Christians are quick to warn against the common encouragement to “follow your heart” since Jeremiah 17:9 says, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick.” But don’t we believe that God has given us a new heart, purified our hearts, sits on the throne in our hearts, etc.?

While I know that apart from Christ I am desperately sick and deceived, I also know that in Christ I am a new creation and that old life is passed away and the new life has come.

I know that I no longer live but Christ lives in me, by the Spirit filling me.

I know that I am clothed in righteousness, the perfect righteousness of Christ.

I know that God Himself keeps me from evil and keeps my soul.

I know that it is God Himself who works in me to will and work according to all His good pleasure.

I know I have the mind of Christ and am being conformed into His image as my mind is renewed.

When you are walking with Jesus as one, then you can walk anywhere you like. Because He has put His will in you. Your desires are conformed to His desires. Your thoughts are conformed to His thoughts.

This may not all be instant and complete, but it’s the life of a believer that we are walking and talking with Jesus. We can live in a broad place of freedom because our desires align with God’s.

We can trust Him to keep us from straying if we’re keeping our eyes on Him. We can trust Him to keep us and redirect us if He has a different plan.

That’s what happened with David. He has the idea to build God a house. Nathan, the prophet, tells David to go ahead with all that is in his heart because the Lord is with him. He then gets a redirect message that evening that it will be David’s son who will build the temple, God’s house, and not David.

Nathan wasn’t wrong. He understood that one filled with the Holy Spirit lives under the Spirit’s control and is moved by the Spirit in thought, word, and deed. We can trust the Lord is leading us if we walk according to the Spirit, with our eyes and hearts set on Jesus. He will never deceive us.