No Longer Just Scratching the Surface 6-26-07

Good morning, Lord Jesus. Help me center my heart and my thoughts on You. ... "When you come into the land of Canaan, which I give you for a possession, and I put a leprous disease in a house in the land of your possession, the owner of the house shall come and tell the priest, saying, 'There seems to me to be some sort of leprous disease in my house.' ... He shall examine the disease; if the disease is in the walls of the house with greenish and reddish spots, and if it appears to be deeper than the surface, the priest shall go outside to the door of the house and shut up the house seven days" (Leviticus 14:34-38). Through repentance and faith, we enter into the promised land of salvation in Christ. Now our bodies are the house of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 3:16). Yet even now sin can enter in and plague our house as a leprous disease. So we need to keep short accounts with You and with one another, ready to have the house of our hearts examined and any disease of sin exposed. Every place touched and tainted must be "scraped thoroughly" and we must see it that "the stones in which the disease appears be taken out" and cast away and replaced with the clean stones of a holy heart (Leviticus 14:39-42). If not, the disease will spread until the whole house becomes "unclean" and "the house torn down" (v. 14:43-45). But by Your grace, You have made provision for cleansing from the disease of our leprous sin through the water and the blood (v. 14:48-53). Through the confession and cleansing of repentance and faith in the tainted walls of our hearts and souls, You "pronounce the house clean; the disease is healed" (v. 14:48). Forgive us for not humbling ourselves to acknowledge we need Your Holy Spirit to continually search our hearts for the leprous diseases that defile our spirits, souls, and bodies in many ways -- sin, shame, false beliefs, unbelief, unhealed hurts and wounds, bondage and barriers, resentment and regret, rebellion and pride. Though we are saved and living in the land of Your promises in Christ, the house of our hearts can still be defiled and unclean, needing to be exposed and cleansed. This is the ministry of inner healing and deliverance -- binding up the broken-hearted and setting the captives free (Isaiah 61). This is the ministry of the Holy Spirit, preparing the bride of Christ -- in "the beauty of holiness" (Psalm 96:9, KJV). You don't want us to just scratch the surface with a promise and a prayer. You want us to allow You purify us and sanctify us in the holiness of heart and life. Come search our hearts and see if there is anything in us that needs to be scraped thoroughly, taken out, and cast away (Psalm 139:23-24). You are calling us to be cleansed and free, redeemed and restored, committed and empowered -- to display Your glory through our lives throughout all the earth (Isaiah 60). In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays Friends, I am convicted as never before to no longer be willing to waste my time just scratching the surface any more. I hope you are not either. Let's pray for one another, for our ministries and churches and communities. It seems I hear the Lord saying, "I will have a holy people, a holy bride. I will settle for nothing less. And I don't have to. My grace by My blood is sufficient for all who will choose to humble themselves in repentance and faith to receive it." If this rings true with you, please join me in this covenant of complete abandonment to God. By God's grace, through His cleansing process and in His power, "Holiness unto the Lord." God bless you! To subscribe/unsubscribe, please send a note to me at Messiah Ministries -- MessiahMin@aol.com -- "Ministering the Healing Love of God ... Preparing the Way of the Lord." 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, KY 40502 www.messiah-ministries.org Daily Archives: www.morningbymorning.injesus.com