T156 PNC - Personal Prayer Is Ruach HaKodesh — Pure Heart / New Words Each Time (3 segs)

Opening verse: 'Create in me a pure heart, O God' (Psalms 51:12). That which a person speaks between himself and his Creator — the private, personal words of prayer and conversation with God — is truly an aspect of the Holy Spirit (Ruach HaKodesh). This is not reserved for prophets and great sages; every person, speaking sincerely from the heart to God in whatever language and words come naturally, is engaging in a form of Ruach HaKodesh. The more genuine and personal the speech — the less formal and rehearsed — the more it partakes of this holy quality.

King David, whose spiritual stature was immensely great, took this principle and from it established the Book of Psalms — his personal outpourings to God became the eternal holy scripture of all Israel. Every person, according to his spiritual level, possesses this aspect of Ruach HaKodesh, as it is written: 'To You my heart has said' (Psalms 27:8). Rashi explains that 'To You' means: 'on Your behalf' — the heart speaks on behalf of God, directed entirely toward Him. This is the secret of genuine prayer: it is not the person speaking at God but with God, on God's behalf, the heart speaking the divine will itself.

As it is written: 'Everything that comes into fire — you shall pass through fire' (Numbers 31:23). Having purified the heart (creating the pure heart that was asked for in the opening verse), one merits to speak new words every time one draws near — words that are an aspect of Ruach HaKodesh. And so: 'Create in me a pure heart, O God' — and then the next phrase follows: 'And renew a steadfast spirit within me.' First, purity of heart; from that purity flows the renewal of spirit — new, fresh, holy speech every time, never stale or merely habitual. The person with a pure heart always has something new to say to God, because the divine is always new and always revealing Himself freshly.