Purity of Heart
I would like you to read this passage of scripture slowly to yourselves today as you do whatever you are doing. It is Psalm 86:11-13 and I am writing it from the New Living Translation. Listen to these beautiful words.
Teach me your ways, O Lord, that I may live according to your truth!
Grant me purity of heart, that I may honor you.
With all my heart I will praise you, O Lord my God.
I will give glory to your name forever, for your love for me is very great.
You have rescued me from the depths of death!
In the King James Version of the Bible, these passages are written this way.
Teach me thy way, O LORD; I will walk in thy truth: unite my heart to fear thy name.
I will praise thee, O LORD my God, with all my heart: and I will glorify thy name for evermore.
For great is thy mercy toward me: and thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest hell (grave).
And one other version, the Amplified Bible is written in this manner.
Teach me Your way, O Lord, that I may walk and live in Your truth; direct and unite my heart [solely, reverently] to fear and honor Your name.
I will confess and praise You, O Lord my God, with my whole (united) heart; and I will glorify Your name forevermore.
For great is Your mercy and loving-kindness toward me; and You have delivered me from the depths of Sheol [from the exceeding depths of affliction].
We see a beautiful prayer to pray here not only for ourselves but also for others.
In verse 11 we are asking God to teach us His ways. What are God’s ways in which we are to live. The whole Bible from Genesis to Revelation is a book about God’s ways of doing things. This Bible is the Word of Truth which has been given by the Spirit of Truth Himself as a manual to direct our way of living while we are here on this earth. It is a document from Heaven penned by men at the direction of the Holy Spirit of Truth. God’s ways of the Spirit are spelled out for us in this Word of God. I love His Word. It is His letter to me as His child telling me how to live so that I will have an abundant life while I am here on this earth. He tells me in this book how to avoid trouble and how to conquer satan in my life and how to overcome the obstacles that are put in my way. God has given me a book of victory to live the victorious life. This is not just any book. This book is pulsating with the life and Spirit of Love Himself. If I will follow the direction of the Word of Truth, I will walk a path of life full of The Blessing of the Lord.
In the next verse, I am asking God to grant me a pure heart that I may honor Him. Without Him I cannot have a pure heart. Every day there are things sent my way in the form of thoughts to contaminate the purity of my heart. What I do with them determines how I live. When a thought comes of jealousy, envy, strife, anger, or any of the other myriad of thoughts that we are bombarded with every day, we ask God to purify our thoughts and thus our heart with His thoughts. Grant us pure hearts, clear of the debris of the earth’s way of doing things, which is opposite of God’s way of doing things. As the Lord grants us pure hearts, it opens the door for us to honor Him and to honor those who represent Him. And with those pure hearts we praise the Lord our God for His goodness and for Who He is with the whole, the totality of our hearts, our entire being. And we glorify His name forever. Notice the progression: purity of heart, honor God, praise Him, glorify His name.
I will give glory to Your name forever for Your love for me is great. I will glorify the name of the Lord, His personal name that He gave Jesus, Who, in turn gave the name to me. I will glorify His name forever, throughout all eternity, not just while I am here on this earth. His name is above every name, and at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord. You see, the bottom line is this: the Lordship of Jesus Christ. “Lord” means He is in charge of everything in my life. He wants to be Lord of all so that I will live in the abundant life He has provided. When I walk with Him being the One in charge, He stands with me to take me through to the other side always, and without being harmed. We see that He delivers us from the very depths of affliction, which is called death, because it is an attempt to separate us from God and His ways. Death is separation from something.
So, my life’s course is set in The Life of God when I ask Him to grant me a pure heart to honor Him and to praise Him and give glory to His name forever. And because He loves me, He delivers me from the very depths of affliction, oppression, conflicts of the enemy. Get this in your spirit today. He loves you and He has deliverance on His mind for you, the best of the best for you. He wants you to live victoriously in the freedom He has provided for you. Let’s all of us purpose to live in the fullness of what He has provided for us in this life.
