If you transform our hearts we will long for what is good, we will think thoughts that are pure, we will speak words that are sweet, we will do acts that are selfless, we will even follow in ways that are difficult or that cut hard against our natural desire for ease. So please do that work in us. Let us be as holy as men and women can be on this side of heaven. 

From time to time I like to share an example of a pastoral prayer that was prayed at Grace Fellowship Church. The pastoral prayer is a time for one of the pastors or elders to pray before the congregation and to intercede on their behalf. It’s a precious element of a service. I prayed this prayer earlier this month.

Our Father in heaven, we love you. We have freely proclaimed that here this morning. Yet we also acknowledge that we only love you because you first loved us. On our own, there was nothing in us that was inclined toward you. Our hearts were all turned inward toward ourselves—our own honor, our own glory, our own praise.

But then you acted. You moved. You took the initiative. Your Spirit called us, and drew us, and transformed us so we willingly bowed the knee to you. We willingly turned to you in repentance and faith and praise and worship. And we now gladly and joyfully live for you—your honor, your glory, your praise.

And we pray that we would do that well—that we would live lives that are consecrated to your service, lives that make you look great. We ask that you would continue to transform us from the inside out. Make us so we are no longer conformed to this world but transformed by the renewal of our minds—transformed so that we can do your will—what is good and acceptable and perfect in your eyes.

If you transform our hearts, we know our desires will be transformed and so too our mouths, and our hands, and our feet. If you transform our hearts we will long for what is good, we will think thoughts that are pure.

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