Reviving the Heart

Did you first come to the Lord only because you wanted something from him? Did you turn to God to kick a drug habit, to have your marriage restored or to be delivered from financial trouble? 

The truth is that Christ will work miracles for you. He will do the impossible in your life. Yet if you come to him only to be delivered from your problems, you will never grow in spiritual maturity. On the contrary, you will only grow hard. 

Think back to the time of your conversion. Did it happen after some locust had eaten everything away? Was your health debilitated? Was one of your children in trouble? Did you end up in devastation, with death and ruin hovering over you? 

Please do not misunderstand me. Of course, God loves to save people who end up in ruin. When all is lost, he is always near and faithful to deliver. However, beloved, you cannot come to Jesus just to get relief. You must go to him because he is God and because he deserves your life, your worship, your obedience. 

Right now, you may be saying, “Yes, I admit I have been neglecting God’s Word, and a besetting sin still binds me. Am I too far gone to receive the Lord’s healing touch?” 

No, not at all! If you will call on the Lord today, in the midst of your need, he will bring you times of refreshing. Whenever you bring a truly repentant heart to him, he will act as your mediator and intercessor, not your judge. 

Do you want to grow into maturity in Christ? Do you want the Lord to keep reproving you in love and guiding you toward godliness? Call on him today. There is nothing quite like a broken and contrite heart to keep you on your intended path in Christ. 

“For thus says the High and Lofty One who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: ‘I dwell in the high and holy place, with him who has a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones’” (Isaiah 57:15, NKJV).