Skip to main content

August 30 His Pure Heart

Who can say, “I have kept my heart pure; I am clean and without sin?” ~Proverbs 20:9 


Since ancient times no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides you, who acts on behalf of those who wait for You. You come to the help of those who gladly do right, who remember Your ways. But when we continued to sin against them, You were angry. How then can we be saved? All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags. We all shrivel up like a leaf, and like a wind our sins sweep us away…Yet, O Lord, You are our Father. We are the clay, You are the potter; we are all the work of Your hands. ~Isaiah 64:4-6 & 8

Who may ascend the hill of the Lord? Who may stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to an idol or swear by what is false. He will receive blessing from the Lord and vindication from God his Savior. ~Psalm 24:3-5 

There is no difference, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by God’s grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. ~Romans 3:23-24 

May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything, what counts is a new creation. ~Galatians 6:14-16 

Oh Lord, I know that I am so unworthy. All my acts that I think are so good and so righteous still fall so short of the holiness you require for me to be in your presence. Yet, because of Your great love for all, even me, You did not want to be separated from me. So, you made a way, through Your death on the cross, to build a bridge to me, so that we could be joined again. 

The effort was all Yours. The acceptance was all mine. But even that was stimulated by You and Your love. I only love You because You loved me first! Who can say, “I have kept my heart pure?” No one can except for Jesus our Lord and Savior. Who can say, “I am clean and without sin?” I can now, but only because I have been washed in the blood of Christ my Savior! Jesus makes me clean!

Now, today, I may approach Your holy hill with Your clean hands and Your pure heart because You have put Your spirit in me. May we together experience Your vindication, for You are the one and only true God, who has endured much because of evil, but has also loved much because of who You are, love itself. 

Prayer: Thank You for Your guiding hand on my life. Thank You for inviting me to live with You forever, in Your Holy place. As I approach worship today, may my heart be full of all these thoughts, all You have done, and remembrance of all You have yet promised to do. Selah! And in Jesus’ name, amen.

Song: The Steadfast Love of the Lord Never Ceases 


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

October 27 Save the Glaze for the Bunny

Like a coating of glaze over earthenware are fervent lips of an evil heart. A malicious man disguises himself with his lips. But in his heart, he harbors deceit. Though his speech is charming, do not believe him, for seven abominations fill his heart. His malice may be concealed by deception, but his wickedness will be exposed in the assembly. If a man digs a pit, he will fall into it. If a man rolls a stone, it will roll back on him. ~Proverbs 26:23-28 For there are many rebellious people, mere talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision group. They must be silenced, because they are ruining whole households by teaching things they ought not teach—and that for the sake of dishonest gain. Even one of their own prophets has said, “Cretans are always liars, evil brutes, lazy gluttons.” This testimony is true. Therefore, rebuke them sharply, so that they will be sound in the faith and will pay no attention to Jewish myths or to the commands of those who reject the truth. T...

July 16 Thick Skinned Love

Whoever covers over an offence promotes love, but whoever repeats the matter separates close friends. ~Proverbs 17:9 If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over. ~Matthew 18:15  The end of all things is near. Therefore, be clear minded and self-controlled so that you can pray. Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. ~1 Peter 4:7-8  Being offended seems to be the battle cry of the day. Instead of freedom of speech, everyone has the right not to be offended. If one is offended, then one has the right to exact vengeance on the offender because, of course, the offender KNEW that he or she was being offensive and just didn’t care. Is that how you see much of society behaving today?  There seems to be all of this offending and finger pointing that just keeps growing and growing. Nothing is being resolved, just more blame that grows louder a...

January 24 You’ll See, He Remembers

The wise inherit honor, but fools He holds up to shame. ~Proverbs 3:35 “Tell the righteous it will be well with them, for they will enjoy the fruit of their deeds.” ~Isaiah 3:10 “God is not unjust; He will not forget your work and the love you have shown Him as you have helped His people and continue to help them. We want each of you to show this same diligence to the very end, in order to make your hope sure. We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised.” ~Hebrews 6:10-12 “The sins of some men are obvious, reaching the place of judgment ahead of them. The sins of others trail behind them. In the same way, good deeds are obvious, and even those that are not cannot be hidden.” ~1 Timothy 5:24-25 “But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.” ~Matthew 12:36-3...