Tell Your Heart to Beat Again

My brother shares a story of observing in-person an open heart surgery. Tim is a pastor and he had a person in his congregation that was part of a team of surgeons that performed heart surgeries. The doctor asked Tim if he would like to watch an open heart surgery. Tim said he would. The doctor told Tim he could stand at the head of the patient and watch. He was not allowed to talk or cause any distraction. He was also told that if he couldn’t take it and passed out, no one would come to his aid. He would be on his own. Considering all of that, Tim still wanted to see the procedure done.

So, he got to stand at the head of the table while they opened up two different people. He watched them saw the sternum and go down into the chest. It was incredibly fascinating to him. He said it was kind of like watching a M.A.S.H. unit. These doctors did this so often that they were completely comfortable with the procedure. They were performing this serious surgery, but talking about going on vacation, asking about each others’ families, and other ordinary things of life. 

On the second patient of the day, they had disconnected the heart and a machine was doing the work of pumping the blood through the body. They were making the necessary repairs to the heart. When it came time to put things back in place, they were unable to get the heart beating again. They did two or three things, such as massaging it, and applying a solution to it. Tim didn’t know a lot of what was happening, but he could tell things weren’t right. He said that the room got tense. They stopped talking. Everyone was focussed and working. Then, he realized, the heart would not restart. Finally, when the lead surgeon had exhausted all of the methods, the surgeon leaned over and spoke into the ear of the patient. He said to this anesthetized person, “Ma’am, I need your help. We can’t get your heart to beat. Please tell your heart to beat again.” Instantly, her heart began to beat!  

It impacted everyone there, including my brother. He brought the picture back for us, so we could see what needs to happen emotionally and spiritually when our heart spiritually stops beating. We can’t believe. We can’t dream. We can’t keep going. Sometimes, you just have to tell your heart to beat again.

“Hope deferred makes the heart sick, But when the desire comes, it is a tree of life.” (Proverbs 13:12; NKJV)

Give Him 15 minutes in prayer:

• Be honest with the Lord, because He already knows the answer. Have you become hopeless in some area of your life? Has your spiritual heartbeat and passion for Him or His plan for you waned? Talk to Him about that for a few minutes.
• When you are ready, command, “Heart, beat again! [Your name], dream again!”
• Pray for others you know that are in a place of hope-deferral. Call for the Comforter to come and heal their hearts and souls.
• Call them forth from their “graves” and tell their spirit to live again!
• Declare over them, “Heart, beat again! Dream again!”
• Now, call our nation back to life, as well. We need medical answers and physical healings. The economy needs to turn around. 
• More important than all of that, people need to come to life in Christ. Intercede for people to turn to Jesus and be saved.
• Declare, “The best is yet ahead of you and not behind you.”

A prayer you can pray:

God, give Your Church the ability to believe for the turnaround of things around in our lives. Turn our tests into testimonies. You can turn any situation around. Give us the faith to open our mouths and tell our hearts to beat again. We say, “Heart, beat again. Dream again!” Don’t let us wall ourselves off any longer or isolate ourselves and go into depression. Let us focus on Your ability to transform and to heal. You are a God of unlimited resources. The word “impossible” doesn’t exist with You. You can do anything. 

Lord, You are going to have to heal some first. You will need to help us get through the pain, the grieving, the loss of this season. We know You can do this. We are asking You to do this. Holy Spirit, visit us as the Comforter. You gave Yourself that name, the Paraclete. Father, You call the Holy Spirit our Helper. Help us. Give the hurting comfort. Give us peace, so we can get back to the place of hope, of strength, of faith. Lord, we bless, encourage, and say to the downtrodden, “The best is yet ahead of you and not behind you.” We ask these things in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Today’s decree:

We decree to the nation, “Tell your heart to beat again!”