How do you keep your heart healthy? Proverbs 4: 23 says “Watch over your heart with all diligence, for from it flow the springs of life.” Bill Johnson believes that a key to heart health is to pray without ceasing (1 Thess 5: 17). In this sermon clip, Bill teaches about the significance of prayer and praying without ceasing, and the impact it has on our lives and the situations we face.

the point is is the heart is a big thing

it’s that seat of emotion it’s the

affection it’s the place of affection

it’s a place of values that are

established from this this place of the

of the human heart where what what we do

with our life is determined in that

place

i i believe that that command to pray

without ceasing is the key to heart

health

heart health how important is that

jesus

dealt with the heart

in many different ways he says

adulteries

uh jealousies

all these things come from the heart and

he brings us as a word of correction

then he also says blessed are the pure

in heart for they shall see god

so he he deals with both ends of the

spectrum the point is is the heart is a

big thing it’s that seat of emotion it’s

the affection it’s the place of

affection it’s a place of values that

are established from this this place of

the of the human heart where what what

we do with our life is determined in

that place

and proverbs 4 verse 23 says watch over

your heart with all diligence because

from it flow the issues of life

the issues all the issues of life

you have a family you have a job you’ve

got your own personal health you’ve got

all these things going on we’ve all got

a

million plates spinning on sticks you

know and and all these issues of life

watching over this one thing it’s like

having one idiot gauge on your dashboard

that you just watch this one thing and

it’s what helps to keep everything else

functioning

this one gauge make sure you’ve got gas

oils right oil pressure is right water

everything is correct when you watch

this one thing and that is the

significance of this one command in

proverbs 4 23 watch over your heart with

all diligence i’ve told you before it’s

it’s the way we we raised our children

our discipline was based on on heart is

on attitude we would if we could correct

something when it was an attitude form

we could prevent bad conduct

and it’s the same with us

i’ve invited my wife on many occasions

honey you know all i want to do is

please jesus that’s all i want to do if

you see i’m careless with my speech or

my attitudes any of those things

i’m not just giving you permission i’m

inviting you please point it out to me

it’s i’m determined to recognize never

paint any of those things that happen

but i invite you please point it out to

me because i don’t want that in my life

watch over your heart with all diligence

put extra effort in this one thing why

because everything it affects every

single area of your life so here is what

i believe to be the command of the lord

that keeps us in the place of great

strength as it pertains to our heart

you know what do we want the adulteries

and

envies and jealousies from the heart or

the pure in heart who see god this is

obviously what we want so he says this

he says pray

without ceasing

in other words

view prayer

as your ongoing primary occupation

if you’re an evangelist you can only

evangelize so

much during the day

if you pray for the sick you can only

pray for the sick so much if you’re a

schoolteacher you’re only in the

classroom so long but pray without

ceasing

i have found that when i create a

momentum throughout my day i actually

wake up in the night praying

and one of the things that’s important

for us to recognize is we don’t know

what we’re doing

with prayer

anybody on this side would agree with me

we don’t really know what we’re doing

that’s why the bible says we don’t know

how to pray as we are that’s the bible

so it’s best to put your bet with the

bible the bible says you don’t know what

you’re doing

but here’s the cool thing

in romans chapter 8 it says

the holy spirit intercedes for us

a few verses later it says jesus

intercedes for us

my uncle pointed this out to me a bunch

of years ago

holy spirit intercedes for me

jesus is interceding for me and right in

the middle of those two verses is the

statement all things work together for

good

i wonder why all things work together

for good i’ve got the holy spirit i’ve

got the son of god they’re both pleading

my case before the father

i may not know what i’m doing but the

holy spirit who lives in me knows

exactly what he’s doing

and many people pray enough to ease

their conscience but not enough to

change any circumstances not enough to

make a difference

and prayer is the

is the full-time responsibility of the

believer

it’s not just that time in the morning

when you get on your knees and you’ve

got your bible open those are wonderful

but it’s more than that

it’s the fact that i’ll drive down the

road i’ll see

a car go by that reminds me of a friend

i went to school with i just take that

as a sign them to pray for them

it’s just automatic reminder

i’ll be i’ll remember

uh a conflict a conversation ahead that

was very uh challenging for me

um that’ll come to mind be driving down

the street it’ll come to mind and as

soon as it comes to mind

within moments

i will say

i lay down my right to be offended at

that

and i pray now for my friend

that you would so touch his life or

whatever it might be but the point is is

we have a full-time occupation

of interacting with god now here’s the

here’s the deal

i would like in the next couple of

minutes if i could somehow paint a

picture for you of the heart of what i

believe is the heart of the father

i believe that the father wants the

earth to be filled

with the fruitfulness

of

of the the fruitfulness in answer to

your prayers

in other words

you were designed

to meet

with the creator of all the life-giver

to meet with him

and to make petition and request to make

decrees in proclamations

and as a result see the course of

history changed and the answers of god

sprinkled all over the earth that there

is to be a fruitfulness i don’t think

it’s yet

come to our heart and mind how much god

looks for fruitfulness

he looks for increase

he looks for increase in the simplest

thing

you know the talents you know

he they used the talents and and

the miners they used the miners got 10

more the guy who didn’t use it buried it

the landowner says why didn’t you put it

in the bank at least you would have got

interest in others i’m looking for

increase

god’s not going to give you insights for

prayer to increase your knowledge

the insights for prayer is to make you

more fruitful

god’s not going to give us insights for

prayer so that we can write a book about

prayer

is to make us fruitful so that the earth

would be filled with the fruitfulness of

the answers to prayer of the saints

that this situation it was impossible

and jesus changed it this family they

were so destroyed they could never

recover but the mercy of god came and

they’ve been healed this business was

past

being lost and god raised it up again

home after home situation after

situation why because somebody who loves

a father is willing to pray until he

shows how to pray

i think

i think the fruitfulness that god wants

for us

from prayer

is he on the other side of us laying

down our offense

for so many things not being answered

amen

prayer is an engagement with a person

where we are changed that’s the whole

point

if i take an hour to pray i don’t leave

that hour changed and i wasn’t praying i

was complaining

it’s an engagement with a person why

because i am learning to think like him

how many you know you can pray the same

prayer a thousand times have nothing

happen you prayed a thousand to one and

a breakthrough takes place it’s that

it’s that moment where jesus says throw

the net to the other side do it again i

know you did it all night but do it one

more time sometimes it’s that one more

time of doing the right thing but this

time you did it in the presence this

time we did it in the command of the

lord this time his hand was on my hand

making the the what we were doing

effective and powerful

that’s prayer

it’s the invitation of god to come into

a place where we actually make a

difference in the course of history

because we pray

so here it is rejoice always

pray

and don’t stop

in everything give thanks

emotional mental health heart health and

the pure in heart will see god