Teach me your ways, O Lord, that I may live according to your truth!
Grant me purity of heart, that I may honor you.
With all my heart I will praise you, O Lord my God.
I will give glory to your name forever, for your love for me is very great.
You have rescued me from the depths of death!
In the King James Version of the Bible, these passages are written this way.
Teach me thy way, O LORD; I will walk in thy truth: unite my heart to fear thy name.
I will praise thee, O LORD my God, with all my heart: and I will glorify thy name for evermore.
For great is thy mercy toward me: and thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest hell (grave).
And one other version, the Amplified Bible is written in this manner.
Teach me Your way, O Lord, that I may walk and live in Your truth; direct and unite my heart [solely, reverently] to fear and honor Your name.
I will confess and praise You, O Lord my God, with my whole (united) heart; and I will glorify Your name forevermore.
For great is Your mercy and loving-kindness toward me; and You have delivered me from the depths of Sheol [from the exceeding depths of affliction].
We see a beautiful prayer to pray here not only for ourselves but also for others.
In verse 11 we are asking God to teach us His ways. What are God’s ways in which we are to live. The whole Bible from Genesis to Revelation is a book about God’s ways of doing things. This Bible is the Word of Truth which has been given by the Spirit of Truth Himself as a manual to direct our way of living while we are here on this earth. It is a document from Heaven penned by men at the direction of the Holy Spirit of Truth. God’s ways of the Spirit are spelled out for us in this Word of God. I love His Word. It is His letter to me as His child telling me how to live so that I will have an abundant life while I am here on this earth. He tells me in this book how to avoid trouble and how to conquer satan in my life and how to overcome the obstacles that are put in my way. God has given me a book of victory to live the victorious life. This is not just any book. This book is pulsating with the life and Spirit of Love Himself. If I will follow the direction of the Word of Truth, I will walk a path of life full of The Blessing of the Lord.
In the next verse, I am asking God to grant me a pure heart that I may honor Him. Without Him I cannot have a pure heart. Every day there are things sent my way in the form of thoughts to contaminate the purity of my heart. What I do with them determines how I live. When a thought comes of jealousy, envy, strife, anger, or any of the other myriad of thoughts that we are bombarded with every day, we ask God to purify our thoughts and thus our heart with His thoughts. Grant us pure hearts, clear of the debris of the earth’s way of doing things, which is opposite of God’s way of doing things. As the Lord grants us pure hearts, it opens the door for us to honor Him and to honor those who represent Him. And with those pure hearts we praise the Lord our God for His goodness and for Who He is with the whole, the totality of our hearts, our entire being. And we glorify His name forever. Notice the progression: purity of heart, honor God, praise Him, glorify His name.
I will give glory to Your name forever for Your love for me is great. I will glorify the name of the Lord, His personal name that He gave Jesus, Who, in turn gave the name to me. I will glorify His name forever, throughout all eternity, not just while I am here on this earth. His name is above every name, and at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord. You see, the bottom line is this: the Lordship of Jesus Christ. “Lord” means He is in charge of everything in my life. He wants to be Lord of all so that I will live in the abundant life He has provided. When I walk with Him being the One in charge, He stands with me to take me through to the other side always, and without being harmed. We see that He delivers us from the very depths of affliction, which is called death, because it is an attempt to separate us from God and His ways. Death is separation from something.
So, my life’s course is set in The Life of God when I ask Him to grant me a pure heart to honor Him and to praise Him and give glory to His name forever. And because He loves me, He delivers me from the very depths of affliction, oppression, conflicts of the enemy. Get this in your spirit today. He loves you and He has deliverance on His mind for you, the best of the best for you. He wants you to live victoriously in the freedom He has provided for you. Let’s all of us purpose to live in the fullness of what He has provided for us in this life.
posted by Rev. Kialeen Potterton @ 6:26 AM
<< Home