Jan 26, 2021 … Cleansed Inside-Out

Berry Patch Devotions in 2020 - Day 26 

Devotional Song: ... GO TO THIS LINK ...   Please take the time to take in song and lyrics from Natalie Grant singing … Clean …  poignantly singing how we are made clean from the inside out when we  surrender to the cleansing power of God’s Spirit. 

Jesus cleanses His Father's house ... 

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12 And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons.  

…  Jesus see the desecration of His Father’s Temple and cleanses it of the sinful money-changers [see photo].          

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Highlight Passage [Context]: …  Matthew 21:1-12 [ESV] …  USE THIS LINK … 

… Jesus upon entering the Temple to “Hosannas,” … proclaimed as THE Messiah, discovered that the Temple had been desecrated by thieves, requiring that He cleanse it from the inside out. 

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Reference Passage: … Isaiah 53:6 [ESV] ... 

6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.

…  God, thru Isaiah, prophesies a Messiah to come and take the sins of wayward mankind upon Himself.  

Reference Passage: … 1Corinthians 6:19-20 [ESV] … USE THIS LINK … 

… Paul recognized that our bodies are the “temple” of God and we need to keep them cleansed of sin by the blood of Christ. 

Reference Passage: … 2Corinthians 5:17  [ESV] ... 

17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 

…  Paul declares the truth of how we are made completely new in Christ from the inside out.  

Reference Passage: … 1John 1:7-9 [ESV] … USE THIS LINK … 

…  If we, as Christians, are willing to repent and confess of our sinfulness, our Lord WILL CLEANSE US COMPLETELY. 

My Devotional Journal: Today's Our Daily Bread author, Glenn Packiam, AT THIS LINK uses several word pictures to illustrate how we, as Christians, need to surrender to the blood of Christ and be cleansed from the inside out.  

The author showed how sometimes we need to clean out the nests of birds or animals from our roofs or attics.  Then he showed how the Greeks used a wooden horse to hide their soldiers, bent on destroying the city of Troy.  And finally the ODB author used the story of how Jesus, after being proclaimed as THE MESSIAH as He triumphantly entered God’s Temple, recognized the need to cleanse God’s temple of the sinful money changers [see photo and highlight passage].  

All of these illustrations in today’s ODB show us that every one of us, being sinners (see Isaiah 53:6) need the cleansing blood of our Messiah, King Jesus, to make us over into the newness of Christlikeness (see 2Cor 5:17).  But we have to be willing to intentionally surrender for God to cleanse His temple - i.e., our hearts (see 1Cor 6:19-20 and 1John 1:7-9). 

And that’s my prayer today … that we all stop and take note of God’s temple today and - if necessary - confess and repent, allowing God’s Spirit to turn over the tables of any dirtiness in our souls and let Jesus cleanse us from the inside out, … just as Natalie Grant sings in the linked son.   

My THANKFULNESS: ... Oh Abba Father, ... thank You, Lord, … for Your cleansing grace.     

My Prayer Today: Oh Abba Father, ... King Jesus, ... I pray that all reading here will join me, … to allow Jesus in today to cleanse His Temple - our hearts.   … Amen

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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.