Cleanse Me of Guilt

"In your great compassion, blot out my sin. Wash me thoroughly of my guilt; cleanse me of evil. For I acknowledge my wrongdoings and have my sins ever in mind." - Psalm 51:3-5

Have you ever caused someone pain and the fault is entirely yours? It's one of the worst feelings ever. It really eats away at you and you wonder how you could ever make it better. This is a tough situation and if you're lucky, the person will forgive you, but how can you forgive yourself? King David sinned greatly against God when he committed adultery and had the woman's husband killed. When his eyes were open to what he had done, in his remorse, he wrote this psalm. This is what we need sometimes, right? For God to help us forgive ourselves, for God to just come in and completely cleanse us of the pain, the shame, and the self-hate. No matter what you've done, God wants to help you forgive yourself. With a truly repented heart, David went to God, bowed down before Him because he knew God was the only one who could help. Trust in God like David trusted in God. Ask God to cleanse you… ask God to create a new heart in you like He did for David. We are called to repentance, but God doesn't want us to punish ourselves by holding on to guilt.

Today's Prayer:
My Jesus, search my heart and see that I am repented. I know I have sinned and the weight of that sin is pressing down too heavily upon my heart. Please help me release it. As You did for David, create in me a new heart and I will be white as snow. In Your Name we pray, amen.

The Prodigal Son

"He was still a long way off when his father caught sight of him. His father was so deeply moved with compassion that he ran out to meet him, threw his arms around his neck and kissed him." - Luke 15:20

This is a story we all know really well, the story of the prodigal son. I wanted to focus on this verse in the story because it's what stands out the most to me. After squandering all of his money on filth, the son recognized that his father always treated his servants well, and if he was going to be a servant, he should go back and work for his father. I love how this verse describes the reaction of the father upon seeing his son return. The father didn't need an apology, he didn't have the need to lecture the son and say 'I told you so,' or hold any grudge against him. From the moment he saw his boy from afar, he was prepared to give him the best he had to welcome him, no matter how selfish the son was in the past. This is the love of our Father in Heaven.

During the season of Lent, we focus a lot on sacrifices and repentance, but God is so good that after a few weeks, the teachings in the daily readings start reflecting the goodness, forgiveness, and mercy of God! God wants to forgive us. He doesn't even need to hear the apology to welcome us back to Him with open arms! Like the son in the story, you could have wasted all of your life with horrible sins but the moment you turn your eyes to Heaven, God wants to be there for you! Seek His forgiveness today! Let yourself be welcomed into His loving arms.

Today's Prayer:
Lord God, thank You for Your love and mercy. Thank You for being better than my evil. Please cleanse me of all my sins so that I can be worthy of You. In Your Name we pray, amen.

A Contrite Heart

"Draw close to God and He will come close to you. Clean your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you doubters." - James 5:8

We all want to draw close to God and be better people. The great thing about our God is that the second we seek Him, He draws closer to us. I've heard people that claim to try to look for God with no success but that's hard for me to believe. It's a fact that God let's Himself be found by those who seek Him but there is always one condition - as James puts it here - clean your hands, purify your hearts. When you look for God it's because you know that things in you need change and you know that only He can help you, therefore, when approaching God, it must be with an attitude of repentance and a willingness to give up your former way of living/ thinking/ being and let God guide you. It's the only way. How else can you become a better person and see more good things come your way in life if you don't first acknowledge that God needs to shift some things around? Once you are open to this, you will see God come into your life in an undeniable way.

Today's Prayer:
Lord God, I want to be closer to You but I know that my heart needs to be humbled. Search me and bring to light things that I need to change, things that are standing in Your way. Come close to me Lord, for I just want to be close to You. In Your Name we pray, amen.

Sins You're Not Sorry For...yet

"Jesus also said to all the people, 'If you wish be a follower of mine, deny yourself and take up your cross each day, and follow me. For if you choose to save your life, you will lose it, and if you lose your life for my sake, you will save it.'" - Luke 9:23-24

I think it's obvious that I wish to follow Christ and if you're reading this, you do as well. There really are so many things we need to work on in order to imitate Him and so many things we need to repent of, but how about those things we know are wrong, things we know God doesn't like, but we're not ready to let go of? I know God loves a repented heart and as long as I'm sorry for what I've done, He forgives me and makes me pure. There are things, though, that I know He doesn't like, but I'm not sure I feel sorry for them. It's one thing to sin without realizing it and another to know something is wrong and still do it. I think this is one of the hardest things for me and a big obstacle on my road to Him. If I'm not sorry for these things, then I'm choosing to save my mortal life and I lose my eternal life, which is my true life. There are just so many things and so many circumstances that arise that make it so hard to be a Christian. Things of this world really do get in the way, but as I pray and think about it, I'm putting myself first and not God - and this is how I know I'm really wrong. If I don't put Him first, then I'm just not worthy of Him. There's just no compromising here; if I want to follow Him, I need to stick to my guns and walk on the right path. The answer should then be to keep on praying and trying to do what's right, although the repented heart isn't there yet, and God will do His part to help me get there.

