This is a chapter from the book The Character of Creatures: What the Animal Kingdom Teaches Us About God and His Word.
Guard Your Heart – The ArmadilloArmadillos wear an amazing little suit of armor that can protect them from all sorts of predators when they roll up in a ball. All of their soft parts are guarded from things that would seek to harm them.
The Armadillo reminds us to protect what is important:
Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life. ~ Proverbs 4:23
Discussion:
1. Before we are born again, our hearts are desperately wicked and deceitful beyond all things. We can test that by what comes out of our hearts in the form of evil thoughts, murder, unfaithfulness, theft, lies, slander (Matthew 15:18–19), which is why we need a new heart! Read Ezekiel 36:26 and consider how God gives us that new heart. Do you have a heart of stone or a soft heart? Do you need to ask God to give you a new heart? What flows out of a heart for God?
2. Ephesians 6 describes the spiritual armor that Christians should be wearing. Take a moment to read 6:10–18 and consider how to put on the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, and the helmet of salvation. Are you ready to extinguish the flaming darts of the evil one? Are you ready to stand for truth? Are you ready to rescue the perishing?
3. Our greatest ally in this battle is God: “for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world” (1 John 4:4)! The Bible tells us to pray about everything, and to trust him with the battle while we seek to remain faithful! Take heart; Jesus has overcome the world (John 16:33)! Are you strong and courageous? Let the weak say, “I am a warrior” (Joel 3:10)!
A heart guarded by the armor of God remains soft to the Master's touch, yet impenetrable to the arrows of the adversary. ~ Author Unknown but to God
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