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WATCHWORD:

Psalm 51:6-15

We are repeatedly instructed to meditate on God’s Word day and night (Psalm 1:1), and throughout the Bible there are choice passages that lend themselves to reverent times of prayer and meditation. Sometimes the passage leads us deep into worship and prayer, sometimes it opens our hearts to understand the enormity of God’s graces and produces in us a strong sense of gratitude and love for the Almighty. Sometimes the passage simply calms us, and cause the difficulties of our lives to fade into the background of a life of loyalty to the Creator.

There are times in our lives as mortals, when the noise of those difficulties overwhelms us and we struggle until the whispers of the Holy Spirit within gets our attention and we return to the everlasting arms of the Great I AM with the plea to Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.

Psalm 51 is one of those passages that can touch us in so many different ways. Three versions of this passage are offered here. Read each version and consider that you are David, offering up our life and soul in the acknowledgment that we are sinners in ways that we may not even understand. God Bless your journeys this morning. Amen.

King James Version:

⁶ Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom. ⁷ Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

⁸ Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice. ⁹ Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities.

¹⁰ Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.

¹¹ Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me.

¹² Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit.

¹³ Then will I teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto thee.

¹⁴ Deliver me from blood-guiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation: and my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness. ¹⁵ O Lord, open thou my lips; and my mouth shall shew forth thy praise. Psalm 51:6-15

The Living Bible:

⁶ You deserve honesty from the heart; yes, utter sincerity and truthfulness. Oh, give me this wisdom.

⁷ Sprinkle me with the cleansing blood and I shall be clean again. Wash me and I shall be whiter than snow.

⁸ And after you have punished me, give me back my joy again. ⁹ Don’t keep looking at my sins—erase them from your sight.

¹⁰ Create in me a new, clean heart, O God, filled with clean thoughts and right desires. ¹¹ Don’t toss me aside, banished forever from your presence. Don’t take your Holy Spirit from me.

¹² Restore to me again the joy of your salvation, and make me willing to obey you.

¹³ Then I will teach your ways to other sinners, and they—guilty like me—will repent and return to you.

^14-15 Don’t sentence me to death. O my God, you alone can rescue me. Then I will sing of your forgiveness, for my lips will be unsealed—oh, how I will praise you.  Psalm 51:6-15

Praying the Voice Version of Psalm 51:

Heavenly Father, You long to enthrone truth throughout my being; in unseen places deep within me, You show me wisdom. Cleanse me of my wickedness with hyssop, and I will be clean. If You wash me, I will be whiter than snow.

Help me hear joy and happiness as my accompaniment, so my bones, which You have broken, will dance in delight instead.

Cover Your face so You will not see my sins, and erase my guilt from the record. Create in me a clean heart, O God; restore within me a sense of being brand new.

Do not throw me far away from Your presence, and do not remove Your Holy Spirit from me.
Give back to me the deep delight of being saved by You; let Your willing Spirit sustain me. If You do, I promise to teach rebels Your ways and help sinners find their way back to You.

Free me from the guilt of my most lamentable sins, the shedding of trust and my betraying of solemn promises given. O God who saves me.

Now my tongue, which was used to destroy, will be used to sing with deep delight of how right and just You are. O Lord, pry open my lips that this mouth will sing joyfully of Your greatness. These words, this prayer, O Lord, I offer in the name of Jesus, my Savior and Lord.  Amen.

