CHANGE MY HEART!

 

Monday, February 23, 2026

 

CHANGE MY HEART!

 

Ps 51:9-12,17

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.

17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.

 

          David had sinned with his neighbor’s wife. Instead of being a brief journey into immorality and pleasure, it set in motion a chain of consequences that included murder. Because of the illicit intimacy with Bathsheba, his intimacy with the Lord was broken. New characters had entered his life but there was a huge hole left by his departure from the Lord. We can only imagine the condition of his tormented emotions.

 

          When Nathan, the prophet, came to reveal all of David’s sin, it must have been a relief! Like a boil that had not been expressed, the release was both painful and soothing. He was caught but it was also an opportunity to restore his broken relationship with God. In his prayer for forgiveness, David prayed for three specific heart changes.

 

          Renew a right spirit within me! The word “right” in verse 10 literally means “erect” and stands in contrast to the slumped shoulders of the smitten king. Erect also indicates the sure confidence of the soldier at attention. David wanted his life to be characterized by stability, faithfulness and firmness. This would be a cooperative venture of both David and Jehovah.

 

         Uphold me with Thy free spirit! The word “free” means “voluntary; grand or noble.” The crown upon his head made him a nobleman but it was the crown upon his heart that made him truly noble. David asked that he might once again feel good about himself.

 

          David asked for a “broken” spirit. The word literally means “to burst” and is often used in giving birth. Like a woman ready to be delivered of a child, David prayed that his spirit be delivered of his burden. The word “contrite” means “to fall down” as in worship. David had a heart that wanted to worship once again. He was tired of pretending and rebelling. David wanted to feel the release of repentance. The essence of real revival is to be found in the first two verses of this Psalm.

 

Ps 51:1-2

 Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions.

2 Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.

 

Dear Lord, restore to me the intimacy that sin and straying has destroyed. AMEN

 

DON’T CAGE MY SONG

 

Sunday, February 22, 2026

 

DON’T CAGE MY SONG

 

Acts 22:27-28

27 Then the chief captain came, and said unto him, Tell me, art thou a Roman? He said, Yea.

28 And the chief captain answered, With a great sum obtained I this freedom. And Paul said, But I was free born.

 

Under the Roman law the "freeman" (ingenuus) was one born free; the "freedman" (libertinus) was a emancipated slave and did not have equal rights with the freeman. (from Easton's Bible Dictionary.)

 

The Texas Mockingbird is a slender-bodied gray bird. They pour all their color into their personalities. They sing almost endlessly, sometimes even at night. They go on learning new sounds throughout their lives. The song is a long series of phrases, with each phrase repeated 2-6 times before shifting to a new sound; the songs can go on for 20 seconds or more. These are the joyful sounds of freedom!

 

   Archibald Rutledge tells the story that as a young boy he was always catching and caging wild things. He particularly loved the sound of the mockingbird, so he decided to catch one and keep it so he could hear it sing any time.

 

   He found a very young mockingbird and placed it in a cage outside his home. On the second day he saw a mother bird fly to the cage and feed the young bird through the bars. This pleased young Archibald. But then the following morning he found the little bird was dead.

 

   Later young Arch was talking to the renowned ornithologist Arthur Wayne, who told him, "A mother mockingbird, finding her young in a cage, will sometimes take it poisonous berries. She evidently thinks it better for one she loves to die rather than live in captivity."  --James S. Hewett, Illustrations Unlimited (Wheaton: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc, 1988) p. 225.

 

          We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. (The Declaration of Independence)

 

Dear Lord, having been set free from the cage of sin by thy mercy, let me sing my song long into the night. AMEN

 

STRANGERS AND PILGRIMS!

 

Saturday, February 21, 2026

 

STRANGERS AND PILGRIMS!

 

Heb 11:13

13 These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.

 

1 Peter 2:11

11 Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul.

 

           Is is time to call the Mother Ship to come and pick us up! The world has gotten strange, and we are strangers.

 

          Only twice do we see the word “pilgrim” in the New Testament. In Hebrews the Greek is parepidemos which means “‎an alien alongside, i.e. a resident foreigner.” In First Peter the word “stranger” is paroikos which, in the Greek, means “having a home nearby; a by-dweller. Think of one who lives just across the border! He is an alien.

 

          The message is clear to me! If the world seems strange to me, it means that I am an alien in a foreign place. My citizenship is in heaven (See Philippians 3:20). I should not expect to feel at home here. I am a “by-dweller.” My true home is across the border in a land so far yet so close at hand. One day the Father-ship will come to pick me up.

 

Heb 11:16

16 But now they [we] desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city.

 

Dear Lord, it seems the world is becoming increasingly strange to me. I anxiously await your return to take me home. AMEN