Tag Archives: Create in me a clean heart

Inviting the thief into your house

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imageYou’ve heard about Save the Whales and Save the Rainforests. Perhaps you know a Global Seed Vault exists as a fail safe protection against natural or man-made disasters. The Harvard Art Museum in Cambridge, Massachusetts even houses the world’s rarest pigments to make sure their distinct colors are not lost. Whether it’s Save the Pygmy Frog, Save the Pigment, Save the World, or Save the Child, you’ll find groups of people to rally behind a cause they deem worthy of protection.

Closer to home, we lock our doors to protect our belongings and loved ones. At the same time, how often do we leave the doors wide open for the enemy to come charging into our homes and our lives? We warned our children about the subtlety of movies and books that could influence them in a harmful way.  They would sometimes argue that a little bit of cussing and swearing wouldn’t bother them. They said it just goes in one ear and out the other. It was the same with movie scenes that were unfit for children or adults.

The truth is, what goes in, stays in. Our brains are hard-wired to remember things, especially things that are atracked to emotion. Be it grief or pain, horror or enticement, emotionally laden words and images chemically imprint themselves on our memory. Maybe you know from experience how seemingly impossible it is to “unsee” a gruesome or unwholesome image; how challenging it is to “unhear” coarse talk that works is its way into our vocabulary.  The deeper the emotion, the more firm the imprint and more difficult to erase. Inviting some movies, books, talk, and habits into our lives is like leaving the door unlocked and wide open when we leave on vacation. We might as well put out a sign, “Thieves, help yourself.” Jesus himself warned, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” (John 10:10)

Are you tired of having your joy and peace stolen by the chaos and corruption around you? Are you tired of marriages and families being destroyed by what seems to be the norm in an immoral culture? Have you sometimes found Jesus’ promise of a full, abundant life buried somewhere under an avalanche of pressing forces and influences that run contrary to your deepest values?

Consider the antidote:

Above all else, guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life. Proverbs 4:23

Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. Colossians 3:5

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:6-7

 

Of course, you know all these truths, don’t you? But are you applying them to protect your heart against bitterness, anger, greed, and corrupt thinking? (I’m examining myself as I ask.) Having asked God to make us a “new creation” and purify our heart and set it after his, are we guarding against the very things that threaten our peace and joy, or are we inviting divisive and coarse talk, immoral thinking, wasteful activities,  and greed to establish strongholds within us? It’s one thing to know we should lock our doors against intruders. It’s another thing to actually do it and also guard the doors to our heart.

Perhaps our children thought we were being prudish in protecting them from the horribly bad influences of the world. But protecting your heart is not about being prudish. It’s about being prudent. It’s about protecting what is most valuable. It’s easy to be seduced by the dark side. It happens so subtly. One small indiscretion leads to another and then another, until we find ourselves thinking or doing what would earlier have been unimaginable to us.

If you’re looking for a good cause to support, something worthwhile to protect, then first protect your heart from the thief who threatens to steal your joy.  Ask God, “Search my heart O Lord. Reveal what strongholds need demolished in my life. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.”  Then actively guard your heart by what you let influence it.

 

 

Powerful prayers of the bible

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During the tougher times of my cancer journey, many prayers were simply, “Lord, have mercy.” I didn’t have energy to say more. Perhaps simple word prayers throughout the day pleases Him best:  “Thanks!” – “Help me.” – “Praise God!”  In fact, His Word warns against the vain babbling of endless words. But when the words won’t come at all, there is another source of inspiration for prayer: Scripture.

 

“Read the Psalms, praise God once; pray them, praise God twice; sing them, praise God three times over!” There’s no value in repeated rote prayers just to say them out of tradition. But if they reflect the desires of your heart, let them become your heart-felt prayers.

 

Find solace in praying the 23rd Psalm. Substitute your name for ‘me’ and ‘my’:

“The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures; he leads me beside still waters; he restores my soul. He leads me in right paths for his name’s sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil; for you are with me; your rod and your staff–they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”

 

I’ve had many occasions to pray David’s shorter prayer (Psalm 51:10-12) throughout my life: “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from Your presence and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation and sustain me with a willing spirit.” It has been a heartfelt prayer to draw closer to my Creator and to live in accordance with His will, especially after I’ve messed up.

 

You might pray as Moses did: “Teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you. If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here.” (Exodus 33:13,15)

 

You can personalize “The Lord’s Prayer” with words from your own heart. Tell him you want His name to be honored and respected in your life activities and ambitions. Describe your daily bread (needs). Confess specific sins. Forgive others by name. Ask God to help you live today with forever in mind.

 

We should pray trusting in the Lord, “In you, Lord my God, I put my trust.” (Psalm 25:1)

 

Consider praying for others this way: “And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve the things that are excellent, in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ.” (Philippians 1:9-10)

 

Or this way: “For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” (Ephesians 4:14-19)

 

Let the powerful prayers of the bible speak your heart.

 

 

Confess – Create – Cast

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Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.  James 5:16

 

Create in me a pure heart O God and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Psalm 51:10

 

Cast your cares on the LORD and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous be shaken. Psalm 55:22

 

Confess sins: Two words that seem rather old-fashioned in today’s self-help and self-sufficient world. But these two words should be part of our daily vocabulary. Why? Because they are the secret to right living (righteousness). We cannot live in harmony with each other or with God unless we are reconciled with them. What kind of prayers are powerful and effective? The ones of a righteous person. Righteousness is not being ‘holier-than-thou.’  Righteous means being humble (reconciled) before God and others.

