Thursday, Sept. 8, 2011
Weekend Speaker: Ben Sigman
Theme: Blueprints for a Better Life - A "How To" Guide On Prayer
This eDevotional was written by a volunteer from Timberlake Church.
Read: Psalm 37: 1-7
Think: Former Vice President Dick Cheney has been on TV recently promoting his new book. In one recent interview, he spoke about his health and his famously weak heart. He told how in mid-2010 he had a small pump implanted in his chest to assist his heart with moving blood. The alternative, which he has not yet decided to pursue, is a heart transplant.
In scripture, as in our popular culture, the heart is a metaphor for the seat of our desires, our wants, our will. Or, as Pastor Ben called it on Sunday, our passion – the things we want so much that we’re willing to suffer for them. We say that a person has ‘won our heart’, or perhaps we ‘have a heart for orphans’. By this, we mean that our desire for the good of this other person is strong enough that we are willing to endure hardship of our own to bring it about.
It is only natural that we turn to prayer in pursuit of these passions of our heart. Listening to Pastor Ben’s weekend message, I was especially struck by his story of praying for his gravely ill daughter as she lay in her hospital bed. I remember both that time, and an earlier time when my own young daughter lay similarly stricken in the hospital. The fervency of the prayer of a father in that situation cannot be overstated. But what Pastor Ben experienced as he prayed echoed Jesus’ own prayer from the cross – ‘not my will, but your will, Father’.
You see, as we pray, God wants to do more than support our heart’s desire. He wants to give us a new heart, filled with passion for His purposes. He doesn’t want to simply give us the things we desire in our hearts, but to create within us new desires consistent with His character. As Psalm 37:4 says: ‘take delight in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart.’ That’s a heart transplant we all need.
Do: Identify one thing that you are passionate about in your heart, something that you want God’s help to bring about. Now, pray for God’s will to supplant your own.
Pray: Lord, you know that it’s not a bad thing that I’m passionate about; I believe I’ve got my heart set on something good. But I don’t want it to be about what I want. Change my heart, O God, and create a new passion in me – whatever You want. Amen.