Friday means looking at the word prompt and joining Kate Motaung for Five Minute Friday. One word prompt. Five minutes. No editing. Many of us writing on that same word.
Today’s prompt is … Loyal.
With the word, loyal, before me, I turn to the very verse I read only yesterday –
“Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a loyal spirit within me.”
(Psalm 51:10, NLT)
I had concentrated on the first portion of the verse, praying for God to remove from my heart anything which was not of Him. It is so easy to look at the lives of others and see what needs to be pruned, or cleaned, from their lives. But to see our own is, well, not so easy.
The prompt caused me to look at the second portion. Once we have confessed and discarded all that needs to go, we are better positioned to have Him invade our hearts.
Loyal is defined as “faithful to any leader, party, or cause, or to any person or thing conceived as deserving fidelity.”
While people may come and go from my life, God has remained forever faithful. He has been loyal to me even when I have been undeserving of His loyalty.
Only God can make my heart loyal to Him. He can fashion my heart anew so that it possesses a constancy and perseverance to remain in Him. Only as I open my heart to Him each and every day, can He then change my heart so that it will be willing to obey Him.
Charles Spurgeon once wrote:
“A Christian must never leave off repenting, for I fear he never leaves off sinning.”
Perhaps this is to be a daily prayer. Today create in me a clean heart. Today renew a loyal spirit within me. May He sweep clean my heart and once He’s tidied up my heart a bit, may He establish His throne in my heart.
Today may He renew a loyal spirit within me.
Today I am joining … Five Minute Friday and Faith Filled Friday and Grace & Truth and Faith ‘N Friends and #FreshMarketFriday .
Love this Joanne. Love the quote from Spurgeon because I know I sin every day in some way, and I guess he did too.
We need to remember so that we never take for granted our great need for His help in keeping us loyal to Him.
Kind of goes along with Housekeeping 101!
Great post! Loved how the prompt brought to mind the verse you were just recently meditating on. It is those moments where the Word connects to life that are my most favorite! Enjoyed how you explained it so well 🙂
Thank you, Gretchen. It is those times that God just bowls me over!
Beautifully written and well stated Joanne. I am thankful for the blessing our Savior has bestowed on us. Allowing our hearts to be cleaned by the blood of Christ and renew the fallen spirit that tends to dominate our lives. Constant repentance is a necessity to keep our spirit renewed and our minds focused on the tasks God lays out for us each day. May we be loyal to Jesus in serving Him with our “cleaned up” heart. Thank you for sharing your thoughts today. This is a beautiful post from just one word…amazing! Have a fantastic weekend and may God richly bless you and yours!
Horace, I am always grateful to read your thoughts and encouragement. Yes, we have a fallen nature which can tend to dominate our lives. I am grateful that we also have a new nature and “greater is he that is in me than he that is in the world.” Thankful for His Spirit which is greater!
I love the very true fact that He is the only one who can make my heart loyal. This is actually something He has been pressing on my heart a lot this week. My post is a similar to yours in away. But I also loved the verses you gave. your neighbor at FMF
My heart, left to itself, would wander. Every day.
That is a wonderful verse to reflect on, Joanne. I love the thought of turning it into a daily prayer. What a powerful way to start each day. Thanks for the beautiful inspiration.
OH, I love that translation of the verse! I think I learned it ‘create a right spirit within me’, but ‘loyal’ spirit makes so much more sense :). I also love that David is asking for a renewal of a loyal spirit–meaning that it existed before and simply needs refreshing. God gives us the gift of loyalty and keeps refreshing it when we start to forget!