Here is My Heart, Lord

My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast and confident!  I will sing praises to You! – Psalm 57:7 

Isn’t it annoying when a song gets stuck in your head?  There’s actually a word for it: earworm. Lyrics like “We all live in a yellow submarine, a yellow submarine, a yellow submarine” playing over and over as you try to go about your day.  Or even worse, while you’re trying to get to sleep.

A couple nights ago, I woke up several times with these lyrics playing in my mind:

Here’s my heart Lord.  

Here’s my heart Lord. 

Here’s my heart Lord.  

Speak what is true.

I remember thinking I’d better write them down because maybe God is trying to tell me something, but sleep won out and I never got up.

Later that day, while reading about David’s heart crying out to God in the Bible, I heard the lyrics again in my mind.  I rushed to the computer and Googled Here’s My Heart Lord.  I also searched Bible Gateway to find out how often the word heart is mentioned in the Bible.  (Isn’t it amazing how much information we can discover online in a matter of a few seconds?)

Among other things, I learned that Lauren Daigle has the song Here’s My Heart on her latest album, and that our “hearts” are mentioned over seven hundred times in the Bible. Wow, our hearts must be incredibly important to God!  In the interest of time, I decided to look more closely at the lyrics of the song and leave the 700 verses for later.

While listening to the song, I was reminded who I AM in God’s eyes and who Jesus is to me.  Let these truths from the song sink into your soul:

• Truths about YOU – You are found by God, His child, deeply loved, made pure by Jesus’ blood, given life, every breath, healed, and set free.

• Truths about JESUS – He is strong, secure, and alive in you.  He is enduring, good, always true, the light breaking through, more than enough, with you, loving, giver of hope, your everything.  

The song ends with one word exchanged from the original chorus.  It’s only a single word, but it makes a world of difference.  It’s actually a pretty profound faith twist. The song ends with:

Here’s my life Lord.

Here’s my life Lord.

Here’s my life Lord.

Speak what is true.

Did you catch the change?  The singer moves from giving God her heart, to giving God her life.  In our faith journeys, we often start out giving God our hearts and accepting His unconditional love.  Then as our faith in Jesus grows, influencing how we think, feel and act, God eventually asks us for our life.

I remember exactly where I was when God asked me to surrender my life to Him. I was jogging along the Boulder Creek Path years ago.  When my 3 O’Clock Wake Up Call sounded on my phone, I looked up and began thanking God for what was good in my life.  Then I invited Him into some of the messes that were ongoing in my life.  That’s when I knew it.  God wanted more than my heart and the parts I’d invited Him into.  He wanted my whole life.

God wants to be invited into all the areas of your life: your relationships, marriage, parenting, finances, friendships, habits, hobbies, career plans, character, every area of life. 

I’ve never been a fan of the word surrender because it conjures up thoughts of weakness, and defeat.  But the surrender God wants from you is different.  Once you give God your life, His strength lives in you.  He leads and you follow.  Your feet walk in peace towards God’s purposes and plans for you. He’s plans are even better than the ones you could have made for yourself.  

Will you give God both your heart and your life?  

The Power of Giving God Thanks Will Ignite Your Faith and Change Your World!

Thank You for Being a Part of the 3 O’Clock Wake Up Movement