Tag: purify your heart

Joy or Gloom

” Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.  Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.  Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom.  Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you. “

Psalms 32:8  I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you. Be not like a horse or a mule, without understanding, which must be curbed with bit and bridle, or it will not stay near you. Many are the sorrows of the wicked, but steadfast love surrounds the one who trusts in the LORD.

Proverbs 3:5  Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.  In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.

Psalms 33:18  Behold, the eye of the LORD is on those who fear him, on those who hope in his steadfast love,

Proverbs 3:1   My son, do not forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my commandments,

Proverbs 8:10  Take my instruction instead of silver, and knowledge rather than choice gold,  for wisdom is better than jewels, and all that you may desire cannot compare with her.

Matthew 11:29   Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

Proverbs 26:3  A whip for the horse, a bridle for the donkey, and a rod for the back of fools.

Jeremiah 4:22   “For my people are foolish; they know me not; they are stupid children; they have no understanding. They are ‘wise’—in doing evil! But how to do good they know not.”

Jeremiah 8:6  I have paid attention and listened, but they have not spoken rightly; no man relents of his evil, saying, ‘What have I done?’ Everyone turns to his own course, like a horse plunging headlong into battle.  Even the stork in the heavens knows her times, and the turtledove, swallow, and crane keep the time of their coming, but my people know not the rules of the LORD.

“My people are foolish”, “they have not spoke rightly”, “everyone turns to his own course”, “they have no understanding”, “they do not know Me”. How many are the paths people will follow to find peace, joy, and rest for their souls following blindly and headlong on a straight path to hell?  God is not blind to the actions and thoughts of man.  Nothing is hidden from Him and rather than humbly submit, follow and obey Him they pick their own course.  This course is one with temporary satisfaction at best but does not satisfy deep into the heart.  Turn to God and He will instruct and teach you.  His gentle guiding will give rest to your soul. He will set your feet on solid ground and make life fulfilling.

What is a Pure heart

” Who can say, I have made my heart pure; I am clean from my sin?”

“Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.”

Psalms 24:4   He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully.

He will receive blessing from the LORD and righteousness from the God of his salvation.

Psalms 18:20  The LORD dealt with me according to my righteousness; according to the cleanness of my hands he rewarded me.

Job 17:9   Yet the righteous holds to his way, and he who has clean hands grows stronger and stronger.

Isaiah 1:15-16   When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood.  Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes; cease to do evil,

Isaiah 33:15-16    He who walks righteously and speaks uprightly, who despises the gain of oppressions, who shakes his hands, lest they hold a bribe, who stops his ears from hearing of bloodshed and shuts his eyes from looking on evil, he will dwell on the heights; his place of defense will be the fortresses of rocks; his bread will be given him; his water will be sure.

James 4:8   Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

Proverbs 20:9   Who can say, “I have made my heart pure; I am clean from my sin”?

Jeremiah 4:14   O Jerusalem, wash your heart from evil, that you may be saved. How long shall your wicked thoughts lodge within you?

Matthew 5:8   “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

2 Corinthians 7:1   Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God.

Revelation 21:27   But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.

Deuteronomy 4:19   And beware lest you raise your eyes to heaven, and when you see the sun and the moon and the stars, all the host of heaven, you be drawn away and bow down to them and serve them, things that the LORD your God has allotted to all the peoples under the whole heaven.

Acts 14:15   “Men, why are you doing these things? We also are men, of like nature with you, and we bring you good news, that you should turn from these vain things to a living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them.

1 Timothy 1:6 Certain persons, by swerving from these, have wandered away into vain discussion, desiring to be teachers of the law, without understanding either what they are saying or the things about which they make confident assertions.

Malachi 3:5   “Then I will draw near to you for judgment. I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired worker in his wages, the widow and the fatherless, against those who thrust aside the sojourner, and do not fear me, says the LORD of hosts.

How do we know what is “detestable and false”?  How do we know if we are “double-minded”?   What are we to consider “vain discussion”?  How do we know what causes “defilement of body and spirit”? What does it mean to have a “pure heart”?  How are we to “cleanse ourselves”? Whose names are “written in the Lambs book of life”?  What does it mean to “draw near to God”?  We can always ask these questions to others looking for answers and more than likely we will get as many different responses as the people we ask.  The key to answering these questions is found in the source you are looking.  How many times do we close our ears to what God is speaking to our heart – diluting away these convictions by listening to what our culture has deemed “OK”.  We try to find answers that allows us set aside God’s leading. Answers that are sought Apart from God’s word will lead us away not closer to God.  Many times God while reading or hear God’s word our heart will be convicted.  We then can choose to listen with our heart and mind – drawing near to God because our heart’s desire is to humble serve, honor and obey Him.  I wonder how many times rather than confess what God has been convicting us of, we choose to do something else good that will offset it.  We create this ledger book in our mind of “Good and Bad”.  This type of thinking allows us to stop thinking about it and falsely thinking our heart is pure or that we are cleansed. Is this why so many people do not continually read God’s word? How can we answer the questions above apart from His word – we can’t.