God Alone Understands The Heart

 The outward appearances of others may deceive us, but God Alone Understands The Heart. We may not even know the true content of our own heart, but the Lord our God knows what is in the heart of each one of us.
 We are all fallen creatures, and although we praise and thank God that we have been saved by grace through faith in Christ, have been made a new creation in Him, and have been given His resurrected life, our old, fleshly nature lusts against our new-life-in-Christ and our new nature lusts against our old, fleshly, sinful self.
 As born again believers who are living in the dispensation of grace, we have the Holy Spirit in our heart. He will never leave us nor forsake us, and He can never be taken away from us as used to happen in the dispensation of Law. Nevertheless, knowing that "the heart is more deceitful than anything else and desperately wicked," we should examine our hearts to see if we are in the faith, to see if we are walking in spirit and truth, to see if we are trusting in anything other than the Lord Jesus. We should ask Him to search our hearts to see if there is any wicked way in us that needs to be cleansed and rooted out.
 Only God can fully know and understand our inner heart. May we submit to His purifying gaze and be ready and willing to say: "Purify my heart O Lord," no matter what it may cost.
The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?

Our United Prayer:
Heavenly Father, thank You that we are Your children and have been saved by grace through faith in Christ. Nonetheless, it is uncomfortable to realize that, like all, our hearts are deceitful and desperately wicked. We pray that You would search our hearts, our motives, our conscious thoughts, and even our unconscious imaginings, to see if there is anything in us that needs to be rooted out. Purify our hearts, we pray. Lord, we are so aware that these days, we are encouraged to follow the desires of our own hearts. May the deep desire of our hearts be to follow only You and Your leading, in the power of the Holy Spirit, to Your praise and glory. In Jesus' name we Pray, AMEN.