths. As we feast on His truth, not only will it guard our hearts, but it will begin to flow into everything we do.
#gatekeeper #springsoflivingwater #truth #EveryWriterWriting
