3 Practical Ways to Open Our Hearts to the Lord

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"You are clean, even now, through the teaching which I have given you. Be in me at all times as I am in you. As the branch is not able to give fruit of itself, if it is not still on the vine, so you are not able to do so if you are not in me." （John 15:3-4)

As the above verses mention, the Lord could be in us if we open our hearts to Him. In this way, we could be closely connected to Him spiritually.

The main focus of this article is to learn the three practical ways to open our hearts to the Lord.

One. Sing hymns or worship songs.

King David is the best example of praising the Lord through music. He went through many hardships in his life but never forgot to worship Him. David loved to play his lyre (many people thought it was a harp) and sang to praise the Lord.

"O make a new song to the Lord; let all the earth make melody to the Lord. Make songs to the Lord, blessing his name; give the good news of his salvation day by day." (Psalms 96:1-2)

You might wonder what the differences between hymns and worship songs are? I think hymns focus more on the lyrics and have easy melodies to follow. But on the other hand, worship songs focus more on the components of the music to suit different cultures and audiences.

From my experience, most songs we sing in churches from hymnals are hymns, and the songs from Christian radio stations are worship songs. Some churches prefer to sing from the hymnals only because they know the lyrics are curated and portray the Bible's truth. In the meantime, some churches use worship songs on YouTube to praise the Lord.

I believe singing hymns and worship songs will open our hearts to the Lord. When we sing, we indirectly express ourselves through our voice, which helps us feel His love and mercy.

If I have to choose one of the two, I prefer singing hymns because I enjoy the simplicity of those songs, and my mind can solely focus on the lyrics, which often come from the Bible verses. The melodies of some contemporary worship songs divert my focus from the lyrics to the tunes. However, we should sing whatever Christian songs open our hearts to the Lord.

Two. Read the Word.

Looks easy. But before reading, we need to quiet down our hearts and be spiritually prepared. How often have we had tight schedules, read the Word rapidly, and felt good about ourselves?

Are we ready to open our hearts when we are reading His Word? Or do we treat His Word like an encyclopedia or an exciting fiction book?

If you feel similar to reading this article like you read the Word, you need to stop immediately and think again. In my previous article, I explained how I misread the Bible. You should check it out to prevent the same mistakes I made.

We should prepare to let the Lord talk to us through his Word. Even though we might have read the chapters before, we often have different feelings towards them because our values change over time.

The Word is a communication channel between our spirits and the Lord. We could understand His grace and mercy through the Word, so we have hope in life. Opening our hearts means allowing our souls to connect with the Lord's Spirit.

Three. Pray and call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

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In the above paragraphs, I mentioned singing expresses ourselves through voice. In prayers, we express our emotions through our souls and spirits.

The book of Psalms is the best illustration of the prayers' importance. I referred to King David in the first few paragraphs. But I need to refer to him again because, as far as I know, he is the biblical character who is super good at opening his heart to the Lord.

We prayed like we were reading a script because we were not open to Him. In the book of Psalms, we could see David's passion when he prayed to the Lord.

When I read through Psalms chapter by chapter, David frequently prayed because he had a close relationship with the Lord. He knew praying was the best way to communicate to the Lord, praise Him, or voice complaints. King David should be our role model, and if we are uncertain about how to pray, we could always refer to the book of Psalms and start from there.

In summary, the three ways to open our hearts to the Lord are:

One. Sing hymns or worship songs.

Two. Read the Word.

Three. Pray and call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Do you practice them regularly?