Keeping the Heart (Ebook)

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"Keep Your Heart" , the classic work by the Puritan theologian John Flavel , is a deeply devotional and pastoral treatise addressing one of the Christian’s most fundamental duties: the constant vigilance over his own heart. Quoting Proverbs 4:23 —“Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life”—Flavel unfolds this biblical command with an admirable blend of theological wisdom, pastoral sensitivity, and practical application.

Flavel not only defines what it means to “keep the heart”—to guard one’s affections, desires, intentions, and inner motivations—but also offers detailed guidance on when and how to do so. Through its pages, the reader will find healthy warnings, true comforts, and practical exhortations aimed at preserving a living communion with God amid the fluctuations of the Christian life.

The author skillfully identifies twelve critical moments in the believer’s life when the heart is especially vulnerable: times of prosperity, adversity, danger, need, temptation, joy, sorrow, change, hope, doubt, spiritual comfort, and discouragement. In each of these contexts, Flavel offers clear, Scripture-based counsel that helps readers reflect, examine themselves, and realign their relationship with God.

More than a doctrinal book, "Keep Your Heart" is a spiritual tool for personal and communal growth. Though written in the 17th century, its message remains profoundly relevant today. Modern society—with its many distractions, emotional pressures, and subtle temptations—makes this kind of teaching even more necessary.

This classic not only helps believers understand the importance of guarding their hearts but also provides practical means to do so. It is an invaluable resource for both pastors and ordinary Christians who desire to live lives marked by faithfulness, integrity, and love for God. Reading it carefully and applying it humbly can make a lasting difference in anyone’s spiritual walk.

In short, "Keep Your Heart" is not merely a book that invites reflection—it is an urgent call to practical holiness, inward watchfulness, and daily care for that which determines our Christian walk: the heart.