– Purified Hearts
BRD REFLECTIONS:
Numbers 18, 19 and Psalm 106:24-48 (NIV)
(Ade Olopad, Core Team Member, SGM)
READ:
Verses which stood out for me:
Psalm 106:43 – “Many times he delivered them, but they were rebellious in their purposes and were brought low through their iniquity.”
Numbers 18:5 – And shall keep guard over the sanctuary and over the altar, that there may never again be wrath on the people of Israel.
Numbers 19:20 – “If the man who is unclean does not cleanse himself, that person shall be cut off from the midst of the assembly since he has defiled the sanctuary. Because the water for impurity has not been thrown on him, he is unclean”.
OBSERVE:
I reflect on the multiple and countless occasions when God delivered me from the errors of my ways. For example, where I have yoked myself to the idols of materialism. There were moments of deliverance and opportunities for transformation but honestly, they were lost on me because of the hardness of my heart and the void of emptiness. I felt His Spirit was no longer present. My heart was hardened because I gave allowance for sin in my life (Psalm 106:43)!
It is evident that there is an innate personal responsibility to “lay aside every weight, and sin which so easily besets me” because it defiles me, a living sanctuary (Numbers 19:20) where God’s Spirit dwells.
APPLY:
I am called to purity and instructed to “keep guard over the sanctuary and over the altar” of my heart, the thoughts of my mind, and the actions of my hands (Numbers 18:5). Clean hands and a pure heart that does not trust in idols or swear by a false god (Psalm 24:4) are the necessary ingredients for me to truly worship God and be on fire for Him .
I will keep guard over the “sanctuary” (my body) and over the “altar” (my heart), and not allow for defilement.
DO:
I will cleanse my heart daily by dedicating time to reading His Word, meditating, confessing and praying. I need to intentionally set aside time to meditate on what I have read in His Word and journaled in my notes. Meditating on the Word is a way to hide God’s Word daily in my heart. “Thy Word have I hid in mine heart that I might not sin against thee…as much as in all riches. I will meditate on Thy precepts” (Psalm 119:11-16).
PRAY:
Dear Lord, I thank you for the grace of the Cross and your Word. Through your death, I find an opportunity to lay before you my unclean heart. Father, I pray this day that you purify my heart and cleanse it from all unrighteousness. Help restore the joy of your salvation, and renew a steadfast spirit within me, so that I may cast aside every sin that easily besets me, and embrace your Cross this day. In Jesus’ Name I pray. Amen.
