The post below is the first in a series of five posts on the topic, ‘How to Keep Your Heart Healthy.’

Written by Jeff Slaughter, Founder/Director of European Worship Institute

The Worship Leader’s Heart: How To Keep It Healthy
Proverbs 4:23 says, ”Keep your heart with all diligence for out of it comes the issues of life.”
Everything starts with the heart: our words, our attitudes, and our actions. If our heart is hurt, unrepentant or sinful, then it will negatively affect what we say, what we think and what we do.

So how do we keep our hearts healthy so that our words, attitudes and actions are life-giving, affirming and productive?

Healthy Heart Tip #1: Feed Your Heart Well
Practical: If you want to have a healthy heart, you have to eat healthy. According to medical researchers, that means a diet that includes plenty of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, high fiber foods, lean protein, and healthy fats. You also have to drink healthy and the best thing for you to drink is water. Our bodies are not only made up of at least 60% water, but it takes a lot of water to make all of our systems function properly so we have to constantly replenish the water our body uses.

Spiritual Application:
Just as we need to feed our bodies healthy foods in order to keep them healthy, and to keep from getting sick or injured, we also have to feed our spirits healthy food for the same reason. Our ‘healthy’ spiritual food is the Word of God.

Consider these scriptures…

Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee. Psalm 119:11

I will delight myself in Your statutes; I will not forget Your word. Psalm 119: 16

Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. Psalm 119: 105

For the Word that God speaks is alive and full of power [making it active, operative, energizing, and effective]; it is sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating to the dividing line of the breath of life (soul) and [the immortal] spirit, and of joints and marrow [of the deepest parts of our nature], exposing and sifting and analyzing and judging the very thoughts and purposes of the heart. Hebrews 4: 12

What about spiritual water? Where do we find that?

Here are two scriptures who describe where spiritual water can be found:

Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” John 4:13-14

On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink.” Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.” John 7:37-38

How do we drink this living water? It appears to me that the first drink we get is when we give our life to Christ. I believe then, that the Holy Spirit continually fills us with living water so that we ‘never thirst again’. He does this, perhaps, as we spend time with Him, worship Him, serve Him, obey Him and build our life around Him and His Word.

It’s true: to keep our hearts healthy we need to ‘eat’ the Word of God and ‘drink’ the living water.

‘Contemplatio’ is our weekly worship devotional column. Inspired by the Latin word ‘Contemplatio’, which means means to ‘look at, gaze at or be aware of’; each week, we post a ‘Contemplatio’ designed to teach, inform or draw attention to a topic. Most posts are written by Jeff Slaughter, founder and director of the European Worship Institute, and members of the EWI teaching team. Ideas for guest posts are welcome and may be submitted to Jeff at: [email protected]