“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”  1 John 1:9

For over three months I have been recovering from surgery. Until one month ago, there were many household tasks I was simply unable to perform due to a fair amount of immobility. While my patient and skillful husband did much of the work I usually do, I neither asked nor expected him to do what many women would call “deep cleaning.” (He probably doesn’t even notice those nooks and crannies that catch my eye!)

But as the calendar marches to spring and warmer weather, there is that inbuilt (and easily ignored!) urge to wash windows, dust hard-to-reach shelves, reorganize closets, etc. I want to do more than surface cleaning; I want,” in a sense” to purify the house.

Many Bible translations use the term “forgive” instead of  “purify” in the verse written by the Apostle John. The sense of purification is best described in the Amplified Version: (He will) forgive our sins [dismiss our lawlessness] and [continuously] cleanse us!

God is in the business of purification, continuous cleansing, around-the-clock, around-the-calendar spring cleaning as we submit ourselves to His gracious plan. He asks only that we recognize and agree with Him about the things (sin) we know are wrong; His grace goes on to purify us from all unrighteousness, even what is hidden in the nooks and crannies.

Loving God, I can hardly imagine grace that flows so freely that you would bow to my humanity, asking only that I confess what I know to be wrong. You then go on to continuously cleanse me from even those things I’m not yet aware.

by Marilyn Ehle
used by permission

FURTHER READING

Cleaning in the Corners

Spiritual Cleaning

Tiredness

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“Whoever believes in me as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within Him” John 7:38

Fresh clean water flowing from a mountain!  When was the last time you drank from a fresh mountain stream?  Or have you ever?

When I was a child, our family lived on a wonderful, scenic 64-acre dairy farm which had treed hills to explore and a creek running through it. During the summer, I would often go fishing for trout. A willow branch was my rod, a string, a cheap hook, earth worm for bait and a nut (from dad’s workshop) for a sinker was what I used.  No expensive fishing rod. If I grew thirsty while fishing, I would lean over and drink the water with cupped hands. Refreshing and good.

When Marvin and I bought our first property, we had a deep ravine around three sides of our house. Flowing from the ravine, in several places, were fresh water springs. Actually this is where a river had its beginning.

My husband dug a shallow well and captured the water from one of these springs– this is the water we drank.

Occasionally in fall and winter – our rainy season – the fallen leaves from the trees would block the path of the spring running into the well we would have to remove the rotting leaves and the flow toward the well would begin again.

Aren’t our lives like that sometimes? We have received Jesus Christ and the streams of new life, joy, peace, gentleness flow from within us because of the Holy Spirit. People are blessed when we cross their paths.

However, sometimes the source of our “Springs of Living Water” gets blocked with rotten leaves (sinful acts or attitudes), and they slow down or cut off the stream of Living Water coming out of our life.

You know, all we have to do to get that flow of Living Water flowing out of us again, is sincerely confess our sin (1 John 1:9), and by faith appropriate the fullness of His Spirit (Ephesians 5:18). Then the streams of Living Water will begin to flow again. Sin blocks the flow!

I encourage you to do this every time you contemplate a sinful act or attitude.  Someone once said, “I ‘fess them as I does them, I don’t bunch them.” Great way to live.

Father, thank You for living within us.   You are the source of the Living Water flowing out of us. May we always keep the flow free from any obstructions. Amen.

By Katherine Kehler
Used by Permission

Further Reading

•  Living Water for the Thirsty – by Charles Spurgeon

•   Fountain of Life – by Sylvia Gunter

•   Bible Studies

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Think about a time in your life when you experienced true grief.

We experience grief when we lose a cherished loved one.  We experience grief when we know we’ve badly hurt someone we love.  Or maybe grief comes from the loss of a dream.  Sometimes we grieve when we know we’ve been unable to reach someone whom we desperately want to help turn their life around.  There are many reasons we feel grief in our lives.

I want you to think about how it felt when you faced that grief in your life, the broken-hearted, gut wrenching sorrow in which your soul cried for release from the pain.

Do you know that when we sin we grieve the Holy Spirit?  The Bible says in Ephesians 4:30:

“And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.”

There are times when I’m really tempted to sin in which the Lord reminds me that if I do so, I will grieve his Holy Spirit.  At those times, if I really stop and think about how I felt during times of great distress and grief in my life, I realize that I don’t want to cause the Holy Spirit of God to experience grief because of my actions.  Let us not resist the Lord’s prompting to turn away from the temptation which so easily besets us.

