I was laying in the bed resting and thinking about being in God’s presence and how I wanted to be pure to be in God’s presence. I looked up the word pure and the below definition says:

God’s love draws us to purity. When we love God, we keep his commandments [ii]. We willfully choose to be a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God [iii], and we reap the benefits of being rewarded with God’s presence. We do not entertain the things competing for our affection that would make us impure in order to be able to realize God’s affection for us[iv].

God’s love for us is constant, but if we spend time worshiping things allowing ourselves to become impure, we will begin to lose sight of God’s love for us and grow to love the things that we have chosen to make idols in our lives. If we want God, and want to realize his affection for us, we need to pray to God to help us to be pure unmixed with anything that defiles. God will always love us, but it is hard to see when we are in bondage to our flesh or sin due to fighting with condemnation.

“There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” Romans 8:1

People who are in Christ Jesus who walk after their flesh will always deal with some type of condemnation because walking in the flesh and in sin is an open door to condemnation, but the person who is in Christ who makes a choice to no longer walk after the flesh, but after the Spirit will not have to worry about condemnation. Purity is a choice. Once we make that choice to obey God; He provides us with the grace and wisdom to do so.

Any distraction that Satan can throw at us to attempt to separate us from God he will, but we have a choice in the matter we can choose to depend on the Lord’s strength and grace to walk in purity or we can just give in to our flesh.

A few things that help with purity are meditating on God’s word constantly, hanging around other believers who are fervent about pleasing God and walking in purity, prayer and fasting, and submitting ourselves to the leading of the Holy-Spirit when he warns us about certain relationships, books, television, movies, boundaries that need to be set or any such thing. Just like we would guard the purity in our marriage relationship with our spouse; we should guard the purity in our personal lives with God.

Questions to meditate on: How important is purity to you? Do you see God’s presence as a reward for purity why or why not? Do we value God’s presence like we should or do we take God for granted expecting him to put up with anything? If we were/are in covenant with a spouse would we put up with unacceptable behavior from them? Why do we expect God to put up with unacceptable behavior from us? Do we respect and honor God in sincerity or are we just playing a game deceived by our current sins[v]?

[i] But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear. Isaiah 59:2

[ii] “If you love me, obey my commandments. John 14:15

[iii] I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. Romans 12:1

[iv] Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord: Hebrews 12:14

[v] But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. Hebrews 3:13

If we paid attention to how thoughtful the Lord is of us, we would not worry about so much. I had a conversation with my cousin last night as we talked about the best and worst parts of 2014. I shared with her how it ministered to me how thoughtful the Lord has been of me. I shared with her how I had prayed specifically for what I was looking for in a car, and God gave me that plus he exceeded my expectations with what I needed even more. It was something how that car had not been put into the dealership’s system yet making me the first and the last one to view the car before it left the lot, but the car owner pulled up just as I did with the car that I was going to buy within my budget exceeding my expectations. He had just driven it from up north to the dealership just for me. The Lord knew that I would be at that dealership at that time too looking for what I had prayed for. It was weird too when I was doing the test drive an older guy I didn’t know drove past honked the horn and gave me a thumbs-up as if that’s the right one.

In addition to the car blessing, I had told some of my co-workers that I would purchase a bike for myself as a reward for paying my car off once I finally pay it off. I attended a fund-raiser event and filled out a card for the grand prize and was awarded the grand-prize which consisted of a bike, and several other gifts. Again, God exceeded my expectations thinking of me. I have several stories that I could share from my walk with the Lord thus far of God being thoughtful of me in an obvious way.

God’s word says about being thoughtful of us:

How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
If I would count them, they are more than the sand.
I awake, and I am still with you. Psalms 139:17-18
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God’s thoughts toward us are more than the sand according to the above scripture.

For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. Jeremiah 29:11

Matthew 6:25-33 – sums up the thoughtfulness of God. It discusses how God takes care of the sparrows, lilies of the field, and fowls of the air. It compares the care of those things to the care of his people who are worth much more to God.

But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore: ye are of more value than many sparrows. Luke 12:7

Matthew 6 is concluded with the emphasis on seeking God first instead of things and things will be added to us. Let’s try to be mindful on this year of God’s goodness in our lives. At the end of the year, I have a tradition that I’ve done since about 17 years old where I list all of the blessings from the previous year. I also go back and read the blessings from previous years realizing that some of them I have forgotten about. When I read about them and reminisce on the thoughtfulness of God all I can do is smile and be thankful that the Lord loves me so much!

If we have not noticed our biggest job or focus as believers should be to give God our hearts. Yes, God will supply our needs, Yes, God can and will give us the desires of our hearts. Yes, he is thoughtful of us, and careful to answer every request that lines up with his word (John 15.), but we need to remember in the middle of all of this that our greatest job as believers is to give God our hearts.

Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all other things will be given to us. When our hearts are toward God we can appropriately handle all things. We can handle money without worshiping it. Instead we will build up the kingdom of God and have some left over for ourselves. So, yes God is very careful to be thoughtful of us knowing the number of the very hairs on our heads. He is faithful. He pities us like a father does his son being patient with us until we get the things that he tries to show us. [i]. He watches over us providing direction[ii] Let’s pray and ask God to make us sensitive and attentive to his work in our lives so that God can have our hearts and not just our requests as we rest in his care knowing that we can bring our petitions to him and leave them there without worry or anxiety (Phillipians 4:6-7).

[i] Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him. Psalms 103:13

[ii] I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye. Psalms 32:8

Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. 7 And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Phillipians 4:6-7

By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence. 2 Peter 1:3

I was recently grieved when I met a gentlemen who veered from the truth of God’s word in order to justify his decision to practice sin, and the worse part about it is the gentlemen knows better. He made statements to me such as, “God does not judge sin anymore, but winks at it turning a blind eye because of his grace.

