Spiritual Spring Cleaning

Search me, O God,
And know my heart today;
Try me, O Savior,
Know my thoughts, I pray.
See if there be
Some wicked way in me;
Cleanse me from every sin
And set me free.

I praise You, Lord,
For cleansing me from sin;
Fulfill Your Word,
And make me pure within.
Fill me with fire
Where once I burned with shame;
Grant my desire
To magnify Your Name.

Lord, take my life,
And make it wholly Yours;
Fill my poor heart
With Your great love divine.
Take all my will,
My passion, self and pride;
I now surrender, Lord
In me abide.



Posted: 20 Jun 2011 09:01 PM PDT

Today’s scripture: John 2:13-25 (NRSV) (The Message) (KJV) What might God be saying to me?

My thoughts (Tommy Chittenden):

“many believed in His name when they saw the signs that He was doing.”

This is good, right? We come to verse 23 and we think, “this is good, people are believing, this is good.” Then we start reading verse 24 which starts with the word “but.” Now that can’t be good. It’s kind of like the person who says to you, “I really like what you’re doing with your hair, but…” Isn’t there just something in us that makes us forget everything that came before the word “but”?

“But Jesus did not entrust Himself to them, because He knew all people… and needed no one to bear witness about man, for He Himself knew what was in man.

Anyone else asking, What’s going on here? People are believing in Jesus, but Jesus did not entrust himself to them?

Jesus’ life on earth was anchored in his relationship with the Father. Jesus’ contentment was not based on what others thought of him, or how well things were going at a given time. What others did or said did not affect him. At this time in Jesus’ ministry, he was becoming very popular, but, recognizing the heart of humans, he did not place his faith in what others thought of him, but continued to get his joy and security from his relationship with God. His joy and security was constant, whether he was being praised or persecuted.

God wants you and me to have confidence, security, and joy through a relationship with God. If our life is anchored in that relationship, always seeking God’s will for us at the moment, aware of the Spirit — then nothing can happen to take away our joy, because our joy is not based on our circumstances:

…your heart will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you. John 16:22

When our life is anchored in our relationship with God rather than in how others treat us, we will be steady whether we receive praise from others or not. Jesus knew this — that those who cried “Hosanna” and welcomed him as their king could cry out “Crucify him” a week later. Jesus wasn’t trying to win the crowd’s approval… so he was not entrusting himself to them, for he knew all men.

Today, I invite you to join me in a self-cleansing ritual, to clean the very “temple” where our Creator resides today. Open up every compartment of your heart and mind allowing the healing power of unconditional love to replace darkness with the energy of Light. Remove the masks that prevent us from being authentic, from living with integrity. Discard the poison of gossip and lies replacing it with the impeccability of our word. Replace fear with love by remembering who You are.

Thought for the day:

Search me, O God,
And know my heart today;
Try me, O Savior,
Know my thoughts, I pray.
See if there be
Some wicked way in me;
Cleanse me from every sin
And set me free.

I praise You, Lord,
For cleansing me from sin;
Fulfill Your Word,
And make me pure within.
Fill me with fire
Where once I burned with shame;
Grant my desire
To magnify Your Name.

Lord, take my life,
And make it wholly Yours;
Fill my poor heart
With Your great love divine.
Take all my will,
My passion, self and pride;
I now surrender, Lord
In me abide.

Search me, O God is based on Psalm 139:23-24. It was written by James Orr in 1936.