Tag: Are You In Need of Cleansing?

¹³ When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?” ~ Matthew 16:13^NKJV

At the time of the Greeks, this area was known for Pan worship. Apparently, the people did detestable things in their worship of Pan, like religious prostitution and even having sex with goats in Pan’s honor. Apparently, they believed that the gods would go to the underworld for the winter through the caves there in the area and immerge again during the spring.

Well, Jesus and His disciples were passing through the area during the time of Spring; God was literally among man. Now, Jesus’ death was close at hand. In just a little while, He would die the horrific death to pay for the sins of the whole world.

We live in a world where any religion is more acceptable than Christianity. Sexual immorality is rampant; hate is being called love, while love is being called hate. The signs of the time indicate that Jesus’ return is close at hand, and Jesus is still asking, “Who Do Men Say That I am?”

In other words, you could say this is now our spring. This is our chance to declare who Jesus is. It’s our chance to decide where you will spend eternity. You have to make a choice. You have to declare who Jesus is and make a stand in these last and final days before He comes back and winter takes place once again. We only have now to choose, don’t miss it, and have to endure winter without the one true God; choose now before it’s too late.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Choose in the Spring.

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⁸ The Lord detests the sacrifice of the wicked, but He delights in the prayers of the upright. ~ Proverbs 15:8^NLT

In our world today, we love to say that God loves everybody or that Jesus loves everybody as an excuse for us to live in sin, but look at what Scripture says. The LORD detests the sacrifice of the wicked. Who are the wicked? Any who don’t dwell in His love. So, that means any who dwells in sin over dwelling in righteousness. Look at how Paul puts it:

¹⁹ Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, ²⁰ idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, ²¹ envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. ²² But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

Galatians 5:19-23

We can’t live however we want and expect to be okay with God because He loves us. Sure He loves everyone, but we have to dwell in His love. We have to draw a line in the sand and set our minds on the things of God. I’m not saying we fall down or give in to temptation. I’m saying we can’t just give up the good fight. We have to seek God daily through prayer, reading and meditating on His Word, and worship. We have to strengthen our spirits by fasting and denying our flesh, that we might one day hear, ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant, enter in.’

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Watch How You Live.

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¹ For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near. ² Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, since the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have any consciousness of sins? ³ But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. ⁴ For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. ~ Hebrews 10:1-4^ESV

In Christ, there should no longer be a reminder of sin. Not that you forget your past sins completely, for Jesus told Peter that when you fall, get back up and strengthen your brother. How could Peter strengthen his brother, who’s struggling, if he doesn’t even remember that he once sinned? No, instead, this verse is saying that in Christ, there is no more condemnation.

Our sins have been forgiven and have been thrown into the sea of forgetfulness. They’ve been blotted out of the books and removed from the mind of God. We’ve been forgiven. There’s no more need for shame and regret in Christ because that’s no longer who you are. You are a new creation in Christ Jesus. You are a whole new person. You’re now being hand-molded by the creator Himself. You’re being transformed by the Spirit of God. You’ve been redeemed, so live as the redeemed. Think as the redeemed. Believe that you are redeemed.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Let Go of The Past.

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¹⁸ Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of His inheritance? He does not retain His anger forever, because He delights in steadfast love. ~ Micah 7:18^ESV

There are those who look at the Bible and say that the God of the Old Testament and the God of the New Testament can’t be the same God. They say the God of the Old Testament is a God of blood and war, while the God of the New Testament is a God of peace and love. But they look with veiled eyes. From before man ever sinned, God formed a plan for our redemption. Before the earth was formed and the heavens were stretched out, God was prepared to die for His creation.

There was a time before the Law when evil reigned freely; then, out of His mercy, God gave us the Law. The Law was a shadow of the good things to come, but He knew that the World wasn’t ready for those good things yet, so He only gave us a glimpse. Then 2000 years ago, at the perfect time, God got off of His Throne, set aside His Godliness, and took the form of a man to save the very people that were going to kill Him. God didn’t change; humanity did. We became more and more evil. We ran farther and farther away from Him. We dove deeper and deeper into darkness until our hearts grew so hard that God couldn’t even reach us.

God’s love for us is unlike anything we can ever understand or comprehend. When we look at God, we look at Him how we want to look at Him. Some see Him as an evil, malevolent dictator. Others as a white-bearded old man in the sky. Others see Him as a fairy tale for children. We’re blinded by our own perceptions and biases of who God is.

