Let us all come forward and draw near with true (honest and sincere) hearts in unqualified assurance and absolute conviction engendered by faith (by that leaning of the entire human personality on God in absolute trust and confidence in His power, wisdom, and goodness), having our hearts sprinkled and purified from a guilty (evil) conscience and our bodies cleansed with pure water. (Hebrews 10:22 Amp.)
There is no doubt that by the time the Lord saved me my heart had become well corrupted. When I was a new Christian, Satan used to attempt to induce spiritual whiplash with his accurate accusations about my thoughts and deeds. He seeded doubt in me by his relentless accusation -- You are a fraudulent Christian! In those early days, I often agreed. I allowed the devil to disrupt the work of the Lord by simply listening to him instead of listening to Jesus. It took a while as a new believer to sort that out. I eventually conquered his lies by responding to him with scripture. I'm convinced that drives him crazy. Satan hates the Word.
Today's verse cites the power to transform a corrupt heart -- true (honest and sincere) hearts in unqualified assurance and absolute conviction engendered by faith (by that leaning of the entire human personality on God in absolute trust and confidence in His power, wisdom, and goodness. Faith transforms and transcends human corruption of the heart.
David Guzik comments on the original audience for this verse, Hebrews who had found salvation in Christ, but were being drawn back by their peers to the traditions of their fathers -- The encouragement to draw near wouldn’t be given unless it was necessary. These discouraged Christians had a problem in drawing near. This was their real problem: they lost their intimate relationship with Jesus, and nothing else is going right. They may have thought that they had many, many problems - persecution, difficult relationships, hard times with culture or economy. But the real problem was their relationship with God wasn’t on track. They didn’t draw near to God on the basis of what Jesus had done.
Are you in a tough time? Many people have gone through worse times and have had a better attitude, and more joy, than you do now. What is the difference? They knew how to draw near! Just as importantly, they are reminded that they will never regain that intimacy coming through the institutions of the Old Covenant.
Transformation doesn't come from human desire to change. It comes from intimacy with the Lord Jesus through personal intimacy in prayer and intellectual intimacy through sowing His Word in our minds and hearts. Hearts corrupted by ordinary human life on planet earth can be transformed to hearts on fire for Jesus. There is still a part of me that mourns the loss of innocence, so I ask the Lord daily in prayer to restore that innocence to me. While that will never completely happen, I now know this. I walk out my days with a heart on fire for Jesus, enflamed by simple faith. (His work, not mine)
Thank you Lord.
Copyright 2013 Mission of the Master Ministries, Inc. May be quoted in whole or in part without prior written permission if a link is provided to http://wordworkswednesday.blogspot.com
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