Psalm 51

Psalm 51:
In faith, David is asking for mercy according to what He knows from the Lord, His steadfast love and his abundant mercy. According to these things, he wants the Lord to blot out his transgressions. Wash and cleanse are ascribed to human capabilities. We wash and cleanse ourselves with water to make clean.
David asks according to what He has seen and what He has heard, not what He hasn’t seen. But He is asking the Lord to cleanse him, something He won’t see in the human form. He’s asking in a human way as well, to wash and cleanse.
He understands and knows what He did wrong. He knows that he sinned against the Lord, and in this, wants to make sure all glory goes to God. That He had nothing to do with it, and that this was all David’s fault. He’s being incredibly humble in this regards. David knows that he is sinful, he was brought forth in sin, but he also knows that the Lord delights in the truth of the inside, and knows the Lord teaches him wisdom in his heart.
Hyssop – a plant that cleanses. He wants to be purged with hyssop, purging – rid someone of an unwanted feeling, memory or condition, typically giving a sense of cathartic release. He wants to be completely rid of his sin, and once this happens, he will be clean and whiter than snow. He trusts in the complete cleansing of the Lord. The idea is that once he is purged, there is no more trace of the sin. For me that means no holding onto it, no lingering effects, no lasting memories. We are completely and totally cleansed. No program to help us through, no counseling, just wham, bam and done. I believe this does happen, but I believe in our sin and folly, we don’t understand that this has happened, and we hold onto the sin on our own.
He doesn’t try and punish himself. He wants to hear joy and gladness, and wanted his broken bones to rejoice. He’s been broken, and finally wants to be cleansed and to be released from his suffering. He’s asking the Lord to make in him a right spirit and to be not cast away from the Lord presence, to not take away the Holy Spirit, and to be restored. He’s asking knowing that he cannot do any of this himself, but he does know what he needs. He knows what he needs to do to ask and come before the Lord with right heart. And he’s asking the Lord to fulfill this for him, knowing that he can’t do it himself.
Having learned how this works, he says he will be able to teach transgressors His ways, and sinners will return to Him. It’s interesting to think of this. That once he is fully clean, he is completely clean, and done. There is no more for him to learn on this subject, now it’s time to teach others. This definitely is not how we do things today. We fall back again and again and again. Especially having the blood of Christ with us, We repent, and then run right back to that sin. We don’t take the cleansing as a full and complete cleansing, which means we are no longer subject to that sin. If we allow ourselves to go back to that place, then we forget the cleansing, and let our flesh take over. But we are not bound by anything, as we tend to think. Such as addictions, if we truly believe that we are cleansed and that this cleansing is full and complete, that there is NO more sin within us once we are cleansed, we don’t have to go back to an addiction. We understand and realize that the power of Christ is stronger than the power of the flesh. Than the power of sin. Christ has CONQUERED sin. So when we are raised with Christ, we have conquered sin as well. It’s powerful to think about.
Once he is delivered from bloodguiltiness, then he will sing of the Lord’s righteousness. He asks the Lord to open his lips, and then his mouth will declare His praise. What does it mean to open his lips?
The Lord is more interested in a broken and contrite heart than burnt offerings, which anyone can do. A broken and contrite heart are harder to do. Because are hearts are deceitful, we can say that we’ve a broken heart, but the attitude behind it may be wrong. Only the Lord knows for sure. Once the heart is in the right place, then the bull offering is to be made.
This is powerful to think about. I’m above sin. Above my continuous sin, and above the sin I do every day but don’t think about, the sin of my pride. Of my worries, and of other things I don’t realize. I allow myself to be put into a box, but I don’t realize that when I asked the Lord to cleanse me of my continuous sin, and then of my pride, I’m fully cleansed. Now I can teach others in theory, because the Lord has cleansed me, and has rid of me of my sin. He has fully purged me, and I am now clean. But I don’t do this. I run back to my comfort place, and allow sin to reign. If I think of it as a person, as it’s often referred to as in the Bible, and remove it from his “rulership” in my life, and then place God as my ruler, then ask God to cleanse me, and live by this, then I am fully believing Him when He says I am clean. I am walking by faith when I trust in what the Lord has promised me.
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Trusting in God

Through reading a whole bunch on Isaiah and also some of my other readings, The Lord is getting me to stop relying on anything else but Him. He is destroying everything that could be relied upon, until there is nothing left. And then I will see that HE is the one that moves, and that restores and brings life to death. This is a hard road to travel, but not an impossible one. Nothing is impossible with God. Once that bridge collapses, then there will be nothing left but to trust in God.
I cannot wait until that bridge collapses. But until then, I need to learn all I can learn from Him during this time. And really throw myself into Him and His Word.
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John 2

