Clean

I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.                   Ezek. 36.25.27

This is God’s undertaking to His recalcitrant people, Israel. It is also the promise that the believer can take hold of in receiving Jesus as Saviour and accepting Him as Lord.

God can do the impossible. What is simply too much in human eyes is clearly possible with God.

I take hold of the first phrase of this text. I see myself being sprinkled with clean water. The image, right now, is quite strong. I see myself in my sinful state. My appearance is grubby, I am tarnished. But God looks down on me from His heavenly oversight. His expression is forgiving, and willing – oh so willing! Yes, that’s it! He wants me to be clean. He Himself will undertake my cleansing.

And isn’t this the story of Easter? God wants us all to be clean. The agent of cleansing is the sacrificial blood of Jesus, which overcame sin.

Now the picture changes for me. I see myself kneeling beneath the cross of my Saviour. I am being “sprinkled”, but it is with the blood of Jesus and not with clean water. And the result is incredible. My sins and grubbiness simply vanish. They are gone the moment His blood touches me.

O, precious, precious Jesus,

Thank You for the amazing gift of life You have given me. In You I am clean. My sin is gone. I am no longer tarnished but, rather, I am released in amazing cleanness, and filled with love, grace, mercy and blessing.

I ask You to take the clean me forward. Enable and allow me to be Your witness today. May I be a true and effective witness. Let me show people, clearly, the wonder of cleansing and cleanness that comes from You.

Hallelujah! I praise Your wonderful name.                                                                         Amen.

Like clay

Then the word of the LORD came to me: “O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter does?” declares the LORD. “Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel.”                                    Jer. 18.5, 6

This passage is so easily made personal when I replace ‘house of Israel’ with my own name. As I do so, I can hear God speak to me. His words are not overly authoritative, as they might easily be. Rather, what I hear is an invitation. It is as if God is saying,

“Let me have my way with you, Place yourself willingly in my hands as the clay is before the potter. Relax, rest in me, and allow me to form and shape you to be the vessel that I want for you. I have this most wonderful shape for you. No, indeed, it is the perfect shape. What is more, and I really want you to take note of this, most of the forming and shaping has already taken place. Reflect upon your journey with me, and consider the many wonderful changes I have already wrought in you. Now, continue to give yourself, and of yourself. And be patient, the major process is almost complete. Trust me!”

Lord God,

I rejoice in Your words to me and Your presence with me. I thank You deeply for all the work You have already effected in me. It is indeed wonderful and powerful, I well know this.

I willingly surrender to Your further forming and shaping of me. I give myself afresh into Your hands. I desire to be only the vessel that You want me to be. Please don’t stop until You have made me just as You want me to be.

And whilst this is happening I ask You to draw me closer to You. Lead me, please, into such a life that I will be constantly resting in You and living in You. I hunger for You. I feel this craving deep inside me that will only be satisfied by a life lived fully in You. Take me, Lord, and make me Yours. I pray this in Jesus’ Name.                                                                   Amen.

God’s people

Then they will follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. They will be my people, and I will be their God.                                Ezek. 11.20

God declares His heart in this verse. He speaks forth His desire: that His people follow His decrees and keep His laws. As they do this they are affirming themselves as God’s people. He declares himself to be their God. This is such a positive statement.

God’s decrees and laws were simply stated by Jesus when He gave us two commands – to love God with all of our being, and to love our neighbour as ourselves. I really want to do this.

I don’t know that I ever feel satisfied about where I am in my journey of faith, but I continue to look to God. I live to trust Him, asking him to grow my trust, to bring me closer to Him, enabling me to give my whole being to Him in love and wonder. I want to love my neighbour in the greatest measure. God can help me with this.

Is it sufficient that I want these things? I don’t know! What I do know is that I most certainly want to embrace God with all of my being and I want to love my neighbour with the fullness of Godly love.

Lord God,

Again I come to You in humility, adoration, and also hot pursuit.

I declare my desire to follow Your decrees and to keep Your laws. I seek You to fill every part of my being.

I want to love You with all of me, and I want to love my neighbours equally as I would want to be loved. I wish to fill them with all of Your love that I know.

