How to Keep the Devil Out of Your Heart

Last month, I published an article on how to keep the devil out of your head. This month, let’s take a look at how to keep the devil out of your heart.

Thinking and Feeling

One cannot live without both a brain and a heart. It takes both to be alive. The devil can attack us in either place, and for sure, this attack eventually affects both places, no matter from where it starts. The devil, like us, has an intellect, and he will win every time if that’s the only playing level. But the evil one does not have a heart, and by emphasizing that aspect of our humanity, we can always beat him, simply because he doesn’t know how to react to it.

Hebrews 4:7, “If today you hear His voice, harden not your heart.”

Love Everyone

Contrary to what we see in the movies, love is not just sex or a mushy feeling. Rather, it is wanting the very best for everyone and self-sacrificing yourself for that purpose. Of course, the devil with his great pride wants us all to be like him, putting ourselves first and foremost above everything and everybody else. Making sure that everyone you meet or with whom you live has the best you can offer them through your self-sacrifice of time, talent, and treasure, not only helps them, but it also makes God very happy.

Matthew 22:37- 40, “And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the law and the prophets.”

Forgiveness

Forgiveness is really hard, as it is more natural for us humans to carry grudges and to seek revenge. I have heard more than one person in my life say, “I will never forgive, and I will never forget.” They say that as if it is some kind of badge of honor concerning how bad the other person has hurt them. But Jesus forgave his torturers and accusers from the cross, so that we, His followers, MUST do the same. Otherwise, we are Christians in name only. And THAT will not get us into heaven, because no servant is greater than his master. The devil really loves it when we don’t forgive, because then, we choose to be more like him than like Jesus. If we can’t forgive right away, then we should pray continually for the grace to do so. And forgiveness from the heart also keeps us out of purgatory.

Matthew 18:32-35, “His master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you your entire debt because you begged me. Should you not have had pity on your fellow servant, as I had pity on you?’ Then in anger his master handed him over to the torturers until he should pay back the whole debt. So will my heavenly Father do to you, unless each of you forgives your brother from your heart.”

Humility

Humility is not going around saying “I’m no good.” Instead, humility is putting God first in everything we think, do, or say, then putting everyone else second, and finally, ourselves third. The acronym here is JOY – Jesus first, Others second, Yourself third. If we do that, then sooner or later we will have joy in our lives, rather than sadness and depression, which always result from putting ourselves first. The devil’s great sin is pride, and humility is the opposite virtue which overcomes it.

Proverbs 18:12, “Before destruction a man’s heart is haughty, but humility goes before honor.”

Matthew 23:12, “He who humbles himself is exalted.”

James 4:6, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”

Charity

Giving our money to the poor in a sacrificial manner, and not just out of our surplus wealth, not only makes God very happy and the devil miserable, it also is one way of atoning for sins. Of course, we need to be prudent with our money, but we should generously give of our time, talent, and treasure to build up the Kingdom of God, His Church.

Sirach 3:30, “Water extinguishes a blazing fire: so almsgiving atones for sin.”

1 Timothy 6:10, “The love of money is the root of all evil.”

Luke 6:24, “Woe to you rich, for you have received your consolation.”

Tobit 4:10-11, “For charity delivers from death and keeps you from entering the darkness; and for all who practice it, charity is an excellent offering in the presence of the Most High.”

Tobit 12:9, “For almsgiving delivers from death, and it will purge away every sin. Those who perform deeds of charity and of righteousness will have fullness of life.”

Obedience to God

Adam was disobedient to the Father when he ate the forbidden fruit, and to this very day, his original sin weighs down our hearts in sin and hardness. But Jesus, the new Adam, has a loving heart that is obedient to God our Father. So by imitating Christ and obeying God’s commandments our hearts will also become loving.

John 14:15, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.”

2 Corinthians 7:15, “And his heart goes out all the more to you, as he remembers the obedience of you all, and the fear and trembling with which you received him.”

The Bible also tells us that obedience is one way to purify our souls.

1 Peter 1:22, “Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere love of the brethren, love one another earnestly from the heart.”

Serving the Poor

Getting up-close and personal with the downtrodden of society is one of the best ways to keep the devil out of our heart.

