with my whole heart i cry; answer me, o Lord! i will keep your statutes. [psalm 119:145]
have you ever prayed something like this, “God if you save me from (insert undesirable situation here), i will follow you forever!!”. then about two seconds after God delivers you from your impending troubles, you go back to your old ways. where did the disconnect occur? half hearted prayer, no answer from God, or an inability to keep his statutes? these may be part of the reason as to why we turn back to old patterns, but it boils down to the motivation for prayer. rather than for people to escape the outcomes of their actions, God desires for his people to draw close to him. this is the reason we pray and cry out to God- so that we may draw in close to him and be in his presence! the more God shows his presence, the call to keep his statutes will also increase.
ezekiel 36:26- and i will give you a new heart, and a new spirit i will put within you. and i will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.
although a heart of flesh is prone to wander from God, it is better than a heart of stone. flesh is malleable, but stone is set in its ways.
may God open your heart so that you can receive a heart of flesh and not be bound by the weight that a heart of stone carries!
~ angela younger