{"id":19096,"date":"2014-04-15T00:20:05","date_gmt":"2014-04-15T04:20:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/?p=19096"},"modified":"2014-04-15T00:35:05","modified_gmt":"2014-04-15T04:35:05","slug":"create-pure-heart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/2014\/04\/15\/create-pure-heart\/","title":{"rendered":"Create In Me a Pure Heart"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"SeekingHimLogo\"<\/a><\/p>\n

We have now entered the season of Lent. \u00a0For many Christians, Lent is taken as a time of preparation for the celebration of Easter where God miraculously redeemed mankind by resurrecting His Son from the dead. It is also a time to consider what Jesus said and did; and how we should be living in light of His Words. \u00a0\u271e \u2665<\/p>\n

During this season, here on the\u00a0Seeking Him<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0devotional blog, we have chosen to focus our devotionals on Jesus\u2019 instructions and admonition communicated in Matthew chapter 5\u2014the Beatitudes. \u00a0Jesus said, \u201cBlessed are\u2026\u201d and He went on to give instruction as to how to be \u201cblessed<\/em>.\u201d \u00a0To be \u2018blessed\u2019 is to \u2018be happy, or to be envied.\u2019 \u00a0 Truly for the Christian, we ARE blessed\u2014oh, how very blessed we are! \u00a0Those who observe our lives should clearly be able to tell that we ARE blessed\u2014and that we KNOW it! \u271e \u2665<\/p>\n

Please consider Jesus\u2019 instructions along with us. \u00a0We pray that our words will encourage you and spur you on to be prepare your hearts for the joyous celebration of His Resurrection! \u00a0\u271e \u2665<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

God blesses those whose hearts are pure, for they will see God. <\/span><\/strong>
\nMatthew 5:8<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

You\u2019re blessed when you get your inside world\u2014your mind and heart\u2014put right. \u00a0Then you can see God in the outside world.
\nMatthew 5:8 MSG<\/p>\n

Create in me a clean (pure) heart, O God.
\nRenew a loyal spirit within me.
\nPsalm 51:10<\/p>\n

I remember when I found this gem of a verse. \u00a0For months afterward, I prayed Psalms 51:10-12 over myself. \u00a0As a result I witnessed godly change in myself and my life. \u00a0Was I perfect during this time? \u00a0Ha! \u00a0Far from it, but daily I turned my eyes to God and asked Him to create a pure heart in me. \u00a0I don’t think I’ve ever been closer to God in my life.<\/p>\n

A pure heart is a focused, undivided, unburdened heart. \u00a0There is no way for you to dwell in the Presence of God daily, hourly, minute-by-minute and hold on to lust, hate, bitterness, unforgiveness, guilt, condemnation, or any sin forever. God’s Presence is Holy and if you seek Him, He will shed His Light on your life and show you what He does not find pleasing…and then you will experience conviction. \u00a0Not condemnation<\/em>, but conviction<\/strong>.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

I know that I’m not the only one who can say that they have tried to run from conviction before\u2014which eventually is running from God. \u00a0AlthoughI did manage to run from God for twenty-two years, He eventually caught me. \u00a0 Needless to say, running from God can be difficult.<\/p>\n

I struggled with figuring out what to write this devotional about until the Lord reminded me of Psalm 51:10 and my own personal experience with the verse. And then He asked me why I had stopped pursing a pure heart wholeheartedly. (To which I, of course, had no answer.)<\/p>\n

Knowing where I’ve come from and where I am now, I thank the Lord for all He has done for me and how He has transformed me to be more like Him. \u00a0But He’s not done and I should never stop seeking to have a pure heart. \u00a0Plus, if pure-heartedness is what helps me see God this side of heaven, I most definitely want to strive after it.<\/p>\n

* \u00a0~ \u00a0\u2665 \u00a0~\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u271e\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0~\u00a0\u00a0\u2665 \u00a0~ \u00a0*<\/span><\/h4>\n

Lord, a pure heart\u2014this is what I ask. \u00a0You alone can transform my heart. \u00a0Show me that which is unpleasing to You, and give me a steadfast spirit to sustain me. In Jesus\u2019 name, I pray. \u00a0Amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We have now entered the season of Lent. \u00a0For many Christians, Lent is taken as a time of preparation for the celebration of Easter where God miraculously redeemed mankind by resurrecting His Son from the dead. It is also a time to consider what Jesus said and did; and how we should be living in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":118,"featured_media":13840,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3020],"tags":[3146,127,3367,1287,425,5784,662,846,6089,3174],"class_list":["post-19096","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-devotions","tag-ahmee-bronaugh","tag-beatitudes","tag-daily-devotions-2","tag-gch","tag-girlfriends-coffee-hour","tag-jesus-speaking","tag-matthew-58","tag-psalm-5110","tag-pure-heart","tag-seeking-him-devotional","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/SeekingHimLogo.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p39pHp-4Y0","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19096","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/118"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19096"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19096\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19099,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19096\/revisions\/19099"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13840"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19096"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19096"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19096"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}