Prayer: Merciful God, Abba Father, may I be ever mindful that when I’m tempted to sin, to do so would grieve your Holy Spirit.  Give me the strength to resist the lure of evil.  Help me to choose to do what is right in your sight and bring honor and glory to your name.

By Sherry Yarger
Used by Permission

Further Reading

•  Temptation – by Phil Ware

•  How Temptations Lose Their Power –  by Bethany Hayes

•   Dealing Wisely with Temptation – by Charles Stanley

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We’re all on pilgrimage with God the Father, the Son, and Holy Spirit. I do not want to miss the lessons of the journey or forget His words of intimate delight, wise counsel, and gentle correction.

God means what He says.
God is serious with us in the matter of complete obedience.  Ninety-eight per cent conformity to his will and his ways is not obedience. We want to say, “Cut us some slack, God,” but it costs not to obey him all the way. Remember Lot’s wife. Remember King Saul in the matter of the king of Amalek. If we compromise and treat God’s holy character lightly, we lose.

Only weakness will break strongholds.
God asks us to lead from weakness, not strength. God loves us too much to let us succeed in our own strength.  William Gurnall said, “We have embezzled his strength, and he calls an audit.” His name is I AM. I rest in the fact that He is. Without Him, I can do nothing, a big zero. God asks of us what He can do.

I try to live by grace, but unless God does a work of grace in me, I can’t.
I try to speak grace words, which are words of life, and only God is sufficient for that in me. I fully take all His love, but my life presents at best only snapshots of His grace.

God will not go any further than His children are willing to be pure.
Purity before God is the cutting edge. We must obey Him and not reserve the right to discard any part of His truth. We reject His holiness at our own peril and that of others in our sphere of influence. It is not just a personal issue. It also has consequences for those we will affect in this generation. King David sinned against the counsel of his closest adviser. It cost the whole nation of Israel thousands of lives (1 Chronicles 21). That is sobering. God says to us, “I can do all things. Will you repent of your willful ways and see My glory?”

God has been gracious to cover our ignorance.
God has been merciful up till now, but He may no longer cover us concerning what we are not ignorant of. Presumption will result in disaster. God is doing a new thing which will lead to more freedom and at the same time require greater accountability to Him. He has new directions for us and deeper levels for us with Him, if we have ears to hear and eyes to see Him and respond to Him. He wants new wine skins for a outpouring of His Spirit in this generation.

I must not listen to seducing voices.
Seducing voices will suggest we take the easy road, or take matters into our own hands by our own power, or follow the dramatic or sensational. We must give no ground to comfort, deception, or denial of reality. This will require a very fine-tuned antenna, homed in on God’s voice alone.

I have missed eternal moments that sneaked up on me when I was oblivious.
We often expect Jesus to come in the front door, and He comes in the back way and tries to tap us on the shoulder to turn around and see Him. I feel dull of hearing, about as sharp as a bowling ball much of the time, so it all has to be God. We know nothing but Him. We are clueless without Him. I am as weak as I have ever felt. I am exposed and vulnerable. I don’t want to miss God as He moves in power among His people.

I am passionate about ministering to God, tuning into His heart, honoring Him, receiving from Him.
The heart of Jesus is ravished for His bride. He is jealous for our affection. He will not share us with another love. He wants to captivate us for Himself as His beloved.

Get still with God in your favorite “Bethel,” your place of meeting with Him.

Let Him open up His heart to you personally, between you and Him.

Prayerfully reflect on your life in Christ. What is He saying to you? Let Him review the traces of His hand in your life. Ask Him to speak to you intimately and powerfully in a key of music you can hear.

By Sylvia Gunter
Used by Permission

Further Reading

• How to Pray

•  Prayer is Talking to God

•  Salvation Explained

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Thought

Don’t be molded by the world. Wow, isn’t that a tough one to obey. It’s a reminder that what we think is one of the places of greatest spiritual warfare. Sloppy thinking is more than sloppy, it’s dangerous because we are fed messages constantly that distort God’s truth and holy values. But rather than being incensed by the world acting like the world, let’s be transformed by renewing our minds and doing what Paul said he did — take every thought, every word, captive for Christ. We often think a tithe is giving ten percent of our money, but an even more vital tithe is giving ten percent of our totally undivided thought time to the things of God!

