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Matters of the Heart: Guide its Direction
Issue #411, November 12, 2025
Healthy leaders understand that their heart shapes everything they do. They pay attention to their emotions—not to be ruled by them, but to guide them in the right direction. Great leaders don’t suppress emotions; they shepherd them. Our heart can be guided in the right direction. Consider these scriptures:
Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me (John 14:1, NIV).
Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:6–7).
Listen, my son, and be wise, and set your heart on the right path (Proverbs 23:19).
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. (Proverbs 3:5–6)
These verses make it clear that we have a responsibility to guide our hearts and emotions. How can we guide the direction of our heart?
We guide our heart by refusing its wrong directions.
Jesus said, “Do not let your hearts be troubled.” He addressed their fear of the future and anxiety over His departure. But His words clearly indicate that we have the power and the responsibility to refuse to live with emotions that take us in the wrong direction.
Some leaders learn to acknowledge their emotions but do not make any effort to change them. They might say to their team, “That’s just the way I feel and nothing is going to change it.” But serving leaders identify emotions that take their heart in the wrong direction and they refuse to dwell there. They say, “That’s the way I feel, but I’m not going to move in that direction!”
We guide our heart by replacing its wrong directions.
Jesus’ words to the disciples implied that the way to be set free from their troubled hearts was to focus on their belief in Him. Paul makes the same point clear when he talks about anxiety in Philippians. He recognizes that when our emotions lead us in the wrong direction it is not enough to refuse the wrong emotion, it must be replaced with another. So, he instructs us to replace anxiety with prayer and thanksgiving. Focusing on prayer with thanksgiving will result in “the peace of God” replacing anxiety. It is difficult to be anxious and thankful at the same time!
Some leaders acknowledge that their emotion is not healthy, but don’t do the hard work of replacing it with a better one. But serving leaders ask God to help them find a replacement for that emotion. They are willing to spend time in prayer or giving thanks when they feel anxiety welling up within them.
We guide our heart by redirecting it in the right direction.
How does this apply to our emotions and hearts? Not only are we invited to refuse to allow our emotions to go in the wrong direction and to replace specific emotions as Paul instructed, but the writer of Proverbs invites us to redirect our hearts on the right path. A path implies a direction that continues over time leading to a destination. Finding the right path happens as we learn to “trust in the Lord with all your heart...lean not on your own understanding...submit to him.” This is a lifelong process of learning to put our trust in the Lord and to submit to His ways. We learn to submit our hearts and emotions to Him, openly acknowledging what we feel but then submitting those feelings to Him and asking for His power to set our emotions on the right path.
Some leaders try to change their hearts on their own by sheer willpower or effort. They tell themselves, “I won’t get angry again!” But serving leaders acknowledge that without God’s help, their hearts will not follow the right path. They submit their emotions to Him and find the right path. They cry out, “God, I don’t want my heart to follow a path of anger, please redirect my emotions to your path.”
Effective leaders pay attention to the condition of their hearts and take the journey towards emotional health. This allows them to lead others from a place of peace instead of anxiety.
For further reflection and discussion:
- In what ways has my leadership been led by my emotions? (If you are unsure, ask a trusted friend for their input.)
- Have I viewed my emotions as within my control or out of my control? How has this impacted my leadership?
- What emotions do I experience regularly that take me in the wrong direction? How aware am I of how these emotions impact my life and leadership? Who receives the greatest impact of these emotions?
- What replacements could I make for these emotions? Are there actions I could take that would help to replace these emotions with more helpful ones?
- What is the general “path” of my emotional health, is it heading in the right direction or the wrong direction? How is this a reflection of my capacity to not lean on my own understanding, but submit to God?
- In addition to the verses mentioned in this issue, read and reflect on the following verses about the heart: Deuteronomy 6:5-6; Psalm 37:4, 42:5, 51:10, 119:11; Proverbs 4:23, 23:17, 24:17; Ezekiel 36:26; Matthew 6:21; Colossians 3:15. How do these verses deepen my understanding about how to guide my heart?
Until next time, yours on the journey,
Jon Byler
In the next issue, we’ll begin a new series! If you want a single document with all three issues of this series, click here.
Note: Some of the thoughts for this series were inspired by the book, The Wholehearted Leader, by Simon and Ceri Harris. The book focuses primarily on the emotions of the heart and their impact on leadership. While the biblical view of the heart is broader than emotions, it certainly includes emotions, which is often overlooked in leadership. The book offers great insight on how leaders can lead with healthy hearts. |
