Time To Clean Up!

This is culled from W.D. Favour's post. I think it will bless you too.
Here’s the text from a 3-part teaching I gave over the weekend on the subject of holiness and purity as we continue on our 40 day’s of fasting and prayers. It is a very rich spiritual resource for personal meditations as well as for use in group bible studies and retreats.

1. Turn from your evil ways!
Bible Reference:
Jonah 3:5-10
"The Ninevites believed God. They declared a fast, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth. When the news reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his royal robes, covered himself with sackcloth and sat down in the dust.
"Then he issued a proclamation in Nineveh: "By the decree of the king and his nobles: Do not let any man or beast, herd or flock, taste anything; do not let them eat or drink. But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth. Let everyone call urgently on God. Let them give up their evil ways and their violence. Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish".
When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he had compassion and did not bring upon them the destruction he had threatened."
I’d like you to observe that it was not just their fasting that moved God, but the fact that they also turned from their evil ways. For your fasting and praying to be acceptable to God, you must turn away from those things that are against the ways of the LORD. It’s not just enough to fast and pray. We must turn from our evil ways if we intend to see the LORD’s compassion.

2. Spiritual and moral cleansing
In fact, one of the most important thing you must do during any fast, particularly lengthy ones, is to review your life in the light of the commandments of God.
Bible Reference:
Psalms 139:23-24
"Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting."
A season of fasting is a time for soul searching, repentance, contrition, and thorough spiritual and moral cleansing.
Those relationships that are opposed to His ways and commandments must be forsaken.
Those behaviours that contravene His laws must be repented of and rejected.
Every weight that hinders your peace with God must be thrown off. Every besetting sin must be put off.
Stop meddling with unclean things. Stop defiling yourself. Stop sinning against God.
Speak the truth from your heart and deceive no more. Put all lies and falsehood away from your life.
Repent and turn from impurities and every immorality and lust.
Repentance is the surest and fastest key to restoration. But it must be genuine, sincere, and total.
Our God is gracious and compassionate. He is slow to anger and abounding in love. If you return in sincere humility and contrition, He will relent from sending calamity.
Practical and abiding holiness and moral purity should be a major goal of every fasting season of yours.

3. Make every effort to be holy
Bible Reference:
Hebrews 12:14
"Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord."
Let me repeat that last line: without holiness no one will see the Lord.
To see God means to enjoy fellowship with Him, as well as to experience His power and glory. So, holiness is a major condition for intimacy with God, and for supernatural manifestations.
Holiness was the major reason the level of intimacy that Jesus enjoyed with His Father and the level of supernatural manifestations He commanded while on earth.
Bible References:
John 8:46; Hebrews 4:15
"Can any of you prove me guilty of sin? If I am telling the truth, why don’t you believe me?" (John 8:46).
"For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are- yet was without sin." (Hebrews 4:15).
His life on earth was a testimony of a stainless spiritual and moral purity. That was why He enjoyed an unparalleled height of supernatural glory while walking on this earth.
And you and I have been called to walk with God as He did, for as He is so are we in this world.
"Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world." (1 John 4:17).
For this reason we must make every effort to be holy.

4. Depart from iniquity
Bible Reference
2 Timothy 2:19
"Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity."
As Christians, and particular praying and fasting ones, it is our personal responsibility to proactively and reactively move away from any possibility of spiritual and moral defilement. You and I can’t afford to be calling on the name of the Lord and still be toying with sin. The consequences are just too grave and devastating.

5. Cleanse yourself
Bible Reference:
2 Timothy 2:20-21
"In a large house there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay; some are for noble purposes and some for ignoble. If a man cleanses himself from the latter, he will be an instrument for noble purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work."
The issue of spiritual and moral purity is not something you can afford to leave to chance. It’s not a matter for wishing either. It is your duty to cleanse yourself. And this is one of the major reasons God introduced the mystery of fasting, mourning, and sackcloth.
A time of fasting should include quality sessions devoted to humble contrition for, confession of, and repentance from known and unknown sins.
Practical and abiding spiritual and moral purity should be a major goal of every fasting season of yours.

6. Let go of your worthless idols
Bible Reference:
Jonah 2:8
"Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs."
Imagine the grace that could be yours if only you’d stop clinging to worthless idols and holding on to empty distractions.
How far have your idols brought you; those things in which you so shamelessly lean on?
Is it not yet time to return to the LORD? Are you not yet tired of your backslidings and frustrations? Aren’t you yet weary of your sins and hypocrisies?
Return and He will have mercy upon you. Call upon Him and He will answer you. Repent and He will restore you.
But if not, behold the sword of His wrath lies at your door step to cut you off from your place. And none shall be able to deliver you from the coming wrath.
Turn to Him now while His mercy is still extended to you.
Let go! Let go!
Let go of your worthless idols.
Cling to them no more.
Lift up your eyes and look to your Maker; look to your Heavenly Father only.

The Dynamism of Knowledge

Contradictions are beautiful; as a matter of fact, I prefer them to conclusions. Conclusions tend to restrict and choke the freedom of individuals to think for themselves. Contradictions on the other hand allow the mind and spirit to roam freely and question everything.

I understand, though, that this holds true only for those who love to think for themselves, and who have developed their minds to do so. For the rest, I can imagine that contradictions would breed confusion. They would rather have conclusions, that is, thoughts that have been processed in the minds of others, and then served to them , either for a fee, or for free.

According to the New York Time’s A Scientist Takes on Gravity, Erik Verlinde, 48, a respected string theorist and professor of physics at the University of Amsterdam, has challenged the basic laws of Newtonian and Einsteinian Gravity. He categorically stated that ‘For me gravity doesn’t exist.’

It was quite thrilling for me to read that.

I truly admire the kind of mindset that is neither intimidated by the age of any conclusion, nor by the authority and expertise of those that made the conclusion.

I prefer to keep an open mind on all subjects and to keep learning.

Knowledge is infinite and extremely dynamic; there’s no end to it. So why conclude?

Heaven would be so boring were it not for the fact that we’ll be exploring the inexhaustible depths of God’s infinite knowledge and wisdom through all eternity.

I used to be upset and annoyed by dogmatic conclusions. Now I find it all rather amusing, silly, and boring.

I know what I know. I don’t know what I don’t know. But I know that what I don’t know is greater and superior to what I know. Furthermore, the progressive knowledge of what I don’t know will ultimately modify, or overwrite what I know.

In that case, I avoid any emotional attachments to any thing that I know, in spite of how sensible, reasonable, or logical it may appear.

knowledge is essentially dynamic.

culled from W.D Favour
www.wdfavour.com

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