This seems like an easy enough task, but I think we need to look closer and deeper into the meaning of the verse.  As a nurse I offer suggestions to my clients on ways they can take care of their hearts. After all, the heart which pulsates 3600 times an hour and pumps several gallons of blood per minute, needs to be in good working order for the rest of the body to productive.  Proper nutrition, exercise and rest are all a vital part of a healthy heart.

We are speaking in a physical sense about the heart, but our scripture today is speaking of a different part of our being.  The contemporary definition often describes the heart to be as being centered in the intellect, but I believe we are a spiritual being with a physical body.  Therefore our innermost being, which not only encompasses the intellect but also the emotions, includes volition or will. Just like the physical heart controls our physical body, our innermost being controls the way we act think and feel.

To understand the word “wellspring” we need to use our imaginations and head for the mountains.  My mountains might be the mountains of North Carolina or Colorado or maybe even the mountains in Japan.  You know where your mountains are located.  As we drive through the mountains we see some beautiful scenery - but the thing that always intrigues me is the spring coming out of the mountain and feeding the stream.  If we don’t want to travel that far, we could travel to Roman Nose State Park where we can find a natural spring that feeds the park with moving water.  When a body of water has no moving water, it becomes stagnant and often smelly and can be dangerous to our health as the mosquitoes collect and spread disease.

I love to sit by my back yard pond but I have to work at keeping my pumps clean so that the waterfall and fountain will work and move the water. Just as it is important for water to move to prevent problems, we must guard our innermost being so that springs of living water will flow freely.

When I talk with 7th graders about abstinence and why it is so important to their future goals and happiness, I give them ways to guard their hearts and values by learning to use assertiveness and resistance skills.  

Today I want to go to the Word of God to find some exercises we can do to guard our hearts, so that it will not only be the wellspring for us, but also a wellspring for others around us. Since we are the only Bible many people read, we want to make sure our water is not stagnant or diseased but moving freely with the love, joy, and the peace of the Holy Spirit.

Let’s take a look at some exercises that will help to keep our innermost being healthy and the living water flowing freely.

Spiritual Exercises to Improve the Circulation of the Innermost Being.

Psalm 9:1  PRAISE

I will praise you, O LORD, with all my heart; I will tell of all Your wonders.

Psalm 19:14  WORDS

May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in Your sight, O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.

Psalm 84:2  CRY OUT

My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the LORD; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.

Psalm 119:2, 10  SEEK

Blessed are they who keep His statutes and seek Him with all their heart. 

I seek You with all my heart; do not let me stray from Your commands.

Psalm 119:11 HIDE THE WORD

I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against You.

Proverbs 3:5   TRUST

Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;

Romans 5:5  HOPE

And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us.

Ephesians 5:19  SING

Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord,

Colossians 3:16-17  LIFESTYLE

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.

And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.