Facing Failure in Faith: Create in Me a Clean Heart, O God!

Everyone makes mistakes, but as a follower of Jesus Christ, your fall or failure doesn’t have to dictate your future in Christ. God still has a “future and a hope” for you, “… to prosper you and not to harm you.” (Jeremiah 29:11)

God’s plan is still in effect, but you will have to meet your failure with your faith, and instead of turning from God – turn TO Him.

Psalm 51 traces the pain and suffering in the aftermath of King David’s affair with Bathsheba – after he got her pregnant and then had her husband murdered. God’s prophet, Nathan, came with a word from God – as a consequence of their sin, their newborn son would die.

According to the New Testament, all sin leads to death (Romans 6:23), and all sin has consequences whether they be natural, physical, spiritual, emotional, mental, familial, and beyond.

God’s plan is still in effect, but you will have to meet your failure with your faith, and instead of turning from God – turn TO Him.
~Alicia Purdy

Without Jesus Christ bridging the gap between sin and God’s holiness, there is no hope. But, through Christ, your failures are reframed, “worked together” (Romans 8:28), and forgiven – even if you can’t see it right now.

David’s prayer to “…create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me…” showed that sin would not, ultimately, have the victory over him.

What Does a Clean Heart Mean Before God?

At the point in time when David cried, “Create in me a clean heart“, Jesus Christ had not yet come to earth, although He did a fresh work in David’s heart. But, once Jesus did come and He is received at salvation, your sin – past, present, and future – has been covered by His blood, washed clean and made as white as snow.

Spiritually speaking, a clean heart, before God, is one into which Christ Jesus has been invited as Lord, and Savior. (Romans 10:13, 1 John 4:15) So, when you sin, it is your sanctification, not your salvation, that is at issue.

Salvation and sanctification are two completely different processes of creation- and you need them both – and you must invite the Lord to do them both.
~ Alicia Purdy ~

Salvation and sanctification are two completely different processes of creation- and you need them both – and you must invite the Lord to do them both.

David’s cry to “create in me a clean heart” was not a cry to be a “new creation” through salvation, but a “new creation” through sanctification!

According to God’s Word, there is no condemnation for your sin through Jesus Christ. (Romans 8:1) – but that doesn’t mean there are no consequences.

“Have mercy on me, O God, according to Your lovingkindness; according to the abundance of Your compassion, blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against You, You only, have I sinned, and done this evil in Your sight, so that You are justified when You speak, and You are blameless when You judge. (Psalm 51:1-4, MEV)

David cried to the Lord for mercy when his sin was exposed, but not only because of profound grief he experienced in the devastating consequences of his sin, but because of his sin against the Lord, whom he loved so deeply.

The true weight of David’s sin and his contrite heart were evident in his response to the consequences God gave him. Even in his darkest hours, David didn’t hide from God – he ran to God and hid himself in God’s presence.

How to Face Failure with Faith

The essence of faith is that it contradicts your feelings. No one on earth has a pure heart! Jeremiah 17:9 says, “The heart is more deceitful than all things and desperately wicked.” (MEV) Everyone fails and sometimes the things that break because of sin can’t be fixed in the natural sense, but that doesn’t mean the Holy Spirit can’t “make all things new.” (Revelation 21:5)

You cannot compensate for sin with good works in your salvation (Ephesians 2:8-9), nor in your sanctification. You can’t be a good person enough to satisfy the “law of sin and death” that rules the fallen world. (Romans 8:2) Plenty of people quote their Holy Bible without acknowledging the power of Christ that brings it alive. (Hebrews 4:12)

Even in his darkest hours, David didn’t hide from God – he ran to God and hid himself in God’s presence.
~ Alicia Purdy ~

It is only through Christ Jesus can you have a truly new spirit and a fresh start after sin because your new beginning starts inside of your heart.

In Psalm 51:6 David wrote, “You desire truth in the inward parts, and in the hidden part You make me to know wisdom.”

You face failure with faith by:

Running to God, not from Him even when you think He won’t want you anymore
Accepting God’s mercy and forgiveness, even if you don’t feel you deserve it
Praising and worshipping the Lord in faith, even when you haven’t seen Him work it out all yet

God wants to reveal to you what led to your failure. He will tell you the truth about where your weak spots are, and how to make them strong. He wants to show you a new aspect of His character that you didn’t understand before. He loves you!

God doesn’t want to break you – that’s what Satan wants to do! God wants to remake you to look more and more like Him, “changed from glory to glory…” (2 Corinthians 3:18)

If you have a willing spirit, this powerful Psalm of David shows that true repentance and an inward transformation of sanctification is possible for you! “…You desire truth in the inward parts…” David wrote.

