17/02/2014 - THE RIGHT CLEANLINESS

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Then the Lord said to him, “Now you Pharisees make the outside of the cup and dish clean, but your inward part is full of greed and wickedness.” Luke 11:39

Nobody likes to live in the dirt, but some people have the worst filth inside of them. One of the works that the Word of God does in our lives is to give us dignity to live as the Lord Jesus lived. However, unfortunately, most people have not yet wakened up for this. Even the people that attend our services have not yet noticed the fact that the same treatment that the Father gave to Jesus is given to us.

The Almighty said, through his prophet Hosea, that His people were being destroyed because they lacked knowledge (Ho. 4:6). I make all effort to seek direction from the Lord so that the saved ones may acquire the knowledge they need. However, not everyone acts in the same manner. Sometimes, I am very saddened to hear that some people, who should give an example of integrity and of serving God with a true heart, have fallen into the enemy’s lies.

What is the use of cleaning the outside of the cup and the plate if the inward part is full of filth? True cleanliness begins inside the soul, with a total and true surrender to the Spirit of the Lord. You can’t desire what is sinful, being led by temptations, and at the same time wear beautiful outer garments. The spiritual world does not look to the exterior, but to what a person truly is in his essence.

Whoever practices sin or admits it on his heart is – spiritually speaking – as dirty or dirtier than the filthiest garbage in this world. The worst garbage is spiritual, for it separates us from God and makes us vulnerable to the entrance of unclean spirits. Only those who are truly washed by the blood of Jesus, sanctified on the Word of God, and regenerated by the Holy Spirit can please the Lord. He who was gone through this process will be given the desires of his heart (Ps. 37:4).

The school of the Pharisees has not yet been closed, and probably it never will. Its destruction will happen in the final consummation, when everything is on fire. Then there will be no more time for any of its students to repent. Look how your life is like and if you have been victorious in your walk with Christ. Never allow the demon of falsehood, deceit, or any other demon to find a place to act in your life.

In Canaan, only the lazy would get hungry, for the Land the God led his people to live in flowed with milk and honey. On the Gospel, the true Land of the Promise, only those who do not trust in the Lord are powerless. It is unbelievable that a person who believes in the Lord may live in sin and defeat. Wake up! You were chosen to be victorious.

In Christ, with love,

R. R. Soares