Repentant Heart

God has been ministering to us on repentance and His love.  Messages at HYC, and from our churche's pulpit have reflected this theme.  I have felt it in my prayers.  Sunday January 15^th, I was praying before evening service and the Spirit led me to a place of a humble repentance before a loving God.  What a time I had, and after this time, I felt a freedom to praise and ask of my God some spiritual blessings.  That evening in service, God ministered through music. We sang the song “Heart of Worship”.  The lyrics in this song are “forgive me Lord for the thing I’ve made it. When it’s all about You”.  I really felt a freedom in the congregation as we sang. 

One of the greatest moments of repentance recorded in the Bible is found in Psalm 51.  David had committed a great series of sin, and was awakened to it by a man of God.  Realizing the path he was going down, he shook himself and began to seek after God and His “unfailing love”.

            Psalm51

¹ Have mercy on me, O God,
   according to your unfailing love;
according to your great compassion
   blot out my transgressions.
² Wash away all my iniquity
   and cleanse me from my sin.
 ³ For I know my transgressions,
   and my sin is always before me.
⁴ Against you, you only, have I sinned
   and done what is evil in your sight;
so you are right in your verdict
   and justified when you judge.
⁵ Surely I was sinful at birth,
   sinful from the time my mother conceived me.
⁶ Yet you desired faithfulness even in the womb;
   you taught me wisdom in that secret place.
 ⁷ Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean;
   wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
⁸ Let me hear joy and gladness;
   let the bones you have crushed rejoice.
⁹ Hide your face from my sins
   and blot out all my iniquity.
 ¹⁰ Create in me a pure heart, O God,
   and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
¹¹ Do not cast me from your presence
   or take your Holy Spirit from me.
¹² Restore to me the joy of your salvation
   and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.
 ¹³ Then I will teach transgressors your ways,
   so that sinners will turn back to you.
¹⁴ Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God,
   you who are God my Savior,
   and my tongue will sing of your righteousness.
¹⁵ Open my lips, Lord,
   and my mouth will declare your praise.
¹⁶ You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it;
   you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.
¹⁷ My sacrifice, O God, is^[b] a broken spirit;
   a broken and contrite heart
   you, God, will not despise.
 ¹⁸ May it please you to prosper Zion,
   to build up the walls of Jerusalem.
¹⁹ Then you will delight in the sacrifices of the righteous,
   in burnt offerings offered whole;
   then bulls will be offered on your altar.
         

         This week, begin to go through your life and give God those things which you have taken out of His control.  Humble yourself in repentance and seek His love.  As He speaks to you, be obedient and give Him glory by recognizing that holiness and righteousness and all that is good in you, comes from Him.  Take time to read Daniel 9 .  Daniel prays a repentant prayer for all of God’s people.

Memorize:
          Psalm 51:17

My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, you, God, will not depise.

Prayer:

            Jesus I love you.  I thank you Lord for all that you have blessed my life with.  Thank you for your blessing poured out on Sunday evening.  Thank you for the still small voice that loves us, guides us, warns us, and even corrects us. 

            I ask that your hand be on the students of Fusion.  I ask that you guide us in our prayers and our time with you.  We need you Jesus as we run the race that is set before us.  Help each student find a place of repentance so that they may wear your righteousness and know that you are the reason we can walk in Spirit.  Only through this and through you, do we have freedom from this world.

            Thank you Jesus, thank you being a sure companion through this life.  I am never alone in this world.  I always have a place of joy, peace, and love.  I love you Jesus

Use It:

·        Pray over these lessons in your own life

·        Pray a minimum of 15 minutes daily

·        Read a minimum of a chapter a day

·        Fast a meal a week

·        Memorize the weekly scripture

·        Please comment below to show that you have read our blog and are with us in prayer.

Weekly Prayer Devotion (Jan 12, 2012)

"At that time, people began to call on the Name of the Lord"

 Through this new feature in Fusion Student Ministries, we want to encourage you to pray daily.  Since this is a devotion to unified prayer, I took our first steps into prayer's first steps, the beginning of the relationship between God and man.  In their innocence, Adam and Eve talked with God in the cool of the day.  It was simple, and without barriers.   We see an immediate change after their fall. 

Genesis 3:10-11 (NIV)

10 He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”

 11 And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”

God did not ask these questions because he didn’t know the answer.  No, he asked them to sort things out in the mind of Adam and as a lesson to us.  He does this with Cain after his failure in sacrifice.

Genesis 4:6 

6 Then the LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? 7 If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.”

This is a warning to Cain that he is traveling down the wrong path. 

An impression had to be made upon man at this time. Adam and Eve birth a new son named Seth and it says in Genesis 4:26 “…At that time people began to call on the name of the LORD”.

Lesson Learned:

            Break the barriers.      

           Shame and guilt over past or present sin will become barriers in your communication with God.  Repentance is the answer and then faith in the grace and mercy of God.  We must believe that God loves us and that His promises of forgiveness and justification are true.  Justification is the act of declaring or making a sinner righteous through Christ's atoning sacrifice. He paid our debts!

            Bring all thoughts and actions before God.

            As Adam gives his account to God about why he is hiding, God gives the wisdom of “who are you listening to? What are you basing your feelings on?”  There has been a take over in Adams life to the snake, to the fruit and ultimately to sin.   

             God tries to give Godly wisdom to Cain before he continues down the wrong path.   Because of his selfishness and pride, Cain resists God and falls into sin and tragedy.

              If Adam and Cain would have shared their thoughts with God before they were acted out, they would have left His presence with wisdom, righteousness, peace, and freedom.  God was giving them the concepts we see in 2 Corinthians 10:5.  “…bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;”. 

Conclusion

                Our prayers Need to be as it is written in 2 Corinthians 10:3-4 “3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: 4 (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)

            We seek God’s wisdom in all things. To step outside your home without talking to God, is to be directed by your own direction and not His.

Memorize

            2 Corinthians 10:17

But he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.

Prayer

            Jesus you are awesome. I am in awe of the revelations you show me in your word.  Your thoughts are above all that could ever contemplate.  Each time I learn of you, your love goes deeper and deeper, and your patience with me is humbling.

Jesus, I ask that you lead us into full submission to your will.  I want all that I do to glorify you.  There is no sacrifice that I can come up with that is equal to the obedience of your word.  Jesus, I ask you to forgive me from any sinful activity or thought.  I thank you for your forgiveness and I trust in your mercies which are made new each day.

            Jesus, I ask that you bless the students of Fusion.  I ask that you guide them into a fruitful and effective prayer life.  They need you as do I in all that they do.  Bless them in their efforts to bring freedom to their family, friends, and school mates.  Let your wisdom guide them and your peace go before them in all activities.

            Thank you Lord.  You are so good to me.  I love You.

Use It

·        Pray over these lessons in your own life

·        Pray a minimum of 15 minutes daily

·        Read a minimum of a chapter a day

·        Fast a meal a week

·        Memorize the weekly scripture

·        Please comment below to show that you have read our blog and are with us in prayer.