Change My Heart O God

“When I attempted suicide [in 1944] and I didn’t succeed,” she said, “I knew for the first time unconditional love—which God is. You are totally loved, totally accepted, just the way you are. In that moment I was not allowed to die, and something happened to me, which is very difficult to explain. I had an eternal moment of truth, in which I knew I was loved, and I knew I was here for a purpose.” This ;was written by Jill Jackson who would later marry Sy Miller and together , in 1955, they wrote "Let There Be Peace On Earth".

"Let there be peace on earth And let it begin with me Let There Be Peace on Earth The peace that was meant to be

With God as our Father Brothers all are we Let me walk with my brother In perfect harmony."

The song was introduced at a retreat and the "song's focus on peace and God made it easy to cross many boundaries." Sy Miller wrote, "One summer evening in 1955, a group of 180 teenagers of all races and religions, meeting at a workshop high in the California mountains locked arms, formed a circle and sang a song of peace. They felt that singing the song, with its simple basic sentiment—‘Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me’—helped to create a climate for world peace and understanding."

I was reminded of this song this week and the words, "let it begin with me". "With God as our Father" we should be able to do anything. If we are going to let change begin with us then we need to be praying. We do not have the answers but God does. If each individual would go to God with our issues, think of what a wonderful world it would be. I found myself not even knowing what to pray but I kept praying and reflecting. I believe God brought the next song to mind when I asked Him to help me see what I could do.

I remembered a song I love to sing at church. "Change My Heart Oh God" by Maranatha Music. The lyrics are:

"Change My Heart Oh God

Make It Ever True

Change My Heart Oh God

May I Be Like You"

If we pray for God to change our heart and make it like Him, He will find the changes we need to make in our life. Ephesians 4: 20-22, "That, however, is not the way of life you learned when you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires..." When we are battling sin and those defects in our lives that we do not like we have to start in our mind. We have to start with our thoughts and attitudes. Ephesians 4: 23, "...to be made new in the attitude of your minds;" When we decide to change our behavior we have to repent. I like the way someone else described repentance - making a mental U-turn. You turn from frustration to freedom, dark to light, guilt to forgiveness and from bitterness to love.

Let's ask God to change our heart and make it more like His. Let's think about our relationships, the past, the present, the future, the world. When we change the way we think it will affect our emotions and our behavior.