Powerful Prayer: Psalms 51:7-9 KJV

“Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice. Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities.”

There are 3 things that David cries out for in this psalm. Cleansing, to hear joy and gladness, and for God to blot out his iniquities. As he cries out I see the vulnerability and his desire to restore his walk with God. This is why David is called a man after God’s own heart in 1 Samuel 13:14. He was faithful to the Lord and he was repentant when he did wrong. He was not indifferent about the convicting of the Lord. He welcomed it and repented so that he could draw that much closer to God.

Often times in the business of life we start putting God to the side to make more room for something else that seems “more important” at the time. Or we’re too tired so we’ll do it later, etc. As we drift away in our walk and relationship with God, our hearts aren’t as tender and receptive to his voice and convictions. Or it’s something we don’t want to give up so we ignore it in hopes that ‘Maybe he’ll change his mind!’. We forget that God wants what’s best for us so places those convictions on our hearts with the desire to draw us closer to him.

As we look at this example from David, let’s strive to make the decision daily to go to God in prayer throughout the day and call upon him for cleansing, or for renewal of joy and rejoicing! God will hear our prayer and our sins will be cast into the deepest ocean! Let’s strive to be women after God’s own heart!

This is an area of my walk with him that I have placed in his hands as I struggle with remaining consistent in reading my Bible and giving him the time he deserves out of my day. In the moments of my day when I’m quick to anger, am harsh, or my thoughts go astray, I want to be able to make it a habit to stop what I’m doing right then and give it to him! To have the freedom to continue going about my day without the guilt of what I did and be able to receive his never ending grace in my moments of weakness! ‘Search me O God, and cleanse my heart today!’