God is love. That doesn’t mean He won’t bring judgment or punishment. It means that He will do everything He can to redeem you from punishment, except take away your free will to accept it. If you want to know who God truly is, it all starts with seeking Him. Those who seek Him will find Him when they seek Him with all of their heart.

LORD God, please forgive me for looking at You through tainted eyes. Please erase the false narrative I have created for You and replace it with who You are. Show me Your love that I might in return love You, for we don’t love first, but we love because You first loved us. Help me to love You the way You deserve. Please guide me as I run the race You have set before me. Please help me to live my life for You so that others may see You in me. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

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¹⁴ For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, ¹⁵ but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. ~ Matthew 6:14-15^ESV

Sometimes it’s easy to say that this only has one meaning, forgive all people who have done you wrong. But what if that’s not the only purpose of this verse? When we sin, we are hurting ourselves. In fact, Paul even said in his letter to the Corinthians that the sin of sexual immorality is a sin against one’s own body.

Here’s what I’m getting at, if you can’t forgive yourself, how can God forgive you? There’re things in our past that we feel are too horrible for God to forgive. Sometimes we completely run the other direction away from God because we don’t feel good enough to be forgiven. Sometimes we come to God, but we don’t give Him everything, and the past just eats us up inside. According to Jesus, both of these lead to the same place. When we can’t forgive ourselves, we are now, in a sense, rejecting God’s forgiveness because we are now saying we know better than God. We’re saying that His blood can’t wash us clean. We’re saying He’s not all-powerful. We’re saying He’s not enough for us. We don’t mean to say these things but refusing to forgive ourselves is just that. It’s putting your past regrets above God’s love.

No one’s too dirty to be cleaned. No one’s too wretched to receive grace. And no one’s too wicked to be forgiven. God Almighty formed you in your mother’s womb. He knows everything about you, including the number of hairs on your head. He has a great plan for your life. Don’t let your past regrets keep you from the future He has planned for you.

Dear Heavenly Father, please forgive me for not forgiving myself. Please lift this heavy burden of shame and regret from my shoulders. Please show me who you see when you look at me. Show me who I am in You. Help me to not just know Scriptures of redemption and love but help me to believe them and put them into action. Help me to see and live in Your good and perfect will. In the name of Jesus, I pray, amen.

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²⁰ They speak against You with malicious intent; Your enemies take Your name in vain. ~ Psalms 139:20

As Christians, we don’t see ourselves as people who take the LORD’s name in vain, but what if we did and we didn’t even realize it? When bad things happen to us, do we blame God? Do we accuse God of not being there for us or causing our tribulation or temptation? These are all ways that we take His name in vain. If we say God has done something, then are we not using His name? And if that is using His name, then wouldn’t saying God has done something He has not done be taking His name in vain?

We’ve all blamed God for something that has gone wrong in our life or maybe a temptation that feels too strong for us to overcome, but we don’t have to feel shame or condemnation. Our God holds no condemnation for those who humble themselves before Him and change their ways. This offense isn’t too painful for God to forgive. He’s waiting for you to repent that He might take you to the next level.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Correctly Use His Name.

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¹³ But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, ¹⁴ for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says, “Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” ~ Ephesians 5:13-14

Sin thrives in darkness. That’s where it grows and multiplies. The darkness is its home. In order to remove or overcome sin, we have to place it in the light at the feet of Jesus. In other words, we have to pray about it. We can’t keep trying to battle it on our own because we’ll get nowhere. We can’t overcome on our own, and the sad part is, deep down, we all know it.

We all know that we can’t overcome our sin on our own, yet we are determined to try to keep it from God and do it on our own. Why? Could it be because we don’t truly wanna let it go? Darkness, oftentimes, is like false security. For whatever reason, when we’re afraid at night, we feel safer under the covers in our bed. Yet that isn’t providing any actual safety. That’s what the darkness is for us. We know that pretending our sin isn’t there or ‘trying’ to clean ourselves alone isn’t going to actually set us free, yet we still do it for the false sense of security. We’ve become like vampires.

Imagine this; vampires are literally the walking dead that avoid the sun because it burns them, so they hide from it. What if they avoid the sun because it’s killing the dead in them so that they might live again. But they avoid it because it hurts to go through. That’s how the darkness and sin keep us trapped. It lies to us, telling us that we can either overcome it on our own or hide it from God so that we never venture into the light. Then it tells us that we’ll die if we go into the light. If we bring this before the LORD, it’ll be a rough road like never before. It’ll be like one going through withdrawals, and even if you make it, no one will ever accept that you’ve changed. They’ll never see you for anything other than your past; you’ll still be dead to them.

