Good Morning Heavenly Father. Thank you for the sun in the day and the moon and stars in the night. Thank you for stars that twinkle and sunsets that sparkle. And thank you for the scripture for today’s prayer for your daughter Lindsey:

He saith unto them, How many loaves have ye? go and see. And when they knew, they say, Five, and two fishes. And he commanded them to make all sit down by companies upon the green grass. And they sat down in ranks, by hundreds, and by fifties. And when he had taken the five loaves and the two fishes, he looked up to heaven, and blessed, and brake the loaves, and gave them to his disciples to set before them; and the two fishes divided he among them all. And they did all eat, and were filled. And they took up twelve baskets full of the fragments, and of the fishes. And they that did eat of the loaves were about five thousand men.

For they considered not the miracle of the loaves: for their heart was hardened. (Mark 6:38-44,52)

Lord, I’m ready to begin a new day’s prayer for your daughter who you love. Lindsey, being hard hearted is not a good thing. But it seems like our hearts may just tend to be that way. In this scripture we read about an all out amazing miracle… feeding 5,000 men with just 2 fish and 5 loaves of bread! But look what it says about the disciples – the guys who were travelling with Jesus day after day. They were trying to follow Jesus as best as they could. Yet, here we are told that their hearts were hard … they were hard hearted! If even Jesus’s closest disciples ended up hard hearted after witnessing such an amazing miracle, what can we do? How can we avoid a hard heart?

Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. (Hebrews 3:12-13)

It seems like one way to avoid having hard hearts is to take heed … to take care! Watch out that our hearts do not become unbelieving so we fall away from the living God! I pray that you heed this warning Lindsey, for it seems to be talking about people who really are trying to follow Jesus … just that they let their guard down and a bit of disbelief slips in … and they fall away without even noticing it! To avoid this we need to encourage each other each day, so I pray that the Lord would continually surround you with people who will not only encourage you, but who will notice and let you know any time you are starting to stray from the living God. I pray that you would not be deceived by what seems like good ideas in the world around you. And since by definition, if you are deceived you cannot notice it yourself, I pray that there would always be godly people to cross your path that will not shy away from telling you!

But what if you find yourself with a hard heart? How can we remove a hard heart? God can do it!

Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord God; I will even gather you from the people, and assemble you out of the countries where ye have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel. And they shall come thither, and they shall take away all the detestable things thereof and all the abominations thereof from thence. And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh: That they may walk in my statutes, and keep mine ordinances, and do them: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God. (Ezekiel 11:17-20)

Lindsey, I pray that any time you find your heart hardening that you will call out to God to remove the stony heart and replace it with a heart of flesh. I ask that God would give you an undivided heart so that he would remain your focus every day. I pray that God would give you that new spirit and that you will walk with him and be a do-er! Do what God is asking. Lord, this can be very hard, so I pray that you would be Lindsey’s strength. Grant her the wisdom to see what she needs to see. Grant her the courage to walk where she needs to walk, for she is your daughter and you are her God. And we give you the glory. All the glory is yours. Glory! I pray this in the name and authority of Christ Jesus, King of kings. Amen

Mark 6:38-44,53 (NLT):
“How much bread do you have?” he asked. “Go and find out.”

They came back and reported, “We have five loaves of bread and two fish.”

Then Jesus told the disciples to have the people sit down in groups on the green grass. So they sat down in groups of fifty or a hundred.

Jesus took the five loaves and two fish, looked up toward heaven, and blessed them. Then, breaking the loaves into pieces, he kept giving the bread to the disciples so they could distribute it to the people. He also divided the fish for everyone to share.  They all ate as much as they wanted,  and afterward, the disciples picked up twelve baskets of leftover bread and fish.  A total of 5,000 men and their families were fed.

… for they still didn’t understand the significance of the miracle of the loaves. Their hearts were too hard to take it in.

Hebrews 3:12-13 NASB:
Take care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God. But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called “Today,” so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.

Ezekiel 11:17-20 NIV:
Therefore say: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I will gather you from the nations and bring you back from the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you back the land of Israel again.’ They will return to it and remove all its vile images and detestable idols. I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh. Then they will follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. They will be my people,and I will be their God.