Loving God with Your Whole Heart

What do you find yourself loving, desiring, disliking, or fearing? Where does your mind go when it wanders? What affects your emotions- anger, happiness, sadness? All of these reveal what is on your heart.

We are called to “keep” our hearts and lead our hearts in the right direction:

“Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.” - Proverbs 4:23

“Set your affection on things above.” - Colossians 3:2

“Guide thine heart in the way.” - Proverbs 23:19

How does this work with God changing our hearts?

God influences our will (Philippians 2:13), and then with our will, and the Holy Spirit’s power, we are able to conquer the thoughts of our hearts and love Him wholeheartedly. 

This can take time to become consistent; you might find yourself wholeheartedly loving God as you worship and surrender, and later in the day you might find yourself being selfish. Yet the more that we intentionally focus on Jesus, the more consistency we will have in living with pure hearts.

We are sanctified by truth (John 17:17), so we must take time to intentionally let the truth sink into our hearts.

It is said that we are able to change our beliefs by focusing, or meditating, on the truth in a few ways: (1) speaking out loud, (2) repeating, and (3) falling asleep while listening to something relevant. I would add that we also direct our hearts with the conscious choices we make in life; as Jesus said, “Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”

It can help to have set times of the day when you practice the things mentioned above, to let truth sink into your heart. To truly “keep your heart with all diligence,” you will need to make it part of your routine.

Stop to examine your thoughts often. By using an interval timer (for once every 30 seconds or so), you can get in the habit of stopping to examine your thoughts and moving them to the forefront of your mind so that you can consciously make right choices rather than letting your mind wander indefinitely.

Since emotions are of the heart, look for ways to influence your emotions in ways that promote passion for God and others. While we don’t follow our emotions, we can lead our emotions in the right direction. Singing is an excellent way to direct your emotions to God.

Make sure you don’t simply go on with life as usual, but start a habit of “keeping your heart” intentionally.

“And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.” Deuteronomy 6:5

“I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.” Jeremiah 17:10