Today, let’s spend time praying through Psalm 51.
1 Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your unfailing love;
according to your great compassion
blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash away all my iniquity
and cleanse me from my sin.
Ask God to search your heart and show you what to confess before Him. Did you lose your temper with a loved one? Have you let bitterness seep into your heart? Does an addiction have a grasp on you – shopping, food, gaming, social media, pornography, alcohol or other substance? Confess it to God, praying Psalm 51:1-2.
10 Create in me a pure heart, O God,
and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
In what area do you feel like you don’t have a “pure heart”? Where do you need His help to create a “steadfast spirit”? Is it in the same area where you need to have a “pure heart”? Only God can purify us. Only God can strengthen us and renew our spirit. Ask Him to forgive your sins, to cleanse your heart, and to give you “a steadfast spirit.”
12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation
and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.
Sometimes we become complacent in our sin, and a barrier builds up between us and God. Maybe that’s where you’re at now, and you don’t feel joyful in your salvation. James 4:17 (NLT) says, “Remember, it is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it.” Is there something that you know God wants you to do, but you’re reluctant to take that step of faith? Psalm 51:12 in the New Living Translation is a great verse to memorize, meditate on and ask God to make it the cry of your heart. “Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and make me willing to obey you.”
17 My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart
you, God, will not despise.
Do you want to have a heart after God, like David did? Daily ask God to examine your heart. Is it self-centered, prideful, hanging onto sin? Or is it contrite and humble, sensitive to the Holy Spirit? Then confess and remember that Psalm 103:12 says, “as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.”
Trust in the knowledge that if you confess with a broken and contrite heart, He forgives you. You don’t need to beat yourself up over and over again. He loves you, forgives you, and wants to be in an authentic relationship with you. Your Creator and Heavenly Father is for you. Come to Him as a humble child. He is waiting for you.
Cyndie de Neve
Creative Senior Director