Day 7 - Ps Ash & Marlene Smith | Citipointe Church Redcliffe

HEALTHY HABITS = HEALTHY HEART: How can creating healthy habits impact the heart?

Do you want your life to be described as evil or righteous? The difference between living an evil or righteous life is how well we guard our heart. Guarding our hearts is not about putting an electric fence around it so that nothing can come in or out, it’s about avoiding the way of evil (v. 14-15) AND looking for wisdom (v. 20-21). If we want to make good decisions that will lead to a righteous life, we need to have built good habits. So, what are good habits that you can use to guard your heart and lead to a good life? Here’s three categories of healthy habits that you can start building right now:

Stay close to God

We should be like a child to a father, letting His words and wisdom run deep into our heart (v. 20-22). You can do this by:

• Reading His word - Know the Bible,
• Praying - Speak with Him and listen to what He has to say,
• Worshipping Him - This puts Jesus back on the throne of our lives and reminds that He is greater than us, and
• Fasting - A regular practice to put God first and rely on Him by giving up something that is part of our daily life (whether that is food, coffee, social media, etc.).

Connect with your Church

More than a building, the church is the people of God. One of the major ways that God plans to change the way that you are living your life is to plant you in a church community and for you to be discipled. It is SO important that you prioritise:

• Going to church - Youth and Sunday services,
• Join a Lifegroup (or discipleship small group), and
• Surround yourself with people that are going to challenge you and hold you accountable - this can be your Youth Leaders and/or your friends that are following God.

Seek Wisdom

God is infinite and there is always more to know about Him and His word. We can’t just rely on encounters to build habits that will lead to a healthy heart; we need to constantly pursue wisdom by:

• Read your Bible - AND making notes,
• Go to church - AND taking notes during the preach,
• Ask your Youth Leader questions ALL the time, and
• Seek further resources (e.g. Bible Project, podcasts or Youtube videos).