A difficult prayer
“Create in me a clean heart and renew a right spirit within me.
Scripture tells us in Jeremiah 17:9-10 that the heart is desperately wicked, who can know it.
In Mark 7:20-23, our LORD JESUS tells us clearly “What comes out of a man, that defiles a man. For from within, out of the heart of men proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within and defile a man.”
The scripture also tells us that before we call, HE shall answer. And this applies in this case. David the writer of Psalms 51:10 precedes Jeremiah and his writings and physically lived before our SAVIOR walked this earth.
This means that the prescription for the terrible predicament our hearts find themselves in was given before the diagnosis.
Beloved, all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of GOD. Even in little children and babies, you can witness signs and symptoms of selfishness and other character traits that are basically undesirable. Even us, as evil as we are, we recognize this. Many mothers have complained, albeit lovingly about the merciless kicks and blows meted out on them by babies in their wombs.
As we grow, we note that things get worse. Beloved, we are capable of intense and unbelievable evil. Each of us.
We try and deflate the situation by pointing fingers and saying that the other person is worse than me. "What I did is not that bad if you compare with what he did. "
We ask ourselves, “What got into me that made me do that terrible thing?” What got into him to make him do that unbelievable atrocity?” The truth is all of us have hearts and the bible says that they are extremely wicked.
Remember the famous quote attributed to a now rested saint who saw a man being led to death for his crimes," There but for the grace of GOD go I”. He recognized that the things that we see others do and label them as evil, we are capable of the same as long as our hearts remain in the cold fallen nature.
What is the solution, Beloved? The solution is pray for a new heart. Cry out to The LORD for a new heart. Ask HIM to give you a heart of flesh and not of stone. Ask HIM to write HIS laws upon your heart. Stop wasting time pointing fingers. Remember you stand before your MAKER, YAHWEH, alone and there will be no finger pointing allowed on that day. Yes, Beloved, the blame game shall not be played on that terrible day. Ask Adam and Eve. The blame game gets nobody anywhere.
Beloved, read the entire Psalm 51. Do you think that King David just sat and wrote the Psalm as a by the way, as a means to pass time. It seems to be that he searched for words to describe his horror at the state of his heart and the evil he was capable of. Ogling women bathing. Sleeping with them. Plotting and killing their husbands and bringing the women to his house. Beloved, that’s cold!
But there is the Living GOD, The faithful HOLY SPIRIT, WONDERFUL COUNSELOR gave him words that were appropriate to voice his concern about the deplorable state of his heart. Words that we can use today. Words that we should use today. Words that we can use to cry out to The MOST HIGH, “ Create in me a clean heart O LORD, renew a right spirit within me”
Beloved, you must confront yourself about the state of your heart. After all, it is your heart. When people point out our shortcomings whether real or imagined, we have to check ourselves . What is the state of my heart?
When Prophet Nathan confronted David about his sin, David did not react with self righteousness, he was remorseful, very remorseful and cried out to The LORD for mercy. Of course GOD forgave him, but true to HIS nature, GOD punished David severely, a fact we do not like to remember. Beloved, GOD will punish you for sins you commit. If not, you will be the first to cry that HE is unfair. Rest assured if David was punished, so will you be punished if you let your wicked heart continue to dictate the way you live. You think JESUS dying on the cross was a joke or a story made up by people who were daydreaming. Beloved, GOD is the Righteous Judge. Style up and think properly while there is still time. Cry out to The LORD for a new heart and a right spirit.
Personally, I feel that one of the reasons GOD loved David and favored him and spoke greatly about him being a man after HIS heart is that David acknowledged his sin and fell apart in remorse before The LORD. If it were some of us, the responses would have made the devil blush.. “What was Uriah thinking marrying such a beautiful woman,” “It is Bathsheba’s fault, bathing in the open”. “ She planned and timed it all and brought herself to the king, she came willingly” “ Serves her right for marrying a drunk”, ”David was just being a man” , “ What did you want Bathsheba to do when her husband was away, she has feelings”. ” Bathsheba was destined to be David’s wife anyway”. All these responses are attempts to justify and/or minimize our sin. But not so David. See his response in 2Samuels 12:13.
Beloved, when The MOST HIGH has taken HIS precious time( either by HIMSELF or through HIS servants) to come and warn you of any sin, please do what David did. Accept the fact that you have sinned and ask The LORD for mercy. HE is The LORD and known to be merciful.
Nowadays, it is difficult to rebuke anyone or inform someone of their sin. The response can kill the messenger if the looks and sneers don’t do it already. “ Who do you think you are to correct me?” “ Who died and made you judge?”. “ You are telling me of my sin and the other day we saw and know what you did?”. “ GOD spoke to you about me, which GOD?’’.“ Con man, how much do you want to get off my back”. Or the one in the Bible where the false prophet slapped the servant of GOD and asked him which side The SPIRIT of THE LORD went when HE left the false prophet to speak to the servant of GOD. The gall we have! So many responses we come up with to belittle the servants of GOD. We even go digging through their history, researching them for incidence in their past that will taint their image and according to us invalidate their message to us from God.
Beloved, these tactics will not work, GOD will punish sin and HE has sent HIS servants to warn us about the danger of sin and being unrepentant. Stop thinking it is funny when we are able to seemingly discredit men of GOD and make memes about everything. Have you noticed how uncomfortable the laughter is . Yes, sin makes everyone squirm, because sin is not right and we all know it. When confronted about our sins for goodness sake, it is before the LORD you have sinned, just admit and pray for a replacement of your cold, evil, stony and wicked heart.
Scripture asks us in Psalm 24:3 “Who shall ascend the hill of The LORD or who may stand in HIS Holy place? The answer is clear in verse 4, he who has clean hands and a pure heart.
Read Psalm 24 in its entirety.
This Psalm is used extensively when people want to bring down hindrances preventing fellowship and a full walk with The LORD. Now, there is no fullness and fellowship with The LORD when you have your cold, stony and hard heart coupled with hands so dirty that only the Blood of JESUS can wash. First deal with the issue of your dirty hands and your impure heart. Deal with idolatry and lies. Then your fellowship and a full walk with The LORD that you desire will start becoming a reality. Not my words and my conditions Beloved. I didn’t write the Bible. That’s what it says and you’re better off just doing what HE says.
In a nutshell Beloved, thus says The LORD, ” If you want to walk with ME and be with ME, wash your hands, ask ME for a new heart and right spirit, do not place anything or anyone before ME and stop all forms of deceit, then I will bless you.”
Let us be like David quick to acknowledge our sins before The LORD. Let us pray the prayer sincerely, “Create in me a clean heart. “ It’s not just a beautiful, mournful melody written by Keith Greene to fill our hymn books. It’s is a deep prayer with a deep and revelatory history. Beloved, take time and spend time on Psalm 51. It may just keep your name in the Lamb’s Book of Life.
Beloved, the scripture informs us, "And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire." Revelation 20:15.
Do you want to know JESUS as your personal Lord and Savior? Your eternity is at stake! JESUS has opened the door of salvation to every person. But there is coming a day when the door will be closed. Today is the day of salvation. Choose to be in the family of GOD. JESUS died so that we can spend eternity in Heaven with HIM. Don't delay! And if you want to begin a relationship with GOD or resume a broken one, say this: O GOD, I come to YOU today. I know I am a sinner. I believe that JESUS died on the cross to save me and HE resurrected on the third day. I repent of my sins and forsake them. I confess JESUS as my Lord and Savior . I invite JESUS into my heart. By this prayer, I know I am saved. Thank you JESUS for saving me and making me a child of GOD. Amen
