This verse also reminds us that we are only responsible for our hearts. When the writer asks for God to renew a steadfast spirit in them, they are recognizing that cleansing is an ongoing process with God.

This verse says, “Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.” A pure heart can only be achieved by a process of cleansing. For us to be near God we must cleanse our hands, hearts, and minds.Ī third passage for us to consider is Psalm 51:10. James 4:8 says that if we draw near to Him, He will draw near to us. God will do a work in us if we only allow him to use us. If we trust in Jesus, we can be assured that he will forgive us, but we must ask for forgiveness through repentance. Here we read that if we confess our sins, God is faithful to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. You do not pick it up and carry it back with you.Īnother passage to consider is 1 John 1:9. The ultimate end to cleansing prayer is that you leave all that dirt and filth of sin at the foot of the cross. You are bringing your past to the feet of Jesus. With these prayers, we are asking God to forgive us. They remind us that we have a creator God and redeeming God. This act reveals our determination to live a life that exudes Christ in every orifice.Ĭleansing prayers also reveal our need for a Savior. When we bow and pour out our hearts to God, we are revealing our need for repentance. It helps us to get our hearts and minds in the proper place. The purpose becomes one that makes our physical, spiritual, and emotional state clean again.Ĭleansing is more than washing your dishes or achieving ‘Fung Shui.’ It is the process of clearing our minds of the filth of the world. We want to communicate with God about the sinful nature of our hearts and minds. To say a cleansing prayer, we have changed our objective. In the Christian worldview, we define prayer as communication with God. There are many definitions for cleansing prayer. In my Christian walk don’t I practice a cleansing every morning when I pray? What does the Bible tell us about cleansing prayers? Are cleansing prayers actually biblical? What Is a Cleansing Prayer? But I took a moment to think about the practice of cleansing. They stated their purpose was to rid the house of any unclean spirits and negative energy. Just before moving in, they had a cleansing ceremony for their new home. This couple worked for weeks transforming this house. Psalm 51:10 says, “Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.” God is the one who makes our hearts pure – by the sacrifice of His Son and through His sanctifying work in our lives (see also 1 John 3:1-3).A few months ago, I was watching one of those HGTV shows where a young couple purchases a fixer-upper. The only way we can be truly pure in heart is to give our lives to Jesus and ask Him to do the cleansing work. It is more than an external purity of behavior it is an internal purity of soul. The pure heart is marked by transparency and an uncompromising desire to please God in all things. A pure heart has no hypocrisy, no guile, no hidden motives. So, to be pure in heart means to be blameless in who we actually are.īeing pure in heart involves having a singleness of heart toward God. It is where thoughts, desires, sense of purpose, will, understanding, and character reside. But it also refers to the spiritual center of life. This can be applied to the physical heart. The Greek word for “heart” in Matthew 5:8 is kardeeah. Those who are truly “pure,” then, are those who have been declared innocent because of the work of Jesus and who are being sanctified by His refining fire and His pruning.

For a vine to produce fruit, it must be pruned. Jesus refers to believers as being the branches and to Himself as being the vine (John 15:1-17). Malachi speaks of the Messiah as being like a “refiner’s fire” (Malachi 3:2). John the Baptist told people that Jesus would baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire (Matthew 3:11). It means to be “clean, blameless, unstained from guilt.” Interestingly, the word can refer specifically to that which is purified by fire or by pruning. The Greek word for “pure” in Matthew 5:8 is katharos. Jesus spoke this during His famous Sermon the Mount. “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God” (Matthew 5:8).

Clean hand pure hearts scripture