Tag: Confess

A Clean Heart

On By vickleaIn Scripture, YouVersion App2 Comments

During the pandemic, everyone that I knew was concerned about clean hands. Sanitizer could not be found unless you wanted to pay a scalper’s high price. Even soap that is anti-bacterial was hard to find. People were busily cleaning their hands, but what about their hearts. You don’t even need to go to the store to get any cleaning products to have a clean heart. You just have to confess your sins to God, repent and ask for forgiveness and He will forgive you. I like what the devotional says that when we seek God, we will find that He has already been seeking us. So, don’t stay in your sin…confess, repent, ask and accept the free gift that God has provided.

Want a Clean Heart?

King David made some great decisions, but he also made some terrible ones. He had an affair with a woman named Bathsheba, for example, and attempted to conceal the secret by arranging the murder of her husband. 

For someone who was considered “a man after God’s own heart,” David really messed up. And yet, we know from Scripture that David confessed his sin against the Lord (2 Samuel‬ ‭12‬:‭13‬) and can read about how he prayed for mercy in Psalm 51:

“Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.”
‭‭Psalm‬ ‭51‬:‭10‬ ‭ESV‬‬

If you’ve ever messed up, you’re in good company. Paul, the author behind much of the New Testament, writes in Romans 3:23, “For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” Paul wasn’t always a man who followed God’s own heart, either—in fact, early in his life, he killed people who followed Jesus.

God did not abandon Paul. He did not exclude David. And He will not forsake you, either! God does not leave us to ourselves or our pasts, nor does He give us what we fully deserve. Instead, He put on skin and took our place. Jesus became the perfect and ultimate sacrifice for our sin—once and for all. He loves us, despite what we may have done!

If you’re longing for a second chance or craving a relationship with the one true God, but aren’t sure where to start, try borrowing some of David’s words. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.

When we seek God, we realize that He’s already been seeking us. 

God is faithful. He is who He says He is and He will do what He says He’ll do. He is your merciful Savior, He forgives your sins, and He not only makes your heart clean, but He also makes you a brand new creation.

Choice or Requirement

On By vickleaIn Scripture2 Comments

We make choices every day, starting from the moment we open our eyes in the morning until we close them to go to sleep at night. Think about it. You choose to praise God for a new day before your feet hit the ground, or you choose to get out of bed grumbling because it’s a new day. You choose to have a devotional time with God or you choose to sleep later and rush around and out the door with a quick acknowledgement that He is there whenever you call out to Him. And so it goes all day long. How do I know this? Because I, too, have made wrong choices and had to turn around, confess and start again making right ones. But one choice that I made many years ago was absolutely the right one and I never have turned from it.

I like the wording of this verse, especially the word “refuse.” That shows a choice to me…it is up to me daily, all day, every day, to take up the cross and to follow Jesus where He leads me. Only in constantly and consistently making that choice am I considered worthy of being His child. He does not insist, require or punish me when I refuse…He just lays out the truth of the consequences. The choice is clear for everyone, sinner and saint. Accepting Jesus as our Lord and Savior is just the beginning of our way to the cross. We need to daily commit ourselves to following Him and then do it. God is always there to pick up the pieces, comfort and forgive me when I fail, but it is up to me to make the right choice to begin with. The choice is up to each of us, individually and daily. God is waiting for us to make the right choice, so let’s try very hard not to disappoint Him.

One Another

On By vickleaIn Scripture11 Comments

The Bible is filled with Scriptures about how we should treat one another. The question is how do we treat each other at all if we don’t ever spend time with others, in fellowship with other believers to start with and then reaching out to the world? I have found myself wanted to insulate and isolate during my two weeks at home. I love going to church and seeing friends there, communicating with them and hearing what their lives are like. But the last two weeks, I have had to get my body moving forcibly to get up early and make the effort to attend. It’s a good thing that my husband doesn’t put up with slackers!

It’s hard to love one another if you never see one another, isn’t it? A phone call or a card just doesn’t make up for the personal touch that you and others need. That listening ear that you offer so freely also goes along with an expressive face and others need to see it to know that you truly care.

Just as loving is almost impossible without contact, so is serving one another. In fact, how do you know what the needs are if you don’t see them and hear about them from the person in need? Furthermore, you have needs too that can only be met by others in the Body of Christ who reach out to you with the love of the Lord.

Christ forgave each person in a personal and real way. Can we do any less? And how do others know that we have forgiven them if we never go around them? Forgiveness is a foundation of our faith; we offer it to others because it was first given as a free gift to us. I think we need to be in the community of believers to practice this skill called forgiveness. It is not something that is easy to do, but it is easier if you are among others who believe that it is necessary to move forward in your walk with the Lord.

Devotion and honor starts with giving yourself to God and spreads to giving of yourself to others.

Confession to one another holds us accountable and makes us want to be better and to do better the next time that same temptation comes around. We pray for each other and face temptation fully girded and ready, but also knowing that our fellow believers are fighting the good fight with us.

Finally, we must encourage each other. The world is a dark and lonely place, filled with sin and all kinds of horrible things. But we are not alone in the world and God never meant for us to be alone. In fact, when He created woman, he said that it was not good for man to be alone. It still is not good to be alone. We need each other for encouragement and for building each other up. Together, we build the house of the Lord which resides inside us.

I have heard many say that it is not good to go to churches because they are so hypocritical and filled with sin. Actually, what they are is a building in which we worship God and the building is filled with imperfect people who are there to encourage, forgive, confess, honor serve and love. One another! Because that is how God planned it. We are stronger together.

May the Lord bless you and keep you as you minister to one another, first in the Body of Christ, and then to the world to which He has called you to serve.

Returning to God

On By vickleaIn Scripture4 Comments

There is a lot of talk these days about a coming revival and the hope that it will bring to a spiritually starved America. However, as in the days of Hosea, I don’t see revival on the horizon. Instead, I see God’s justice which leads to His judgment. We as a nation have turned our backs on God, angrily declaring that we can take care of ourselves and don’t need Him any longer. Of course, those of us who are believers in His grace and mercy and love know that we need Him in our lives daily. But the verse that stood out to me as I read Hosea this morning does much to explain the spiritual condition of our nation.

When what you are doing is so awful that you don’t want to even acknowledge it as sin, then you are not prone to turn to God, but rather away from Him. When the House passed a bill yesterday to establish same-sex marriage as legal in all the states, where was the outrage against their actions? I do believe that interracial marriage is sanctified, but I also believe that same-sex marriage is a sin. Our lawmakers want to “normalize” this sinful act and force us to accept it. They cannot acknowledge God as Lord and justify such an action. The spirit of prostitution that Hosea refers to seems to me to be rampant in the U.S. today, I’m sad to say. The lawmakers have sold themselves to the highest bidder, otherwise known as lobbyists. The voters have sold themselves to the lawmakers who promise them more freedom at the cost of their future legacy for their children. I’m saddened by the state of our nation, but I am not surprised. We got on this slippery slope decades ago and the ride is carrying us faster and faster to the promise of hell, not Heaven.

Am I totally distraught about this whole mess that our nation is in? No, because I have read the end of the Book and we win! It’s just the part of the book in which we are now that I’m not liking because I want God to come swiftly with judgment, but I also want Him to continue His mercy and grace for just a while longer so more can come to know Him. I trust that His way and timing are perfect, and as I see this nation slide farther into sin and debauchery, I cannot help but think that God is just, waiting and saying to His people that a time will come when every knee will bow to His sovereignty.

I hope that you have a blessed day, but remember to pray for our leaders. There are some (perhaps only a few) who are trying to stand strong in the face of great evil and they need our prayerful support.