“And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone…” (Mark 11:25). The Bible here says, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him because the great thing that God requires, that God looks at and requests is the heart.
Psalm 66:18 says, “If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.”
The Scriptures we have above show that the great thing that God looks at and requests is the heart.
‘If I had cherished sin in my heart’ means that there is some degree of sympathy with sin.
In order to pray effectually, there must not be anything between us and God. But our relationship with God depends on what we think upon our adjustment to one another. When your focus is on God, you will never be moved by what your situation has to say. Your focus will be on what God has to say about your situation. If Joseph’s heart was troubled in the dry pit, he would not have survived the situation. Remember Peter at the seaside, remember the man at the pool of Bethesda for 38 years, remember Hannah. So, do not allow your heart to be troubled.
Whatever situation you are facing now, the question you need to ask yourself is: Am I a Christian? That settles the matter.
Matthew 5:8 says, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.” Here, holiness and happiness are fully described together. What this text is saying is that the heart must be purified by faith and entirely for God. We must lift up to God not only clean hands but a pure heart.
Right now, ask the Holy Spirit to breathe in you so that your thoughts may be holy, act in you so that your works may be holy and strengthen you so that you may defend what is holy.