Having a Heart for God

In "A Catechism on the Heart," Sinclair Ferguson offers four things that God counsels us to do so that our heart may be kept for Him:

First, I must guard my heart as if everything depended on it. This means that I should keep my heart like a sanctuary for the presence of the Lord Jesus and allow nothing and no one else to enter.

Second, I must keep my heart healthy by proper diet, growing strong on a regular diet of God’s Word — reading it for myself, meditating on its truth, but especially being fed on it in the preaching of the Word. I also will remember that my heart has eyes as well as ears. The Spirit shows me baptism as a sign that I bear God’s triune name, while the Lord’s Supper stimulates heart love for the Lord Jesus.

Third, I must take regular spiritual exercise, since my heart will be strengthened by worship when my whole being is given over to God in expressions of love for and trust in Him.

Fourth, I must give myself to prayer in which my heart holds on to the promises of God, rests in His will, and asks for His sustaining grace — and do this not only on my own but with others so that we may encourage one another to maintain a heart for God.

Dr. Ferguson sums up what is required to develop a heart for God in a single biblical sentence. "Listen to your Father’s appeal: 'My son, give Me your heart.'”

"A Catechism on the Heart" in its entirety may be found at http://www.ligonier.org/learn/articles/a-catechism-on-the-heart/ and this portion was taken from page 71 of the January 2012 Tabletalk.