2023/2024 OPERATION 18-18 – (REDEMPTION THROUGH THE CROSS: THERE SHALL BE NO MORE CURSE I)

Any time we set our hearts to fast, our first priority should always be to look inwards. The very starting point is – what is the condition of your heart? This is because everything we will ever do emanates from the heart. If the heart is not right, the prayer will not fly. Psa. 66:18 says if I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me. In other words, he will not answer. We need to look inwards. Is there any trace of iniquity in your heart? It is very easy to commit iniquity.

Iniquity means to turn away from the revealed will of God; to turn away from light. The moment you turn away from light, you embrace darkness. Sin in Greek is ‘hamartia’ which means to miss the mark. If you turn away from light, missing the mark is inevitable. I can therefore say that the beginning of any sin is iniquity. The next dimension of sin is transgression which means to exceed boundaries. Those who turn away from light will inevitably exceed boundaries. They don’t know when to stop.

Psalm 51 is the ideal scripture for dealing with these. David composed this psalm after he fell into sin. When God sent a prophet to confront him, David broke down and prayed. It was written from the heart; it wasn’t the pen of David that wrote it, his heart wrote it. That is why it is so powerful. In the place of prayer, God listens more to the heart than what your mouth says. If the heart is not right, the prayer cannot fly.

This is, however, not restricted to prayer. In every Christian service, the garden of the heart determines whether it will be accepted or not. The sacrifice of the unrighteous is abomination to the LORD (Prov. 15:8). Service in God’s kingdom with wrong motive is nothing but hay, wood and stubble, it amounts to nothing.

That is one thing about Christian ethics, it is deep and determined by the motive or the spirit. The motive is the driving force. You may do something very fantastic in the house of God and receive the accolade of all but before God, it might amount to nothing. May that not be our portion in Jesus’ name. May all the words of our mouth and the meditations of our hearts be always right before God.

In the place of prayer, let us clean up. It is not a one off thing. It is a continuous cleansing. The Bible says,

“If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

1 John 1:9-10, KJV

The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all unrighteousness.

ACTION POINT

• Using Psalm 51, confess your sins.

Pray –

• Father, I present my heart before you; anything you find there that is not right, please wipe it away with the precious blood of your dear Son, Jesus Christ. I confess all my sins before you, have mercy upon me according to your love and your kindness.
• Look into my record from the day I was conceived in my mother’s womb till date, in any way that I have missed it, in any way that I have put the wrong foot forward, in any way that I have spoken wrongly or stretched my hand unto that which is not right, in any way that I have acted contrary to your revealed will, Lord, I am sorry. In your mercy, forgive me. In your mercy, cleanse me. In your mercy purify, sanctify and purge me. Blot out all my transgressions and wash me thoroughly from every sin. Be not far from me in the name of Jesus.

TO BE CONTINUED.