100% Pure

1 Timothy 5:22  “...keep yourself pure”

The fight for purity in a world that pursues promiscuity is something every Christian needs to war for. We live in a sexualised culture and it is critical that we have a determination to keep ourselves pure before God. God created sex to be enjoyed in a loving, covenant, marriage relationship. Sexual activity outside of that is sin and has the potential to damage and hurt many people. So what can we do to keep ourselves pure before God?

Pure Devotion

1 Corinthians 11:3 But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ.

Pure devotion to God can’t be over emphasised in our success in walking in purity. Without this firmly established in a believer’s life then the task of overcoming sexual sin and all other sin for that matter becomes significantly more difficult. For people who struggle in this area the answer is not necessarily to try harder. Effort on our behalf is needed but many people who struggle with sexual temptation and sin are usually trying harder than other people who walk in purity. The answer is more of Jesus rather than more human effort. Build your relationship with Him by committing yourself to His Word and in prayer. Remember, if we had the ability to overcome sin by ourselves then Jesus would not have needed to come and live a sinless life and die on the cross for our sins. So draw closer to Jesus in pure devotion and ask for His help and grace to overcome and walk in purity. Jesus knows how to deal with and defeat sin and He wants to help you as well.

Purity Stance

Ephesians 5:3 But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people.

After establishing pure devotion we need to develop a purity stance based on what God says and not the world. If we don’t have a stance or standard that we are asking God to help us to achieve then we will fall at every temptation.  God’s standard is “not even a hint” which mean not even a whisper of sexual immorality. So when answering the question ‘How far can I go with someone I am not married to’ the answer is ‘not even a hint’. 1 Timothy 5:2 tells us to treat “older women as mothers, and younger women as sisters, with absolute purity.” It is fair to say that most people would not go very far sexually with someone that they are closely related to and the only time that we are to consider someone other than a brother or a sister is in a marriage relationship.

 Personal Purifier

Galatians 6:7-8 Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.

What we allow in our lives influences our thoughts and in turn directs our actions. If we blindly watch anything on television, listen to any music or expose ourselves to sexually explicit material then we are sowing things into our lives that, if left unchecked, cause destruction. Monitoring what you sow into your life is incredibly important. Get into a habit of critiquing the things you watch, listen to and meditate on. Do they help you follow after Jesus or do they encourage or promote sinning against Him? Sow seeds of purity so that when sexual temptation comes you are strong to defeat it.

Flee from Sexual immorality

1 Corinthians 6:18 - Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body.

RUN! Make a decision to flee when you find yourself in sexually immoral situations. If you know beforehand what you will do in situations it will become easier to get out of them. When Potiphar’s wife grabbed Joseph by his clothes and told him to come to bed with her he immediately ran! (Genesis 39:6-12) Don’t try and stay and reason, or try to convince yourself it’s not that bad. Flee and get out of whatever situation it is.

Impossible Acts

At the outset of the launch of the church in the Book of Acts we see some important things established that are not just relevant for us today but critical if we want to be successful in our church and personal lives. They set the platform for an action packed book full of impossible things occurring because of the incredible power of the Holy Spirit unleashed in The Church. Here are some important things that God wants to be a part of His church today

 Jesus is central

In the first 11 verses of Acts 1 we are left under no misunderstanding about who and what the church is all about, and its mission. Jesus is mentioned or quoted throughout these verses, emphasising that the church and this Christian walk is all about Him. He needs to be central to all we do as a church as well as our individual lives.

When talking to His disciples in Matthew 16:13-20 about the foundation of the Church, Jesus wanted to be very clear about who He was and what He was about. He asked the question “Who do you say I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” Jesus then declared that on this confession of faith He would build His church. Is our response to this question the same as Peter? Is He the saviour of the world (Messiah) and divine, or just some anointed teacher or prophet? Jesus is worthy of us following Him as both Lord and saviour because of the work He did on the cross.

The Holy Spirit empowers the believer to do the impossible.

Acts 4:30, 31 “...Stretch out your hand to heal and perform signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus.”After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.

One of the greatest promises in the Bible is found at the beginning of Acts. Jesus ascended to Heaven but He never left us alone to fulfil His mission by ourselves. He promised to send us a helper. That helper was The Holy Spirit. In fact The Holy spirit was so important to the success of the church that Jesus ‘commanded’ them to wait in Jerusalem until they were baptised in the Holy Spirit! Jesus Himself only stepped into his public ministry moving in the impossible after He was filled with the Holy Spirit (Luke 3:21, 22). If we as His Church want to live and move in the impossible like Jesus and the early Church then we too must have the power of the Holy Spirit flowing through our lives.

Power to be a witness

Acts 1:8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

The primary reason for God giving us the Holy Spirit was for the lost! Jesus is so concerned for lost people that He told the disciples that The Holy Spirit will give us power to be effective witnesses as we share the love and saving power of Jesus. Our effectiveness in sharing the gospel increases significantly with the power and anointing of the Holy Spirit! The more we have the Holy Spirit in our lives the more we will want to share our faith with people because that is at the very heart beat of Jesus and of utmost importance. Remember that God wants to empower you to do that which is impossible through the Holy Spirit, so don’t shy away from asking the God of the impossible to make things possible.