How do you “prepare your heart”?
Job 10:13
Reading the verse itself suggests a position of prayer, repentant prayer and reaching out toward Him.
But do you prepare your heart for prayer? If so, how? I’m truly curious.
Joanne
Why is someone reaching out, repenting, or even praying to God?
Is it not because God has given that person a “spiritual kick up the backside” to turn to him!
Don’t over think prayer or repentance, if one is sincere God will hear one.
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For me, it’s less about finding the right words and more about coming before Him humbly & honestly, and ready to listen as well as pray.
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" And these things You have hidden in Your heart; I know that this was with You:" Job 10:13
I don’t quite understand. This verse is Job speaking to God about God’s heart. How does that relate to how we prepare our own heart?
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That’s what I’m trying to find out 
Job 10:9 Remember that thou hast made me as clay, and thou dost turn me again to earth.
Job 10:10 Hast thou not poured me out like milk, and curdled me like cheese?
Job 10:11 And thou didst clothe me with skin and flesh, and frame me with bones and sinews.
Job 10:12 And thou didst bestow upon me life and mercy, and thy oversight has preserved my spirit.
Job 10:13 Having these things in thyself, I know that thou canst do all things; for nothing is impossible with thee.
Job 10:14 And if I should sin, thou watchest me; and thou hast not cleared me from iniquity.
Job 10:15 Or if I should be ungodly, woe is me: and if I should be righteous, I cannot lift myself up, for I am full of dishonour.
Job 10:16 For I am hunted like a lion for slaughter; for again thou hast changed and art terribly destroying me;
Job 10:17 renewing against me my torture: and thou hast dealt with me in great anger, and thou hast brought trials upon me.
Job 10:18 Why then didst thou bring me out of the womb? and why did I not die, and no eye see me,
Job 10:19 and I become as if I had not been? for why was I not carried from the womb to the grave?
Job 10:20 Is not the time of my life short? suffer me to rest a little,
Job 10:21 before I go whence I shall not return, to a land of darkness and gloominess;
Job 10:22 to a land of perpetual darkness, where there is no light, neither can any one see the life of mortals.
Brenton
J.
Hey @Joanne.1966, this is such a beautiful question. Just a quick heads-up on the reference, I think you might be looking at Job 11:13 rather than 10:13
"If you prepare your heart,
You will stretch out your hands toward him."
Even though Job’s friend Zophar originally said this to lecture Job, the concept of preparing our hearts before approaching God is a massive theme throughout the rest of the Bible! Scripture actually gives us a beautiful roadmap for how to do this. If we treat prayer not just as a grocery list of requests, but as entering the throne room of a King, preparing the heart becomes essential.
Here are three distinct ways the Bible shows us how to prepare our hearts for prayer. 1- Quieting the noise. We live in a world of constant distraction, and our minds are often racing when we sit down to pray. The Bible talks about preparing the heart by first getting still. Psalm 46:10,
"Be still, and know that I am God.
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted on the earth!"
Preparing the heart often starts with a few moments of absolute silence. Intentionally turning off the mental noise, dropping our anxieties, and simply recognizing whose presence we are entering.
- What you could call “The Ezra Principle.” In Ezra 7:10, it says that,
" For Ezra had set his heart to study the Law of the LORD, and to do it and to teach his statutes and rules in Israel."
Preparing your heart means setting your direction. Before we speak, we align our will with His. Jesus modeled this in the Lord’s Prayer by starting with “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come, Your will be done.” We prepare by reminding ourselves that prayer is about aligning our hearts with God’s will, not bending His will to ours. Sadly, something we all do from time to time.
- Honest examination and repentance. You mentioned a position of repentant prayer, and you are spot on. True heart preparation involves inviting the Holy Spirit to shine a light on anything standing in the way of our fellowship with Him.
"Search me, O God, and know my heart!
Try me and know my thoughts!And see if there be any grievous way in me,
And lead me in the way everlasting!" Psalm 139:23–24
We prepare by laying down our defenses, confessing our shortcomings, and receiving His grace before we dive into our petitions. For me, preparing my heart usually looks like taking a few deep breaths, starting with a prayer of thanksgiving to shift my perspective from my problems to God’s goodness, and asking Him to help me focus.
