Purification Is Vital

January 31, 2021

Blessed are the pure in heart, For they shall see God.

~Matthew 5:8~

The definition of the word pure is to be free from anything of a different, inferior, or contaminating kind; unmixed with any other matter such as dirt, dust or grime. Think of purified water; those of us who drink it do not wish it to be tainted with anything of the sort. We need for it to be completely pure, so that it will be pleasant to our bodies. Would you ever desire to drink water that had been tainted? Why should we think the Lord to desire us to be anything other then pure? In fact, here Jesus tells us that those who are pure in heart will see God. Those who have an untainted heart will inherit the kingdom. The heart is the main source of our will. If we, being evil in our heart desire to fulfill what we please we will not live according to how God tells us to and we may just lose out on our inheritance; "Let none of you think evil in your heart against your neighbor; And do not love a false oath. For all these are things that I hate,’ Says the Lord .” (Zechariah 8:17)

When we make a vow to follow the Lord, we must make it with our whole heart or it will be none other then words. Our hearts will not be pure. How do we make ourselves pure? Jesus says He has a type of water that will cause us to never go thristy, His truth, His word will wash us and make us pure the more we abide in it; "that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word." (Ephesians 5:26)

Sanctification sets us apart from the world, it causes us to become one with God and allows our hearts to become more aligned to His desires rather then our own. This is a purification method the Lord does for us. The more we dive into the word of God each day, the more we fill ourselves with His truth and our hearts will continue to be purified in Christ. Whatever we take into our eyes and ears will eventually seep into our hearts.

"Keep your heart with all diligence, For out of it spring the issues of life."

(Proverbs 4:23)

We must be very careful what we allow to seep into our heart. If we focus our day on listening to garbage on the news or radio. If we are reading books that talk of evil things or focus on the wrong kinds of emotion. If we rely on men for answers verses praying to Jesus and reading our bible everyday for truth. All of these very issues will begin to taint our hearts and out of it will spring issues of life rather than the fruits of the Spirit. God promises to give us a new heart; "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh." (Ezekiel 36:26)

We must care for this new heart in a way that will bring forth good fruit for His glory.

Jesus desires for us to be reborn; just as a child is to learn and obey his or her parents, after our rebirth we are to walk in obedience to Him, to fully commit ourself to Him; “But why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do the things which I say?" (Luke 6:46)

We cannot call Him Lord over our life without truely making Him Lord over our life. He will notice the difference.

It is our job to purify our heart each day. If we allow anything to come in and taint it, we will begin to speak exactly what our heart is holding onto and the Lord will not find it pleasing to His palette, just as the tainted water I mentioned as example, would be unpleasing to us. We cannot expect God to do everything for us. We cannot expect an easy way into the kingdom. It is a team effort between us and Jesus to endure to the end. No man in the bible ever had an easy way to God. There was always sacrifice, holiness, and righteous acts that pleased the Father. The wicked always saw consequence. We have an enemy who constantly works to divert our attention to evil devices in this world so that our hearts become tainted. He works hard each day to use tv, music, books and any type of idol to distract us from building our relationship to Christ. Most of us, even in the faith, may think "this is harmless, God will love me regardless." Yes He loves you, but remember God is Holy and sin is sin regardless, that has never changed. For satan knows if he can stunt our purification process or cause us to become tainted then we are at risk of pleasing God fully. The truth remains, there are consequences for our actions. If we are doing as we please and not repenting then we cannot receive mercy. "He who covers his sins will not prosper, But whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy."

(Proverbs 28:13)

We can say we follow the Lord all we want but are we truely distancing ourself from worldly possessions and even people for Him. Are we willing to sacrifice things we once enjoyed for Him? Are we focusing on His word alone as truth? Are we believing in God? Let us take a step back and look at ourselves under a spiritual microscope. Do we see any dust, dirt or grime that has crept in? Is there something that needs to be removed, strained or cleaned out? If so, we should do this now. Turn to Christ, and focus on purifying our hearts for Him. "A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things."

(Matthew 12:35)

Do we really want to bring forth evil or good?

We must be seeking the Lord for His righteousness to become more present in our lives. Have you ever noticed someone changing their ways just by hanging around a certain type of person over and over again? They begin to act like them, speak like them and mimic their ways almost entirely. If we want to live like Jesus then who do we need to spend our main time with? Thats right friends, Him! "Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me." (John 15:4)

We cannot expect to show Christ to the world around us if we are not truely spending all of our time getting to know Him and aligning our image to His. We must purify ourselves in Christ, not allow ourselves to become aligned to satan and his tactics of impurity. Do we want to truely see God and enter into the kingdom as righteous servants? If we do, we must first be pure in heart according to the Lord's word. We cannot just speak it, we must live it with our whole heart; "‘These people draw near to Me with their mouth, And honor Me with their lips, But their heart is far from Me." (Matthew 15:8)

Jesus sees the heart. Jesus notices impurities. Jesus can help us become pure. We must guard ourselves and allow for a purificiation process to take effect, for it is vital if we truely want to follow Christ.

Prayer:

Heavenly Father, thank you for Your word that washes me, cleanses me and purifies me as I go to it. I reach out to You, Lord to become pure in heart. Show me what it is I am doing that may be tainting my ability to come to You with purity. I want to completely align my spirit to Yours and increase my faith as I abide in You each day. Remind me when I become distracted by satans tactics and by the lusts of this world. I pray the Holy Spirit to pour out on me and I am willing to show Your glory on earth. Use me Father. Send me. Show me how I can become pure in heart so that I may see You. Lord, I put all my trust in You and not in the cares of this world. I praise You for putting Yourself in a vulnerable place for me as You walked this earth and I vow to do the same for You. In Your Glorious Name I pray, Jesus Christ. Amen.