Key Verse:
Proverbs 4:23 – Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.

POINT:
What is in our hearts always comes out—Guard your heart!

Common Enemies of the Heart

The major reason we rarely stop to monitor our hearts is that it was never encouraged. As children, we were taught to monitor behavior rather than our hearts. If we behaved, good things happened, regardless of what was going on inside us.

These enemies create a debt/debtor relationship—an “owe somebody” contract.

1. Guilt: “I Owe You”

Proverbs 22:7 – The borrower is slave to the lender.

2. Anger: “You Owe Me”

3. Greed: “I Owe Me”

Greedy people:

Talk and worry about money excessively
Are reluctant to share
Aren’t cheerful givers
Keep track of what they’ve done for others
Are never content with what they have
Attempt to control others with money

Greed isn’t a financial issue—it’s a heart issue. Fear is the driving force behind greed.

4. Jealousy: “God Owes Me”

At its core, jealousy says, God should have given me what He gave them.

TRANSFORMATION: How to Guard Your Heart

Confronting Guilt → Answer: Confession

1 John 1:9 – If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

Confession isn’t about guilt relief—it’s about true change.
Confession to God and others leads to healing (James 5:15-16).

Confronting Anger → Answer: Forgiveness

Ephesians 4:31-32 – Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as Christ forgave you.

Forgiveness is the decision to cancel a debt.
Matthew 18:21-35 – If we refuse to forgive, we are the ones who suffer.

Steps to Forgiveness:

Identify who you’re angry with.
Determine what they owe you.
Cancel the debt. (“They don’t owe me anymore.”)
Dismiss the case when memories resurface.

Confronting Greed → Answer: Give Generously

Luke 12:18-21 – “This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.”

Generous giving breaks the grip of greed on our hearts.
Give to the point that it impacts your lifestyle—if not, greed may be at work.
1 Chronicles 29:11 – Everything in heaven and earth is Yours, Lord.

Confronting Jealousy → Answer: Celebrate

Cain was jealous of Abel.
Esau was jealous of Jacob.
Joseph’s brothers were jealous of his favor.

James 1:17 – Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father.

Celebrating others’ success frees your heart from jealousy.
It’s hard to love someone you’re jealous of.
Jealousy shapes our attitudes toward people and can drive a wedge between us.

Lust → A Managed Appetite

Lust isn’t a problem you solve; it’s an appetite you manage.
It can’t be eliminated, but self-control is key.
Guilt, anger, greed, and jealousy weaken our spiritual resistance to temptation.

CLOSING: Guard Your Heart with These Actions

✅ Confession allows us to come out from hiding.
✅ Forgiveness allows others to come out from under cover.
✅ Generosity allows us to partner with God as He shows Himself in tangible ways to the world.
✅ Celebration turns our hearts toward gratitude.

Guilt is conquered with confession.
Anger is conquered with forgiveness.
Greed is conquered with generosity.
Jealousy is conquered with celebration.

God created time! He designed a calendar to help us stay in step with Him as we move through time.  His calendar was established at creation (Gen 1:14 “And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years”).  On God’s calendar day begins in the evening not the morning.  Night watches set the stage for the new day.  His calendar includes “set apart” or “appointed” days such as the yearly cycle of Feasts and the weekly Sabbaths.  Israel began every month with a first fruits celebration called Rosh Chodesh (Head of the Month).  They did this because they wanted to honor God at the start of every month and during this celebration they also gathered to seek prophetic direction for each month, because they knew every month was like a prophetic season for them. Gathering for First-fruits allowed them to live in sync with God’s timing.  

