Daily Cleansing

“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

— 1 John 1:9

“Who may ascend the hill of the Lord?” (Psalm 24:3), the psalmist asks, and he answers this question by saying, “He who has clean hands and a pure heart” (v. 4). How shall we come into the presence of God, about whom the prophet said: “Your eyes are too pure to look on evil, and You cannot look on wickedness” (Habakkuk 1:13)? We must first come to be cleansed in that fountain that flows from Calvary’s hill.

We must come and ask God to cleanse us in every part of our being. Many people forget that even their memory is tainted by its intimate connection with the old self. All manner of sin has been brought into the sanctuary of the mind. This memory needs to be cleansed. Did you ever ask God to cleanse your memory from all of the evil stored there? Your affections need to be cleansed and purified. Our wills need to be cleansed.

We need to realize that only through the blood of Christ is there cleansing for sin. “What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.” If we are going to come into the presence of God and expect Him to hear and answer prayer, we dare not come into His presence besmirched and befouled and tainted with our sins. “Cleanse me, O God.” That means, of course, that we are going to confess our sins and repent of them as well as ask to be cleansed from them.

Forgive us, Lord, for our many sins. Forgive us that we keep repeating them, sins of commission and sins of omission. Thank You for Your cleansing blood, Jesus, the only means by which sin is forgiven…

BY GOD’S STRENGTH,
WE CAN BE WASHED NEW.