A New Heart

      Sometimes I used to pray for a heart like king David's, a heart that loved the Lord so much he was called a man after God's own heart, and right now thinking about that prayer I am disappointed in myself. I should not have been coveting David's love for God, but pursuing a relationship whole heartedly in that example. I should have been praying for a heart like Jesus! I should be praying for a heart filled with obedience and agape love! I should be praying for more of Him, and less of me.
       I can't say for sure what brought me to this thought this morning but as I re-read what I wrote above I believe it may have been the Holy Spirit leading me. Leading me to see my error and correct my course, God is amazing like that! If we pray for a new heart in Jesus's name it should be His, we should be asking to have a heart like His so we can be more like Him and learn to love like Him, and this is scriptural, John 3:30 says 'He must increase, but I must decrease' and 1 John 2:6 reads 'Whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.' And we see it again in Galatians 2:20 where it says 'I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.' Each one of those verses say the same thing, we must walk in the ways of Christ by decreasing ourselves and increasing Him.
       This is not a suggestion, this is a repeated command. We must repent and walk in the righteousness of the Lord and it is impossible for us to do that without Jesus Christ. 1 John 5:12 makes that clear as we read what it says, 'Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.' It's not talking about our earthly temporary life here, but everlasting life, Jesus is the source of life that life, of all life really, (see John 1:1-18).
       This morning as I read scripture and pray while I writing this I am very aware of the words I am sharing with you, and I hope you feel the weight of them. This is important, following Jesus, being a Christian, it isn't about going to church every week, or singing worship music, it's not about learning the words of the Bible, but about learning God's character by the reading of the word and prayer, it's about exemplifying Jesus by our character and bringing Him glory. We aren't going to be perfect at this, as Paul wrote 'the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak,' and God knows this, that is why He gave us the perfect sacrificial lamb in Jesus Christ and why we have His Holy Spirit, the helper. By acceptance of  Jesus's sacrifice we are able to be cleansed and enter into the kingdom of God. I pray that today and everyday there be more Jesus in our lives, in our words, in our deeds, and especially our hearts, more of Him, and less of us. Let us go forward each day more God-centered than the day before, in Jesus name, Amen.  

Proverbs 3:5-6        
Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.

1 John 3:9        
No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God.

Ephesians 4:22-24        
To put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

 2 Corinthians 3:16-18        
But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.