Kislev Characteristics:

• In the natural realm Kislev is the “month of darkness” because as you move through Kislev the days get shorter and the nights get longer.  
• But Kislev is not only a month of darkness but a month of light shining in the darkness. It is the month of Chanukah, which is the festival of lights. It’s important to let your light shine in the darkness this month…. and with all that’s happening in our world these days, we definitely have ample opportunity to do that.
• It is the 9th month on the Hebrew Biblical calendar (counting from Nisan)
• Nine is the number for fruitfulness, completion, fullness of blessings and Holy Spirit (9 gifts and 9 fruits).
• It is a number of Divine blessings, divine completeness, and divine judgment. 
• 9 is the number of gifts of the Holy Spirit and there are 9 fruits of the Holy Spirit.  
• Twice in the book of Acts the 9th hour is associated with prayer (Acts 3 and Acts 10) 
• And then of course the Holy Spirit was poured out at Pentecost at 9am in Acts 2:15!  
• Because Kislev is a month of physical darkness, the Jews consider it to be a month of dreams and night visions.
• 9 of the 10 dreams in the Torah are read. Jacob’s dream of the ladder, Joseph’s dreams of his family, Pharaoh’s dreams of famine, the dreams of Pharaoh’s servants that Joseph interprets.  
• So Kislev is a month to be aware of our dreams.
• We receive God’s revelation in the night watches (Job 33:14-18; Dan 2:19-22).  
• Ask God for wisdom and understanding of your dreams, He is after all the Author of those dreams – Daniel 2:17-19 “Daniel and his friends prayed to God for the understanding of the mystery and during the night the mystery was revealed”  
• The Hebrews consider Kislev to also be a month of the womb. It’s probable that it’s the month that the Holy Spirit came upon Mary’s womb and Jesus was conceived. 
• This is a month for the river of God to flow in a fresh way from your innermost being.

• The number 9 represents the finality (completeness) and judgment of the Cross so beautifully.
• God’s judgment was poured out on Jesus who was crucified at 9am (Mark 15:25) and at the 9th hour (3pm) He said “it is finished!”  
• We are able to walk in the gifts and the fruit of Holy Spirit because of the finished work of the Cross and in our set prayer times let us continually give thanks to God for the judgment He poured out on Jesus and for the grace of this finished work, the complete work. Grace that enables us to live on Earth as it is in Heaven, to walk in our inheritance.
• Grace to have no sickness, no poverty, no lack, only total victory in all areas of our life.

Letter: Samekh: Hebrew letters were originally pictures and Samekh [ס] looks like a circle, a ring or a repeating cycle.  

• Hebrew letters don’t just represent sounds but they represent ideas.  
• Words beginning with Samekh include to turn, to go around, to surround, to encompass or enclosure to come full circle.  When we know this, we can prophesy from that, it’s a month to come full circle, a month to confront and deal with things that hindered you in the last season.  
• In a Samekh month God can give you a second chance at missed opportunities. It’s a month to be on guard also as old enemies can come back around as well.  
• It’s also a month to break out of old destructive cycles that keep you from your destiny. 
• The root word of Samekh is to lean upon, uphold or to support as in Isaiah 26:3- “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed (Samekh) on thee: because he trusteth in thee”.   
• The ancient picture is a shield.  His perfect peace (continual, repetitive peace) is a shield for us when chaos is all around us because our minds are upheld and supported by His Word.

Kislev is the month of the Hebrew tribe of Benjamin:

NAME CHANGE:

• Benjamin was one of those individuals who had a name change which altered the course of his destiny.  Although the tribe of Benjamin lost their way for a bit and were almost destroyed (see the story in Judges 20 – they lost 25,000 men!  Only 600 survived) they ended up strong with members of their tribe saving the Jewish population (Esther and Mordecai) and writing almost the entire New Testament and fulfilling Israel’s destiny of being a light to the Gentiles (Apostle Paul)
• Benjamin was the youngest child of Jacob and Rachel and one of the smallest of the tribes of Israel. 
• Rachael’s first son was Joseph and her second was Benjamin. She died giving birth to him. Before she died, she named him Benoni (son of my pain).
• Jacob knew this was not the identity God wanted him to have and so he renamed him Benjamin (son of my right hand or son of honor). 