Therefore, implying that we can do whatever we want. He made a case that it was fine to curse every other word and even while you witness to others about Jesus Christ because Peter, one of Jesus’ disciples witnessed to others while cursing and Jesus did not have a problem with it. Don’t know what Bible that came from. I only remember Peter cursing once when people tried to accuse him of being one of Jesus disciples after Jesus was arrested. We should not use other people’s lives even if they are in the Bible in order to justify our own wrong-doing. The Bible makes it clear that it isn’t wise to measure ourselves by other people (2 Corinthians 10:12).

Just because God has mercy and grace on someone else who does something, doesn’t mean that same mercy and grace is promised to everyone regarding that something. Everyone is at different maturity levels and some individuals may require grace in an area that someone more mature or stable does not. It’s like the example of a toddler running outside naked, everyone will say that it’s cute and the toddler doesn’t know any better, but an adult would be considered indecently exposed and may be arrested. Judgment belongs to the Lord not to us to use in order to justify our own sinful pleasures. God will have mercy on who he will , and his grace should not be taken for granted.

For he says to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion. Romans 9:15 (NIV)

Ephesians 4:7 says that God has given to every man a measure of grace according to the gift of Christ. A measure is a portion of grace. Everyone is afforded grace through Jesus Christ, but it may not be to the same measure, but it will be what is necessary for each individual person and his or her level of growth, maturity, and capability.

The gentlemen also referenced King David and King Solomon saying they were a couple of the biggest hoes of all time, yet God dealt with them gracefully. Whenever grace becomes justification for sin instead of the ability to overcome sin then grace is not grace. It is a mere taking for granted of the purpose for God’s grace to begin with.

God’s grace is a gift given to us through his son Jesus Christ who paid the penalty for us so that when we sin, but sincerely want to do right and attempt to do so, we have an advocate with God who if we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us of all of our unrighteousness so that we do not have to walk around in condemnation, but the grace of God cleanses us giving us the strength to try again.

Romans makes this clear saying: Should we continue in sin so that grace may abound? God forbids. How should those who are dead to sin continue therein Romans (6:1-2). Accepting God’s grace requires a seriousness to dealing with sin. The Bible says that those that consider themselves born again should view themselves as being dead to sin.

This is a process that takes time and growth, but it is clear that God’s grace is not around to justify sin. Sin did not become justified through God’s grace, but we became justified through God’s grace taking on righteousness that we did not earn (Psalms 32:2). That is an honor that God has bestowed upon us of the highest standard which is his Son and God gives us the grace to grow into the righteousness of his Son as we submit to him. We do not have to work for God’s grace, but there should be some type of appreciation for it.

The way that I understand is that when we become born again our spirit is connected with God. We take on a new life where we have to learn how to walk in the spirit and not after the flesh. The Bible says that the flesh is not subject to God neither can it be and as long as we walk in the spirit we will not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. Walking in the spirit is walking in the things that we cannot see. God’s word, Jesus’ Christ righteousness, the promises of God, faith and such.

Walking in the flesh is the total opposite of the above (Galatians 5). We need God’s grace because of the battle with the flesh that we constantly have including the carnal mind. God’s grace is there so that when we fall short and we all fall short, we are not out of the game because he brings us back to that place of justification meaning it’s not over for us. We are accepted with God. We are loved. We are his. His patience and covenant of mercy and grace with us is honored when he looks at his son and our faith in his son.

We access God’s grace through faith and humility. We need faith to come to God and have a trust that he covers us if we trust and believe in his son. We need humility to be humble enough to know that we need him, and to come to him even after we have done wrong.

James 4 talks about a struggle between the flesh and the spirit. It concludes the struggle in vs. 6-7 by saying, “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Submit yourselves to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Lastly, it says in vs. 7 to draw nigh to God and he will draw nigh to you.

James 4 is how we are to deal with sin. We are to always deal with sin after humility and coming to God. If we become prideful and seek to justify our sin hiding from the truth of God’s word, we will find ourselves in deception like the young man twisting God’s word to fit our own deceitful lusts.

The man who continues to walk in deception eventually loses the ability to discern between what is truth and what is a lie. That is what the Bible refers to as reprobate. Once a person gets to the point where he or she no longer honors the cross of Jesus Christ, there isn’t anything else that God can offer that person to be saved (Hebrews 10:26) Salvation through Jesus Christ is the only way that God himself provided to deal with sin. If we willfully dishonor what God did to save us, then what else can God offer us, but his judgment. I still pray for the young man that he would turn away from deception and walk in the truth.

My last blog was about honor. When we choose to use God’s grace for something other than the purpose than what it was intended, we dishonor his grace, we dishonor God and run the risk of losing his grace over our lives.

One of my greatest prayers when I have struggled with sin has been, “Lord don’t ever let me take you for granted.” This is one of my greatest prayers because anyone of us can fall prey to sin, and allow sin to become a stronghold in our lives that leads us to deception and pride in trying to justify the sin, but the good part about it is God’s grace is enough for us wherever we are currently at in the struggle between walking in our flesh and spirit.

We only need to seek to honor God through putting our faith in him coming to him sincerely in repentance and not deceitfully in order to justify our sin until we see victory in our personal lives over the sin. The misinterpretation of God’s grace is unfruitful; it only promotes sin while God’s purpose for his grace is to destroy the power of sin in the lives of us God’s people.

iFor he says to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion. Romans 9:15 (NIV)

iiBut unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ.

iiiFor by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. Ephesians 2:8-9

ivFor if we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, Hebrews 10:26

vBut exhort one another each day, as long as it is called “Today,” that none of you may become hardened by sin’s deception. Hebrews 3:13