 

Righteousness involves asking God for a pure heart and a steadfast (right) spirit to live in us. It means being loyal, faithful, committed, dependable, trustworthy.  These are the qualities you seek in your closest friends; they are also the same qualities we need to demonstrate in order for us to be friends. It takes more than singing a song to be friends of God. We need to act like a real friend, one with a steadfast heart.

 

When we confess our sins and continually ask God for a clean heart, we finally find the capacity to truly cast our cares upon the Lord. Oh, we try to cast them on Him even when we remain in our sin. But it is a clean heart, a right conscience that allows us to really let them go.  When we hold onto our sins and our anxieties we are never fully at peace. We say ‘Time heals all wounds’ and ‘this too shall pass.’  But time alone is a lousy healer and ‘this too’ sometimes doesn’t pass, at least in this lifetime. Time allows a wound to scar. Forgiveness allows it to be fully healed.

 

Our health can be shaken, our finances decimated. Relationships are sometimes severed and we can be hard pressed in so very many ways. But God promises “He will never let the righteous be shaken.” How can you have this unshakable life? God says:

  • Confess your sins to each other and to God.
  • Ask God to create in you a pure heart.
  • Cast your cares on God and let HIM sustain you.

 

Enjoy the unshakable peace of God today.

 

 

The ‘downward’ path of revival

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When someone who was alive suffers a devastating death-blow, the medical personnel will (unless a “no resuscitate” order was given) attempt to revive them, to bring them back to life.

 

But what about your spiritual being? Have you ever sensed that you had fallen asleep and had become nearly dead to your spiritual life? Have you ever said, “That’s okay. Do not resuscitate. I’m busy with other things just now.” Or have you felt a desperate and growing hunger to dig deeper in your spiritual life and bring it back to life? At times like those your spiritual heart, the center of your being, is telling you it is time for revival. It’s time to dig deeper and concentrate on the purpose of your life, while there is still time to live.

 

No matter where you are in your spiritual journey, there remains more progress to be made and more satisfaction to be enjoyed. Sometimes, we look at the journey and faint away, fearing the path that God may take us down will be too hard. Like a heart patient needing surgery, we say, “Change my heart O God, but please work a miracle so I don’t need to go through surgery and painful recovery.” Even those who do trust God, who know His plan always works toward our good, sometimes experience this nagging doubt when trials come around. There is this wondering, “How painful will His solution be and how long will it take?”

 

The path to revival always starts with pain. It cannot be avoided. It begins with a difficult hike along the downhill path of acknowledgment and confession of our prideful self, and the faithful vow to turn away from self and toward God, our refuge. Before “Change my heart O God” always comes “Take my heart, O God.” Revival doesn’t come until we realize how desperately we need God and how hopeless our life is in our own control. As someone said, “Revival is not the top blowing off, but the bottom falling out.”

 

Where are you? Have you come to that place where you realize that, on your own, you will continue to fall into the same wrong thinking and bad habits? Have you realized that spiritual revival is quite unsustainable in our own thinking? Let God know. Ask Him to help you rely on Him, to trust Him to give you courage, wisdom, and strength to go His way.

Create in me a clean heart, O God,
And renew a steadfast spirit within me.
Do not cast me away from Your presence
And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.

Restore to me the joy of Your salvation
And sustain me with a willing spirit.
Psalm 51:10-12

 

 

Change your heart – Change the world

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Never think a few caring people can’t change the world. for indeed, that’s all we ever have. – Margaret Mead

 

Create in me a pure heart, O God,   and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me.

Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.

Psalm 51:10-12

Change your heart; Change the world.

 

 

 

Create in me a new heart

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Asking God to break our heart for what breaks His, brings us into a deeper sense of His presence. It transforms our focus away from our worldly experience to the way He sees us and our world.

God has always been interested in our heart. From early in the Bible teaching’s we are told to “love the Lord with all our heart.” Jeremiah tells us that God will give us a heart to love Him; that we will seek Him and find Him, when we seek Him with all our heart.

God tells us in the Psalms that what He desires is not a burnt offering or a monetary gift. He doesn’t need these things. What He desires is a sacrifice of praise, the offering of a clean heart.

King David says in Psalm 139:23-24 –
“Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”

In Psalm 51:10-12 he says –
“Create in me a pure heart, O God,
and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
Do not cast me from your presence
or take your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation
and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.”

Trying to please God with a corrupt self-seeking heart is like trying to drive a car with a gas tank full of sludge. It just doesn’t work.

In Hillsong’s worship song, “Hosanna,” the words of praise are followed by this plea:
“Heal my heart and make it clean
Open up my eyes to the things unseen
Show me how to love like you have loved me
Break my heart for what breaks yours
Everything I am for Your kingdom’s cause
As I walk from earth into eternity.”

It is clear that if we want our praise to reach God’s heart, we are best to approach Him with a clean heart, a right conscience. It should be our daily prayer and our moment by moment walk with Him. God won’t leave you with a broken heart. Rather He will be faithful to mend it and give you a clean heart that seeks and finds Him, if that is your true request.