Psalm 51:1-4,7-8,10-13 -
Have mercy upon me, O God, According to Your lovingkindness; According to the multitude of Your tender mercies, Blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, And cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions, And my sin is always before me. Against You, You only, have I sinned, And done this evil in Your sight— That You may be found just when You speak, And blameless when You judge.
Against You, You only, have I sinned, and done this evil in Your sight—that You may be found just when You speak, and blameless when You judge.
Against You, You only, have I sinned, and done this evil in Your sight—that You may be found just when You speak, and blameless when You judge.
Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
Make me hear joy and gladness, that the bones You have broken may rejoice.
Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
Do not cast me away from Your presence, and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, and uphold me by Your generous Spirit.
Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, and sinners shall be converted to You.
I've been deep cleaning our house...purging. Every nook and cranny. Getting rid of things we no longer need, use or even notice anymore. When I'm done with phase one I may go through again. I can't help think not only am I purging in the natural but purging spiritually. At least I hope so. So I've been praying about this, seeking God. Whatever you need me to purge.
In the midst of all this some other amazing things are transpiring. New friendships developing, where these people also are determined to go deeper with God; old friendships being renewed; a sense of acceptance for me taking place. I sat back today and thanked God for whatever He is doing. Has the purging begun in some small way within me?! If so, keep it up. If necessary, dig deeper.
This should be the cry of our hearts, that God be with us as we "go." Moses knew he could do nothing without God's presence. So should we.
When we acknowledge our sin is ever before us and that we need His blood to cleanse us, we have started the process to salvation through Christ alone. He will show us what needs to go in our lives...and yet when it goes it's like a weight lifted...and what is gone is filled with things above.
A couple weeks ago a guest pastor left us with the words from scripture: Show me Your way, God. Now therefore, I pray, if I have found grace in Your sight, show me now Your way, that I may know You and that I may find grace in Your sight. ...” And He said, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” Then he said to Him, “If Your Presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here." (Exodus 33:13-15)
So I've searched purging scriptures. God shows us what happens when we purge ourselves of this earthly life. I looked up some definitions of purge in Strong's Concordance. Briefly: purify, cleanse, reconciliation; to purify from uncleanliness. But this one says it all: to lose oneself, wander from the way. This is what man does. We have all strayed from God, or better yet, wandered from the Way who is Jesus.
If we give up the earthly treasures, not that we must do with nothing at all, but realize that things don't matter...it's just stuff...and realize He is all we need, He will give us what is good. He will work to purge us of all unrighteousness. When we can trust He is all we need we will walk in step with Him. When He says go, we go. When He says speak, we speak. When He says stop, we stop. This is doing His will. It is seeing and doing life God's way, which is good. For whoever does the will of God is My brother and My sister and mother. (Mark 3:35)
I've been deep cleaning our house...purging. Every nook and cranny. Getting rid of things we no longer need, use or even notice anymore. When I'm done with phase one I may go through again. I can't help think not only am I purging in the natural but purging spiritually. At least I hope so. So I've been praying about this, seeking God. Whatever you need me to purge.
In the midst of all this some other amazing things are transpiring. New friendships developing, where these people also are determined to go deeper with God; old friendships being renewed; a sense of acceptance for me taking place. I sat back today and thanked God for whatever He is doing. Has the purging begun in some small way within me?! If so, keep it up. If necessary, dig deeper.
This should be the cry of our hearts, that God be with us as we "go." Moses knew he could do nothing without God's presence. So should we.
When we acknowledge our sin is ever before us and that we need His blood to cleanse us, we have started the process to salvation through Christ alone. He will show us what needs to go in our lives...and yet when it goes it's like a weight lifted...and what is gone is filled with things above.
A couple weeks ago a guest pastor left us with the words from scripture: Show me Your way, God. Now therefore, I pray, if I have found grace in Your sight, show me now Your way, that I may know You and that I may find grace in Your sight. ...” And He said, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” Then he said to Him, “If Your Presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here." (Exodus 33:13-15)
So I've searched purging scriptures. God shows us what happens when we purge ourselves of this earthly life. I looked up some definitions of purge in Strong's Concordance. Briefly: purify, cleanse, reconciliation; to purify from uncleanliness. But this one says it all: to lose oneself, wander from the way. This is what man does. We have all strayed from God, or better yet, wandered from the Way who is Jesus.
If we give up the earthly treasures, not that we must do with nothing at all, but realize that things don't matter...it's just stuff...and realize He is all we need, He will give us what is good. He will work to purge us of all unrighteousness. When we can trust He is all we need we will walk in step with Him. When He says go, we go. When He says speak, we speak. When He says stop, we stop. This is doing His will. It is seeing and doing life God's way, which is good. For whoever does the will of God is My brother and My sister and mother. (Mark 3:35)
If we do things His way we are blessed with the things that matter, especially eternal life. In Numbers 9 it tells how the children of Israel would get up and go when God in the form of a cloud or fire moved. He was their covering and light to their path. They rested when God commanded it; they went when He commanded it. And they were taken care of. They did not have to worry about each day as long as they followed Him. Today we want to do our own thing. Some of those own things are fine. Some are not. Some God will honor. Some He will not.
We purge ourselves to see Him more clearly. To have hearts and minds able to hear from Him. To think on those things that are pure and just. To be able to be used by Him in any circumstance. I want that! This is what He would want from us. Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, and sinners shall be converted to You.
Total communion with Him. He wants all of us. Only good comes from that. The world's idea of what is good is not the same. It is self-motivated, not God-motivated. Psalm 51 tells us our sin is ever before us and we need His cleansing. We are to ask Him to search our hearts and purify them.
One of the purging scriptures that hit hard was: Blows that hurt cleanse away evil, as do stripes the inner depths of the heart. (Proverbs 20:30) I think of the blows and stripes Jesus took to His body for our sins. They cleansed away evil. He asks us to purge ourselves as well. And this verse: But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we
have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. (1John 1:7) We start out by receiving Christ and let Him work throughout our lives to cleanse us.
have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. (1John 1:7) We start out by receiving Christ and let Him work throughout our lives to cleanse us.
Purging is good, that only that which is really necessary remains. Anything more than what is necessary is just stuff. Will we have bare minimum? Probably not. My flesh still gets in the way. But my spiritual house, I pray, will be uncluttered, day by day, leaving room only for what is pure and just, true and noble, admirable and lovely in His eyes.
2Timothy 2:20-22 - But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay, some for honor and some for dishonor. Therefore if anyone cleanses himself from the latter, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified and useful for the Master, prepared for every good work.
Flee also youthful lusts; but pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.
Flee also youthful lusts; but pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.
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