What shall I do? What do You require of me? I ask You to show me. Open the way before me and lead me clearly in it. My request is consistent. I want to go only Your way. I want to know You more and more. I want to share You with others.

Lead me, please, in all of this,

                                                in Jesus’ Name I pray

                                                                                    Amen.

The LORD Almighty

For I am the LORD your God,
who churns up the sea so that its waves roar –
the LORD Almighty is his name.                                                                                         

I have put my words in your mouth
and covered you with the shadow of my hand –
I who set the heavens in place,
 who laid the foundations of the earth,
and who say to Zion, “You are my people.”                            Isaiah 51.15, 16

This is our God. He is all-powerful. He placed the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth. Can I grasp the full significance of this? He is mighty. There’s no two ways about it.

He is everything. He can churn up the sea such that it roars in unabated fury. Ha can also bring a calmness that looks unbelievable on still waters. His power is absolute. His being is sovereign. This is our God.

But He is also Lord to those who truly follow him. He will take control of our lives as we surrender. He will strengthen, guide – and love us. He will say to us, “You are my people.”

He is so gently loving that He will place His words into my mouth. He covers me with the shadow of His hand. I am protected. I am safe.

Oh, how great is this God, and how loving this Lord.

Dear God and Lord,

I humble myself before You in grateful thanks for Your care of me. You are all mighty. Oh, I praise your name. I lift up Your name to the highest heavens in praise and adoration. I exalt You. I receive You in the fullness of Your love.

I cannot work out why You should love me. You, who have the stars, sun and moon, and all of the created order at Your behest, choose to love me. You are with me. I know this and I rejoice. I need not fear. I do not need to hold my breath lest You disappear, for I have your word that You will not leave or forsake me – ever. I believe You, and I trust You.

Holy Father, lead me forward into this day. I only want to go Your way. May we enjoy each other as we go, in Jesus’ Name I ask.                                                                                  Amen.

Train yourself

Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives tales; rather, train yourself to be godly.                                                      1  Tim. 4.7

What catches my attention in this verse is the brief, but arresting, phrase train yourself to be godly. It would be easy to say, “I’ll rest in God. I’ll just focus on Him and everything will be fine.” I do not deny the power that God can work as we rest in Him and I certainly look to live fully in His rest and enabling. But I am also aware that I have a further part to play. Self-discipline will assist me to train myself to be godly.         

Earlier, in 1 Timothy 2.2, Paul talks about us living peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. The NIV Study Bible (p. 1837) suggests this implies a good and holy life, with special emphasis on its source, a deep reverence for God. I can choose to follow this way. It requires a decision and some action from me.

I am reminded of the time when Jesus was tempted by Satan in the wilderness. Matthew and Luke both have longer accounts of this than Mark does. But, even then, the narrative is basically the bald dialogue between Jesus and Satan. We know nothing of Jesus’ thought process which, I suggest, may have been quite significant. If, as its name implies, this was a real temptation by Satan, then we can suppose that Jesus was really tempted. That is, He may well have considered Satan’s suggestions seriously and even got close to accepting. But then His self-discipline would have come into play. I think a certain tussle went on in Jesus’ mind before He countered Satan with God’s response. His struggle is certainly not likely to be of the same magnitude as I might face, yet I believe He had to wrestle with Satan and break through with a godly answer.

This supposition (for it is nothing more really) encourages me. I can be heartened and strengthened by my Saviour’s fight against the forces of evil. He exhorts me to follow Him. He clearly shows me the way. His whole life was spent in deep reverence for God and obedience to Him. May I truly follow Him!

Lord God,

I am a sinner and I know this full well. But I am a sinner who has been saved by the blood of Jesus. He has rescued me and restored me into relationship with the Father.

He encourages me to follow Him. I want to do this. I wish to be as like Him as is possible for a sinful mortal to be. I commit to the practice of self-discipline, to develop in me a deep and abiding reverence for You. I seek to live a good and holy life. Let me glean all I can from the wonderful example of the life of Jesus. I aim to apply His example to my own living. I seek Your assistance in this. I pray for greater insight into His words and His ways and I ask for Your Holy Spirit to guide me into all truth and godly living. I ask these things in Jesus’ Name.

                                                                                                                                           Amen.