Can God show you the truth? Even if it is hard to face? Invite Him to do just that.

David experienced many devastating effects of his poor choices – and maybe you will to. But when the Lord is your Shepherd, you experience the pain of “chastening” (Hebrews 12:6) under the redemptive hand of God, and He is with you, and you are covered by His goodness and mercy – even in the dark valley.

9 Ways God Will Create a Clean Heart in You by Invitation

Not everyone who contends with sin or gives into temptation has a broken spirit. Not everyone desires the new heart that God will create after sin has taken brought its devastations. Not everyone wants to experience the process by which their loving Heavenly Father takes a heart of stone and remakes it in the “Refiner’s Fire.”

However, inviting God to restore the joy of your salvation is worth every moment of His faithful, loving rebuilding process. The joy of the Lord is your strength. (Nehemiah 8:10) The enemy wants to steal that from you so you’re always weak.

“…in His presence is fullness of joy…” (Psalm 16:11) As David did, you will cleanse you – at your invitation. Stir up the faith of your steadfast spirit and remember the God who loves you! You can trust Him!

Here are 9 ways God will create a clean heart in you when you invite Him to do so:

… Purify me with hyssop, and I will be clean…”
“…wash me, and I will be whiter than snow…”
“…Make me to hear joy and gladness, that the bones that You have broken may rejoice.”
“Create in me a clean heart, O God…”
“…renew a right spirit within me…”
“…Restore to me the joy of Thy salvation…”
“…uphold me with Your willing spirit.”
“Deliver me from blood guiltiness, O God, God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing aloud of Your righteousness.”
“O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare Your praise.”

The Law of Karma & What Goes Around Comes Around

Because of the fallen darkness of this world, the so-called “Law of Karma” is always in effect to those who walk in the darkness of the world, but you walk in the light! You have been cleaned by the washing of the blood of Jesus!

The counterfeit of Karma cannot control or dictate the course of your life. You are not a victim to the devil’s law of “karma”. Don’t allow yourself to believe your enemy’s LIES. The curse is broken through Jesus Christ, don’t give permission to allow the enemy’s lies to get into your head!

And the Lord works those things together for the good of you and all those who call on His name. Through Jesus Christ, you are no longer subjected to any curse.

Through Jesus Christ, you are no longer subjected to any curse. You are not the victim of Karma!
~Alicia Purdy

You are not the victim of karma. As long as you walk in the light of Jesus Christ, the darkness cannot overtake you. (1 John 1:5) You are clean and transformed and renewed – yes, even if you struggle.

And you are under God’s unfailing love grace mercy and faithfulness. Do not fear karma. Do not claim karma. Claim the scriptures that God has set you free from the handwriting of ordinances that was against you.

Karma is the law of the sinful world, that what goes around comes around. Karma says you’ll never be truly free or clean, but the Lord is a redeemer. He will redeem opportunities. He will redeem every bad choice. That does not mean you will not experience natural consequences – but under the mercy of God, He’ll work it all out for His glory. TRUST. HIM.

Thought for today: A Clean Heart is One that is Washed by the Word

The processes of the creation and transformation in your spirit and soul are equally crucial to your relationship with the Lord and both are by your invitation to Him – once at the point of your salvation and then each day afterward as you grow in your faith and knowledge of Him.

When you come to Christ, you already know that there’s more work to be done! In Ephesians 5:26, Paul notes that “washing with the water of the Word” must be part of daily life.

Living the lifestyle of a worshipper will keep you spiritually clean, but there is discipline, commitment, and sacrifice to lie a set apart life as you were called to do.

Remember, sin will cost you more than you want to pay, take you further than you want to go, and keep you longer than you want to stay. Everyone makes horrible mistakes, bad choices and does sinful things- in spite of their best “efforts”.

David was a worshipper, but it went beyond the traditional sacrifices of God – David sacrificed himself before God in praise and worship. That is what made him man after God’s own heart (Acts 13:22) and yet he recognized that loving God wasn’t enough to get him through life, living for Him was just as important.

After salvation, your “cleansing” will be part of your praise testimony. When you cried out “create in me a clean heart!” the Lord heard you. Don’t fear it. Don’t hide it. Don’t avoid it.

YOU are the victory God wants to show someone else who is struggling.
YOUR life is the hope they will have when they see what Christ has done in you.
YOURS are the shoulders another will stand on.

The Lord has given you all of Himself, there isn’t any more of Him to have. Now, your assignment is to give Him all of you. A lifestyle of worship and praise in His presence will create a closeness with the Lord that you need and every day, for the rest of your life, you must continue to extend that invitation to the One who loved you first.

Grab Hold of Cleansing, Sanctification and Transformation – Your Promises from God! “Meribah: The Proving Ground of God, for You”