A Prepared Heart

How is it that half way through the second song I realized I was going through the motions in worship? The words were coming out of my mouth....but my mind was thinking about anything and everything other than God. Why is that? How sad that I can come to corporate worship on Sunday with the local Body of Christ and be distracted.

How is it that I can read an entire chapter in Acts and have no idea what I just read? How does that happen?

I think we all know. It is called being distracted. It is called not having a prepared heart.

I have been encouraged by Mark 4, the story of the farmer scattering seed. At any given time my heart can be hard or rocky or crowded....just like the soil that did not produce fruit. OR it can be fertile and productive and produce lots and lots of fruit.

We all know that we MUST prepare our hearts for worship. There is no way we can sit at the feet of Jesus and expect to hear from Him or know Him or even worship Him if our hearts are not prepared. Words will just bounce off like seeds do on hard or rocky soil.

The sad thing is this is nothing new. Not a unknown Truth or new enlightenment....it is something I have known for years. Why do I forget? Why do I think I can come before the throne of the God of the Universe without first preparing my heart?

Each time I open the Word or go to worship or desire to walk in Truth or long to speak Godly words or have pure thoughts or even try to write this blog....I must, we must, go to the Lord and ask for His mind to understand what we read, ask to see His face as we worship, ask for His words when we speak, etc.

Fruitful. Fruitful worship, Fruitful speech, Fruitful thoughts. All comes from a prepared heart. A focused heart. Tomorrow before you begin to read your Bible....first ask God to speak to you. Sunday when you go to worship (and for some of you....before you lead in worship) be sure to focus your heart and mind on Him....not the "things" around you.

Then, expect much fruit!