Do Not Enter This Day with a Divided Heart ~ Morning Prayer

0:02 Having a divided heart can be dangerous. It means your heart is not fully with God but is shared between God and other things. Such a heart does not give God the full reverence he deserves. Mixing God with other priorities shows a lack of full devotion. And as Christians, we are called to give our whole hearts to him. The Bible speaks a great deal about the double-minded. It talks about people with divided hearts, people with divided minds, and it tells us their characteristics. James 1:8 says, "A double-minded man is

0:48 unstable in all his ways." In Psalms 86:1, the psalmist prays a very important prayer that I believe we all must pray today. He says, "Teach me your way, Lord, that I may rely on your faithfulness. Give me an undivided heart that I may fear your name." Here the psalmist asks that the Lord teach him his ways so that he may rely on the Lord's faithfulness. I believe one of the things that causes us to have a divided heart is a heart that has not really known the ways of the Lord. A heart that doesn't make it a point to know the ways of the Lord.

1:36 When we make a commitment to know the Lord's ways, when we determine in our hearts to see the Lord as he truly is, to seek him, to search him out, our eyes begin to open. We begin to see and understand who he really is from the pages of scripture. This understanding creates tangible faith in our hearts. When we don't form the habit of learning his ways as Christians, life becomes difficult. Trusting the Lord becomes difficult and we begin to have that divide in our hearts. It is as though we are trying but can't really conjure that full faith in our

2:22 hearts. And when we get into this state, we become like the James one verse 8 man. We become double-minded, unsure in all our ways. It is almost certain that any double-minded person already has a divided heart. In this state, we give the devil power because he begins to whisper things to us. They are subtle words that you would many times even think are your own, but they are not. I have found in my own personal journey that the more we draw away from God, the more we doubt him.

3:08 And that really is the root cause of a divided heart. Doubt. I strongly believe that man was not created to be separate from his creator. I believe that we were created to live in him and him in us constantly. When we draw away, we become far from him. I remember just a few years ago I got really busy and I realized that I had less and less time for God. It felt like life, you know. I thought everybody went through it. And thinking back now, it has probably happened to me at different times in life that I have not noted. But in those times, I began to realize that I stopped believing like I used to.

3:56 Sometimes it was so bad that it just seemed like I was going through the motions of being Christian without the real experience of it. My heart felt empty, dry, and cold. And the process was so gradual that I didn't even know it was happening until one day I came to realize that something was happening to me and it wasn't good. Whenever I find myself nearing this state, I know it's time to check my heart. I know it's time to readjust. And the beauty of being Christians is that even in our mistakes, even in our

4:42 weaknesses, God always has a solution. God always has a way out. Our first insight into coming out of this is in the second part of the book of Psalms we read today. It gives us a clear directive on what to do by showing us what the psalmist did. The psalmist says, "Give me an undivided heart that I may fear your name." This is a prayer. The first thing the psalmist did was pray. And that is the first remedy that we all must observe today. Prayer. Because at the end of the day, the only

5:28 person who can get us out of this successfully is God. So the first course of action after realizing that your heart is divided is to pray. Call upon the Lord and we will not be shy about this. If there was ever a time when we needed to be more open, to be more truthful, it is right now. James 4:8 also gives us a solution. It says, "Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded." I find the first part of this verse very striking.

6:14 It says, "Come near to God and he will come near to you." It brings to mind the fact that one of the things that causes a divided heart is our being far from God. We have to renew our commitments and return back to him. Rebuild that relationship that is dying out. The next lines of this verse also use specific words. It says to purify our hearts, to purge our hearts, to have a heart check, know what is really within our hearts, and correct it by the washing of the word and prayer.

6:59 I believe that we are running too deliberate a race for us to do it with a divided heart. We are called to too personal a relationship with the Lord for us to be so far away. Too personal a relationship for us to have a heart that is unsure and too personal a relationship for us to doubt. So today, let's take a moment to sit with these words and determine the state of our hearts. Is your heart like it used to be? Is your heart divided? Do you feel that hollowess, that emptiness that comes with not being with the Lord for a long time?

