Extra: A Prayer for Cleansing

“Father in Heaven. My Lord and my God. Saviour and Redeemer. Friend in my deepest need.

Hear the cry of my heart, feel the pain of my soul, see the need of my life.

Cleanse me of all my sin.

Take away everything in me…

…that does not bow before Thee as Lord.

…that does not have Thy name on it.

…that is resistant to Thy Spirit.

…that is impure and unworthy of Thee.

Remove from me…

…all attitudes and opinions and convictions that do not originate in Thee;

…every desire and motive and plan and ambition in conflict with Thy holy will;

…anything that runs and hides when You enter, that laughs when I believe, that squirms when I pray, that fears when I trust;

…Whatever in me does not give Thee joy, make Thee proud, and serve Thy purpose;

All of this, take away, please…

…everything that holds me back, weights me down, and cheapens my praise,

take away and make me whole.

By the precious blood of Jesus, purge my iniquity.

In the matchless name of Jesus, make me clean.

For the wonderful sake of Jesus, draw me to Thee.

Make me whole and holy and wholesome.

Make me right and upright and righteous.

Give me a heart that wants only to do Thy will, that answers only to Thy call, that serves only to hear Thy ‘well done.’

Amen.”

Have you ever been so filthy you wanted a bath more than anything else in the world? I have. Have you felt that kind of soul-soil that stains and defiles and makes you shrink from reading your Bible or bowing in prayer out of pure shame? I’ve been there, too.


“We do not know how to pray as we should,” said the Apostle Paul. If he didn’t, it’s a sure bet the rest of us don’t either. And yet prayer to the Saviour is our only lifeline. As Peter said, “To whom (else) shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life.”

This prayer is about uprooting every weed in my life, every tare planted by the enemy. It’s about belonging to the Saviour and Him alone. Of being rid of all that says no to God’s yes. From anything that puts the brakes to the Spirit. That keeps us earthbound when God bids us soar. That dampens our creativity, hinders our freedom, stifles our laughter, smothers our joy, and walls us in from each other.

God wants us free to laugh and sing and serve. To love without fear. To give without regret. To pray without doubt. To worship without limit. To witness to others without a thought to myself. To know how precious I am to Him without undermining it by my low self-esteem. To revel in the promise of glory while enjoying a touch of that glory now.

To be clean is a wonderful thing, but it’s only the first thing. “These have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb,” said a heavenly elder to the Apostle John. “For this reason they are before the throne of God and they serve Him day and night in His temple.” (Revelation 7:14-15) To stand and serve in the presence of the Father, that’s the main thing.

Being human and lazy and self-indulgent, we prefer to skip the washing. Stand by the door of any public restroom and be horrified at the numbers who walk past the basins and parade out the doors eager to share their germs with the world.

Just inside the Pediatric ICU, a nurse informed us we would have to wash before being admitted. At a sink operated by foot pedals, we scrubbed, using sanitary brushes saturated with their own soap. “Three minutes, minimum,” she said. Three minutes seems like thirty when all you’re doing is standing at a sink washing your hands. “You’d be surprised how resistant germs are,” she commented and went on her way.

How resistant sin is. The heart must be washed and purified, the sin uprooted, nailed, cauterized, bleached, and destroyed. Then tomorrow, we will require a fresh session of confession and cleansing once again. Sin is persistent.

Interestingly, the Bible does not call sin black, as we might expect, but red. “Though your sins be as scarlet,” God says, “they shall be as white as snow. Though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” (Isaiah 1:18) Ask any mother what a red sock does in the washing machine with a load of whites.

A few years back, just as we prepared to enter our new sanctuary, I noticed a red dirt stain on the sidewalk outside the rear entrance. It obviously needed washing down with a pressure scrubber. “We tried that,” said a custodian. “But that red dirt was sealed in the concrete by the men who poured it. The only way you can get it out is to remove the sealer, scrub it down, and put a new sealer on the walk.”

“Father in Heaven: Today I feel like that sidewalk. Open me up and cleanse me deeply. Then seal me with Thy Spirit. Amen.”

(NOTE FROM JOE MCKEEVER: Permission is hereby granted for anyone to copy, forward, reproduce, and hand this prayer out in any manner whatsoever that honors Christ. www.joemckeever.com)

One thought on “Extra: A Prayer for Cleansing

  1. Dear Bro. Joe,

    I have been there……I will be praying for you. God speed to you sir.

    In Christ’s love,

    Bro. John

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