Guard Your Heart

Proverbs 4:20-27 says,
"20 My son, give attention to my words;incline your ear to my sayings.
21 Do not let them depart from your eyes;keep them in the midst of your heart;
22 for they are life to those who find them,and health to all your flesh.
23 Keep your heart with all diligence,for our of it spring the issues of life.
24 Put away from you a deceitful mouth,and put perverse lips far from you.
25 Let your eyes look straight ahead,and your eyelids look right before you.
26 Ponder the path of your feet,and let all your ways be established.
27 Do not turn right or left;remove your feet from evil."

some different versions of verse 23 are:
23 Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life. (ESV)
23 Guard your heart more than anything else, because the source of your life flows from it. (GW)23 And keep watch over your heart with all care; so you will have life. (BBE)
23 Carefully guard your thoughts because they are the source of true life. (CEV)
23 Be careful how you think; your life is shaped by your thoughts. (GNB)

So what does "guard your heart" mean?
Guard- to keep or protect
Heart- according to Strong's Hebrew and Greek Dictionary, the word used for this means feelings, the will, and even intellect

Look at the verses around verse 23. They talk about keeping the eyes and the mouth pure and using your mind to purposely think/intend to walk in upright/holy ways. There is a connection between the holiness of your thoughts and what you literally look upon and what you literally say.Those who follow Jesus fight more battles in the head than they do in the physical world. after all, our battle is agains the rulers, authorities, and powers of this dark world. How can we live holy lives if our minds are filled with junk because of the thins we let filter into our eyes and ears? How can we have clean, unperverted mouths if we constantly purposely fill our ears with swear words? How can we think pure thoughts if we feast our eyes on immorality? How can we fix our eyes straight ahead if they are distracted looking at images and watching films that are anything but godly? How can be have the attitude of Christ if we let ourselves bask in and soak up the attitudes of people who don't know Christ? How can we surrender to God, live the Christian life, never swerving from the path of righteousness when were soaking uup like sponges ideas of relativity, independance, evolution, liberal tolerance, and taking grace for granted? GUARD YOUR HEART, for out of it comes the spring of life!!! BEWARE of what you let yourself get indoctrinated by.

Proverbs 23:7"for as he thinks in his heart, so he is."