I Need a New Heart, Please (Prayers of the Heart #1)

Last week I purchased a wireless mouse for my computer. I was unable to make the mouse work. I took it out of the package and did everything the instructions said, but something was still wrong. I tried re-doing the batteries in the opposite order. I tried clicking every button on the mouse in various sequences. I tried turning it on and off and on again. Although the light of the optical eye would come on, it would not stay on and enable the mouse to work.

Acknowledging that I’m not extremely techy, I decided to let my husband have a look at it. He confirmed that it was defective and did not work. At this point, I acknowledged that I would have to exchange this mouse for a new one that would operate as intended. The old one was broken, plain and simple. I could not improve it. It could not be fixed.  Although it looked perfectly fine, what really mattered was that it did not work.

My only choice was to return to the store and exchange this defective mouse for a new, functional mouse. I needed a mouse that came from the manufacturer correctly assembled and ready to operate as intended. I needed a replacement.

Our hearts are very much like this defective mouse. We are born into this world with defective hearts.  ^“As it is written, None is righteous, just and truthful and upright and conscientious, no, not one.” (Romans 3:10 AMP)  Not even one person came into this world with a heart seeking to serve and obey God and truly love others.  ^“The heart is deceitful above all things, and it is exceedingly perverse and corrupt and severely, mortally sick! Who can know it [perceive, understand, be acquainted with his own heart and mind]?” (Jeremiah 17:9 AMP)  We are born with the sin nature.  We are born sick.

So we come into this world with a sick heart. And what do we try to do first, but fix it ourselves. We may try being good or outdoing our neighbor. But all of our efforts will not fix the heart. We may then turn to someone else who we think can fix us. This may be a friend or a counselor. Although they may provide some good advice concerning life’s situations, they cannot fix our sin-sick heart. Just as my husband, who knows far more about computers than I do, could not fix my mouse, no one in this world can fix our hearts.

We have only one choice. We need to return to the manufacturer. We need to go to the creator of hearts and giver of life, God Himself. Only he can exchange our sin sick hearts for new, healthy, life-filled hearts. And He promises us that He will. “ A new heart will I give you and a new spirit will I put within you, and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you shall heed My ordinances and do them.” (Ezekiel 36:26-27AMP) I love that imagery. A hard, cold stone heart is replaced by a warm, soft, living heart of flesh.  And we know that when God says He will do something that He will.

So if you have never taken your heart to Lord and asked him for a new one, I encourage you to do that today. All I had to do with my mouse was take it back to the store and explain that it did not work. They took the old one and gave me one that works just perfectly. Many years ago, I did the same thing with my heart.  I cried out to God, admitting that I could not love, or even live my life, without a new heart. Since that day my life has been transformed.  I am continually growing and learning new ways to use this soft heart.

Take your broken, sick heart and hand it to Jesus.  Admit that it is broke and you cannot fix it. He will replace it with a brand-new, perfect heart.  This heart comes at no charge! “For it is by free grace (God's unmerited favor) that you are saved (delivered from judgment and made partakers of Christ's salvation) through [your] faith. And this [salvation] is not of yourselves [of your own doing, it came not through your own striving], but it is the  of God;  Not because of works [not the fulfillment of the Law's demands], lest any man should boast. [It is not the result of what anyone can possibly do, so no one can pride himself in it or take glory to himself.]” (Ephesians 2:8-9 AMP)  This new heart will operate as the creator intended it. You will have the capacity to love like He loves as you grow in knowledge of that love. Enjoy your new heart and your new life.

(If you take your broken heart to God and ask for a new heart, tell someone who also knows Him.  Allow them to help you begin to know all that walking with this new love will entail.)