Why does our heart need to be transformed from our old sinful nature to seek after the heart of God? Our hearts need to be changed so we can have a relationship with Him. It causes a radical change within us. Only a transformed heart can help others desire to transform their hearts as well.
What will help us see this transformation take place is to pray confidently for our own hearts, knowing we are asking according to His will, and that He hears us, and will grant us our requests. Let me give you three things to pray and ask God for today.
1. Please Give Us A Discerning Heart.
The human heart needs discernment between good and evil and truth and lies, but there’s a third area that’s also important, as John reminds us in 1 John 1:8-10. We need discernment to recognize our own sin. We’re often very good at pointing out the speck in others, while missing the log in our own eye (Matthew 7:3-5). With a discerning heart, we humbly examine ourselves for faults and failures, knowing our propensity to overestimate our personal righteousness.
1 John 1:5-6 (ESV) says, “This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. 6 If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.”
2. Please Give Us A Willing Heart.
God desires not only that we obey Him, but that we want to obey Him, so much so that He Himself gives us both the will and the ability to do what He asks us to do. Obedience is important to God because it reveals that our heart has been changed by His indwelling Spirit. Our formerly dead spirits have been brought to life (Ephesians 2:1-7).
A willing heart is only possible when we surrender our whole heart to the Lord, leaving no hidden corners or closed-off places where we are reluctant for Him to have full access and control. Full obedience comes from a fully surrendered heart, and full surrender is necessary for God to change our stubborn hearts into a willing heart.
What does a willing heart look like? Jesus gave us the perfect example as He prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane on the night before His crucifixion. He had humbly given up His heavenly glory to be born as a human (Philippians 2:6-8), experienced all the temptations of our world, yet without sinning Himself (Hebrews 4:15), and now faced a terrible physical death and separation from the Father as He took on our sin (1 Peter 3:18). In all of this, His prayer was, “Not as I will, but as You will” (Matthew 26:39). That’s a willing heart that only comes from the Spirit of God.
3. Please Give Us A Loving Heart.
Love is a defining and compelling trait that sets Christians apart from the world. Jesus said the world would know we are His disciples by the way we love one another as believers (John 13:35). Real love can only come from God, because God is love (1 John 4:7-8). Truly loving others is possible only as we ourselves know and experience God’s love for us. As we abide in His love, it spills out into our relationships with both other believers and the unsaved (1 John 4:16).
1 John 3:11 (ESV), “For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.”
Philippians 1:9-10 (ESV), “And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ.”
When we ask God to change the condition of our heart as needed in these three areas, He will do it. Pray confidently, knowing it is His will, because He hears us, and He will answer.
What will help us see this transformation take place is to pray confidently for our own hearts, knowing we are asking according to His will, and that He hears us, and will grant us our requests. Let me give you three things to pray and ask God for today.
1. Please Give Us A Discerning Heart.
The human heart needs discernment between good and evil and truth and lies, but there’s a third area that’s also important, as John reminds us in 1 John 1:8-10. We need discernment to recognize our own sin. We’re often very good at pointing out the speck in others, while missing the log in our own eye (Matthew 7:3-5). With a discerning heart, we humbly examine ourselves for faults and failures, knowing our propensity to overestimate our personal righteousness.
1 John 1:5-6 (ESV) says, “This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. 6 If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.”
2. Please Give Us A Willing Heart.
God desires not only that we obey Him, but that we want to obey Him, so much so that He Himself gives us both the will and the ability to do what He asks us to do. Obedience is important to God because it reveals that our heart has been changed by His indwelling Spirit. Our formerly dead spirits have been brought to life (Ephesians 2:1-7).
A willing heart is only possible when we surrender our whole heart to the Lord, leaving no hidden corners or closed-off places where we are reluctant for Him to have full access and control. Full obedience comes from a fully surrendered heart, and full surrender is necessary for God to change our stubborn hearts into a willing heart.
What does a willing heart look like? Jesus gave us the perfect example as He prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane on the night before His crucifixion. He had humbly given up His heavenly glory to be born as a human (Philippians 2:6-8), experienced all the temptations of our world, yet without sinning Himself (Hebrews 4:15), and now faced a terrible physical death and separation from the Father as He took on our sin (1 Peter 3:18). In all of this, His prayer was, “Not as I will, but as You will” (Matthew 26:39). That’s a willing heart that only comes from the Spirit of God.
3. Please Give Us A Loving Heart.
Love is a defining and compelling trait that sets Christians apart from the world. Jesus said the world would know we are His disciples by the way we love one another as believers (John 13:35). Real love can only come from God, because God is love (1 John 4:7-8). Truly loving others is possible only as we ourselves know and experience God’s love for us. As we abide in His love, it spills out into our relationships with both other believers and the unsaved (1 John 4:16).
1 John 3:11 (ESV), “For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.”
Philippians 1:9-10 (ESV), “And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ.”
When we ask God to change the condition of our heart as needed in these three areas, He will do it. Pray confidently, knowing it is His will, because He hears us, and He will answer.
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