Create In Me, O God

 “Create In Me, O God”

Psalm 51:10

NIV- Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.

NLT-Create in me a clean heart, O God.  Renew a loyal spirit within me.

 

Father God, create in me a pure and clean heart when I…..

Treat my wife and daughters in ways that do not honor You.

Say things to my wife and daughters that I really regret later.

Think things that are not appropriate and tempted to be immoral.

Say things and treat my co-workers in ways that are not Godly.

Say things about other people that do not glorify You.

Lose my temper and sometimes let words fly that I shouldn’t say.

Get upset in traffic and treat others in a very non Christ-like way.

Get so wrapped up in my own ways and neglect to love on my family as I should.

Get so focused on what I want that I forget to show Your love to others.

Become so self-centered that I forget to serve others and meet their needs.

 

Father, help renew a steadfast and loyal spirit within me when I want to give up and do life the easy way.  Father, I desperately need You to create in me a clean and pure heart so that I can stop focusing on the things of this world and my own selfishness and just totally focus on You.  Lord, as I heard this passage this morning in church, it reminded me how so much I need You to cleanse me from my sins and how I need to be renewed and restored.

Father, I need to be renewed with a steadfast and loyal spirit so that I may better serve You and completely surrender to You.  From this day on, I want to be more committed, no matter how challenging life becomes.  I want to show and lavish Your love in my home and encourage my wife and girls instead of hindering them as I so often do with my selfishness. 

Father, please create in me a very pure and clean heart and forgive me.  May others see You through me day in and day out. 

Amen.

Can't You See It?

 “Can’t You See It?”

Isaiah 43:19 NLT

For I am about to do something new.  See, I have already begun!  Do you not see it?  I will make a pathway through the wilderness.  I will create rivers in the dry wasteland.

Do you all remember those pictures from years ago where you had to adjust your eyes and focus on what was in the “dots”?  It was pretty challenging and I often couldn’t focus my eyes just right to see the picture within the frame.  You had to adjust your eyes just right and then the image would just form or pop out at you!  If you remember those, you either remember the joy of actually seeing what you couldn’t see before or you remember the absolute frustration of trying to adjust your eyes, but to no avail! 

Some things in life are naturally easy to see.  We have hundreds, if not thousands, of things we have all seen easily in our lives.  Some things are very easy to point out and can be seen by almost anyone.  Then there are some things that you might have to actually take the time to stop and look for in a different way.  Maybe something is seen better in a certain angle or in the light or dark. 

Sometimes it’s good for us to have someone say, “Can’t you see it???” as we try hard to focus on what is in front of us or across the way a bit.  Sometimes we need the challenge of someone coaching us to look at things in a different way.  Sometimes it just takes a bit more focusing to see something.  A lot of things in life are this way and so many of us won’t or don’t take the time to see with a different perspective. 

As we are all going through tough and challenging times of life in various ways, we all need to be challenged as God often says to us “Can’t you see it??”.  So often He is working in some amazing ways, but we fail to see.  We are so wrapped up in our own ways and our own ideas that we just don’t take the time to look with a different perspective.  God is trying to show us things every day and we fail so often to see these wonderful new things.  So many different things can cause us to lose sight of these great and wonderful things. 

No matter what we might be facing, God is definitely working on something new and He wants you and I to see it!  Sometimes it’s easy to see, but often it takes looking from a different angle or perspective.  Then, when we do see what He wants us to see, it blows our minds! 

Next time someone asks you, “Can’t you see it?”, think of all the new things God is trying to show you as you live each day.