How to Change Your Heart
You visit the earth and water it; you greatly enrich it…You water its furrows abundantly, settling its ridges, softening it with showers, and blessing its growth (Ps. 65:9-10 ESV)
The title of this devotional is certainly going to be very unusual to many people, not because changing our hearts is not something we desire but because it is just way beyond the grasp of humanity.
Can we change our hearts? The answer is yes. Is there a pill to do so? Yes! That pill is the Word of God. There is nothing, no human techniques, no strategies, or systems out there that can produce any lasting changes in the hearts of men compared to what the Word of God can do. His Word can change a hardened criminal into a loving father. It can transform a hateful individual into a very caring and compassionate person. Not through hypocrisy or pretentious behaviors, but honestly from the inside.
The heart in scripture is often described as the ground or earth. Ps 65:9-10 shows us a remarkable effect of the Word of God on the hearts of men and women. When God visits the earth( rain of His Word), He waters it “softening it with showers.” Think for a minute to grasp the softening effect of rain on a piece of parched desert ground. This is what the Word does to our lives. There is hope. It will soften every hardness of heart if we let it in. If only we open up to receive and surrender to that Word, it will produce real, lasting change in us from inside. You do not have to fake it. The Word will produce the real thing!
MEDITATE
What are the analogies between the Word of God and rain? ( Isa. 55:10-11). Declare that “The Word is producing changes in my heart and transforming me every single day.”
APPLY THE WORD
Do not try to change yourself. Just take God’s medication—the Word! The world is working on all sorts of tactics to help people change. The most they can do is modify their behavior. God does not want to alter your behavior. He wants to change you from the inside. Once a change is produced inside, the outward behavior will joyfully follow suit! Take the Word regularly into your heart!
PRAY
Ask the Lord to help you make a habit of feeding on the Word regularly.
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