Isn't it a wonderful, peaceful feeling when you know that you are in right standing and close fellowship with the Lord? Each time you pray and read the Word of God, a strong awareness of the Holy Spirit is present, thereby allowing you to walk in daily confidence, sweetly abiding in the Lord. On the other hand, isn't it extremely disturbing when you know your connection with God isn't right, or when your fellowship with your heavenly Father has been cut off and it's nobody's fault but your own? It is during these times that reading the Bible seems empty and ritualistic, you don't understand things, and your prayers become robotic in nature, absent of fluency and fervency in your talks with God. Whenever I feel distant to the Lord, Psalm 51:10 comes to mind:
Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.
What is your relationship like with the Father at this moment in time - close, or far away? Do you even care?? The author of this psalm did, for we see here that he is crying out for something; he is acknowledging that things are not right between him and the Lord. Ladies, this is the start to building a proper relationship with God! The first thing you must acknowledge is the truth that any distance that exists between you and the Lord, the only thing that could possibly separate you from Him is always your sin…
Isaiah 59:2 (KJV)
But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your
sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.
Jeremiah 5:25 (KJV)
Your iniquities have turned away these things, and your sins have withholden
good things from you.
We find then today one problem (sin) and two solutions:
1) Create in me a clean heart
2) Renew a right spirit within me
The question is, which remedy applies to you?? First of all, it may be that you need a clean heart, and a clean heart can only be created! Man can't do this himself - if we could, there would be no need for so many rehabilitation programs! No one can create a truly clean heart within us except the God of ALL creation.
Proverbs 20:9 (KJV)
Who can say, I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin?
In His great love for us, God has planned that a new heart can only be created through the shed blood of His Son Jesus, washing away all our sins. Has your heart been made clean by the blood of Christ? Have you been born again? If not, then your sins will separate you from the Lord and a home in heaven for all of eternity; you are lost and on your way to hell. You need to beg God for a clean heart!
1 John 1:7-9 (KJV)
But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship
one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from
all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the
truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to
forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
1 John 4:10 (KJV)
Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent
his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
Ladies, I hope that each and every one of you has come to the place in your life where you have called out to the Lord to save you from your sins, realizing you can't create a clean heart within yourself, thereby asking Jesus Christ to come into your heart to be your personal Lord and Savior! If so, the one that saved you will also keep you for all of eternity - your sins can never separate you from God again in this manner! If there is nothing you can do to earn your salvation, there is nothing you can do to lose it!
Romans 8:35-39 (KJV)
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress,
or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is
written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted
as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than
conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither
death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things
present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature,
shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ
Jesus our Lord.
Though we cannot lose our salvation, we can, through our daily sinful choices, lose fellowship with God. Our sin snips that direct line of communication to the Lord that we enjoy in prayer and the way in which God speaks to us through our Bible reading. Hence, confession of your sins will restore the open lines of communication and fellowship between you and your God. If this is the reason for the distance between you and the Lord today, then you need a right spirit renewed within you; the spirit of God that you received when you were born again needs to be revived! Ladies, we should always aspire to immediately remove any distance that ever grows between the Lord and us through confession of our sins, quickly re-establishing close fellowship and right standing with our heavenly Father. It's the only way to restore the joy of your salvation!
Psalm 51:12 (KJV)
Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free
spirit.
Incidentally, if this is not your heart's desire today, you need to change your attitude about sin, for if it doesn't grieve you to be far away from the Lord, then perhaps you need to apply the first answer to your problem - perhaps you need a new heart altogether! A true believer should crave more than just forgiveness for their sins... A true believer desires renewal to holiness. As children of God, we should yearn for the return of the power of God in our lives and closeness with Him!
Psalm 51:2 (KJV)
Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.
In what ways would you like your desires to match those of the psalm writer's today in Psalm 51:10? Do you really want to remain distanced from the Lord? What do you plan on doing about your sin – cling to it or confess it? Which do you think the devil would like to see you do? Clinging to sin keeps you close to Satan; confessing your sin distances you from hell and it’s influence. Ladies, none of us knows for sure what lies in the days ahead... We do know, however, that eternity awaits us all. Make sure you aren't going to enter eternity separated from the Lord by your sins forever. It's time we all got right with God and closed the distance between our Creator and us!
God Bless,
Pam
Isaiah 60:1&2
Copyright 2000 Pamela A. Iannello
Revised 2004