Prayer

O Lord, please guard my soul from pride, my heart from callousness, and my mind from too much focus on unimportant things and not enough on your things. Teach me in my heart what it means to be about my Father’s business, especially in the world of my thoughts! In the name of Jesus, my greatest example of one who knew and lived your will, I pray. Amen.

By Phil Ware
From https://www.heartlight.org
– used by permission

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“To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.� 1 Peter 2:21

It was a beautiful watch, one of the top brands. I loved wearing it and it always gave the right time. I priced one in a jewelry store at more than $5,000. But after wearing it for nearly a year, the stem broke and I threw the beautiful watch in the trash. Now, you might ask, why would I throw away such a valuable timepiece rather than getting it fixed. The answer is that it was a fake, one that I purchased for $25 at a flea market in Beijing. The watch gave every exterior evidence of being the real thing, but inside, it was a cheap imitation.

A lot of Christians are like that…. imitation Christians. “Oh, I believe Christ was our Great Example“. I always ask myself, ‘What would Jesus do?’ and then I try to do it.” Sorry, my friend, there’s no place in the New Testament that comments on following the example of Jesus to be saved or in any way confirms the doctrine of “salvation by imitation.”

The apostle Peter mentioned Christ (in 1 Peter 2:21) as an example who was sinless even under gross mistreatment and who entrusted Himself completely in His suffering to His Father. Peter continues, “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; for by his wounds you have been healed.” (1 Peter 2:24)

We are not saved by imitating Jesus. We are saved by surrendering our life to Him. The biggest problem with being saved by following Christ’s example is that we’ve already blown it. It’s awfully hard to imitate someone with a perfect record, especially when the only “passing grade” in that system is perfection.

Jesus is not only our example but He is also our substitute. He took the consequences of our sin upon Himself so that through faith in Him we might receive forgiveness and healing and abundant eternal life. Even if your concept is close, when you try to “be like Jesus” in your own strength, you are doomed to frustration. You can’t do it. It takes the power of the Holy Spirit to live the Christian life and that comes not from imitation, but from total surrender.

You must transfer your trust from your own “trying” to the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. You must divorce your notions of what you think Jesus would do, and accept the Scriptures as the standard for what you believe and do. And, put your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ who died on the cross and arose again from the dead, to be your only Savior and the King of your life.

Are you an “imitation Christian” or the real thing?
(a thought on life from John Grant )

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“For I will give the command, and I will shake the house of Israel among all the nations as grain is shaken in a sieve, and not a pebble will reach the ground.�  Amos 9:9

Every sifting comes by divine command and permission. Satan must ask before he can lay a finger on Job. In some sense our siftings are directly the work of heaven, for the text says, “I will sift the house of Israel.� (Amos 9:9)

Satan may hold the sieve, hoping to destroy the corn. But the overruling hand of the Master is accomplishing the purity of the grain by the very process which the enemy intended to be destructive. You, who are the precious, much sifted corn of the Lord’s floor, be comforted by the blessed fact that the Lord directs everything to His own glory, and to your eternal benefit.

The Lord Jesus will surely use the fan which is in His hand, and will divide the precious from the vile. All are not Israel that are of Israel. The heap on the barn floor is not clean food, and hence the sifting process must be performed. In the sieve true weight alone has power. Husks and chaff, being devoid of substance, must fly before the wind, and only solid corn will remain.

Observe the complete safety of the Lord’s wheat: Even the least grain has a promise of preservation. God Himself sifts, and therefore it is stern and terrible work. He sifts them in all places, “among all the nations�. He sifts them in the most effective manner, “like as corn is sifted in a sieve�. And yet during all this, not even the smallest, lightest, or most shriveled grain is permitted to fall to the ground. Every individual believer is precious in the sight of the Lord, and as a shepherd would not lose one sheep, and a jeweler will not lose one diamond, nor a mother one child, nor a man one limb of his body, nor will the Lord lose one of His redeemed people.

However insignificant we may sometimes feel, if we are the Lord’s, we can always rejoice that we are preserved in Christ Jesus.

Question: If you died today, would you go to heaven? How can you be sure?
https://thoughtsaboutgod.com/biblestudies/spiritfilledlife

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