WATCHWORD:

Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. John 14:6

Your Word is a lamp to my feet, And a light for my path. Psalm 119:105 Continue reading

WATCHWORD:

²⁹ Don’t use bad language. Say only what is good and helpful to those you are talking to, and what will give them a blessing. ³⁰ Don’t cause the Holy Spirit sorrow by the way you live. Remember, he is the one who marks you to be present on that day when salvation from sin will be complete. ³¹ Stop being mean, bad-tempered, and angry. Quarreling, harsh words, and dislike of others should have no place in your lives. ³² Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God has forgiven you because you belong to Christ. Ephesians 4:29-32

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WATCHWORD:

¹¹ And he said, Go, forth, and stand upon the mount before the Lord. And, behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake: ¹² And after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice. ¹³ And it was so, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out, and stood in the entering in of the cave. And, behold, there came a voice unto him, and said, What doest thou here, Elijah? 1 Kings 19:11-13

¹It is God himself, in his mercy, who has given us this wonderful work of telling his Good News to others, and so we never give up. ² We do not try to trick people into believing—we are not interested in fooling anyone. We never try to get anyone to believe that the Bible teaches what it doesn’t. All such shameful methods we forego. We stand in the presence of God as we speak and so we tell the truth, as all who know us will agree. ³ If the Good News we preach is hidden to anyone, it is hidden from the one who is on the road to eternal death. ⁴ Satan, who is the god of this evil world, has made him blind, unable to see the glorious light of the Gospel that is shining upon him or to understand the amazing message we preach about the glory of Christ, who is God. 2 Corinthians 4:1-4  Continue reading

WATCHWORD:

^16-17 Because of this decision we don’t evaluate people by what they have or how they look. We looked at the Messiah that way once and got it all wrong, as you know. We certainly don’t look at him that way anymore. Now we look inside, and what we see is that anyone united with the Messiah gets a fresh start, is created new. The old life is gone; a new life emerges! Look at it! 2 Corinthians 5:16-17 The Message

¹⁶ So stop evaluating Christians by what the world thinks about them or by what they seem to be like on the outside. Once I mistakenly thought of Christ that way, merely as a human being like myself. How differently I feel now! ¹⁷ When someone becomes a Christian, he becomes a brand new person inside. He is not the same anymore. A new life has begun!  2 Corinthians 5:16-17 The Living Bible

 ¹⁶ From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. ¹⁷ Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. 2 Corinthians 5:16-17 English Standard Version Continue reading

WATCHWORD:

²³ Then he got into a boat and started across the lake with his disciples. ²⁴ Suddenly a terrible storm came up, with waves higher than the boat. But Jesus was asleep. ²⁵ The disciples went to him and wakened him, shouting, “Lord, save us! We’re sinking!” ²⁶ But Jesus answered, “O ye of little faith! Why are you so frightened?” Then he stood up and rebuked the wind and waves, and the storm subsided and all was calm. Matthew 8:23-26

³⁵ As evening fell, Jesus said to his disciples, “Let’s cross to the other side of the lake.” ³⁶ So they took him just as he was and started out, leaving the crowds behind (though other boats followed). ³⁷ But soon a terrible storm arose. High waves began to break into the boat until it was nearly full of water and about to sink. ³⁸ Jesus was asleep at the back of the boat with his head on a cushion. Frantically they wakened him, shouting, “Teacher, don’t you even care that we are all about to drown?” ³⁹ Then he rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Quiet down!” And the wind fell, and there was a great calm! ⁴⁰ And he asked them, “Why were you so fearful? Don’t you even yet have confidence in me?”  ⁴¹ And they were filled with awe and said among themselves, “Who is this man, that even the winds and seas obey him?”  Mark 4:35-41 Continue reading

WATCHWORD:

²⁴ For Christ has entered into heaven itself to appear now before God as our Friend. It was not in the earthly place of worship that he did this, for that was merely a copy of the real temple in heaven. ²⁵ Nor has he offered himself again and again, as the high priest down here on earth offers animal blood in the Holy of Holies each year. ²⁶ If that had been necessary, then he would have had to die again and again, ever since the world began. But no! He came once for all, at the end of the age, to put away the power of sin forever by dying for us. ²⁷ And just as it is destined that men die only once, and after that comes judgment, ²⁸ so also Christ died only once as an offering for the sins of many people; and he will come again, but not to deal again with our sins.  Hebrews 9:24-28

Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven. Matthew 18:21-22 Continue reading