Tobit 4:7, “Give alms from your possessions to all who live uprightly, and do not let your eye begrudge the gift when you make it. Do not turn your face away from any poor man, and the face of God will not be turned away from you.”

When you personally help a poor person, you are saying to God that you really care about Jesus. Most of us, if we found a very dirty $100 bill, would clean it up and then spend it. But a lot of us look the other way when we see a very dirty person. Being face to face with the poor and seeing how they live is one of the best ways to soften our hard hearts.

Hebrews 13:2, “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.”

Matthew 25:45, “Truly, I say to you, as you did it not to one of the least of these, you did it not to me.”

Purity

Being pure of heart is a huge problem today, with all of the pornography and lust in the world. But, it can be done if we spend a lot of time staring at the flesh of Jesus during Adoration, instead of staring at naked flesh on the internet. It may mean we have to stop watching TV as well, because for sure, being pure of heart is NOT the agenda of Hollywood.

Matthew 5:28, “But I say to you that every one who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”

Matthew 5:8, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”

Confession and The Eucharist

These grace-filled sacraments are sure-fire ways to keep the devil out of our hearts. The more we are properly disposed to receive these sacraments (confession of mortal sins, perfect contrition for all of our sins, a firm purpose of amendment to never sin again with the help of God’s grace, etc.) the more grace we receive! If we just go to Holy Communion as a matter of habit, and not with the love of God in our hearts for this daily miracle, then the grace we receive is much less.

John 6:56, “He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him.”

1 John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

Heart Transplant

One of the best ways to keep the devil out of your heart is to do the thirty-three day consecration to Jesus through Mary, by St. Louis de Montfort. There are several versions of this, along with St. Maximilian Kolbe’s consecration to the Immaculata. The bottom line is that you give everything you have (your will, your body, your possessions, your family, etc.) to Mary to do with as she wills. She will ALWAYS lead you to her Son Jesus the fastest way possible, so there is no worry about deifying her as a goddess, like some anti-Catholics think. Once you give your heart to Mary, she will, in return, give you a portion of her Immaculate Heart, as well as her virtues. This makes it really tough on the devil to get into your new heart, because Mother Mary is standing guard over it. And that secret sin you always confess during the sacrament of Reconciliation will now start to melt away into oblivion.

Asking for Help

Praying for the holy intercession of the saints and angels in heaven is a great way to keep the devil out of your heart. They know exactly how he operates in our lives, because they can actually see him and his demons, while we cannot. They are spring-loaded to help us, if we only ask them, ESPECIALLY our guardian angel, whose job it is to assist us in our spiritual battles. But most of us never ask him. If we do, along with the other saints and angels, the devil cannot win the fight for our souls. Saying the St. Michael prayer is a great place to start, along with the Litany of the Saints. If we are named after a saint, then invoking that saint is also very powerful. Saying the rosary and invoking Our Lady of Sorrows with the Seven Sorrows of Mary Chaplet is a sure-fire way to keep Satan away from us, and our family, as well. Frequently praying the Spiritual Communion prayer ensures that Jesus is always close to our heart.

1 Timothy 2:1, “First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all men.”

James 5:16, “The prayer of a righteous man has great power in its effects.”

Prayer and Fasting

Archbishop Sheen once said that fasting detaches one from this world, and prayer reattaches one to the next world. Either one is great, but when combined, you are truly resisting his temptations and thus you make the devil flee (James 4:7).

Tobit 12:8, “Prayer is good when accompanied by fasting, almsgiving, and righteousness.”

Mark 9:29, “This kind (of demon) cannot be driven out by anything but prayer and fasting.”

Summary

The devil is only a creature like us, but we can’t beat him if we fight him alone with just our mind, because of his superior intellect. We have to ask for help from above, and we must use our hearts and our checkbooks to help the less fortunate. Two great bible verses to remember in our struggle are:

Tobit 13:6, “If you turn to him with all your heart and with all your soul, to do what is true before him, then he will turn to you and will not hide his face from you.”

Psalm 51:10, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me.”

So don’t wait. Start to fight back against the devil today. It’s not easy, but the benefits for keeping the devil out of our hearts are out of this world!