Ascend

Scripture

“Who may ascend into the hill of the LORD? Or who may stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who has not lifted up his soul to an idol, nor sworn deceitfully. He shall receive blessing from the LORD, and righteousness from the God of his salvation.”
(Psalm 24:3–5, NKJV)

Word

You were meant to rise high in heavenly places. You were meant to stand with God above the cares of this life. But notice that this verse tells us that in order to ascend, we have to make sure we have clean hands and a pure heart. How do we have clean hands and a pure heart? First of all, only Jesus can make us clean and new. Once we receive Him as our Lord and Savior, we have to choose every day to stand against the enemy and his attempts to bring us back down. It all happens in our thought life. We have to guard our thoughts by guarding what we allow to influence our thoughts. We can’t just watch any old thing on TV. We can’t just listen to any old conversation. We have to make sure that what we allow into our minds is pleasing to the Lord because what we allow into our minds will eventually affect our hearts.

If we are going to ascend, we have to have higher thoughts; we have to have a higher way of living. Choose today to ascend in your thoughts so you can ascend in your life and receive the blessings the Lord has in store for you!

Prayer

Father in heaven, today I choose higher thoughts. I choose higher living. Help me to guard my heart and mind so that I can live a life that is pleasing to You in Jesus’ name. Amen.

(Joel & Victoria Osteen)