A Heart positioned for God: The Importance of a Clean Heart by Minister Carol Chambers

A Heart Positioned for God: The Importance of a Clean Heart

1. God is concerned not only with what we do, but with the condition and posture of our heart. A person can appear right outwardly while inwardly carrying bitterness, pride, unforgiveness, jealousy, or wrong motives. God, however, looks beyond the outward appearance and examines what is happening within us. 1 Samuel 16:7 says, “Man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.” This reminds us that our heart matters deeply to God. The posture of our heart speaks of our attitude toward God, toward His Word, and toward other people. We should therefore continually ask God to search us and reveal anything within us that does not please Him. Psalm 139:23-24 says, “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts.”

2. A clean heart is not something we can produce by our own strength; we need God to cleanse and transform us from within. David understood this when he cried out to God after recognising the condition of his heart. He did not simply ask God to change his circumstances—he asked God to change him. Psalm 51:10 says, “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.” What a powerful prayer! Sometimes we ask God to change everyone around us when God wants to begin His work inside of us. A clean heart means allowing God to remove what is displeasing to Him and creating within us a heart that desires righteousness, holiness, love and obedience. Ezekiel 36:26 says, “A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you.”

3. The condition of our heart affects the words we speak and the actions we take. Jesus taught that what comes out of our mouths is connected to what is stored within our hearts. Luke 6:45 says, “For of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh.” If our heart is filled with love, eventually love will come out; if it is filled with bitterness, bitterness will eventually reveal itself. This is why we cannot simply concentrate on changing our speech while ignoring the condition of our heart. We need God to deal with the source. Proverbs 4:23 tells us, “Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.” We must guard our hearts because what we allow to settle there can eventually influence our relationships, decisions, attitudes and spiritual walk.

4. A clean heart enables us to see God more clearly and walk in fellowship with Him. Jesus said in Matthew 5:8, “Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.” There is something powerful about having a heart that is sincere before God. We may fool people, but we cannot fool God. Hebrews 4:13 reminds us that “all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.” Therefore, we should not only be concerned about looking good before people; we should desire to be right before God when nobody else is watching. Purity of heart means having genuine motives, seeking God's will and refusing to harbour things that separate us from Him. Psalm 24:3-4 asks, “Who shall ascend into the hill of the LORD? or who shall stand in his holy place?” The answer is, “He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart.”

5. Having the right heart posture also means learning to forgive, love and release the things that can poison our spirit. We cannot continually carry anger, resentment and unforgiveness and expect our hearts to remain spiritually healthy. Ephesians 4:31-32 tells us, “Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger... be put away from you,” and then instructs us to “be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.” Forgiveness does not mean that what happened was right; it means we refuse to allow what happened to control the condition of our heart. Jesus calls us to love even when it is difficult. Colossians 3:14 says, “And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness.” A heart surrendered to God becomes a heart that can love, forgive and show mercy.

6. Therefore, every day we should surrender our hearts afresh to God and allow Him to keep us spiritually clean. We should not only pray for God's blessings; we should pray for a heart that can carry those blessings without becoming proud, selfish or distant from Him. James 4:8 says, “Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts.” Our heart posture should be one of humility, repentance, obedience and complete surrender. When our heart is right before God, our lives begin to reflect Him. Let our prayer continually be the prayer of David: “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.” — Psalm 51:10. A clean heart is not about pretending to be perfect; it is about being willing to let God continually search us, correct us, cleanse us and make us more like Christ.