Prayer is truly amazing. Because of God’s grace in Christ Jesus, and
because we have been adopted into His family, we can bring our requests to God.
We can pray about the weather. We can pray for healing for ourselves and for sick
family and friends. We can pray for governments. We can pray for safety. We can
ask for guidance and wisdom. We can pray for people we’ve never met. All of
this is great. But to me what is most amazing and wonderful is that we can pray
for our hearts. We can pray for our own hearts and for the hearts of others. I’m
not talking about our physical hearts (although we can pray for that, and
recently I’ve been praying fervently for a sister who is having physical heart
problems). The Bible teaches that we can pray for the inner part of us that has
to do with our desires, thoughts, commitments, feelings, and priorities. And
when we pray, God works good things in the hearts of those we pray for.
In order to emphasize this truth and to encourage you to pray more
for hearts – your own heart, and the hearts of others – I will share seven specific
ways in which we can pray for our hearts. Each of these by itself is wonderful
and valuable, so don’t speed through them too quickly.
1. Prayer
for our hearts to not be drawn to evil.
Do not let my heart be drawn to what is evil
so that I take part in wicked deeds along with those who are evildoers;
do not let me eat their delicacies.
(Psalm 141:4 NIV)
Although we don’t want to be, in this life we are in a constant war with evil desires. In this warfare, prayer is a might weapon. You
can pray and ask God to not allow your heart to be drawn to what is evil. This
strikes at the root of sin and temptation.
Jesus taught us to pray this type of prayer. It is part of the
Lord’s prayer. “Lead us not into temptation” (Matthew 6:13). Like all of the
Lord’s prayer, this is a prayer we pray for ourselves as well as for all our brothers
and sisters in Christ, as seen by the introduction to the prayer: “Our father.”
This is a prayer I pray at least daily.
2. Prayer
for a pure heart.
Create in me a pure heart, O God,
and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
(Psalm 51:10 NIV)
Our prayers to keep our hearts from evil are effective, and yet in
this evil age even those who are closest to the Lord still stumble and sin. Sin
gunks up our hearts. Thankfully, we can pray and ask God to renew and purify
our hearts. Psalm 51 is a powerful model for this kind of heart-prayer.
3. Prayer
for our hearts to be devoted to God
May the LORD our God be with us as he was with our ancestors;
may he never leave us nor forsake us.
May he turn our hearts to him,
to walk in obedience to him and keep the commands,
decrees and laws he gave our ancestors.
(1 Kings 8:57-58 NIV)
The first two examples have been prayers to avoid sin and to be cleansed
from sin. But our relationship with God is about much more than what we shouldn’t
want and shouldn’t do. It’s about wanting and loving God Himself more than
anything. As Christians, we want to want God, but we don’t always feel like we want
Him most. Thankfully, we can pray and ask God to turn our hearts to him. As we
love Him more, an expression of that love is to keep his commands (1 John 5:3).
4. Prayer
for our hearts to know His hope, riches, and power.
I pray that the eyes of your heart
may be enlightened
in order that you may know the hope to which he has
called you,
the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy
people,
and his incomparably great power for us who believe.
(Ephesians 1:18-19a NIV)
When we are aware of the certain hope of God’s
promises, of the glorious riches which await us, and of His incredible power
that is being used every second for our good, it completely changes how we
feel, think, and act. The darkness of this world can sometimes dim our vision
of these glorious truths. We can pray for each other the same prayer which Paul
prayed for the Christians in Ephesus. No matter how dark and difficult our
surroundings, we can pray for hearts that will clearly see and grasp God’s love
and His promises in Christ Jesus.
Do you know someone who would benefit from such a prayer? Why not
stop and pray for them right now!
5. Prayer
for God to strengthen our hearts.
May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for
each other and for everyone else,
just as ours does for you.
May he strengthen your hearts so
that you will be blameless and holy
in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus
comes with all his holy ones.
(1 Thessalonians 3:12-13 NIV)
It takes inner strength to serve God. We need courage to stand
against the evils of our age and to swim upstream against the currents of lust,
materialism, substance abuse, and godlessness. We can gain the strength we need
for ourselves and others through prayer!
Paul modeled praying for our brothers and sisters to receive the
inner strength they need:
I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen
you with power through his Spirit in your inner being,
so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through
faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have
power, together with all the Lord's holy people, to grasp how wide and long and
high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses
knowledge-- that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. (Ephesians 3:16-19 NIV)
6. Prayer
for encouragement for our hearts
May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father,
who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal
encouragement and good hope,
encourage your hearts and
strengthen you in every good deed and word.
(2 Thessalonians 2:16-17 NIV)
We easily become discouraged by worries, fears, and difficulties
which weigh on our hearts. We are tempted to give up or give in. We all need
encouragement to keep believing, keep serving, and to continue fighting the
good fight. This is something we can pray for. As we pray, we can be confident
that God will be pouring encouragement into the hearts of those we pray for.
7. Prayer
for an undivided heart
Teach me your way, LORD,
that I may rely on your faithfulness;
give me an undivided heart,
that I may fear your name.
(Psalm 86:11 NIV)
The greatest command is to love God with all your heart (Matthew
22:37). We want to do this, but we find so many other things competing for our
affection and devotion. Wrong beliefs, unforgiven sin, harmful habits, and unhealed
hurts can all cause our hearts to be divided. How can we gain a whole, healthy
heart, fully devoted to God? It’s a lifelong process. One of the means God uses
to bring wholeness to our wounded, divided hearts is prayer.
Conclusion
The thought that God invites, indeed encourages, us to pray for
human hearts is truly amazing. God will answer our prayers in many ways. He may
arrange circumstances to help our hearts. Sometimes He will draw a person to
just the right verse or cause them to notice certain lyrics in a song. He might
work through you to encourage someone’s heart in answer to your own prayer!
Since His Holy Spirit lives in all who believe, there are invisible ways in
which God works on the inside which are beyond our ability to understand. We
can be confident that when it comes to working in hearts, God knows what He’s
doing:
From heaven the LORD looks down and sees all mankind;
from his dwelling place he watches all who live on
earth--
he who forms the hearts of
all, who considers everything they do.
(Psalm 33:13-15 NIV)
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