Day 244, Year 1

Asking God to Change Your Heart

“O LORD, You have heard the desire of the humble; You will strengthen their heart, You will incline Your ear.” (Psalm 10:17 NASB)

The word “humble” is ‘anav in Hebrew; here it also means “needy, afflicted, weak, or lowly.” The desire of the humble is to pray to God for deliverance from poverty, weakness, or suffering, and to allow Him to change their lives. Today, I would like to share three points.

First, the humble pray for God to remove the negative influence of suffering, poverty, weakness, or lowliness on our spirits and faith. Suffering easily leads people to question God’s goodness. Poverty prompts people to doubt His abundance. Weakness renders people prone to losing faith in God’s power. And lowliness brings hopelessness. The prayer of the humble is to break away from the negative impacts of all these troubles on our hearts and minds so that these external affairs will not undermine our faith. We need to pray earnestly for God to strengthen our faith and establish the right belief in Him against all the negative impacts of hardships.

Second, praying for God to change our hearts. The word “strengthen,” kun in Hebrew, also means “to establish, set up, make firm, to fix, make ready, prepare, provide for, furnish, to direct toward (moral sense), or to arrange.” When we are freed from the shackles of our hardships, we can humbly ask Jesus to renovate our hearts so that we can nurture right affections for what the Lord loves. We need to earnestly ask Him to help rectify the areas where we are overly sensitive or lack feelings. This involves shutting down certain false evaluation systems and related feelings or sensitivities within us, while opening up new spiritual sensors. We need to cultivate an interest in heavenly things and establish new “installations,” such as new feelings within our hearts and a sensitivity toward the invisible spiritual realm. Meanwhile, we need to humbly ask God to provide for everything we need for this change in heart, and rest more, pray more, introspect more, and feel more of the transformation of our hearts.

Third, ask God for correction and lay our hearts in His arms. In this process, we usually shift our improper emotional investment or harmful attachment to a new direction, as indicated by the Lord. Initially, God often instructs us to put our hearts in His Word and His will. As we continue praying for Him to correct our thoughts and follow His guidance, our minds will become closer to Him. This proximity allows our hearts to resonate with the Lord’s. Through accepting the correction of the Lord’s Word, our hearts can eventually be placed in His heart. The Lord thereby hears our prayers, for we are not just humble, but also more righteous in His eyes.

Reflection questions:

1) Do you need to ask the Lord Jesus to remove all the negative impacts of hardships and difficulties on you? If those negative influences are removed, what positive changes do you anticipate?

2) Do you need to shut down some areas and open up certain areas in your heart and mind? If so, what are those areas, respectively?