Lam 3:41 “Let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the heavens.”

Jeremiah had witnessed the fall of Jerusalem, and the destruction of all that had meant so much to him. He had warned, had preached and had pleaded with the people, from the rulers on down, to repent of their sins and come back to the God. His message fell on deaf ears. As a result, the city was destroyed, and the people were taken away captive.

Again, he asks that the people come back to God. He encourages them to pray and ask for God’s help and forgiveness. He stresses the fact that when we come before God we must lift up our heart — when we pray there must be a sincerity; a deep longing from the core of our heart, the deepest part of our being.

Our hearts are the seat of our emotions — and when we pray we must do so understanding it must come from the fiber of our being. Jesus reminds us in Matthew 12:34-35 “O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things.”

May we truly strive to have our hearts right in the sight of God, and, more importantly may we lift up our hearts always unto the God of heaven and earth.