Preparing to Celebrate Christ at EasterSample

What’s the Condition of Your Heart?

Easter, and the weeks leading up to it, are filled with wonderful and busy days—some that even distract us from the reason we are celebrating. It’s easy to get wrapped up in the busyness of life and forget the importance of preparing our hearts and minds to celebrate God’s love and sacrifice for us. 

The days leading up to Easter are an invitation for us to get our hearts and minds ready for remembering Jesus’s life, death and resurrection. It’s an opportunity for us to look at our life and start, or restart, those spiritual disciplines—things like prayer, fasting and making sure our hearts are right with God—that will help to strengthen our relationship with Christ. 

One great way to prepare for Easter is by checking the condition of your heart—not your physical heart, but what’s going on inside of you—your thoughts, motives and desires. In fact, God is more interested in what’s going on inside of you than He is with how you look or what you do. Proverbs 4:23 says it this way: Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it (NIV). The condition of our heart is important because everything starts there. 

So how do we do that? The Bible instructs us to examine ourselves to see whether we are living our lives according to God’s Word (see 2 Corinthians 13:5 AMP). We need to honestly examine our hearts in light of what God’s Word says and make a commitment to change in the areas that He is leading us to.

The Psalmist David frequently asked God to examine him to see if there was anything in his life that was not right. In Psalm 139:23-24 (NIV) he said, Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. And that’s how we should approach it too.

No matter what condition your heart is in, God wants to make it like His. He wants to be close to you, and the first step is allowing Him to change your heart.  So, open your heart to Him in a greater way than ever before, and you will be amazed at how He will change you when you let Him. 

VIDEO:

Joyce teaches why you should guard your heart and keep it safe. 

KEY SCRIPTURE:

Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you—unless, of course, you fail the test? (2 Corinthians 13:5 NIV) 

QUOTE FROM JOYCE:

“Examine your heart, your inner attitudes, and your thoughts to see if there is anything there that God would not approve of.” —Joyce 

TAKE ACTION:

Spend time with God today. Talk to Him sincerely and honestly, asking Him to show you specific areas of your heart that need to be changed. Write down in a journal what He shows you. For example, you may be struggling with bad attitudes, negative thinking, disobedience, etc. Throughout the next week, continue to pray and ask God to help you change from the inside out.

Prayer: 

God, help me be a person after Your heart—to want what You want and view others with love and compassion like You do. I can’t change myself, but with Your help, I can change from the inside out. In Jesus’s Name, amen.