A PURE HEART GUARANTEES ACCESS TO GOD!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

FRIDAY JUNE 09, 2023.

SUBJECT : A PURE HEART GUARANTEES ACCESS TO GOD!

Memory verse: "Blessed are the pure in heart, For they shall see God." (Matthew 5 vs 8.)

READ: Psalm 24 vs 3 - 4:

24:3: Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord? Or who may stand in His holy place? 

24:4: He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who has not lifted up his soul to an idol, nor sworn deceitfully.

INTIMATION:

A pure heart is the foundation for prayers that command answers from heaven. Preparing your heart in purity is the first step to establishing a viable communication link with God, because prayer can only flow when sin is absent. It takes a pure heart and pure hands to approach the presence of God. 

Whatever pollutes or corrupts your heart blocks your access to heaven's hotline. The psalmist says in Psalm 66 vs 18, "If I regard iniquity in my heart, The Lord will not hear." Since the purity of your heart is the determining factor in receiving answers to prayers, your heart must be adequately prepared to ensure that your exercise in prayers does not end in futility. 

Our communication with God has its root in the heart. This is because the heart is the abode of the spirits—the spirit of man (the inward man), and the Spirit of God (Holy Spirit). The communion of the spirits is in the heart; the Holy Spirit communes with our inward man, and through this communion the heart intent, the real you is revealed to God. 

The heart is the altar upon which the sacrifices of praise and the incense of prayers are offered. The Bible says in First Samuel 16 vs 7, "....For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks on the the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart." Therefore, your heart must be adequately prepared, and consecrated to God for Him to hear you. 

It is not what you do or say outwardly that guarantees a release from heaven, but what goes on in your heart. In fact, what becomes of you ultimately in the kingdom is a function of what goes on in your heart. When your heart is upright, the words that your lips utter are pure knowledge (Job 33 vs 3), and acceptable to God.

God rates you by what He sees in your heart. That means, there is no outstanding answer to prayers without first an outstanding preparation in the heart. God does not reckon with the outward appearance, neither is He moved by physical efforts; what moves Him is your heart. Therefore, your heart must be set for an encounter with Him when you pray. 

In First Samuel 1 vs 13, the Bible says, "Now Hannah, she spoke in her heart; only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard: therefore Eli thought she had been drunken." She spoke in her heart, but God heard her. Her real self was known to God who saw her pure heart and sincere supplication, and He granted her petition.

Each time the children of Israel sought an encounter with God, they always made a sin offering (Leviticus 9 vs 3 - 4). The sin offering covers their sin and purifies their hearts. For instance, before Elijah's mount Carmel victory, the first thing he did was to repair the broken down altar, which in the New Testament order represents the heart (First Kings 18 vs 30). If anything has tampered with God's altar in your life, then get set to repair it; because until that is done, communication in prayer with Him cannot be established.

In the New Testament order, the sin offering represents the renewing of your covenant position through consecration of your heart to God. With this in place you can't miss Him. Every blessing in Scriptures is reserved for the righteous and that includes the blessing of answered prayers.

Sin is a barrier to prayers. It offends our Holy God and separates us from Him. Because God is holy, He cannot ignore, excuse, or tolerate sin as though it didn't matter. You can't embrace sin and expect God to embrace you. Therefore, only the pure in heart should expect to see God in their affairs. If God must hear you, you must first hear Him.

Prayer: Abba Father, You are Holy, and Your eyes do not behold iniquity. Only those with a pure can approach You. O Lord, create in me a clean heart, and renew a right spirit within me, that I may be worthy of receiving from You that which You reserves for the righteous, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!