Giving Our Heart Completely to God in the New Year
Is giving our heart completely to God possible? And, is it easy?
I believe the answers are Yes and No respectively.
Ever since I gave my heart to the Lord at sixteen, I’ve heard God’s people speak about whole-hearted devotion to the Lord.
Also, how committed believers protect their heart from becoming divided.
Because the Lord never meant for the human heart to belong completely to anything or anyone other than Him.
In college, I chose 2 Chronicles 16:9a as my life verse:
“For the eyes of the Lord move to and fro throughout the earth that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His.” (NASB 1995, emphasis added)
According to Dictionary.com, the phrase to and fro means “a continuous or regular movement backward and forward.”
The Lord is looking for people with this kind of undivided devotion and heart for Him.
So if it’s really possible, but not easy, where do we even start and how do we go about it?
The Bible is the best place to discover the key to giving our heart completely to God.
Giving Our Heart: Love, Serve, Seek
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.” Deuteronomy 6:5 (ESV, emphasis added)
“And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.” Deuteronomy 10:12 (NIV, emphasis added)
“You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” Jeremiah 29:13 (NIV, emphasis added)
The Lord never meant for the human heart to belong completely to anything or anyone other than Him. Click To TweetGiving Our Heart: Thanks, Keep, Return
“I give you thanks, O Lord, with my whole heart; before the gods I sing your praise.” Psalm 138:1 (ESV, emphasis added)
“Give me understanding, that I may keep your law and observe it with my whole heart.” Psalm 119:34 (ESV, emphasis added)
After judgement/need for repentance: “’Yet even now,’ declares the Lord, ‘return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning.’” Joel 2:12 (ESV, emphasis added)
Giving Our Heart: Remain, Undivided, Trust
Barnabas visits the church of Antioch: “When he arrived and saw what the grace of God had done, he was glad and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts.” Acts 11:23 (NIV, emphasis added)
Heart completely to God, not to idols: “I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh. Then they will follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. They will be my people, and I will be their God.” Ezekiel 11:19-20 (NIV, emphasis added)
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.” Proverbs 3:5-6 (NIV, emphasis added)
Prayer for the New Year
Father, you know my heart and when it’s divided by the idols of this world. In the new year, help me to give my heart completely to you. I desire to love you with all my heart. I want to repent and return to you when I fail to fully obey your Word. Let me praise you with a thankful heart. And help me remain true to you as my God and trust you above anyone or anything. In the name of Jesus. Amen.
Father, you know my heart and when it’s divided by the idols of this world. In the new year, help me to give my heart completely to you. I desire to love you with all my heart. Click To TweetHappy New Year! May 2022 be directed by the Almighty in whom you place your ultimate trust and give your heart to completely.
Happy New Year! May 2022 be directed by the Almighty in whom you place your ultimate trust and give your heart to completely. Click To Tweet
Which Bible verse speaks the most to you? Or, what would you add?
Also see, What if I Let God be God this year?
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May our hearts be completely His. Happy New Year, Karen. God bless!
Happy New Year, Nancy! “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.” Deuteronomy 6:5 (ESV)
Thank you for ALL of your posts in 2021. I can’t wait for 2022. Happy New Year.
So sweet of you, Rebecca. Thank you for your kind words. Happy New Year to you! “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.” Proverbs 3:5-6 (NIV)
This may not be easy to do, Karen, but it is necessary! Praying each day that I’ll commit myself to loving the Lord with all my heart.
Blessing for a great New Year!
Martha, while it’s not easy, the Lord certainly knows when the desire is within us to love, seek, and serve Him with whole-hearted devotion. Happy and blessed New Year to you and your family!
What a wonderful collection of verses to remind me that my whole heart means every area of my life. This post made me think of the classic booklet, My Heart, Christ’s Home, by Robert Boyd Munger. Munger uses the illustration of different rooms in a house to describe the various areas of our life & heart.
Happy new year, Karen!
Ava, I am not familiar with this book by Munger. However, I have heard others and used the illustration myself to describe rooms in a house in either giving our hearts fully to God or shuting the door to rooms in our heart, not allowing the Lord’s entry or presence there. I desire to give all to Him. Happy New Year!
Amen. May we all give our hearts to God and trust in Him. Happy New Year!
Happy New Year, Melissa. The Lord is looking for people with this kind of undivided devotion and heart for Him.
Entrusting our hearts, our lives, our families, and their hearts to the Lord is a daily exercise in yielding ourselves to the One and Only who can be trusted. The Lord cares for our hearts and lives and the ones we love. Into God’s hands, we commit our very essence, the whole of us and our loved ones, our hearts ready to love him, forever and ever.
