I wish I could tell you that I always feel close to God. Or even that I always want to. But my own experience reminds me that at times when I’ve backslidden and I’m feeling disconnected from God, I don’t really want to find my way back.
Don’t get me wrong. Sometimes God’s Spirit reveals to me an area of sin, and I want nothing more than to confess it and forsake it and never pick it back up again. Because I can’t bear to have anything between me and my God, the Lover and Restorer of my soul.
But I’m sorry to say there have been times when I’m more like a pig who really likes the slop and sludge I’m wallowing in. So I’m slow to sense God’s Spirit and even slower to respond. When I’m in that spot in my life, I don’t even want to be clean again.
Maybe I recognize that I’m feeling disconnected from God, but I just don’t care all that much.
Feeling Disconnected from God
Have you ever experienced this? When you know you’ve drifted, and you realize you aren’t happy where you’re at. But for one reason or another, you don’t want to move from the mess.
Maybe your sin has made you so lethargic that you can’t muster the energy to even lift your hand to Jesus.
Maybe you can’t believe that He’ll forgive you yet again.
What then?
Let me just encourage you that if the “want-to” isn’t there, pray for it.
Ask God to help you want to.
In my own life, that prayer has often sounded like this:
“God, please change my heart.”
God, Change My Heart
The beauty of this prayer is its simplicity. Just a handful of words, with truckloads of meaning.
It’s all those beneath-the-surface and between-the-lines meanings that make it a prayer that is irresistible to God.
“God, please change my heart.”
It’s a plea–a request acknowledging God’s complete ability and my complete inability.
And it’s even more than just acknowledging.
It’s trusting.
Trusting that God is able to act on my behalf, and loving enough to want to.
“God, please change my heart.”
Not only is it a plea and an acknowledgement and a cry of trust; it’s also a confession.
I pray this when I have a bad attitude and an unthankful spirit.
I pray it when I have a wrong view of my husband.
I pray it when I’m irritable and unkind and unloving.
I pray it when I’m not extending grace to others as lavishly as I’ve received it.
I have prayed it when I’m not encountering God…and when I’m not even really wanting to.
“God, please change my heart.”
It’s the cry of a humble heart—one bowed in submission before her Master.
It’s the plea of a yearning soul—one hungering and thirsting after righteousness.
It’s also the longing of a wayward spirit—one that recognizes the distance between her and her Savior by her apathy toward that distance.
“God, please change my heart.”
It may take place in a matter of moments. It may happen over a period of days or weeks or even months. But when you ask God to change your heart, I can promise you that He will.
God changes our hearts, and then God changes our desires to reflect His heart. And His own desire to be with us.
FREE “Change Your Heart” Challenge
If you recognize the need for God to change your heart, to purify it, and to restore it to wholeness in Him, you will love our free 21-day prayer challenge called Praying the Scriptures for Purity.
Hundreds of Christians like you have completed the challenge and have experienced a fresh zeal for holiness and a fresh closeness with God.
Joining the challenge is simple! (And free!) Fill out the form below, then check your inbox for an important email confirming that you want to participate.
I can’t wait to hear about how God works in your life through this very meaningful season of prayer!
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