THE LIFE OF FAITH AND THE GLORIOUS CHURCH - 2009
january 6th
AS
WE CONTINUALLY FEED ON THE WORD OF GOD OUR INNER MAN [SPIRIT] BECOMES STRONG
[DOMINANT OVER BOTH OUR SOUL AND BODY], AND WE ARE DRAWN BY A FERVENT INWARD
AND HOLY DESIRE TO CONTINUE ON INTO THE DEEPER THINGS OF GOD'S KINGDOM
...."Create in me a
clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away
from Thy presence, and do not take Thy Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the
joy of Thy salvation, and sustain me with a willing spirit. Then I will teach
transgressors Thy ways, and sinners will be converted to Thee"....
Psalm 51:10-13 NASB
In Psalm 51 [which is a
Psalm of David] we are going to take a look at the heart-attitude that we need
to have that will allow us to be continually "clothed with power from on
high". God has already promised us that He is both willing and able to
"clothe" us with power, therefore, we must look at our part and see
what our heart-attitude of prayer towards Him needs to be. As we study this
Psalm it is not hard to understand why God called David a man after His own
heart [Acts 13:22]. We are able to see clearly David's heart-attitude in the
above prayer - for indeed out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.
We know that God looks upon and judges the thoughts and intentions of the heart
and when He "judged" the thoughts and intentions of David's heart He
judged him to be a man after His own heart. Each of us, as children of God, are
called to be sons and daughters whose heart is perfect [righteously motivated]
towards the Father at all times [Matthew 5:48]. First, we need
a "clean" heart, one that is continually cleansed from
"all" defilement. Secondly, we need a "steadfast" spirit,
and the way in which the Father accomplishes that task in us is to lead us to a
place wherein His Word is put first in our lives. As we continually feed on the
Word of God our inner man [spirit] becomes strong [dominant over both our soul
and body], and we are drawn by a fervent inward and holy desire to continue on
into the deeper things of God's Kingdom, steadfast in our love towards Him -
and towards all those He brings across our path.
THE FATHER IS ABLE TO ACCOMPLISH MIGHTY THINGS THROUGH US AS WE OPEN
OUR HEART TO BE A PURE VESSEL OF HIS ANOINTING
...."Do not cast me away
from Thy presence and do not take Thy Holy Spirit from me".... vs.11
From this verse,
we are able to see clearly that David cherished two things. First, he did not
want to be apart from the presence of God. This same heart-attitude becomes
stronger and stronger in us as we stop living for ourselves to any degree and
live only for God. Secondly, he also said, "Do not take the Anointing [the
Holy Spirit] from me". David realized the power of the Anointing to
both keep him and deliver him from his enemies. He realized fully that the
mighty exploits that he was doing were empowered by God - and not himself. He
knew that it was God's presence that supplied the wisdom to run his kingdom,
and give him strength and courage in the face of his most dire adversity. In
the same way, the Father is able to accomplish mighty things through us as we
open our heart to be a pure vessel of His Anointing. Let us be those who are
found valuing the presence of God and the power of His Word and Spirit above
ALL else - for in this way we will surely maintain a heart that is in one
accord with the heart of the Father and the mind of Christ.
Related
Scriptures: Matthew 12:34; 1 Samuel 16: 7; Hebrews 4:12; Joshua 1:8;
Proverbs 4:23; 1 Corinthians 2:16;
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