Reset Your Heart Series

Introduction: Why We Need a Reset

As we enter a new year, there’s something in all of us that longs for a fresh start.

January carries that feeling of possibility — a sense that things could be different.

But for many people, that feeling quickly fades.

Not because they don’t care.

Not because they aren’t sincere.

But because life has a way of pulling us off centre.

Think about everyday things.

• Phones need resetting.

• Sat navs need recalibrating.

• Even clocks slowly lose accuracy.

- Nothing dramatic happens — they just drift.

And the same is true of us spiritually.

This new series is called Reset.

It’s not about New Year’s resolutions or trying harder.

It’s about recognising how easily we drift off centre

It’s about choosing, again and again, to place God back at the centre of our lives.

And if we’re going to reset anything, we need to start here:

the heart.

(Hold up a simple object with a clear centre — for example, a paper target, a hoop, a plate with a marked centre, or even a printed circle with a dot in the middle.)

This represents our heart.

You and I know what our heart should be like when it is spiritually centred, right?

When our heart is spiritually centred, everything makes sense.

But if it shifts — even slightly — everything else is affected.

(Now deliberately place the centre off to one side, or turn the object so the centre is clearly no longer central.)

Nothing dramatic has happened.

But it’s no longer aligned the way it was designed to be.

That’s a picture of what happens in our lives.

Very often, God doesn’t get pushed out violently.

He just gets nudged out quietly.

Do you sense that’s what is happening to you?

And over time, life becomes off-centre

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1. Why the Heart Matters

Proverbs 4:23 says:

“Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.”

The Bible doesn’t use the word heart the same way we often do.

It’s not just emotions or feelings.

The heart is the core of who we are:

• our desires

• our motivations

• our loves

• our decisions

In other words, the heart is the control centre of life.

Jesus himself said, “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

What has our heart, shapes how we live.

If God is not at the centre of the heart, it won’t be long before:

• our thinking becomes distorted

• our priorities drift

• our sense of direction weakens

Yes, we can change behaviour without changing the heart — but it never lasts.

Real change always begins on the inside.

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2. Drift Happens Quietly

One of the most important things to say at the start of this series is this:

Drift is normal.

Very few people wake up one day and decide,

“Today, I’m going to move God out of

the centre of my life.

I’m push the Spirit to one side”

It usually happens slowly. Quietly.

Almost unnoticed.

And here’s the truth: Good things can cause drift:

• work responsibilities

• family pressures

• busy schedules

• even church involvement

Tough things can cause drift too:

• disappointment

• grief

• unanswered prayer

• weariness

None of these are wrong.

But any one of them can slowly take us off centre spiritually.

So often in a New Year, we beat ourselves up thinking that we’ve failed.

The better question is:

“What has happened to move God from the centre of my heart?

What has gone on to cause my heart Spiritual drift?”

That’s an honest question — not a condemning one.

• Why have I drifted spiritually?

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3. David’s Honest Prayer

Psalm 51 is written after David’s great moral failure.

• He’s been exposed.

• His sin is out in the open.

• He has nothing left to hide.

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And what’s striking is what he doesn’t pray.

He doesn’t say:

• “I promise I’ll do better.”

• “I’ll try harder next time.”

• “I’ll make it up to you, God.”

Instead, he prays:

“Create in me a clean heart, O God.” (Psalm 51:10)

That word create matters.

David doesn’t ask God to fix something that’s mostly working.

He doesn’t ask for a repair or a polish.

He asks for creation — the same word used in Genesis.

David understands something deeply important:

This isn’t actually about behaviour management.

(that’s what we often focus on in New Year resolutions. “I need to change my behaviour”)

No, This is about heart transformation.

Resetting the heart begins when we stop pretending and start praying - honestly.

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4. Resetting the Heart Is About Re-Centring on Jesus

A reset isn’t about becoming a better version of ourselves.

It’s about re-centring our life back to the place we were created to be spiritually.