But the Devil is a liar. Yes, walking into the light won’t be easy. Overcoming sin is a daily struggle that some days feels like more than you can take, but with each moment you stay in the light of Jesus, the more the dead person that you once were, burns off and the new person God is molding you into shines through. It’s not gonna be easy, and it won’t happen overnight, but hold on to God, and you will overcome through Christ Jesus.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Burn Off Your Dead Man.

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¹² For the Lord corrects those He loves, just as a father corrects a child in whom he delights. ~ Proverbs 3:12

Correction is a process that the majority of us don’t look forward to. We don’t like to know that we’re doing something wrong, especially if it’s something we like. It feels almost like a personal attack when we’re corrected, but then we miss why we’re being corrected. I’ve heard so many people that say, ‘If you’re not God and this isn’t Judgment Day, you have no right to judge me.’ Like the majority of people, I’m not a fan of correction, but I’d much rather know that I’m doing something wrong so I can correct it before Judgment Day comes when it’ll be too late to do anything about it.

Something that we have to understand is that correction isn’t a personal attack on the person getting corrected; it’s a chance given to us to better ourselves before it’s too late. What if someone is correcting us out of hate instead of love? Don’t let someone’s delivery stop you from growing. If someone corrects you accurately, but they do it hatefully, let God deal with their delivery, and you worry about you. That’s not an easy task, but it is a possible one. The moment we stop worrying about our own pride is the moment that other people’s words and judgments won’t tear us down. When we change our focus to God instead of ourselves, these minimal issues don’t seem so big.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Humble Yourself Before Judgment Day.

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⁵ If you really change your ways and your actions and deal with each other justly, ⁶ if you do not oppress the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow and do not shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not follow other gods to your own harm, ⁷ then I will let you live in this place, in the land I gave your ancestors for ever and ever. ~ Jeremiah 7:5-7

First things first. God wants us all to change. But to change for the better. He wants us to be just and fair. Not mean and stingy. Not just to our loved ones, but even to the stranger who isn’t like us. He wants us to show no partiality.

As Christians, we don’t focus on race, ethnicity, nationality, political views, religious views, or anything else that the world tries to divide us with. We love because He first loved us and taught us how to live and love. He told us, do not shed innocent blood (which includes sacrificing our own children), and do not follow other gods (knowingly or unknowingly).

What I mean is this: do not participate in things that are used in the worship of other gods, such as abortion (which is child sacrifice) and yoga (which is synonymous with Eastern religious worship), whether some people accept it or not.

God said, if you do these things (love all people) and keep away from the others (sin and temptation), you will live in His promise. So, I ask you, do you want to live in God’s promises? Of course you do. We all do.

If so, then, today, make a commitment to live in obedience and stay away from rebellion and blatant sin. Dear heavenly Father, I come in reverence seeking Your face and calling upon Your Name. Please forgive me and help me to live my life according to Your great expectations You have made. Thank You, LORD Jesus, for it is in Your name we pray, amen.

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²² Repent of this wickedness and pray to the Lord in the hope that He may forgive you for having such a thought in your heart. ~ Acts 8:22^NIV

Ever heard of the saying, it’s the thought that counts? Well, in this case, when the thinker doesn’t act upon his evil thought, and he doesn’t even allow it to escape his lips. The thought that he allows himself to ponder and build a fantasy from is a transgression against God.

Now, when a thought enters your mind in the form of a temptation, cast it down. Don’t let evil thoughts give birth in your mind. Don’t let temptation infiltrate your imagination. All of our actions stem from our thoughts, so we must control them. We must bring them into submission because our thoughts don’t control us; we control our thoughts.

The LORD, our God, won’t hold anyone guiltless that is consumed by their thoughts. Why? Because it’s a matter of the heart. God wants a pure heart and clean hands so that we might not be a slave to the world. Whom the Son sets free is free indeed, for where the Spirit of the LORD is, there is freedom.

Dear heavenly Father, forgive me from my ungodly thoughts and help me to have pure, holy thoughts. Thoughts of love and kindness. Thank You for cleansing me. In Jesus’ name, amen.

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