Melinda, I like how you used the words “entrusting” and “yielding.” For that’s the only way to give our hearts completely to God in every aspect of our daily lives. “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” Jeremiah 29:13 (NIV)
Karen, thank you for this high and beautiful calling… to live fully devoted to the Lord! I love your heart for Him, it really shines through and stirs my heart anew to seek to love Christ even more. These scripture passages fill my soul and draw me ever closer. And the verse you chose during the college years is a powerful one. May we come to our Savior with childlike hearts of love, fully committed, yearning ever more for His Presence, His Word and His glory. God bless you, your family and your ministry in the new year!
Melissa, you bless me. Not only are your words always encouraging to my soul, but they are also glorifying to our God. In college, I had only been a believer for a few years. So when others shared their life verse, I begin to ask the Lord to give me a verse I could hold close the rest of my life. 2 Chronicles 16:9 jumped off the pages of my study Bible one day and I knew the Lord had spoken directly to me. I pray the Lord blesses you and your family and ministries in 2022 as well.
Thank you so much for this post! The passages and closing prayer confirm what the Lord has also laid on my heart for the new year. Blessings to you and Mike! Looking forward to more posts and Smoky Mountain videos in 2022!
Hey Melanie, I’m encouraged that this was a confirming message for your heart. I pray we are directed by the Almighty and place our ultimate trust in Him and give our heart to completely. Thankful you are a part of our YouTube community! God bless you and Happy New Year!
I agree that we must give our whole hearts to the Lord. Amen! Years ago when I was very sick and in hospital with pneumonia and mono, the Lord taught me many lessons. The first was all that matters is the heart. How gracious of Him to save us and give us a new heart to worship and serve Him! Happy New Year!
Thanks for sharing your story, Karen. I like this, “all that matters is the heart.” Yes! Happy New Year and God bless!
It’s that “completely” part that I struggle with, but in some ways it’s comforting to know I’m not alone in that struggle. I think of Paul (Romans 7:15) and so many other “Heroes of Faith”, to include you my friend, and I recognize that each in our own way struggles with how to live out our faith Coram Deo (before the eyes of God). I find great solace in knowing that He accepts me willingly when I come to Him in failure in the same way as when I come before His throne in praise and adoration for some accomplishment that I pray brings Him the honor and glory He deserves. Thank you so much for another year full of inspiration and encouragement sweet friend. God’s blessings.
J.D., as always, your words are authentic and relatable to all of us. And they ring true in our hearts and lives as we know the struggle, as God’s people have the same past history through the ages, to not give ALL to Him. We often hold a portion of our heart back from God or convince ourselves, falsely, that a little bit won’t hurt. Yet, it does, and it makes all the difference in the world to fully devote our lives and hearts to God and Him alone. We won’t get it right all the time, but we can desire and strive and ask Him to help us.
I pray for this new year to bring me a new closeness to my Savior. Thank you for sharing your thoughts. God bless.
So do I, Yvonne. We always need to belong completely to God in heart, but it seems more important than ever!
The concept of belonging COMPLETELY to God is so important! When we give everything to Him, we are His, but when there are areas in our life or portions of our heart that we hold back, we are not 100%… we are lukewarm believers, not fully in. Thank you for this, and you are so right! I love your heart for Jesus, Karen!
Thank you, Jessica. I want to be fully in and 100% devoted to God with all my heart! Happy New Year!
Giving my heart to God enabled me to love others in ways that would have been otherwise impossible.
That’s a great point, Barb. Thanks for sharing it!
You are both such a blessing to me and many others!! Keep sharing your light with this dark world!!
You’re so kind, Kim. Thanks for the encouragement. We love our YouTube community and I love this community here. God bless, sweet lady.
Joining you in praying for a heart wholly His. Happy New Year, Karen!
Thanks so much, Joanne. “For the eyes of the Lord move to and fro throughout the earth that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His.” (NASB 1995)
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Amen Karen, so wonderfully spoke. This > “The Lord never meant for the human heart to belong completely to anything or anyone other than Him.” Indeed. Blessings.
Visiting today from Recharge Wednesday #7&8
Hi Paula, because God created us and the human heart, it makes sense that our heart was created for God alone. But we learned to have a divided heart. Thanks for your comment.
Such a great question, Karen. I appreciate your honest answer, too. I love the verses you mentioned in your post. I want the Lord to have my whole heart, yet, I need to pray daily for the courage to give it all to Him.
Thank you, Lisa. Sometimes it certainly is about the courage to daily give the Lord our whole heart and protect it from the things of this world.
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