PROPHECY: WARRIORS, SKILLED IN IN WARFARE: HIT THE MARK MONTH

• God’s destiny for Benjamin is in Gen 49:27 “When Jacob blessed him he said, “Benjamin is a ravenous wolf: in the morning he shall devour the prey, and at night he shall divide the spoil.”  
• The tribe of Benjamin were fierce warriors, skilled in warfare, trained to hit the mark.  
• The tribe of Benjamin had many distinguished slingers and archers such as in Judges 20:16, where we read of 700 “left-handed” slingers who could sling stones at a hair and not miss! 

BENJAMITES:

1. Ulam had 150 sons and grandsons who were expert archers. (1 Chron 8:40)
2. King Asa had an army comprised of 280,000 valiant warriors from the tribe of Benjamin. (2 Chron. 14:8, 17:7)
3. King Saul was a Benjamite and also a skilled warrior (a quality God would use to deliver Israel from the hand of the Philistines – see 1 Sam 9:16) However, nothing of spiritual significance is ever mentioned when we are introduced to Saul in 1 Sam 9:2.  

• What is mentioned is how impressive his lineage and family status is and his physical appearance. 
• Saul is chosen as king because the people asked to be given “a king to lead them like the other nations” (1 Sam 8:5). 
• Even after Samuel warns them that he (Saul – whose name means “asked of”) will be a king that will take everything from them (sons, daughters, land, vineyards, etc) and make them like slaves, they still choose to have a king.  
• God, however, in His grace, put a new heart in Saul and made him a changed man (1 Sam 10:6,9) in order to help him succeed as a righteous king.  God literally changed Saul in order to make him the kind of man who could rule and be King. When God removed this from Saul, He truly removed the qualities that made him king. He left behind the man Saul originally had been and worse.  He became the man who hunted and tried to kill David.
• In contrast, David needed no such change in order to rule, he was already a man after God’s heart, having spent his whole life cultivating a relationship with God.  
• However, his son Jonathan cut covenant with David which forever united the tribes of Judah and Benjamin. 
• Although the potential was there, Saul was given a new identity when he became a changed man with a new heart, his fear of men (1 Sam 15:24) caused his downfall.  Rather than walk in the “new man” that he had become, he chose to fear the people instead of God.

1. Saul of Tarsus is another Benjamite who had an identity change. He was given a new heart, a new nature, a new name (Paul).  He was changed from Saul to Paul in Acts 9.  

• Unlike the king who he was originally named for, Paul chose to walk in this new identity and fulfill the destiny God had for him, a destiny which included writing most of the New Testament, planting churches, and being an apostle to the Gentiles.  He counted the natural qualities of his old self (which were quite impressive) as nothing, in fact he called them “rubbish or dung” compared to gaining Christ.  
• He received from God the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness and therefore “reigned” in life IN CHRIST.

THOUGHT: 

• Sometimes circumstances or people in life brand you with an identity that God never chose for you.  
• The way you view yourself is not how God views you.  
• This month choose to change your identity and be all that God has called you to be.  
• If you are like king Saul, held captive by fear, this is a month to be set free.  
• Ask God to show you the habit patterns and ways of thinking that hold you in an old cycle.  
• Guard the word of your mouth, this is a time of confession and decree, what you say now determines your future.  
• Ask God to breathe fresh revelation on you this month revealing your true identity in Christ, your sonship identity.  

FESTIVAL: Hanukkah, Festival of lights; Only feast that connects 2 months: Kislev and Tevet. The light will not go out. God will find a way to impart Mercy. His grace is sufficient and His love is everlasting.

DECLARATIONS:

1. I DECREE, during this Hanukkah season, that my God is the God of miracles. My Miracle is on the way!
2. I DECREE, Jesus is the light of the World. Revelation light is being released for me!
3. I DECREE, I will walk in the fullness of the fruit of the Spirit because of the finished work of the cross!
4. I DECREE, I’m coming full circle this month and the things that hindered me in the past season are broken because of the blood of Jesus!
5. I DECREE, I’m staying focused on God’s call for my life. I’M armed with spiritual weapons, taking my stand against the enemy and I will NOT MISS THE MARK!