I. THE POSITION OF THE HEART
The Bible clearly shows us that man was created with three parts: the spirit, the soul, and the body. The outermost part of man is the body; the innermost part is the spirit. Between these two is the soul. We have said that the spirit is composed of the conscience, the fellowship, and the intuition. We have also said that the soul is composed of the mind, the emotion, and the will. But the Scriptures show us that there is another important organ in man—the heart. The heart is composed of elements from both the soul and the spirit. It includes one part of the spirit and all the parts of the soul.
The mind, emotion, and will of the soul, and the conscience of the spirit, each constitutes a part of the heart. For example, speaking of the mind, Hebrews 4:12 says, “the thoughts…of the heart.” The heart being capable of having thoughts clearly indicates that the mind, a part of the soul, is also a part of the heart. Hebrews 4:12 also speaks of the “intents of the heart.” While the thoughts are something of the mind, the intents are something of the will. Thus we can see plainly that both the mind and the will are parts of the heart. Furthermore, John 16:22 says, “your heart will rejoice” and 14:1 says, “Let not your heart be troubled.” Since to rejoice and to be troubled are something of the emotion, the heart also includes the emotion. Therefore, it is clear that the three parts of the soul are all constituents of the heart.
Moreover, Hebrews 10:22 says, “our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience.” Also, 1 John 3:20 mentions that our heart condemns us. Condemnation is a function of the conscience. Hence, we know that the heart also includes the conscience.
In summary, the heart is composed of four parts: the mind, the will, the emotion, and the conscience. The mind, will, and emotion are the elements of the soul, and the conscience is a major part of the spirit. If we were to realize the component parts of our heart, we would immediately be aware of its position. The position of the heart encompasses the mind, will, emotion, and conscience; it is a very broad position which includes all the parts of the soul plus a major part of the spirit. Thus, the heart is the most comprehensive part in our whole being.
II. A TRUE HEART
Speaking of the heart, the Bible pays attention first to its truthfulness. Hebrews 10:22 tells us that the heart needs to be true. All those who come before God should have a true heart. Here, to be true means to be genuine and upright, not false or crooked. The heart of an insincere man is surely not true. Not only so, to be true also means to be single-minded. If a person comes before God to seek something in addition to God, he is double-minded, and his heart is not true. A true heart is real and not false, right and not bent, single and not double. It desires only one thing—God Himself.
When one comes to pray to God, he should only desire God Himself. He should desire nothing outside God. He should only seek God’s will and not anything that is outside His will. Many times when one comes to pray to God for a certain thing, he will ask God to show him His heart’s desire, but he has his own desire also. Such a heart is false, doubting, and untrue. The heart needs to be single, seeking only God’s desire. It is of foremost importance that the heart be true before God.
III. A PURE HEART
Matthew 5:8 says, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” Psalm 73:1 says, “Truly God is good to Israel, even to such as are of a clean heart.” A pure heart is more than just a clean heart. It is a heart that simply wants God Himself and has no aim or goal other than God Himself. Hence, Matthew 5:8 says, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” What they desire within is God Himself, so it follows that what they see is also God Himself. Hence, speaking of a pure heart, the emphasis is not that the heart should be free from evil or defiled thoughts, but that it should want God alone. The heart singly and purely wants God Himself and His heart’s desire.
Please remember, a heart that is not upright or single is an untrue heart. But many times our heart seems to be true, yet it is impure because it still desires numerous things besides God. Our heart appears to be true before men, yet it is still untrue in God’s eyes because we are not pure and single within. To be true one needs to be pure, and to be pure one also needs to be true. In the end we see that these two points show us that our heart should just want God alone. If it desires anything other than God, it has a problem concerning being single and pure. If our heart remains two-sided and impure before God, we will have great difficulty in prayer. Hence, in order to learn how to pray, we must deal with the matter of the heart.
IV. A HEART WITHOUT CONDEMNATION
First John 3:20-21 speaks of the condemnation of the heart. It says that God is greater than our heart, and if our heart condemns us, God will condemn us even more. But if our heart does not condemn us, we have boldness toward God. The part of our heart that condemns us is the conscience. The condemnation in the heart is the function of the conscience. A heart without condemnation is a heart in which there is no offense or fault in the conscience. If we want to learn how to pray, we must deal with our heart until it is free from condemnation.
To pray to God, the heart needs to have boldness, which results from having no barrier between it and God. Once the heart loses its boldness due to condemnation, prayer will become very difficult. Not only will it be difficult to have faith after prayer, it will even be very hard to have faith while praying. If the heart condemns itself, God will condemn you even more. Then you will have no way to pray. Hence, in order to pray, you need to deal with your heart until it is absolutely free from condemnation. Then you can go with boldness before God, and your prayer will be answered.