Clearly, Jesus’ mother was acquainted with the fact that Jesus could do miracles. She told him straight up, they have no wine. I like the fact that she presented the issue, but didn’t try to tell him how to fix it. She told him the problem, and expected that he would fix it. She then told the servants to do whatever  he told them to do.
-We should completely do the same thing. Simply present the problem to God, and then sit back and wait for him to handle the issue, without us telling Him how we think it should be handled. We wait expectantly for results. It’s a faith that I think God wants us to have when we come to him with requests.
Jesus then told the servants to fill the water pots with water, there were six stone pots containing 20-30 gallons each. Which is a lot. He told them to fill to the brim with water, and then take some out and take it to the headwaiter. He then told the groom that he had saved the best wine until then. But they now had six 20-30 gallon pots filled with wine!
-When we wait for results, God will give us much, much more than we could expect or ask for. More than we could ever want. And not only that, but the best that we could ever want. I’ve asked the Lord to handle my problem, and I’ll expect the best result, and even better than I could ask for, regardless in what form it may come.
Jesus drove the money changers out of the House of the Lord. He told them to stop making his Father’s house a house of business.
The church is not to be used as a workplace on Sunday mornings. It’s for glorifying God. Buying and selling does not do that in the least, you stop glorifying God in that process, and start looking to your own wants in that regard. The Lord is no longer the focus, and He should ALWAYS be the focus. I know that if I put my focus on the Lord, He will cleanse me in such a way. My body is a temple for the Holy Spirit. And anything that takes the focus off the Lord will be cleansed out. I’m guaranteed of this.

John 3

Nicodemus came to Jesus at night, saying that Jesus must have come from God, because of the signs that He was doing. And Jesus answered him saying that one needed to be born again to see the kingdom of God.
It’s interesting Jesus’ response here. Nicodemus seems to be making a general statement, that Jesus came from God. And Jesus immediately starts talking about salvation. From what we can tell, Nicodemus didn’t ask him about it, Jesus just started talking about it.
Of course, Nicodemus asks Him how one can be born when he is old. He assumed Jesus meant physical birth. Jesus said to him that the birth he is talking about is of Spirit and water. There is a difference between fleshly birth, and then spiritual birth. When one is born of flesh, he is flesh. But when one is born of the Spirit, he is spirit. Jesus is talking to him in matter of fact way, saying do not be amazed, and also that no one knows where the Spirit is going, and where it comes from.
Nicodemus asks him how these things could be possible, and Jesus seems surprised that he doesn’t know these things. He says if Nicodemus doesn’t understand earthly things, how would he understand heavenly things? He then tells him that no one has ascended into heaven but the Son of Man, who descended from heaven. Once He is lifted up, then whoever believes will have eternal life.
Jesus then tells Nicodemus how to be saved. That the Son of God came into the world to save whoever would believe. He came not to judge, but to save. Those who did not believe, would then be judged, those ppl loved the darkness more than the light, because they did evil deeds. Those ppl do not come to the light for fear that their evil deeds will be exposed. But the ones who practice the truth come to the Light, and his deeds are manifested as having been wrought in God.
What I find interesting is the that this very important conversation, the conversation of salvation itself, the one that changes the course of the world’s was held in quiet meeting between two people, at night. It wasn’t given in a speech, it wasn’t broadcasted to the world. It was simply between two people. Yet these verses are probably the most famous verses in the Bible, and the most key verses in terms of salvation. The Lord works in mysterious ways.
John understood his role in life. That his purpose was not about him, but about Jesus. His disciples did not understand this, and were seemingly confused as to the fact that ppl were going to Jesus. They missed the entire purpose of why John was there. He was there to prepare a way for Jesus, not bring glory to himself. John, however, knew, and knew what was to happen. That Jesus must increase and that he must decrease. He was able to see his purpose fulfilled in a certain manner, that he did prepare the way for Christ.
Unfortunately, we don’t live life in this way. It’s all about how we can get ahead, how we can better ourselves, not how we can glorify God. Even when we are actually trying to glorify Him, we still get caught up in ourselves. I hope I don’t miss my purpose altogether, worrying about how I can better myself, and bring glory to myself. I hope I can decrease and the Lord can increase. I also see in these two passages, that Jesus focused on salvation. Which is what I believe I should focus on. When the focus of the church stops focusing on saving and reaching to the lost, then the church has gone astray. When we get caught up in little differences, we lose the main focus. We don’t need to argue about what someone’s interpretation of certain aspects of the Bible is. If the Bible itself is preached, in it’s glory, and not in the interpretation of someone, then we are on the right track. If we stick to that, and stick to the main thing, which is saving souls, then we are on the right track. We must decrease, the Lord must increase. I believe He will show me how I can do that.
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