Today's Prayer:
Lord, Your commandments are written on my heart but You know that there are things I struggle to give up. I want to make You first but there are things that I've put in the way of You. Please help me get to a point where Your will is my will and I feel the sorrow of sin as much as You do. In Your Name we pray, Amen.

Stealing Heaven

"Turning to Jesus, he said, 'Jesus remember me when you come into your kingdom.' Jesus replied, 'Truly, you will be with me today in paradise.'" - Luke 23:42-43

At the time of His crucifixion, Jesus was put between two criminals. One mocked Jesus telling Him to bring Himself down if He was really a prophet, while the other asked Jesus to remember him. I love this verse because it shows how loving and merciful God is. This criminal had to have done something really bad to deserve a death on the cross and he even told the other thief to leave Jesus alone because they did deserve their punishments, unlike Jesus. But this just goes to show that to God, it doesn't matter what you've done. You could be the worst person ever, but the second you repent from the heart, you become pure and win God's complete forgiveness. This thief was just about to die and if he hadn't repented, he would have gone to hell, but instead he recognized his own faults before Jesus and asked Him for help. Not only did he receive forgiveness because of this, but he also won an immediate entry into Heaven

In our lives we definitely do feel that our sins are without forgiveness at times. We think that we've done something so bad that we don't deserve to seek God or go to church, but the example of the thief proves us wrong. It does not matter what you've done. If you are truly sorry and repented from the heart, you win God's forgiveness and acceptance. Be thankful that the only One who can truly judge us is a much fairer judge than we are.

Today's Prayer:
Thank You Lord for being so loving and forgiving. Help me to see how easy it is to be Your friend and help me to never forget Your kindness. In Your Name we pray, Amen.

You Are Not Your Own

"Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, given by God? You belong no longer to yourselves." -1st Corinthians 6: 19-20

Sin has an ugly affect on our lives. It blinds us and makes us believe in our own lies and deceptions, giving way to our own perdition. It leads us to foolishly trust ourselves and lose sight of the fact that we belong to God and He is the ONLY source of strength.

I heard this song today called "There You Go Again," and I hope that you see yourself in these lyrics and are able to repent from sins that are suffocating you.

There you go again, stepping 'cross another line, scorning all the warning signs, flying in the face of danger. There you go again, slickly twisting truth around 'till you can't tell up from down, treating wisdom like a stranger. There you go again.

There you go again, you take temptation lying down, you're giving sin a breeding ground, buying into its seduction. There you go again, trusting your own will and power, you race a hundred miles an hour down the path of self-destruction.

Have you forgotten who you are? Have you forgotten where your strength comes from? Have you forgotten whose you are? You are not your own…you are not your own.

But there you go again, you hang up on the Spirit's call, ignore the writings on the wall, blindly minding your own senses. There you go again, bowing to your every whim, and tearing conscience limb from limb, you disable your defenses. There you go again, you insult grace and strut your stuff, you make believe you're strong enough to avoid the consequences. There you go again.

Today's Prayer is for you to sit and think about your own sins. You are not your own; ask God to root the sins out of your soul.

Make Straight The Paths of The Lord

"In the course of time John the Baptist appeared in the desert of Judea and began to proclaim his message, 'Change your ways, the kingdom of Heaven is near!' It was about him that the prophet Isaiah had spoken when he said, 'I hear a voice shouting in the desert: prepare a way for the Lord; make His paths straight.'" - Matthew 3:1-3

In order for God to bless you, you need to change your heart first. John the Baptist preached so that people can "prepare a way for the Lord," by making His paths straight. Examine yourselves, if you are doing wrong in your life, God cannot enter because He does not go through twisted paths. He is holy and demands our paths to be straightened before He can walk through them. In the same way, if you have your doubts, and are closed to the message of God, do not expect God to make His way to you. Jesus did not start to preach His message of life in abundance until John the Baptist asked people to repent of their sins and confess their wrong actions. He then baptized them as a way of reconnecting them to God, and it is then that Jesus begins His ministry. Likewise, Jesus will never reveal Himself to you and do the things you need until you have come to terms with your sins and straighten the path for God to work His wonders. Neither will He manifest Himself to you if you're the type of person that expects signs and miracles before you believe.

Remember, first a call to transform our hearts was placed and then, AFTER our paths were made straight, did the Lord Jesus begin His work. We must set our hearts straight if we want the Lord to come in.

Today's Prayer:
Lord Jesus, I know that You are too holy and just to live in the heart of an unrepented sinner. Give Your mercy unto me so that I am able to change my heart and You can dwell within me. In Your Name we pray, Amen.