Are you able to lift these words up as your prayer?

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living

Create in me a clean heart, O God; And renew a right spirit within me.
(Psalms 51:10 (ASV))

I bet you are like me and found yourself singing this passage!

It is a passage that we all know. It was turned into a song that we all know. Even if we didn’t know it, it should be the desire of every person who professes a faith in Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior. It should be the desire of everyone who strives to follow God’s Word and obey His commands.

Is it your desire?

Think about that question. Do you want God to clean your heart or are you happy with the sin that darkens it? Do you want God to give you a right spirit, a spirit that seeks only Him, or are you happy chasing the things of the world?

I realize that there is a lot that could be said, but I have found that often the best results are achieved by what is not said. God will work inside of each of us when we take a passage and reflect on how it applies to our lives. His Word is alive! It gets to the very heart of our being and makes us take a serious look at our lives in relation to what He has intended. With this in mind, nothing could be a more self-searching contemplation and prayer than asking yourself if you desire for God to clean your heart and give you a spirit after His own!

Are you able to lift these words up as your prayer?

Copyright 1998 – 2018 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
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Have you allowed God to make you pure?

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living

“Come now, let us reason together,”
says the LORD.
“Though your sins are like scarlet,
they shall be as white as snow;
though they are red as crimson,
they shall be like wool.
(Isaiah 1:18 (NIV))

There is something about snow that reminds us of purity. Looking out over the surrounding area after a snowfall, you become amazed at the freshness and the newness of everything. The virgin snow is pure and without blemish, just as humanity was in the beginning. Then, we start to see footprints and the effects of the sun and we see little patches of brown starting to show through.

It only takes a little blemish to start the process of degeneration. Soon, everything is muddy and brown and how we long for the purity of the way it used to be. This is the same in our lives. We cannot do anything about the snow, but we can do something about our lives.

After many years of living in this sinful world, our countenance is very muddy, but God has promised us that we will be made white as snow. He has sent us a Savior in Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son. Through God’s grace and mercy, He is willing to exchange our muddy, sinful nature for a pure, snowy countenance in which all things have been forgiven. All it takes is a simple, heartfelt longing and an acceptance of this God given grace and mercy.

The purity of the snow is only temporary. God gives a purity that lasts an eternity.

Have you allowed God to make you pure?

Copyright 1998 – 2018 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
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That is a love that is worth giving to others!

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ^©

We love because he first loved us.
(1 John 4:19 (NIV))

Nothing could be so simple yet so true. God reached out to us in all of our sin and showed us the most overwhelming display of love that could be shown through the gift of His Son, Jesus Christ as an atoning sacrifice to cleanse us of our sins. Because of this, it is our responsibility to show and tell others of this love by sharing with them what God has done for us. We must show them that it was also done for them and all that they have to do is accept it.

How do we do this?

Many sermons have been preached on this. Many people have been driven away from the church through preaching. It is through actions that we will show the true meaning of this verse. Actions will be remembered long after the words have been forgotten.

Consider what Jesus did when confronted with someone who was in need of forgiveness. Did He preach to them or did He love them and forgive them? He was able to convict people of their sins through love and not through condemnation.

For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
(John 3:17(NIV))

How did He save the world?

God saved the world through a love so great that He gave His Only Son, Jesus, as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. That is a love that is worth giving to others.

Copyright 1998 – 2015 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
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