I do truly hope this helps someone out there.
Peter
That’s a thoughtful question.
I think Job 11:13 (assuming that’s the verse you meant) gives us a picture of humility before God rather than a formula. Throughout Scripture, “preparing the heart” isn’t about working ourselves into the right emotional state; it’s about intentionally coming before God in faith, humility, and submission.
For me, preparing my heart begins with remembering who God is and who I am. I ask the Lord to search me (Psalm 139:23–24), confess any known sin (1 John 1:9), lay aside distractions as much as I can, and ask the Holy Spirit to illumine His Word (Psalm 119:18). Sometimes I simply pray, “Lord, incline my heart to Your testimonies” (Psalm 119:36), because even the desire to seek Him is something I need Him to cultivate in me.
Ultimately, though, Scripture teaches that the heart is God’s work before it is ours. He gives a new heart (Ezekiel 36:26), opens hearts to receive His Word (Acts 16:14), and works in us “both to will and to work for His good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13). So while we are called to draw near to Him (James 4:8), we do so in complete dependence upon His grace.
So yes, I believe we should prepare our hearts, but not by trusting in our own efforts. We prepare them by humbly seeking the One who alone can truly prepare them.
Interestingly…
The Hebrew text reads:
אִם־אַתָּה הֲכִינוֹתָ לִבֶּךָ
ʾim-ʾattâ hăḵînōṯā libbekā
Literally:
“If you prepare your heart…”
The verb translated “prepare” is הֲכִינוֹתָ (hăḵînōṯā). It comes from the Hebrew root כּוּן (kûn), a common verb meaning “to establish,” “to make firm,” “to set in place,” “to make ready,” “to prepare,” or “to direct.” The root carries the idea of something becoming stable, fixed, or properly ordered. It is used of God establishing the heavens (Psalm 119:90), establishing a kingdom (2 Samuel 7:16), directing one’s steps (Psalm 119:133), and preparing the heart (1 Samuel 7:3).
Morphologically, הֲכִינוֹתָ is a Hiphil Perfect, second person masculine singular. The Hiphil stem is causative, so the sense is not merely that the heart happens to become prepared, but that the individual is called to set, direct, or make ready his heart. The perfect form expresses a completed action within the conditional clause introduced by אִם (ʾim, “if”), which in English is naturally rendered, “If you prepare your heart…”
The object of the verb is לִבֶּךָ (libbekā), meaning “your heart.” In Hebrew anthropology, the לֵב/לֵבָב (lēb/lēbāb) is much more than the seat of emotions. It encompasses the mind, will, understanding, conscience, and the inner person. To prepare one’s heart, therefore, is not primarily an emotional exercise but an intentional orientation of one’s entire inner being toward God.
Syntactically, the verse forms a conditional sentence:
“If you prepare your heart, and stretch out your hands toward Him…” (Job 11:13)
The first verb (הֲכִינוֹתָ) is followed by another Hiphil perfect (וּפָרַשְׂתָּ, “and you stretch/spread out”), joined by the conjunction וְ (“and”). Together they describe the outward evidence of an inward disposition. Preparing the heart precedes the symbolic act of extending one’s hands in prayer.
It is also worth noting that כּוּן (kûn) appears elsewhere with the same spiritual significance. In 1 Samuel 7:3, Samuel tells Israel:
“If you are returning to the LORD with all your heart, then… prepare (הָכִינוּ, hāḵînû) your hearts for the LORD and serve Him only.”
Likewise, 2 Chronicles 20:33 laments that the people:
“had not yet prepared their hearts to seek the God of their fathers.”
Perhaps the most beautiful theological balance is found in 1 Chronicles 29:18, where David prays:
“O LORD… keep forever such purposes and thoughts in the hearts of Your people, and direct (prepare) their hearts toward You.”
This is significant because Scripture holds two truths together without contradiction. Human beings are exhorted to prepare their hearts, yet David acknowledges that God Himself must establish and direct the heart. The responsibility is ours, but the ability and perseverance ultimately come from the Lord. That balance runs throughout both the Old and New Testaments and guards us from both passivity and self-reliance.
Too “wordy?”
J.