7:46 Then I ask you today to pray. You can start that prayer by praying with us right now. Let's raise our voice intentionally today like the psalmist did and call upon the Lord to help our divided hearts to help make them whole, to help make them stronger in him. If you're ready to say that prayer today, say it with me. Dear God, I've heard your words today and I know they are true. I see how my heart has been these last few months. I haven't been close to you. I felt myself drifting away.

8:31 Believing has been hard, and I haven't spent time in your presence, in your word, or in prayer like I should have. I've neglected my walk with you. I got busy, and often I've just been complacent and lacked passion. I'm not sure when it started or how I ended up here. But today, I admit it. I see it clearly in what I do and the choices I make. That's why I ask you to forgive me. Please have mercy on me in Jesus' name. Father, in Jesus' name, I ask for restoration today. Please restore my walk with you and the

9:19 closeness I have lost. Bring me back to the place where my heart was more sensitive, my spirit was more alive, and my desire for you was stronger. Heal everything my divided heart has damaged. Renew my hunger for your word, my desire to pray, my love for your presence, and my ability to hear and follow you. Lord, I know I have drifted from you and haven't been as close as I should. I'm asking you to bring me back. Lord, please restore the altars I've let fall apart. Bring back the commitments I once kept

10:06 and the discipline I let go. Help me treasure the quiet moments with you again. Don't let me treat time with you as something casual or keep putting you aside for things that can't help me. Show me again how to put you first, how to spend time with your word until it shapes my thoughts, and how to pray with a heart that truly seeks you. Lord, help me rebuild a strong life of prayer and time in your word. Don't let me settle for just occasional devotion or rely on past experiences. I need new strength, new understanding, and a renewed heart.

10:53 I want my time with you to be real and meaningful. Bring me back to a place where my soul listens to you. My choices are guided by you and my life is shaped by your voice. Today, I ask you to take away this divided heart. It has changed how I see you and weakened my understanding of who you are and what you can do. It has taken away my faith and spiritual knowledge and let fear in. It has made me double-minded and unstable and caused me to doubt you when I should have trusted your word. It has made me try to hold on to you

11:38 while still clinging to other things. Lord, remove every part of me that tries to mix you with other things. Take away my divided affections and any desire that keeps me from fully surrendering. Remove anything that has lessened my awe of you. I don't want to treat you as ordinary or know about you, but live far from you. I don't want to talk about faith while my heart is full of doubt. Please revive my heart and make it whole in you. From today, let my heart no longer be divided. Lord, cleanse my heart today. Purify it and remove anything that

12:24 shouldn't be there. Wash away my coldness, carelessness, doubt, fear, and spiritual dullness. Let there be a deep renewal in me in Jesus name. Make my heart soft again, my spirit willing, and my love for you sincere, steady, and alive. Lord, I thank you again today. Thank you for your word and for not leaving me as I am. Even in my weakness, you are there for me. When I was slipping away, you didn't abandon me. You corrected me to bring me back. You opened my eyes so I wouldn't

13:12 keep drifting and gave me a way to return. For all this, I am grateful. Thank you for your endless love. Thank you for being patient with me. Thank you for showing me mercy even when I fall short. Thank you for restoring me right now. Thank you for guiding me to examine my heart. From this moment on, I trust that I am coming back to understanding, to a living spiritual life, and to a heart full of faith, a heart that is pure, clean, and renewed in Jesus' name. Amen. I hope this devotion encourages you to

13:58 look at your heart, draw closer to God, and ask him to heal any areas where you feel distant or distracted. We are praying that your love for God grows stronger, your faith is renewed, and your heart feels whole. If you have any prayer requests, please share them in the comments. We would be glad to pray for you. May the peace of Jesus Christ always be with you.