I pray daily for God to change my heart and the way I react to my wife, the world, and myself. Is there any more I can do?
Your attitude is very commendable, for there is no greater desire than to want God to change our hearts so that we can be a bright testimony for Jesus Christ to those around us. You mentioned that you “pray daily for God to change [your] heart.” In Psalm 139:23-24 David prayed, “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” David was basically praying as you are; he prayed for God to search his heart and to reveal anything that needed to be changed, and then he prayed for the Lord to lead him into a righteous life. Prayer of this nature is vital if we are to be changed, but there is at least one other thing you can do that is just as important as prayer.
Let’s read Romans 12:1-2, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be no conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” In order to have our hearts changed, we must YIELD OURSELVES TO GOD! Prayer is “asking God to change us”; presenting our bodies to Him is “letting God change us.” It will do us no good to simply pray for change if we aren’t willing to follow through by yielding our whole life over to God. If we fail to allow God to take our life and do what He will with it, we can be assured we will fall into the snare of the devil who wants us to be “conformed to this world.” The “world” in this verse is speaking of the world that man has built all around us which is independent of God. It is made up of people who are trying, in vain, to make themselves happy WITHOUT GOD! If we are saved, we need to let go of the thoughts and lifestyles of the world. The world wants to “squeeze us into its mold,” but God wants us to be “transformed by the renewing of the mind.” He wants to fill our mind with His thoughts and then, and only then, will we be “transformed” or “changed” into the person He wants us to be. How does God renew our minds? Through His precious Word! Only through the Word of God do we learn to think like and act like God! So, in addition to PRAYER, we need to YIELD ourselves to God, which includes having our minds renewed through the WORD OF GOD.
I feel compelled to cite one more scripture. 2 Corinthians 3:18 reads, “But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.” We had just reflected on the truth that in order to be “transformed” we need to have our minds renewed by having God’s thoughts presented to us through the scriptures. In this verse we learn that the primary object presented to us in the Word of God is our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. As the Spirit presents Christ to us in the Bible, WE WILL BE CHANGED! The more we learn about Christ, the more we will learn God’s thoughts and our minds will be renewed. It will be an unconscious effort on our part, for our part is simply to yield to God by reading and meditating on the scriptures, and as we do the Spirit of God will work in our lives and do the transforming. Just as Moses looked on the glory of the Lord on Mt. Sinai and then reflected God’s glory, so we too will reflect Christ’s glory as we gaze upon Him! God’s purpose for us is to be, according to Romans 8:29, “conformed to the image of His Son,” and as we PRAY for the Lord to change us and then YIELD ourselves to Him by studying His precious Word, the transformation process will take place. (165.6) (DO)