Topical Bible: Heart: Renewed: It should Seek God

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In the biblical context, the heart is often seen as the center of human will, emotion, and intellect. A renewed heart signifies a transformation that aligns one's desires and intentions with the will of God. This transformation is a central theme in Scripture, emphasizing the importance of seeking God with a heart that has been made new.

Biblical Foundation

The concept of a renewed heart is rooted in the promise of the New Covenant, where God declares His intention to transform the hearts of His people. In Ezekiel 36:26, God promises, "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh." This renewal is not merely an external change but a profound internal transformation that enables individuals to seek God earnestly.

Seeking God with a Renewed Heart

A renewed heart naturally seeks God, as it is attuned to His presence and desires to know Him more deeply. Psalm 51:10 reflects the plea for such renewal: "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me." This verse underscores the necessity of divine intervention in the renewal process, highlighting that it is God who initiates and sustains the transformation.

The pursuit of God with a renewed heart is further illustrated in Psalm 119:2, which states, "Blessed are those who keep His testimonies and seek Him with all their heart." Here, the psalmist emphasizes wholehearted devotion, suggesting that a renewed heart is fully committed to following God's ways and seeking His presence.

Characteristics of a Renewed Heart

1. Desire for God: A renewed heart is characterized by an intense longing for God. As the psalmist declares in Psalm 42:1, "As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul longs after You, O God." This imagery captures the deep yearning of a heart that has been transformed by God's grace.

2. Obedience to God's Commands: A renewed heart is inclined to obey God's commandments. In Deuteronomy 30:6, it is written, "The LORD your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants, so that you may love Him with all your heart and with all your soul, and live." This passage highlights the connection between a renewed heart and a life of obedience and love for God.

3. Repentance and Humility: A renewed heart is marked by repentance and humility. In Joel 2:12-13, God calls His people to return to Him with all their heart, with fasting, weeping, and mourning. The renewed heart recognizes its need for God's mercy and grace, leading to genuine repentance and a humble spirit.

4. Joy in God's Presence: A renewed heart finds joy in the presence of God. Psalm 16:11 declares, "You make known to me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy; at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore." This joy is a natural outflow of a heart that seeks and delights in God.

Conclusion

The renewal of the heart is a divine work that enables believers to seek God with sincerity and devotion. Through the transformation of the heart, individuals are empowered to live in accordance with God's will, experiencing the fullness of life that comes from a deep and abiding relationship with Him.

Nave's Topical Index

2 Chronicles 19:3
Nevertheless there are good things found in you, in that you have taken away the groves out of the land, and have prepared your heart to seek God.
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2 Chronicles 30:19
That prepares his heart to seek God, the LORD God of his fathers, though he be not cleansed according to the purification of the sanctuary.
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Ezra 7:10
For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the LORD, and to do it, and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments.
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Psalm 10:17
LORD, you have heard the desire of the humble: you will prepare their heart, you will cause your ear to hear:
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Psalm 84:2
My soul longs, yes, even faints for the courts of the LORD: my heart and my flesh cries out for the living God.
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Library

The Search that Always Finds
... which the destruction of idols and the renewed observance of ... 'They sought Him with
all their heart.' That does ... all our actions, and that we should seek for God ...
/.../maclaren/expositions of holy scripture g/the search that always finds.htm

The Friends of Jesus
... among His hearers, but worse that they should seek to mar ... sisters, or mother, and
in so doing should receive back ... we may be as far from a renewed heart as was ...
/.../chadwick/the gospel of st mark/chapter 3 31-35 the friends of.htm

Rejoicing Before God.
... was not the right one, but count that man should have a ... pass away with every moment,
and must be renewed every moment ... a joy from the heart, as the heart is the ...
/.../schleiermacher/selected sermons of schleiermacher/x rejoicing before god.htm

Prayer and Desire
... The stronger the sense of need, before God, the greater should be the ... It is born
in the renewed soul ... The absence of this holy desire in the heart is presumptive ...
/...//christianbookshelf.org/bounds/the necessity of prayer/iv prayer and desire.htm

The Perfect Heart.
... alliance, a prophet met him and said, "Should'st thou ... the very thing he went to Assyria
to seek to avoid. ... It must mean, then, a heart renewed by the Holy Ghost ...
//christianbookshelf.org/booth/godliness/chapter viii the perfect heart.htm

To Pastors and Teachers
... and the face of the Church would be wholly renewed. ... to believe and diligently to
pray, we should lead them ... outward body, whilst the disease lies at the heart. ...
/.../guyon/a short and easy method of prayer/chapter xxiii to pastors and.htm

The Knowledge that God Is, Combined with the Knowledge that He is ...
... offered up by the spiritual affection and renewed mind is ... a new gospel, which, if
an angel should bring from ... you have never almost taken it to heart in earnest ...
/.../binning/the works of the rev hugh binning/lecture xi the knowledge that.htm

The Stony Heart Removed
... The hard heart does not love God, but the renewed heart does. The hard heart is
selfish, cold, stolid. "Why should I weep for sin? Why should I love the Lord? ...
/.../spurgeon/spurgeons sermons volume 8 1863/the stony heart removed.htm

"The Prophets of God Helping Them"
... so plainly through Moses; having turned with all the heart to God, and renewed their
covenant ... Should they, at the very beginning of their undertaking, enter ...
/.../white/the story of prophets and kings/chapter 46 the prophets of.htm

The Endless Quest
... on a throne in heaven,"then, we should soon find ... warm, and wondering love out of
your renewed heart to Him. ... saints of God: yet, if we also seek God, and seek ...
/...//christianbookshelf.org/whyte/lord teach us to pray/xxiii the endless quest.htm