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¹⁷ “Don’t misunderstand why I have come—it isn’t to cancel the laws of Moses and the warnings of the prophets. No, I came to fulfill them and to make them all come true. ¹⁸ With all the earnestness I have I say: Every law in the Book will continue until its purpose is achieved. ¹⁹ And so if anyone breaks the least commandment and teaches others to, he shall be the least in the Kingdom of Heaven. But those who teach God’s laws and obey them shall be great in the Kingdom of Heaven. Matthew 5:17-19

¹⁸ But evil words come from an evil heart and defile the man who says them. ¹⁹ For from the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, lying, and slander. ²⁰ These are what defile; but there is no spiritual defilement from eating without first going through the ritual of ceremonial handwashing! Matthew 15:18-20

Let me ask you this one question: Did you receive the Holy Spirit by trying to keep the Jewish laws? Of course not, for the Holy Spirit came upon you only after you heard about Christ and trusted him to save you. Galatians 3:2 Continue reading

WATCHWORD:

^1-2 After dark one night a Jewish religious leader named Nicodemus, a member of the sect of the Pharisees, came for an interview with Jesus. “Sir,” he said, “we all know that God has sent you to teach us. Your miracles are proof enough of this.” ³ Jesus replied, “With all the earnestness I possess I tell you this: Unless you are born again, you can never get into the Kingdom of God.” ⁴ “Born again!” exclaimed Nicodemus. “What do you mean? How can an old man go back into his mother’s womb and be born again?” ⁵ Jesus replied, “What I am telling you so earnestly is this: Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the Kingdom of God. ⁶ Men can only reproduce human life, but the Holy Spirit gives new life from heaven; ⁷ so don’t be surprised at my statement that you must be born again! John 6:1-7 Continue reading

WATCHWORD:

¹Well then, shall we keep on sinning so that God can keep on showing us more and more kindness and forgiveness? ^2-3 Of course not! Should we keep on sinning when we don’t have to? For sin’s power over us was broken when we became Christians and were baptized to become a part of Jesus Christ; through his death the power of your sinful nature was shattered. ⁴ Your old sin-loving nature was buried with him by baptism when he died; and when God the Father, with glorious power, brought him back to life again, you were given his wonderful new life to enjoy. Romans 6:1-4

^1-2 After dark one night a Jewish religious leader named Nicodemus, a member of the sect of the Pharisees, came for an interview with Jesus. “Sir,” he said, “we all know that God has sent you to teach us. Your miracles are proof enough of this.” ³ Jesus replied, “With all the earnestness I possess I tell you this: Unless you are born again, you can never get into the Kingdom of God.” ⁴ “Born again!” exclaimed Nicodemus. “What do you mean? How can an old man go back into his mother’s womb and be born again?” ⁵ Jesus replied, “What I am telling you so earnestly is this: Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the Kingdom of God. ⁶ Men can only reproduce human life, but the Holy Spirit gives new life from heaven; ⁷ so don’t be surprised at my statement that you must be born again! John 6:1-7 Continue reading

WATCHWORD:

⁷ “The Father sets those dates,” he replied, “and they are not for you to know. ⁸ But when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, you will receive power to testify about me with great effect, to the people in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth, about my death and resurrection.” Acts 1:7-8

 ¹³ Next I saw the arrival of a Man—or so he seemed to be—brought there on clouds from heaven; he approached the Ancient of Days and was presented to him. ¹⁴ He was given the ruling power and glory over all the nations of the world, so that all people of every language must obey him. His power is eternal—it will never end; his government shall never fall. Daniel 7:13-14

 ²⁴ “After the tribulation ends, then the sun will grow dim and the moon will not shine, ²⁵ and the stars will fall—the heavens will convulse. ²⁶ “Then all mankind will see me, the Messiah, coming in the clouds with great power and glory. ²⁷ And I will send out the angels to gather together my chosen ones from all over the world—from the farthest bounds of earth and heaven. Mark 13:24-27 Continue reading