Openly examine and confess my faults to myself, to God, and to someone I trust.
Happy are the pure in heart. For they shall see God. Matthew 5:8 What a promise we are given – we shall see God!! Not might or possibly, but we SHALL see God!!! So how do we become pure in heart? First what is the definition of pure? Webster’s dictionary says it is ‘unmixed with any other matter.’ John Baker says ‘a pure heart is one that is free and clean of impurities.’ So how do we get to a pure heart? How do we get our heart, unmixed with anything but God? After all we all do have regrets, guilt, anger and any combination of many hurts, habits or hang-ups. How do we recover from these and become pure in heart? How do we let go of our excuses, blame, guilt and shame? We go to His word and read His promises: “Come now, and let us reason together,” Although we have regrets, guilt, anger, shame, He promises that if we are willing and obedient (v. 19) we will be as white as snow. His love for us is so strong. His grace so amazing! We will be pure in heart. I acknowledged my sin to You, When we acknowledge we have this guilt, anger and blame, He immediately forgives. Not later, not tomorrow, but immediately – as far as the east is from the west. He forgives. Then His word says – ‘I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go.’ Psalm 32:8
But before we can really clean our hearts, we have to look at what or why we need to clean up. Don your cleaning rags ladies – it’s time to Clean House!! Chapter 4 discusses the three areas in which guilt can cause harm to our lives.
In Psalm 51:10, David cried out to God: Create in me a clean heart, O God, Here he had committed adultery and had Bathsheba’s husband killed in battle. David murdered, lied, and betrayed his nation and almost each time we read about David he is doing something wrong. He cried out to the Lord to create in him a clean heart. Fast forward to Acts 13:22 when God had placed David as king and said ‘I have found David, the son of Jesse, a man after My own heart, who will do all My will.’ So, how do we become pure in heart like David? We repent, learn from our mistakes, become humble, teachable and turn our hearts completely toward God. We become unmixed with any other matter. We pray that our hands reach out as His would, our eyes see as His, our feet walk where He would walk and our hearts break as His would. The things in our past are not as powerful as our Almighty God. This step may seem pretty scary but which is scarier: continuing to live drag our past with us or feeling the freedom He has to offer? The rest of this week Leslie, Kim and Amy will discuss how we can move forward and drop those bags of the past. I am going to leave you with an awesome song written from Psalm 51. Enjoy and make it your prayer today. Let’s Pray: |
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In Jesus Name, Amen!
You’re Assignment:
Determine a quiet place, whether it is in your home, park or corner table at your favorite coffee shop. Prepare your heart for the next step of beginning your inventory. Go to our Facebook group and tell us where this place will be. It may encourage or give ideas to others in our group.
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This is a real blessing. It really helps us to see how having a clean heart is what we all really need. Jesus makes you clean on the inside.
Yes, He will transform us from the inside out. And when we allow Him to begin with our heart – that is true freedom!!!
Love the passage from Psalm 51! Identifying what we need (clean heart) and asking God for it is a huge step. But as they say, be careful what you ask , because He will work to purify, cleanse, temper, and create that new heart. Painful though it may be at times, the glory to come is unfathomable! Thank you for another awesome post, Laurie!
I agree Amy, but as you said, the end result is so worth it. John 8:36 says "Whom the Son sets free is free indeed." There is no better freedom!!
Amen Christi!! Love the freedom!!
Amy, I agree, He will give us experiences for that heart to cleanse. Everytime I pray for specifics, God is always faithful to give me situations that help me to grow in that area. Although it is a refiner's fire, He is the one refining me to be closer to Him. And yes, agreed it is unfathomable!! 🙂
Thank you. As always I'm challenged but God is my rock and my stronghold and fortress. I have a little park right down the street that faces the bay. I take a cup of coffee and have one on one with God and His artwork all around me. This is a challenging step and I'm ready. I never made it through the steps of AA. And relapsed after step 9 every time until I surrendered totally to Him. It's the only way.
When giving our life to God and asking Him for total freedom reminds me of the scripture Ephesians 3:20 "He is able to do abundanty BEYOND ALL that we can think or ask!!" Our life will be SO much better after allowing Him to make the changes that need to be made.
Fortunately, this healing/change is not a drive-thru process. It is a process. It may take some time in some cases. A lot of people want it now! But in order to get total freedom, and not just a quick fix, we have to allow Him to do what He needs to do, no matter what, and no matter how long.
Philippians 1:6, Paul says, "And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ."
I love this quote I found, too: "There must be a beginning of any great matter, but the continuing unto the end, until it be thoroughly finished, yields the true glory." –Francis Drake
Yes, this is a process finding TRUE freedom does take time and we need to soak in His grace and love. Christi I love the scriptures you posted. I was talking with a lady last night about that exact verse. How God could just give us freedom and only what we need, But because He is such a Great God He gives us more than we could ever ask for. His blessings are amazing.