Christian Living

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Each one of us has a place where we call home. That is a place where we dwell or live. It could be a rented house, or a home you have built yourself. As long as you are living in that place, you call it your home until you decide to move to a different location. Now, in that home all of us ensure that we maintain cleanliness always and do not allow dirt to dominate the house. As a matter of fact all of us want a clean environment where we feel the warmth breeze of fresh air and not a dirty home full of stench.

Now, God is more concerned with our hearts. Our hearts ought to have a fitting environment where our God will dwell. In my early years of school, I recall one of my classmates who asked, “Where does God live”? The teacher answered and said, in heaven. “Where is heaven”? my classmate asked again. Since we were young and naïve we could not understand where heaven was. I know we all understand the abode of God and the angels is heaven. Heaven can as well be described as a place of complete bliss, delight and peace.

Oh, that the Lord would make our hearts a home where He resides! Now, for God to live in our hearts we must ensure that our hearts are right with Him. How will this happen? Let’s look closely in Romans 10:9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. It is important to know that the moment we get saved, the Lord cleanses us from all sin.

Just as King David said in Psalm 51:7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. What it means here is that the blood of Christ is applied to our souls by a lively faith, just as the water of purification was sprinkled with a bunch of hyssop. The blood of Christ is called the blood of sprinkling according to Hebrews 12:24, And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.

If this blood of Christ, which cleanses from all sin, cleanse us from our sin, then we shall be clean indeed. It is at this point that the believer desires renewal to holiness as much as the joy of salvation.
King David now saw more than ever, what an unclean heart he had, and sadly laments it; but he sees it is not in his own power to amend it, and therefore begs God would create in him a clean heart. When the sinner feels this change is necessary, and reads the promise of God to that purpose, he begins to ask it. David knew he had by his sin grieved the Holy Spirit, and provoked him to withdraw. This he dreads more than anything. He prays that Divine comforts may be restored to him. When we give ourselves cause to doubt our interest in salvation, how can we expect the joy of it?

Those to whom God is the God of salvation, He will deliver from guilt; for the salvation he is the God of, is salvation from sin. We may therefore plead with Him, Lord, thou art the God of my salvation, therefore deliver me from the dominion of sin. And when the lips are opened, what should they speak but the praises of God for His forgiving mercy?

Isn’t that how we need to ask God for His forgiveness? When we do so, He forgives us. David goes ahead to say, Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.(Psalm 51:10). I believe that God wants to work through us to bring about a great spiritual awakening. His desire is to live in us, work through us and declare His wondrous works among the people. My prayer has always been: make my heart your home oh Lord. I know sometimes I mess Lord, but Father, forgive me. I am not perfect but I pray you perfect me. I know Dear God that all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; but I thank you for forgiving my sins and now I am justified freely by your grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Romans 3:25-26 says, Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.

Brothers and sisters, it is high time we allow the Lord to dwell in our hearts. If there is anything in our hearts that hinders God from walking with us, then it is time we examine ourselves. Romans 6:23 says, For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Maybe there is someone we hold a grudge against. It could be someone who wronged us and have not forgiven them. Anyone you hate? You do not love? Are there any misunderstandings that you are unwilling to forget? Is there any person against whom you are harboring bitterness, resentment, or jealousy? Anyone you dislike to hear praised or well spoken of? Do you allow anything to justify a wrong attitude toward another? Well, God speaks clearly to us in Matthew 6:14-15 For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

Finally, Do all things without murmurings and disputings: That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world; Holding forth the word of life; that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither laboured in vain. (Philippians 2:14-16)

Justus Ondieki
http://thegoodnewsmagazine.blogspot.com

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