Spiritual Devotional
by Pastor Dexter Sanders
Do it for Me Right
By Pastor Dexter Sanders
Psalm 51:12 (NKJV)
“Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, And uphold me by Your generous Spirit.”
There are prayers, and then there are prayers. We all send up prayers to God that include an array of requests from send me a wife, to help me win the lottery. That type of prayers comes from our desire to have the things we want.
Then there are the type of prayers that are not centered on the things we want but rather the things that we need. These prayers are usually generated by severe heartache, pain or suffering. During these hours of pain, we pray that God would heal, deliver, or save us. I found myself in such a situation while struggling with drug addiction. My prayers were so intense that I asked God to do it for me without hesitation. To do it for me without delay. To do it for me right now!
In Psalm 51, we find such a prayer starting at verse 10, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me.” The Scripture says create in me a clean heart. This request is coming from someone who understands that his heart is dirty. You and I could learn a lot from this person, simply because if we understand that our hearts are dirty, we would appreciate the power that Jesus Christ has to clean them up.
The second part of that verse says, “And renew a steadfast spirit within me.” Renew means to make new again; steadfast means unwavering or committed. So the Psalmist is asking God to give him a clean heart but also to make new his spirit of commitment to Him.
Psalm 51:11 continues, “Do not cast me away from Your presence, And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.” This is the prayer of all prayers. When we finally understand our need for God in our lives, these words become so significant, “Do not cast me out, and please do not take your spirit away from me.”
Finally, in our key Scripture we read, “Restore to me the joy of Your salvation….” Restore means return me to what I used to be before I came into this world; back to what I was when I was a spirit with you without this nasty flesh.
The second part of that verse says, “And uphold me by Your generous Spirit.” This simply means, “Lord, would you just keep on blessing me, despite the sinful man that I am? Lord, would you keep on blessing me according to Your generous Spirit? If you ever want to pray a prayer that God will hear, pray this prayer to God, “Do it for me right now!”