Bible Verses About The Heart 

What does the Bible say about the heart?

The condition of the heart is extremely important when it comes to salvation, your daily walk with the Lord, your emotions, etc. In the Bible the heart is mentioned almost 1000 times. Let’s see what Scripture has to say about the heart.

Christian quotes about the heart

“There are two kinds of people one can call reasonable: those who serve God with all their heart because they know him, and those who seek him with all their heart because they do not know him.” – Blaise Pascal

“An honest heart seeks to please God in all things and offend Him in none.” – A. W. Pink

“Listen in silence because if your heart is full of other things you cannot hear the voice of God.”

“The man or woman who does not know God demands an infinite satisfaction from other human beings which they cannot give, and in the case of the man, he becomes tyrannical and cruel. It springs from this one thing, the human heart must have satisfaction, but there is only one Being who can satisfy the last abyss of the human heart, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ.” Oswald Chambers

“God finds nothing in man to turn His heart, but enough to turn his stomach. A Sure Guide to Heaven.” Joseph Alleine

“We must alter our lives in order to alter our hearts, for it is impossible to live one way and pray another.” – William Law

“The neglected heart will soon be a heart overrun with worldly thoughts; the neglected life will soon become a moral chaos.” A.W. Tozer

“There is in the heart of every man or woman, under the conviction of the Holy Spirit, a sense of guilt and condemnation. Bunyan made it a heavy pack on the back of Pilgrim; and he did not lose it until he reached the Cross of Christ. When we realize how guilty sin is, and how condemned is the sinner, we begin to feel the weight of that load.” A.C. Dixon

“We had long known the Lord without realizing that meekness and lowliness of heart should be the distinguishing feature of the disciple.” Andrew Murray

“Time is the brush of God, as he paints his masterpiece on the heart of humanity.” Ravi Zacharias

There is a God shaped vacuum in the heart of every man which cannot be filled by any created thing, but only by God, the Creator, made known through Jesus. Blaise Pascal

“Where your pleasure is, there is your treasure; Where your treasure is, there is your heart; Where your heart is, there is your happiness.” Augustine

“The Christian life is a war, and the fiercest battles are those that rage within the heart of every believer. The new birth radically and permanently changes a person’s sinful nature, but it does not immediately liberate that nature for all of the remnants of sin. Birth is followed by growth, and that growth involves warfare.” Tom Ascol

“God loves with a great love the man whose heart is bursting with a passion for the impossible.” William Booth

“The heart if man is exceedingly prone to undue and sinful anger, being naturally full of pride and selfishness.” Jonathan Edwards

“May God so fill us today with the heart of Christ that we may glow with the divine fire of holy desire.” A.B. Simpson

The heart and the Bible

The heart, or the inner man is a frequent topic in the Bible. It is known as the center of oneself, the very core of a person. Our heart is who we are – the REAL me inside. Our heart includes not only our personality, but our choices, feelings, decisions, intentions, motives, etc.

1) Proverbs 27:19 “As in water face reflects face, so the heart of man reflects man.”

What does the Bible say about following your heart?

Our secular culture encourages us to follow after our heart, or that sometimes we need to get away to seek the truth in our hearts. However, this is not good advice because our hearts can easily deceive us. Instead of following or trusting our hearts, we should trust in the Lord and follow Him. 

2) Proverbs 16:25 “There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.”

3) Proverbs 3:5-6 “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; 6 in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.”

4) John 10:27 “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.”

The depraved heart

The Bible teaches that the heart of man is utterly wicked. Because of the fall, man’s heart is utterly depraved. There it not any goodness in our heart whatsoever. Our heart isn’t even 1% good. We are completely and utterly wicked and cannot seek God on our own. It was one sin that forced Adam from the presence of God – one sin alone is enough to damn a person to an eternity in hell. For such is the holiness of God. He is so far removed – so completely Otherly than we are – that He cannot look upon sin. Our depravity, our sin, places us at enmity against God. Because of this, we are guilty before a Just Judge.

5) Jeremiah 17:9-10 “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? “I the Lord search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.”

6) Genesis 6:5 “The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” (Sin in the Bible)

7) Mark 7:21-23 “For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”

8) Genesis 8:21 “And when the Lord smelled the pleasing aroma, the Lord said in his heart, “I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth. Neither will I ever again strike down every living creature as I have done.”

A New Pure Heart: Salvation

The Bible repeatedly says that our hearts must be made pure. All our wickedness must be purged from our heart if we are to be allowed to stand before a completely Holy and Pure God. It was one sin alone that sent Adam and Eve from the presence of God. One sin alone is enough to warrant our eternal punishment in Hell because of how Holy our God is. Our Just Judge has sentenced us to an eternity in hell. Christ paid the penalty for our sin debt. It is through God’s grace alone by faith in Christ alone that we can repent of our sins and place our faith in Christ. He then cleanses us, and gives us a pure heart. One that loves Him and no longer loves the sin that held us captive.

9) Jeremiah 31:31-34 “The days are coming,” declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah.
32 It will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them,” declares the Lord. 33 “This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel after that time,” declares the Lord. “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. 34 No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,” declares the Lord. “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”

10) Psalm 51:10 “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.”

11) Romans 10:10 “For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.”

12) Ezekiel 36:26 “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.”

13) Matthew 5:8 “For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.”

14) Ezekiel 11:19  “And I will give them one heart, and a new spirit I will put within them. I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh.”

15) Hebrews 10:22 “Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.”

Guard your heart

Though we have a new heart, we are still living in a fallen world and in a body of flesh. We will struggle with the sins that easily entangle us. We are commanded to guard our heart and not be bound by the snares of sin. It isn’t that we can lose our salvation, but we can’t grow in holiness unless we guard our heart and live in obedience. This is called progressing in sanctification.

16) Proverbs 4:23 “Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.”

17) Luke 6:45 “The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.”

18) Psalm 26:2 “Prove me, O Lord, and try me; test my heart and my mind.”

Loving God with all your heart

A major part of our progressive sanctification is loving God. We are commanded to love Him with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength. We obey Him because we love Him. The more we love Him the more we want to obey Him. It is impossible to love Him as completely as we are commanded – we are constantly guilty of this sin. How marvelous is the grace of God that it is able to cover such constant sin.

19) Mark 12:30 “And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.”

20) Matthew 22:37 “And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.”

21) Deuteronomy 6:5 “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.”

22) Romans 12:2 “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”

The brokenhearted

Though the love of the Lord and His salvation gives us a supernatural joy – we still can face hardships. Many believers are utterly brokenhearted and are tempted to feel hopeless. God loves His children and cares for us. We can take comfort knowing that He will never leave us, and that He is near the brokenhearted.

23) John 14:27 “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.”

24) Philippians 4:7 “And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

25) John 14:1 “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.”

26) Psalm 34:18 “The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.”

God knows your heart

God knows our hearts. He knows all of our hidden sins, our darkest secrets, our deepest fears. God knows our personality, our tendencies, our habits. He knows our silent thoughts and the prayers we are too afraid to whisper. This should simultaneously cause us great fear and great hope. We should tremble and fear such a mighty and holy God who knows how utterly wicked we are and how far removed from Him we are. Also, we should rejoice and praise Him who knows our heart.

27) Proverbs 24:12 “If you say, “See, we did not know this,” Does He not consider it who weighs the hearts? And does He not know it who keeps your soul? And will He not render to man according to his work?”

28) Matthew 9:4 “But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, “Why do you think evil in your hearts?”

29) Hebrews 4:12 “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.”

30. Psalm 139:1-5 O Lord, you have searched me and known me! 2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. 3 You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. 4 Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether. 5 You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me.”