Friday Open Heavens Daily Devotional - Walking With God III

MEMORISE: He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted upon His soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully. Psalm 24:4.

READ: Psalm 24:3-6.
3.Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? or who shall stand in his holy place? 4.He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully. 5.He shall receive the blessing from the Lord, and righteousness from the God of his salvation. 6.This is the generation of them that seek him, that seek thy face, O Jacob. Selah.

MESSAGE
Walking with God requires living holy because God is holy. According to the Scriptures, two can’t walk together if they do not agree. When we live holy, we are in agreement with God. The Lord spoke with Abram thus: “And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the Lord appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God: walk before me, and be thou perfect.” Genesis 17:1
In our Bible reading for today, we are confronted with some fundamental requirements for an acceptable walk with God. The first one is clean hands. If your hands are defiled, you cannot walk with God. What is it that defiles a man’s hands? Blood money is one; money that belongs to another person or organization but you have taken unlawfully is another. Also your hands are defiled by the unlawful touch of another man’s wife or another woman’s husband. “Can a man take fire in his bosom and his clothes not be burned? Can one go upon hot coals, and his feet not be burned? So he that goeth in to his neighbour’s wife; whosoever toucheth her shall not be innocent.” Proverbs 6:27-29
Moreover, only a man with pure heart can effectively and acceptably walk with God. The heart is deceitful and desperately wicked, but God is able to remove this wickedness. This is why everyone must surrender his or her heart to God for spiritual surgery through genuine repentance. The Scripture says all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. If we confess our sins to God, He is faithful to forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. God also promises: “And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart of their flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh: That they may walk in my statues, and keep mine ordinances, and do them: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God.” Ezekiel 11:19-20
Jesus Christ said that we cannot serve God and Mammon. Also, the Bible enjoins us not to love the world and its vanities. Failure to heed this scriptural injunction is lifting up our soul unto vanity. The love of money can hinder our Christian walk with God. It makes Christians do such things as swearing false affidavits. May the Lord deliver you from anything that works against your walk with God in Jesus’ Name.

ACTION POINT: Using 2 Corinthians 6:14-18, “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? And what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you. And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.”

Pray that God will enable you to shun anything that will hinder your walk with Him.

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: DEUTERONOMY 19:1-31:13 AND JOB 8:20-9:12.