When a person decides to repent and abandon the path of wickedness, God cleanses their heart, because your heart determines the direction of your life. If your heart is bad, you cannot hide it; it manifests even in your work, at your home, with your family, in your marriage, and it hinders all spiritual progress.
How many people lead a religious life but possess a bad heart—a heart that persecutes, a heart that rejects, a heart that does not forgive, a heart that lies awake waiting for the opportunity to destroy their neighbor, and that cannot rest until it sees the downfall of their neighbor. There is no job or profession in the world that forces people to demonstrate the wickedness in their hearts, but when people are stubborn and have an unrepentant heart (Romans 2:5), their own heart shows who they truly are.
After committing a grave sin, which brought consequences upon himself and his entire family, David wept and begged God, saying: “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me” (Psalm 51:10). Because he knew that God does not like people with proud, false, lying, and wicked hearts, as their hearts are not right with God.
When we ask God for something, God screens our heart; He examines our request. If there is any envy, contempt, or discrimination in it—wherein we exalt ourselves instead of humbling ourselves—that request is set aside until the moment we come before God in all humility, and then God will answer our prayer.
God loves us all equally; God is a Father to us all. That is why Christ Jesus taught the “Our Father” prayer, which is not just a religious prayer, but a prayer containing seven petitions, demonstrating that we have trust and that only God can supply our needs.
Do not leave room for doubt in your heart; remove anger, hatred, bitterness, and revenge from your heart. Do not repay evil with evil, do not seek to destroy people, and do not persecute your neighbor. Instead, leave everything in God’s hands, and you will see how God will handle the matter. Because if a person tells lies or lives a life that does not please God, at the end of the day, they themselves must give an account to God.
Be very careful when someone harbors the intent in their heart to break another person’s life, because God looks at that very deeply—when someone wants to destroy what God has united—because what is in your heart then is not love, it is envy mixed with diabolical passion.
“Guard your heart above all else, for it is the source of life” (Proverbs 4:23).
“A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of” (Lucas 6:45).
People with a bad heart like to justify themselves and do not look to the righteousness of God; they exalt themselves and do not look out for the interests of others. The word of God says that they trust in themselves that they are righteous (Luke 18:9).
God loves humble people, but humility is a lifelong process; you cannot be humble on Sunday and then be arrogant with a filthy mouth on Monday. That does not come from God.
Sincerely,
Pastor Marcel Balootje