God asks us to do many things with all of our heart.  God doesn’t want half–hearted followers.  He hates lukewarmness in His believers.  God asks us to love and serve Him with all of our heart. We are to believe and trust Him with all of our heart. We are to wholeheartedly obey, seek, and live for Him.​

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God also commands us to repent with all of our heart.  Repentance means that we admit when we are wrong, change directions and wholeheartedly decide to live God’s way.  We want rid of all sin.  We cherish the relationship we have with our heavenly Father and will not deliberately do anything that would grieve Him.

In the second chapter of the book of Acts, Peter is addressing a large crowd.  Peter tells them that Jesus, who was crucified, came to be Lord and Messiah.  The crowd asked Peter what they should do and Peter answered them, “repent, change your views, and purpose to accept the will of God in your inner selves instead of rejecting it and be baptized everyone of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of and release from your sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 2:38, AMP)
   

God promises that if we will draw close to Him, He will draw close to us. (James 4:8)  Isn’t it amazing that the Creator of the universe wants to be close to us? In Psalms it says that God will stoop down and make us great. Our desire to draw close is the first step toward wholehearted repentance.
   

God knows our hearts, He sees our motives.  In the book of Samuel it says that man looks at the outward appearance, but God looks at the heart. He knows if we are being straight and sincere with Him. God can see right through us.
   

God knows those who are playing religious games. Jesus hates hypocrisy and phoniness. Religious hypocrites are not true Christians. (Matthew 23)
   

When we draw close to God, He wants us to be wholeheartedly sorry for all of the wrong and crummy things we have done.  He doesn’t want excuses; just genuine, wholehearted grief for our wrongs. (James 4:9)
   

A favorite verse of many Christians is Romans 8:28.  It says “ALL things WORK together for GOOD to those who love God to those who are called according to His purpose.”  You see, when we humbly come to God and admit our wrongs, He doesn’t scold us, lecture us, belittle us, or beat us—He loves us.  And HE WORKS.  From the dumbest little sin to the biggest most horrendous sin you can imagine—God wants to work on your behalf for your good.
   

A promise in James 4:10 says  “When you bow down before the Lord and admit your dependence on him, he will lift you up and give you honor.”  Try to imagine God Almighty lifting you and honoring you.  What a picture; what a privilege.

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Whenever you humble yourself before God,
coming to your knees in wholehearted repentance,
God promises to lift you up and give you honor.