Devotional Song: … GO TO THIS LINK … Please take the time to take in a YouTube video of images and lyrics from group Casting Crowns singing their song, … East to West … poignantly singing of the reality of how we are completely cleansed of our sins in the eyes of God when we come in surrender for the cleansing grace offered by Christ’s sacrifice on the cross.
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Highlight Verse[s]: Ezekiel 36:25-26 [NLT] …
25 “Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. Your filth will be washed away, and you will no longer worship idols. 26 And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart.
… And this is exactly what God has done for His remnant of believers who have come in faith to experience the cleansing blood of The Messiah.
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Highlight Passage [context]: Ezekiel 36:24-32 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… Ezekiel prophesies of believers being cleansed from our sins by the Messiah.
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Reference Passage [NLT] : … Lamentations 3:22-23 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… God’s mercies are afresh every morning and His faithfulness is there to cleanse any repentant sinner.
Reference Passage [NLT] : … Romans 3:23 [NLT] …
23 For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.
… Yes, all of us are dirty when we come to our Lord for cleansing.
Reference Passage [NLT] : … 2nd Corinthians 5:17 [NLT] …
17 This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!
… In Christ, we are made NEW!!
Reference Passage [NLT] : … 1st John 1:9 [NLT] …
9 But if we confess our sins to Him, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from ALL wickedness.
… Totally, utterly, completely cleansed!!
My Devotional Journal: Today's ODB author, Amy Boucher Eye, used a personal word picture to illustrate how we become totally/utterly cleansed by the blood of Jesus’ finished work on the cross when we surrender to Him as Lord of our lives. The ODB author wrote: When I opened our dishwasher, I wondered what went wrong. Instead of seeing sparkling clean dishes, I removed plates and glasses that were covered in a chalky dust. I wondered if the hard water in our area was wreaking havoc, or if the machine was broken.
God’s cleansing, unlike that faulty dishwasher, washes away all of our impurities. We see in the book of Ezekiel that God is calling His people back to Himself as Ezekiel shared God’s message of love and forgiveness. The Israelites had sinned as they proclaimed their allegiance to other gods and other nations. The Lord, however, was merciful in welcoming them back to Himself.
Do you get it fellow Christian? Do you believe it; … that when we repent of our sins and confess them before God’s throne of grace, we are totally, utterly, and COMPLETELY cleansed? That’s why I like the dishwasher word picture painted by the ODB author today. Because I’m always gratified by how our dishes, so grungy before a cycle in our dishwasher, come out so squeaky clean.
And as the group Casting Crowns sings, when we bring our sins in confession … to be cleansed by the blood of our Savior, we all, who are completely dirty (see Rom. 3:23), are seen by our Heavenly Father as totally, utterly, and COMPLETELY cleansed by our faith in the finished work of His Son, the Christ, on our behalf.
So, do you want to stand before the Lord as clean as the dishes AFTER a complete cleansing cycle? … Well, then, … you know what to do! Surrender to His cleansing mercy and grace, … and be clean!!
My Prayer Today: Abba Father, … King Jesus, … I’ve been in Your shower of grace today; and I feel so clean!! … Amen
Blogger Note: Everyday during this year, my daily devotional blogs are influenced by the reading and study of the online devotional blog entitled Our Daily Bread, distributed online via email by RBC Ministries. If you GO TO THIS LINK on the date of my blog, you can read/study the ODB blogs; or you can subscribe to the blog via email at that site.
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