A Perfect Heart

Scripture Reading: 2 Chronicles 16:
“For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him. . . . ”

A Perfect Heart

Lord, perfect my heart towards you. Touch my heart and cause it to begin to be perfect towards you so that you would show yourself strong in my life.

Luke 22:24–31 tells us that the greatest challenge we all have in this physical body is the challenge of pride. It hides in us in different ways. Even the disciples, the disciplined followers of Jesus, struggled with pride among themselves. The Bible says that the heart of man is deceitful above all else and desperately wicked. It is that heart that causes the disciples to look at one another and ask who among them is greatest.

Consideration and comparison comes from man, not from God. In the minds and in the hearts of the disciples, the question was: “Is Peter the greatest? Or do they think that I am the greatest? Do they think that it’s John or James?” The Bible says that there was strife; they began to struggle amongst themselves over the issue of who should be counted the greatest. Let us pray that God will convert our heart to think the way His heart thinks. In their hearts the disciples were concerned about what other people thought about them. They were not talking about who had the greatest anointing or gifting. No, they were talking about who had the greatest title.

All of us face challenges with how we are perceived; with what we think people think of us. When things happen to you, do you really hurt inside or are you concerned more about how people will see you because of what has happened? Most of the time it seems like we worry over external things: how people see us, the value they place on us, and what they say we are. May God deliver us from this heart disease, this disease that causes us to focus on people. Today, I pray that God will deliver us from the thoughts of others’ perceptions, because that is what causes strife.

Sometimes we do things for the sake of appearance, so that we receive accolades. However it is not what man thinks or sees, but what God sees in your heart, 1 Samuel 16:7. That is why each of us needs to pray for our heart, because God wants to show Himself strong to those who have a perfect heart towards Him, Psalm 7:9. One of the presents God wants to give to His children is His manifested strength.

The Word of God says that His eyes go to and fro in 2 Chronicles 16:9 over this earth all the time. He may start in the United States looking around for hearts that are perfect towards Him, so He can show Himself strong towards them.

He then moves on to Europe and then to Asia, to Africa, to Australia, and to all the isles of the world. He travels afar to find anyone stranded there whose heart is perfect towards Him. He is looking to show Himself strong on their behalf. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a perfect heart towards God, so that when He makes His rounds and gets into your area, He will say, “This heart is perfect towards me. I will show myself strong on it’s behalf.”

Prayer Points:

O Father God, show yourself strong in our lives. Be magnified to the glory of your name in all of our lives. Father, touch us and give us a perfect heart. Have mercy upon us and deliver us from our concerns for external labeling instead of the internal content of our heart. Father, we know that man looks on the outside, but you look on the heart.

Today, I pray that you will touch our heart, take hold of our heart, and turn our heart towards perfection to you in the name of Jesus. The things that we are thinking that we ought not to think, O living God, delete them from our heart and mind.

Remove everything from our heart that is contrary. Father, come and show yourself strong in our families, relationships, professions and ministries. Lord, we desire to value our relationship with you above all, but sometimes what we wish and what we do are two different things. Lord, help us to do all that is in our heart towards you in the name of Jesus. Amen.